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

1. e4 d6 2. d4 e5 3. Nf3 exd4 4. Qxd4 a6 5. Bc4 Be6 6. Bxe6 fxe6 7. Bg5 Nc6 8. Bxd8 Nxd4 9. Nxd4 Kxd8 10. Nxe6+ Kd7 11. Nxf8+ Rxf8 12. O-O Nf6 13. Nc3 Re8 14. f3 Kc6 15. Rad1 g5 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. Rxd5 Rhg8 18. h3 Rg7 19. c4 Re5 20. Rxe5 dxe5 21. Rd1 Rd7 22. Rxd7 Kxd7 23. Kf2 h5 24. Kg3 Ke6 25. h4 Kf6 26. Kh3 c5 27. a4 b6 28. g4 gxh4 29. Kxh4 hxg4 30. fxg4 Kg6 31. g5 a5 32. Kg4 Kg7 33. Kf5 Kf7 34. Kxe5 Kg6 35. Kd6 Kxg5 36. e5 Kg6 37. e6 Kg7 38. e7 Kf7 39. Kd7 1-0