Wiktionary
phr. (context idiomatic English) When the pressure is on; when the situation is urgent or critical
Usage examples of "when the chips are down".
The best of us do it, but a body hadn't better do so when the chips are down and you've laid out your hand on the table with no way but to win or die.
That shows how Union brothers stick together when the chips are down.
For Tony Summers, the best of friends when the chips are down-and the man who introduced me to Sterling.
But when the nitty gritty comes, when the chips are down, you can't lie anymore.
What we now have to ask is - when the chips are down, when the good guys are up against the bad guys, whose side will you be on?
Always remember that when the chips are down and you're fresh out of luck, it's the hot pilots that make it back to base.
Oh, hes fudged the truth a little now and then, but when the chips are down, Mudge is up.
Ce'Nedra is a spoiled brat, there's no question about that, but she is a little tiger when the chips are down.