Another amazing article from an amazing grandmaster !
Ggs, thanks a lot
the most annoying thing about chess is chess players likening themselves to warriors and knights. you're moving pieces on a board.
This makes me feel better about when I hung a rook in a winning position a few months ago and punched a wall and got a swollen hand. I was up a knight and a two pawn in an endgame. It was still drawn but doing that in an OTB standard-play match for my county was horrifying. Hearing that great players also do this in important games is nice to hear whilst I obviously wouldn't wish that to happen to anyone.
Chess is a perfect information game. There's no chances. If you lose, it objectively means you are not as spatially intelligent as your opponent. Those are the sad, brutal facts.
Sisu!
Nice! When reading the article, I guessed that 35.Rxh4 Rb8!? could be the point, locking White's rook. (Black would like to advance his a-pawn then and collect White's a-pawn on a more convenient occasion.) But it turns out that White is fine even with his rook locked, as after a move like 36.a4 the White's rook gets back into play in time if Black goes for the a-pawn.
That's a terrible way to lose a tournament, but at least it is not the result of any sort of underhanded behaviour or cheating from your opponent - a simple blunder made from what sounds like tiredness.
Also, knowing that you are soon to become a GM and are playing at the required standard would make it relatively straightforward to shake off the pain of a loss like this and getting back on the road to victory.
Much harder is to be in the other 99% of players who will never win a big tournament and never achieve a title - that's where you truly need to just drive yourself to continue to pick up the pieces for the sake of it even when you know there's literally nothing to be gained. It's almost much easier to find alternative uses for your time at that stage...
Also, knowing that you are soon to become a GM and are playing at the required standard would make it relatively straightforward to shake off the pain of a loss like this and getting back on the road to victory.
Much harder is to be in the other 99% of players who will never win a big tournament and never achieve a title - that's where you truly need to just drive yourself to continue to pick up the pieces for the sake of it even when you know there's literally nothing to be gained. It's almost much easier to find alternative uses for your time at that stage...