Sept 18: Enjoying the Game

Hi guys,

Happy to say I'm starting to feel better after taking it easy for a few days; I played some rapid today and while it wasn't my best chess (all the games were actually somewhat poor) I'm starting to feel more in control of my thoughts feelings during the game, and I am sure the good chess will soon follow suit.

I played 5 games today, won 3/5.
The chess played was a bit sketchy; I still missed some things and misevaluated some positions I shouldn't have.
If anything can be said about today it is that I usually was overestimating my own chances and brushing off my opponent's play as irrelevant. This closer is the right mindset; it is better to have too little fear than too much. But some healthy respect for my opponents could have seen better contests.

My first game was a loss. In this game I was terribly lazy about the development of my pieces, and then decided to go material grabbing; a venture which almost never ends well...

I was a little bit frustrated having played so poorly after the first game and won the next game quickly, but managed to still make several mistakes within the 22 moves of play.

In the third game I was again much too ambitious too early and my opponent punished me for it.

The fourth game was double edged. Once more my opponent had some chances to murder my king, but missed them, and allowed me to carry out a nice-feeling execution.

The fifth game was played later in the day, when I just had time for one 10 + 0 game (all the rest today were 10+5)
This was a very odd game where my opponent offered a draw on move 4 with no explaination and then gave me the game on a platter.

I had fun with my games today; of course the mistakes that my opponents punished were frustrating, but overall I felt more magic in the moves today than I have since I started blogging again.

However, the truth is, the kind of play displayed here won't get me to my goals.

It was good to not feel the weight of expectation on myself, but tomorrow should see a ratcheting up of the intensity. It is good to acknowledge when you need a change of perspective, and I'm glad I did! But at the same time someone who is feeling sorry for themselves and making excuses for their poor play is not going to see much improvement in chess.

Perhaps the single most important concept in chess development, is that all mistakes can be avoided, and players looking to improve should not rely on handouts or luck in order to win their games.

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading, and I should now get some sleep!