A tactical blunder

 Sports have a lot of 'unwritten rules'. They exist to make sure everyone stays within what is considered acceptable behaviour, even if the the actions are not technically illegal. In baseball for example, showing up a pitcher after hitting a home run is likely to get yourself drilled by a pitch at some point in the future.

South Africa seemed to not be aware of this during today's Test match against Australia. Bowling short pitched deliveries to tail end batsmen was for a long time considered 'out of bounds', in part because the players your were trying to hit had the ability to return fire when you batted. So hitting Mitchell Starc on the helmet in failing light might have seemed like a  good idea, but only for the time it took Australia to declare their innings closed, and let South Africa bat in the same conditions. In the end they were lucky to escape with just one wicket down, with rain ending the days play.

But as this is a chess blog, here is a tactical blunder from the 2022 World Rapid. On move 46 White missed a check that would have led to a forced mate, and instead let Black escape with a draw.

Niemann,Hans Moke (2592) - Maghsoodloo,Parham (2656) [E11]
2022 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championsh Almaty (8.8), 27.12.2022

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 a5 5. g3 d5 6. a3 Be7 7. Qc2 c6 8. Bg2 Nbd7 9. Bf4 O-O 10. O-O Nh5 11. Bc1 Nhf6 12. Nbd2 b6 13. e4 Ba6 14. e5 Ne8 15. Re1 Rc8 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. Qd1 Bd3 18. Nf1 Bg6 19. Bf4 b5 20. Ne3 Nb6 21. Qe2 Nc4 22. Rac1 Nc7 23. h4 Na8 24. Nh2 h6 25. Nhg4 Nab6 26. Bf1 a4 27. Red1 h5 28. Nxc4 Rxc4 29. Ne3 Rxc1 30. Rxc1 Nc4 31. Bg2 Qb6 32. Rd1 Rc8 33. Bf3 b4 34. axb4 Nxe3 35. Bxe3 Qxb4 36. Qa6 Rc4 37. Ra1 Kh7 38. Bg2 Rxd4 39. Bxd4 Qxd4 40. Qxa4 Qxe5 41. Qb5 Qd4 42. Qe2 Bf6 43. Ra2 Qb6 44. Bf3 Qb3 45. Ra8 Bd3 46. Qe3 Qc2 47. b4 Qb1+ 48. Kh2 d4 49. Qd2 Bg6 50. Qd1 Qb2 51. Qe2 Qb1 52. Qd1 Qb2 53. Qe2 Qb1 54. Qd1 Qf5 55. Qe2 Qb1 56. Qd1 Qb2 1/2-1/2