Just Play Better Next Time

Every chess master 
was once a beginner - Irving Chernev

Chess has that unexplainable kind of allure that once you push a pawn, you will immediately get hooked. There will be no stopping from there.  Despite the meager prizes in tournaments and in spite of the many hours you would spend in front of a chessboard practicing, you will always continue to play chess.  Chess is a game that will continue to cast a spell on you the moment you start to play the game. Chess has that unique way of inspiring or challenging a player to go back to playing despite a very painful loss.

Whatever happens on the chessboard, just continue playing! A loss is nothing but a momentary setback that you must learn to get through.  Learn from every loss, then play better next time. Every chess player in the world has suffered a loss. The only difference is how the chess player would handle a loss.  Great chess players have the ability to handle defeat with a purpose. They have the capacity to bounce back from a loss and do better the next time.

This attitude of being able to bounce back from a loss is one of the things chess teaches you. Life is full of setbacks. Life is full of challenges. Failure will always be a part of life. There is no successful person in the world who, at one time or another, has not experienced a loss or a failure.  Chess is a game that will strengthen you each time you experience a loss or a failure.

We recently visited a chess tournament held at the Met Live Mall in Pasay City. The tournament employed the "standard format" where the rate of play is longer at 90 minutes per game. This kind of format means a longer time to think and analyze the resulting position after each move. Players are also required to record their moves unlike in the "blitz" and in the "rapid" format where writing the moves is only an option.  With a longer time control, the standard format means that you have to play accurate chess. Time pressure is no longer an issue. With the standard format,  there is less possibility for blunders or losing a game based on your own mistake and not on the brilliance of your opponent.

My preferred format is the "rapid". where the rate of play is 20 or 30 minutes with a few seconds additional time increment. This rate of play is not so fast compared to the "blitz" format and not too long compared to the "Standard" format.   The rapid format provides "just enough" time to think without falling into a hustle kind of play.