Some players actually seem to play better when they are on the ropes. They dig in and defend like tigers, taking it as a challenge to rise to. Viktor Korchnoi was like this; he enjoyed grabbing a pawn even if it meant weathering a brutal attack. A man who had survived the Siege of Leningrad as a boy was not going to be intimidated at the chessboard. This sort of mental robustness is rare, even among elite Grandmasters. Mistakes almost never walk alone.
