Hi guys,
Thanks crashfreze, for sharing. Very entertaining.
Watch your backrank.
My First Year Playing Chess
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Apr 8, 2009
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#3
Nice column. Wonder if it would be o.k. to blog it so it appears on the fp.
This is from a column I write for my club called "The Weak Square". I hope you enjoy.
My First Year Playing Chess
To be clear I have known how to play chess since I was about 10. However, there is a stark difference in playing real chess and playing the awe inspiring 1. a4! which is typically the favorite opening of novices. My first tournament game over the board was scarcely 365 days ago. It was a game of complete and total domination. Unfortunately I was the recipient of said domination. I was playing black and was on the business end of a nasty queen attack courtesy of a mishandled Scotch game. The game went as follows:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 Nxd4?
We can pretty much cease analysis here. 3... Nxd4 amounts to what is essentially a positional blunder by black which gives white an angry queen on d4 with no pieces readily available to chase her off of a very strong square. But I digress.
Two and a half years prior to joining the chess club I was honing my skills playing approximately 2,500 15-20 minute Internet games. When I came to chess club I brought all of the bad habits, lack of discipline and false beliefs about good chess with me. The contrast between Internet chess and over-the-board chess is about as sharp as the contrast between a1 and a2. About the only thing I've gained from all that effort is a quick rating about 200 points higher than my standard rating. I would have been much better served joining chess club a year earlier than spending time playing 13-year-olds on pogo.com in my underwear. There's a nice visual for you. Boxers in case you were wondering.
One thing I did learn is every time I sit down to play a game, I am battling myself just as much or more so than my opponent. The urge to move pieces hapharzardly wells up in me and has cost me several wins. I've learned many other things too (seeing as how your losses teach you the most about your game). Therefore I have decided to take time from my busy schedule to share with you the ten most poignant lessons I learned in my first year playing chess.
Top 10 Things I Learned Playing Over-the-Board in 2008.
1. In a 90-minute game it's ok to use more than 11 minutes of clock.
2. When you find a great move that is sure to seal the win, it is ok to take a minute and double check your move before proudly slamming the piece onto its square before resigning in anguish 30 seconds later.
3. Unlike the Internet, talking trash to your opponent during a game is generally frowned upon.
4. Beating someone rated 400 points higher than you will put you on top of the world.
5. Getting checkmated in 9 moves by a 10-year-old will bring you right back down.
6. Unlike the Internet, it's difficult to get away with getting help from Chessmaster without your opponent knowing about it during the game (so I've heard).
7. A good middlegame strategy does not generally consist of becoming bored and sacrificing a knight for two pawns and a speculative attack when your opponent has the audacity to take several minutes of clock to figure out how to refute it.
8. In a game of chess my computer is usually superior. However, in a game of kickboxing I am superior. Not so easy to beat me when your brain is smashed into little bits now is it Fritz?
9. It's easy to spot a winning move when you are watching the game but almost impossible to find it when you are playing the game... in the state finals... for money... with 12 people standing around watching you... and you have to pee.
10.Playing someone rated lower than you does not mean taking them lightly. If anything it means taking them more seriously.
All in all it's been a great year though. I've enjoyed some good wins and learned a lot from some tough losses, I've met a silly number of people and certainly made some good friends. When I sat down and played human punching bag to a superior opponent a year ago I was playing chess at around a 900 level. Now closing out 2008, my January published rating will be 1314. So, you know, progress.