There is something to be said for practice and training. One cannot expect to be very sharp when you just dive into a chess tournament after having not really played any serious games for over a year. With chess not being an important priority in my life, yet still enjoying the adrenaline rush of live competition, I decided to take advantage of a free Saturday and knock the rust of my chess skills. When I discovered that I was the second highest rated player entered in the Amateur Section (the top dogs play in the Open Section) the optimistic expectations kicked in. Sure my rating was based on successes from many years ago … but it’s not like I had forgotten how to play. It turned out I was in for the most embarrassing moment of my chess playing career.
In the opening game a hard fought battle finally tilted in my favor and I saw the opportunity to set up a surprising potential checkmate position. My opponent had been digging a hole in terms of time pressure so I had been making my moves fairly quickly to keep the pressure on him. I set the final trap and waited to see if my opponent would catch on. My focus was on the chess square in the upper right corner of the board where my Queen could zoom in for the kill. When he made a move in the opposite corner, without even looking I made the anticipated move and triumphantly announced, “Check Mate!” To my great embarrassment (especially with other onlookers observing), he quickly turned the tables and captured my Queen to send me into shock. The move I had ignored was his attempt to stage his Queen on the same diagonal to trade off pieces. When I celebrated prematurely (the snowboarding fiasco in the Olympics is a lot tougher for me to criticize now that I have just pulled my own bonehead move) I gave away a clearly won position. The rest of the tournament proved disappointing as well … splitting the five games (two wins, two losses, one draw – on another game that I just gave away at the end).
The lessons learned:
- Over confidence is a killer (You would think my rustiness would have made me extra cautious … but it is so easy to make careless mistakes when you are not used to studying the board intently)
- Moving too quickly (even when trying to take advantage of an opponent’s time pressure) is just not a smart approach
- It takes a lot of perseverance and concentration to maintain the level of attention to detail at the end of each game (especially on a 10 hour chess day)
- Chess, while I enjoy the thrill of competition, is certainly not a relaxing type of recreation. All day you could cut the tension with a knife. There are a lot of healthier options out there!
Still, would I take another shot when I have a free weekend – You bet!
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