Nova Daily - 30 March 2025: Recap Week 13
Hi!
Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.
- Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power, Chapter 46: "Never appear too perfect"
When Peleus, the Greek king of the city of Phthia, married his bride Thetis, Zeus held a banquet in their honour. All the gods and goddesses were invited to this wedding party. All, except one: Eris, the goddess of strife and discord. As revenge for having been excluded, she came by and tossed a golden apple between the wedding guests. Upon the apple was written, "καλλίστῃ" (kallistēi, "to the fairest"). It gave rise to the first Miss-elections, Miss Goddess of the Greek Mythology.
It was quickly established that three goddesses were most entitled to the golden apple. The first was Hera, the wife of Zeus and the goddess of marriage and fertility. Then there was Athena, the goddess of strategy and wisdom. The third was Aphrodite, the goddess of love and romance.
The question was first asked to Zeus. But Zeus understood what a decision would mean: by choosing between the three, he would incur the eternal wrath of the other two. Instead of doing this, then, he decided to forward the question to the handsome Trojan prince Paris, son of the Trojan king Priam.
The Apple of Discord
Since Paris was unable to choose between three equally beautiful goddesses, they each decided to make the choice upon them come with a reward. Hera would offer to make him the wealthiest and mightiest man in the world. Athena promised him all the skills and all the knowledge that was known in the world. Aphrodite let him know that he would marry the most beautiful woman in the world.
Paris gave in to the temptation and gave the apple to Aphrodite.
This set in motion a long range of events. On his journey to Sparta, Paris met the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. Despite having been married to the Spartan king Menelaus, with whom she had a young daughter by the name of Hermione, she quickly fell in love with Paris, and together they went to Troy.
Zeus was wise to decline the invitation to choose to whom to extend the Apple of Discord. He understood that none of the three goddesses could bear to live with the feeling that one of the other two was more desirable than she was. The same was true for Menelaus: being less desirable than a rival in the matter of love was the reason for a fully-fledged war to bring the city of Troy down and to bring Helen home.
I could say that we learned little from this, based on how many beauty contests are still being run in the world. But I don't really feel the need to judge this. Apparently this is something that's inherent in human nature. In one of this week's blogs I mentioned that everyone has the inherent urge to feel important, and this is one of those things.
Envy is another such thing that rears its ugly head virtually all the time. In Chapter 46 of The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene discusses the shadow of envy that success and flawlessness leave behind. Trying to appear too perfectly and not being able to deal with envy can stir up a lot of resentment and leave many enemies in your wake. It can even get you killed. No-one wants you to be perfect, because no-one will be able to identify with you. It's much better to appear precisely as you are: flawed.
The week in chess
Starting out with a draw in an awful game, I managed to win the remainder of my rapid games this week. I was working on a Harry Potter-themed story for my Tuesday's game but I still need to work on it. I got quite a few shorter games this week, though. The win in 15 moves was nice, but yesterday's 18-move victory was actually not really that good.
I played more bullet than I think I should have. For one it stole some time that I could've been using more productively, and I didn't even gain any rating. Quite the contrary: I lost a lot of bullet rating. Though, to be fair, I did win a bullet game against a GM.
While I don't think my play has been that much better this week as compared to the last one and the one before, my rating did increase on a more or less steady pace. Currently my rapid rating is solidly in the 2100s. The time will come when my opening mistakes will be punished, but so far I've been getting away with most of my nonsense.
I'm not happy with the way that I've been playing, and I'm not happy with the way I've been practicing. I'll need to practice the moves in my repertoire more often. I'm spending these hours of time writing, playing, studying and researching for precisely that reason. Next to this I need to balance things out better, and sleeping well is a good start.
My current scores:
- Rapid rating: 2132 (+40)
- Blitz rating: 2301 (=)
- Bullet rating: 2503 (-42)
- Survival: 62 (=)
- Puzzle Battle: 1782 (+20)
- Puzzles: 3630 (+43)
- Repertoire: 4131 moves (+65)
Blogs:
https://www.chess.com/blog/nova-stone/nova-daily-23-march-recap-week-11
https://www.chess.com/blog/nova-stone/nova-daily-24-march-2025
https://www.chess.com/blog/nova-stone/nova-daily-25-march-2025
https://www.chess.com/blog/nova-stone/nova-daily-26-march-2025
https://www.chess.com/blog/nova-stone/nova-daily-27-march-2025
https://www.chess.com/blog/nova-stone/nova-daily-28-march-2025
https://www.chess.com/blog/nova-stone/nova-daily-29-march-2025
