Escher paradoxical forms - Photo sent by Ray
Raskolnikov meets the drunkard
At the time I was living in Tehran, working for Tehran Times Daily, I had the chance to enjoy a wide range of books in my friend’s place. Besides, I had no money to get out so often, so the best entertainers of mine were, as in childhood, the books and there I discovered the Dostoevsky’s masterpiece.
I and my friend were not good chess players, but the house was so empty and cold that we had no other hobby to fill our time but chess. Our chessboard was made of paper that we used to glue it under the glass table. The pieces were also made of paper and with every deep breath the pieces were flying around us and we had to remember the position each moment to re-build it after the minor storms.
I knew a bit of theory and he knew sweet Fanny Adams about it! Sometimes he used to begin with a weird h4 then proceeding with h5-h6 following by g4-g5 moving all the pawns two or three ranks forward, and I remember I used to try classical centre, developing knights first then bishops then castling, etc. I knew he was weaker than me and then my dumbness began to flourish! As weird as it seems, I lost half of games I played with him. We had a joke between us regarding our skillful method of play:
- Where is my king?
- I captured it three moves ago!
Many of us have encountered situations in which we lose to particular, sometimes significantly lower rated, players. OK! That happens to everybody. Then we rematch and lose again. We go up the ladder of success, out-playing many strong opponents and reaching the peak of rating we ever dreamed of. We rematch again and lose again. Why?
Raskolnikov is out of money
May be it is plain and simple. It is lack of theory. Nothing weird is going on. No superstitions. No magic spells upon you. Or you may know about the theory but you cannot apply it on the board? No money and being in love, here in chess, leads to crimes.
Rasky is afraid
May be you are afraid of losing again and this psychology blocks your mind, makes you nervous, and beats you even before the first move? All in all, fear is the brother of death.
Don’t think of what happens “after” you win the game. Forget about all the celebrations coming up. Just think to find the best moves. It is hard. Indeed it is very hard to do but not harder than lose without any efforts.
He goes to the same bar everyday
May be you are repeating yourself? There is a possibility for you to repeat your style. You change the openings, the lines, even you shave after a year or so, but you again lose!
The answer is already given above. You repeat your style. By “style” I mean being aggressive or too conservative, putting stress or neglecting specific areas of the board, getting excited when a pseudo-combination shows up, depression due to losing a minor piece or even a pawn, being too materialistic, being too large… ad infinitum. What ever it is, when you repeat it in your games, you should suspect may be that is the root of all evil. Examine and compare your games with him. I strongly recommend examining your lost games. There is a saying that: losing is the bridge to win. Don’t go to the bar this time Rasky! Save your money and drink your shots at home!
Raskolnikov cares more about the girl than his own life
That’s what life is all about. Love! But one should tell between to love coins and to love his eternal beloved one. If you think all the time to take revenge or taking some points back, these will obscure your mind like the gray clouds in a depressed autumn evening. Be in love with the most superior entity you know which is not of course FICS or USCF ratings!
If you love chess, then that tiny little indicator in front of your name cannot let you down. Is it high? Is it low? What ever it is try to improve your chess first and the rating will follow you barking for some attention. The last thing: unlike Raskolnikov, try to tell a good sheriff about your crimes. This is the best difference or likeliness between life and chess!
Tags: Articles, CyrusX
