Another week with not much chess is over. My results in long games are at the moment quite poor and I was frustrated. Looking back at the games it’s easy to notice that I finally have the typical amateur games where the advantage goes back and forth. There wasn’t a single game where I didn’t have a chance. Tactical opportunities are lurking everywhere and the next blunder sits around next corner.
After another extremly frustrating loss against a 1500er player I started to notice some important things. Part of my personality is perfectionism. My strategy to fight the evil world is to prepare thoroughly and to be perfect. A chess game is like a test that shows how much you know – and as a beginner I have huge gaps in my knowledge. On a good day I can win against a 1700er and on a bad day I lose against a 1400er. A loss is like heavy critic (“You are so weak!”) and painful. Nevertheless it’s part of the game, one has to expect to lose a lot to become a better player and it’s important to find a way to deal with it.
There is no general receipt what to do, everyone is different. What I have learnt now is that I should treat every game as a chance to learn something and not as personal critic. Even weaker players are superior to me in certain areas because they too spend time on studying chess. Sure, I want to win against them. Looking at the rating difference it’s the only logical result but losing doesn’t mean that I should stop playing chess because I can’t even win against such a weak player. It’s nothing personal and definitely not a test. It’s better to look for mistakes and the factors that decided the game – and then to change my own way of playing to not make the same mistake twice.
If you want to read more you can look at this article.
