ROUGHT WEEK; This has NOT been a good week. There are up and downs to everything I suppose; and this week saw a steady decline in the amount of time spent studying, and my results in the few chess games I have attempted.
Its days like these that bring me to deeply ponder my conviction to this sport.
WHAT is that I’m struggling so badly to seek with my chess?, WHY does this game truly matter to me? WHY do I work so Hard at this game, when it sometimes seems it entirely in vain and success eludes me?
I think the answer is to these questions is important motivation to my weekly effort to learn and grow in this hobby. Chess for me is the Quest for Clarity in thought.
INTERMISSION. Difference between a Blunder and a mistake.
So you’ve played a good line and gone along, hoping for the best and struggling to see the ramification of your moves. Then along ‘the Unexpected’ Move. Pause, perhaps a big pause… what is going on here?? Is something wrong? Of course not, you think in the calmest demeanor possible. Showing Poise and confidence you earnestly rebuke your opponents silly move- Do you want to just give me a free bishop? You mentally say. Ok- I’ll take it….
the reply is instant and sharp. Never mind poise, never mind confidence. You silly patzer- You overlooked check and every freakin piece in his posse is soon riding to rip your position to shreds!! ALAS a dreadful blunder!
Or is it? perhaps its just a mistake?? A lesson in semantics; kind of, but I think an important distinction.
Basically, If I move in a way that gives the opponent a significant advantage that he/she didn’t have happen before, this then is a blunder. On the other hand; a mistake is a move that creates or increases a weakness in our own position.
MY GOAL, put simply… Then this becomes my mission and my goal. I want to learn to play chess, such that I don’t make Blunders and I want to learn how to take advantage of a person’s weaknesses.
And the point is to gain; Poise, awareness, and discipline. But above all Clarity in thought!
In life, all things can seem right. but in chess; the Right idea can be tested and proven; provided we don’t voluntarily blunder our advantages.
I think there is a STRONG unexpected (!) element that may be disturbing to reach your goal (or mission). It is called EMOTIONS and STRONG WILL. Most of us - mere mortals (amateurs) are excited, frightened, scared, amazed and shocked - it only depends of the position and "power of move" (be it - ours or our opponent's). It is really very hard to "stay calm" when you feel you obtained a winning position (advantage) against a player rated 100, 200 or 300 rating points above your rating (level).
ReplyDeleteI can absolutelly agree with your first goal: "I want to learn to play chess, such that I don’t make Blunders". - it is the most important level to reach to probably 95% of chess players. Unless you eradicate these awful and terrible "self-killers" you will be facing problems and frustration EVERY time you will make a blunder. It is the same as destroying great painting with ONE simple "brush stroke" without being awere what we are doing.
this has a Very Big theme this week. my last game had a ridiculous amount of blunders, with my opp giving up his queen to a simple tactical shot.
ReplyDeletenot content to just safely beat the heck of it; I give up my queen a few moves later in a hopeless position. err. well my opponent gave me hope as he didn't seem to see any of the threats against his king. he could have easily squashed my attack for move after move. Instead, he gets distracted and I go for checkmate and win it.
it was a ridiculous game... espacially because it was meant to played at near tournament time control.
-- I'm doing a little soul searching and a good bit of self analysis this week. the idea is to go through most of my recent games, and ask for each of my moves; what moves are reasonable and what ones were a clear mistake.
IOW, when reviewing the moves, how many of them seem reasonable; and then prove to be a mistake.
its shocking, espacially in blitz, how few moves pass this simple review. I would say that I saw nearly 3/4 of the moves that turned out to be a blunder; as a bad mistake.
I think there's pychological reasons for this ,even in slower games. When I'm reviewing I don't have to think strategy or get distracted by the idea of forming and refining a plan; and looking for positional advantages....
the key I think is truly analyzing ones game; and becoming quite disgusted with yourself with all these mistakes. if we can discover the hidden beauty of our games; and really study and regret all the awful game destroying brush marks;....