Yeah, we've all won our trophies, first places, honors & distinctions, etc., but we still want more, don't we. But what if you turn this quest for self-gratification into a drive to help others become better? We old folks had our moments of glory, isn't it time to let others have some fun and help them in reaching their goals? I'm not saying "forget yourself", but there is infinitely more good that we can do for others than for ourselves at this moment in life. Who has the experience, the knowledge, who can avoid the pitfalls better than us? Noone.
How Did I Ever Win My School Championship?
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Yes, I know winning isn't everything, but I still hate to lose and enjoy the
satisfaction of self-improvement as well.
What I am really wondering is will I ever improve or am I "stuck" at 1900
or worse forever? I would really love to know what it feels like to play at
the 2200 level and "see" the board and moves I don't "see" now. It really is
tough to improve once a plateau has been reached.
This is a true story. When I was in Junior High School I won the Tabb
Chess Championship. My Science teacher and Chess Team coach even announced it on "The Intercom". Congratulations to "Checkmate" Hamilton. Needless to say I didn't get a lot of dates after that incident.
I was really good, as I could beat all the high school students, my coach Mr. Starner, and I won a second tournament at Thomas Nelson Community College. My dad hated my incessant bragging(I won the city bowling title and county math bee also) so he figured I would lose the local tournament.
In the final I lost my queen and won on a knight smothered mate. I still
have the Silver Cup, and my dad was so annoyed at my win he didn't talk to me on the ride home.
Before you make a Virginia is filled with hillbillies joke I live next to NASA
so the competition was fairly strong.
When I reached high school I quit chess and bowling for 30 years. I joined
Chess.com on November 28th, 2008 and spend hours daily practicing.
Here's the problem. I am much weaker now. I am at 1900 online and 1400 blitz(I'm new to this and very slow).
I am 47 years old now. Have I just lost the ability to play or are people
just a lot better now? I don't own a chess computer and I never used to know openings very well, as I won almost always on very aggressive tactics.
Is there an age when one's ability really declines? I can't bowl 3-straight 200 games in-a-row anymore either, and I can't throw a softball to home plate from
left field anymore if I wanted to, so am I going to ever improve?