The Forace Rule

Early on in his chess career Lee Forace came up with a rule that you are unlikely to find in any chess book. "Swap off when you are behind". This is of course the opposite to the usual "Swap off when you are ahead", but was intended as a humorous take on how to lose a game.
While in general the rule doesn't help much, there are of course situations when swapping off can save a half point. Rook and pawn endings are a good example, where taking rooks from the board can result in a drawn pawn ending.
Having said that, here is an example where the rule definitely does not help. Having lost a pawn in the opening, my opponent obligingly allows me to swap everything off into a pawn ending that was easily winning for me. I didn't speak to him after the game, but I can only assume he thought he could stop my king from breaking through on the kingside.


Press,Shaun - Scully,Mark [C41]
Canberra Cup (7), 23.01.2020