Lose like Wei Yi: Play without fear, lose without collapse, learn without ego

I have followed round 3 of the Candidates in the background as I was getting some work done. Wei Yi had lost in 19 moves due to some inaccuracies in the early stage of the game, which left his bishop trapped on h3.

What really grabbed my attention was his subsequent reaction. It was not highly emotional. He was eager to discuss the game with his opponent. Most striking was his willingness to attend the press conference even after a loss.

His stoic attitude was almost superhuman and quasi-divine.

Even after a loss, he was still eager to learn. He was not discouraged, and his spirit was not greatly perturbed by this set back.

I wrote a book about how to cope with losses. The basic dictum is that anyone who plays chess will lose. Losing is what we should expect in chess. If you do not want to lose, do not play chess.

Even Magnus Carlsen against the best chess-playing computer would most likely lose 10-0.

This basic truth that losing in chess is an expected result should prompt us to take a different attitude towards losing. We should be fearless. At the same time, we must have a voracious appetite to improve and learn.

We notice that an elite player like Wei Yi is not greatly bothered by losing as much. He has accepted it as the natural order of things. He has not stopped being curious, asking questions and looking for answers.

As improving chess players, this should inspire us! Instead of taking offense at losing, we should make peace with it. This shows that we make mistakes. We are forever in error. There is always something new to learn. Perfect chess knowledge is unattainable. This also means that we should not fear playing stronger opponents and losing to them.

Chess lays bare human imperfection. We are forced to face uncomfortable truths that may challenge our mildly narcissistic self-concepts. It's a microcosm epitomizing the Copernican principle. It humbles us.