# What does a miss mean in chess?

> A miss is a move that lets a winning chance slip: your opponent made a mistake, and instead of punishing it you played on as if nothing had happened.

10…Nd7?? 11.Bb2? 11…Nxe5!

10...Nd7 moves the knight off f6 and opens the f-file between White’s queen and f7. 11.Qxf7 would have been mate, with the knight on e5 backing up the queen. White played 11.Bb2, and Black traded the knight off with 11...Nxe5. From a game between two players rated around 960.

A miss means your opponent handed you something and you didn’t take it. They left a piece hanging, walked into a fork or allowed mate, and you played a normal move instead. In a game review, that move gets a miss.

## What does miss mean in a game review?

It means you had a chance to win material, win the game or mate, and you let it go. Chess.com describes it as failing to capitalize on your opponent’s mistake. A miss nearly always comes right after a mistake or a blunder by the other side. Punishing that mistake instead is often [a great move](https://chesslord.app/resources/what-is-a-great-move-in-chess).

The label is fairly new. Chess.com announced it in late 2022 and switched it on in early 2023. Before that, its review had a missed win label, and many of these moves were simply called mistakes or blunders, even though nothing was given away. You won’t find it in annotated books, where commentators just mark the move with ?.

## Miss, mistake or blunder: what is the difference?

A mistake and a blunder make your own position worse. A miss usually doesn’t: your move can be perfectly fine. The review is pointing at the win you didn’t play.

| Label | Who made the error | What you lose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Blunder | You | The position you had |
| Miss | Your opponent, and you let it go | The position you could have had |

Inaccuracies and mistakes sit on the same scale as the blunder, with smaller losses. For moves that throw the game away, see [what counts as a blunder](https://chesslord.app/resources/what-is-a-blunder-in-chess).

## What do misses look like?

Most misses follow a few patterns: a mate left on the board, a piece left for free, a fork not played. Here are two more from real games on chess.com, each with the opponent’s mistake, the miss and the reply. The second game goes on in [what counts as a blunder](https://chesslord.app/resources/what-is-a-blunder-in-chess), where the same fork finally lands.

### A free rook

12…Nxe5? 13.Bxe5? 13…Bb7

12...Nxe5 takes White’s knight, but the rook on a8 has no defender and the queen on d5 is looking right at it. 13.Qxa8 takes the rook for free. White took the knight back with 13.Bxe5 instead, and 13...Bb7 covered the rook. From a game between two players rated around 1270.

### The fork that came back

26…Rab8?? 27.a3? 27…a5??

26...Rab8 puts the rook on b8, where 27.Nc6+ forks the king and the rook. White played 27.a3. Black pushed 27...a5 without noticing it either, and this time White found 28.Nc6+. From a game between two players rated around 1610.

## Why is it a miss if I’m still winning?

Because a miss looks at what you had in hand. In the free-rook game White was already ahead and stayed ahead after 13.Bxe5. Taking the rook would have made the win simple. After 13.Bxe5 White is still winning, just with a lot more work left.

## Why does the review say a piece was free when it could be taken back?

Sometimes the capture only works because of the move after it. You take, your opponent takes back, and then a check, a pin or a fork wins the material back with interest. Before you decide the review got it wrong, play the line through to the end, including your opponent’s best answer. That second move is usually the one you didn’t see during the game.

## Does Lichess show misses?

No. Lichess’s analysis only has inaccuracy, mistake and blunder, so the same move shows up there as one of those, or with no label at all. Chesslord marks the misses in your Lichess games too.

## How do you stop missing chances?

Most misses happen because you were busy with your own plan. A few habits help you notice when the game hands you something.

### Ask what your opponent’s last move left behind

When a piece moves, it stops guarding something. Before you go on with your plan, check what it used to cover: a square next to the king, another piece, the back rank.

### Look at your own checks, captures and threats

The blunder check works both ways. Before every move, look at what you can take and what you can check, not only at what your opponent can do to you.

### Look harder when you’re ahead

Misses are easiest to make in winning positions, when it feels like any move will do. Before you play the safe move, look once for a check or a capture that finishes things, and count attackers and defenders before you decide a piece is protected.

### Do tactics puzzles

Forks, pins and mates you have seen many times in puzzles are much harder to miss in your own games.

Chesslord’s [insights](https://chesslord.app/chess-insights) show which chances you take and which ones you let go: forks, pins and mates in one, found and missed, and the pieces your opponents hung that you actually took. A [game review](https://chesslord.app/chess-com-game-review) shows each miss in its game, with the move you should have played.

How Chesslord helps

[Stats from your games](https://chesslord.app/chess-insights)

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