KingCo League Round 7: When you get disappointed with your team
On January 4th, 2016, the Mercer Island chess club went to play the scary Interlake B team. The way there was cheerful, with me calling our team MI chess club. (Saying "my" and M.I.). I also had my famous intimidation speech:
"Remember, there are two ways to win a chess game, intimidation and actual skill. I would advise you have both, But I am only good at the intimidation part. When making a move, SLAM it on the board, and before the game, TALK A LOT!! When making a move, also be smart and keep your hand on the piece for a minute to annoy your opponent. Smile in an annoying way, and be confident. Don't you know why I put my glasses on and take them off? It's for intimidation! GET YOUR OPPONENTS OFF FOCUS. The reward is a win. I gained about 400 points due to my intimidation skills." And also I have my one hand clap thing, which is good at being intimidating. It makes everyone laugh also.
After having gotten crushed by Interlake A (4.5-.5, see round 1 blog) and beating Interlake C (See that blog also), we figured that we had some chances. Unfortunately, they did have 5 players rated in the 1300-1500 range, and except for me, rated 1650, all of our team had players rated 100-500 points higher than them. So actually, or chances looked low. However, oddly enough, we got a quick victory on Board 4, when his opponent sacrificed material to mate, and turned out to have just give up a queen for nothing. We won the first game, a 250 point upset! However, not long after we lost board 3. So we had 1-1, and if we got 2 of the 3 points, we would have for sure qualified for state. I had cold, and I was scared I'd play worse. However, it just led to me to less aggressively, but not slower. My opponent got in serious time pressure, leading him to loose.
We only needed one more point after my win, and board 2 had a totally won game. However, she blundered, leading to me giving a lecture about what she should have done. However, it was very lighthearted with many jokes. "That really hurt my feelings" "it's because before the game you told me you'd loose (she actually said that!)" and "It's your senior year! You have to win!" And board 5 also lost, prompting a similar reaction (from me). "How could you use 75 of the 90 minutes in the first 20 moves (Advice: don't do that in your games)! Why didn't you intimidate him! You took WAY too long!" "Look at the clock!" But alas, I knew getting upset wouldn't change the result.
So we lost 2-3. Now, to get to the Washington state competition, we'll need to win our last 2 matches, which seems nearly impossible. Why? Because we are playing Redmond B at their school! Oh well, it's the effort that counts. Or maybe not...
Either way. I'll be giving some long lectures, and probably not positive ones since we'll loose. Hopefully I can win though, and then I won't be too upset.
But really, I'm not that upset. We should all be thankful that we live in such a great world, and have enough leisure time that we get to play chess! So I would say we should all be thankful for what we have. I really struggle with it, but at the end of the day, I try to be thankful. Recently one of my chess buddies told me "You know, whatever you do is a waste of time". While I couldn't come up with an argument against that, it's definitely not true. Life is not a waste of time. We were all put on this great earth to do something. So there is some of my philosophy.
Thanks for reading and BE THANKFUL
