If you’re applying force downward, you’re not using the knife right anyway.

I mean there are some situations where you want to chop, but for that you want a knife with a different shape than this. A straight, flat edge that’s full length can be in full contact with the board at one time.

The shape of knife in the picture is for slicing. Light downward pressure while pulling smoothly backwards. If you do it right, you should be able to slice a tomato without smashing it.