I lost badly to Rex Simmonds (ACF rating: 1518) in the Norths Club Championships last week and lost the 2 rounds of Rapid at Ryde Eastwood against 1200 opponents on Wednesday.
In between the self-recriminations, I am starting to contemplate taking the foot off the pedal for chess and devote more of my time towards other activities instead.
Over the last couple of weeks, I've actually not been reading any chess material and rustiness has set in so much that I'm having persistent problems with remembering my opening repertoires and endgame knowledge.
This week, I'm facing Gordon Miller (he beat me last year at the Ford Memorial). Unfortunately, having to work weekends meant that I've not studied anything since then and will be totally unprepared.
Oh well. My works finishes at 7pm and I've to high-tailed to the club within the half-hour so that means rushing to grab a bite and finding parking space at the club.
I really need to sit down and reprioritise.
I just want to say that one may not lose the love for the game. So try to be relaxed when starting and playing a game.
ReplyDeleteRemember that its just a game and that you dont have to earn your daily bread with it.
So relax, be happy to play a game of chess to the best of your abilities (at that moment).
Well, you can't win them all. If remembering your openings is a problem, why not play around with new ones? You don't have to know what you're doing - just play anything that seems interesting. If it doesn't work out, then whatever, you were just goofing around. If it does, that's cool too.
ReplyDeletechesstiger, Aziridine: thank you both for your kind words. I'll keep them to heart.
ReplyDeleteAziridine: Interesting mention about playing/fooling around with new openings. I'll definitely give that a try.
Thanks again.
Yeah, don't let one loss get you down. You'll bounce back.
ReplyDelete