On September 23rd 2011, I had not only my first game against a person of the caliber of a GM, but my first real game over-the-board. I have been playing for a couple years online. I do most of my learning from internet reading, and spending ridiculous amounts of time looking at my correspondence games before making a move (oh, and vote chess has played an immeasurable role as well). I have not had the luck of having friends who play the game in a serious manner, and have only recently considered joining a club.

Playing primarily online you run into the problem neglecting opening study. When you are allowed to look at a database, other than giving each position a cursory Google search for info on the line, I (and I suspect most novice, internet players) make the best looking move from the database. Thus, my main fear in playing this simul was paying to get a board, and blundering on move 5 and not getting much out of the game. I am happy to say that didn't happen. I blundered on move 6. Sheeeeeeesh. But this isn't a tale of wasting money and more importantly opportunity. Instead, it is a tale of the fighting back.

 
The main thing I got out of this game is to always fight back. I read plenty of articles about how chess is flawed because of the draw, and how draws make chess less entertaining since people want to see a winner. But there is nothing like being a lost position, and seeing the glimmer of a draw on the horizon to make you play better.

That being said. I also wonder if I would play with the same intensity after a mistake against someone less impressive than GM Onischuk. If I were playing someone of my level or for purpose of argument lower, would I still get the adrenaline going to fight back, or would I succumb to the mental whispers telling me to give up, because clearly I suck? I guess that's one of the many things that separates average players from good ones. Can you fight back in any situation against any opponent?