Thursday, April 19, 2012

Playing Against a Novice


When I had learned the game a few years ago, I had naturally suffered many a losses against better players. Each loss would nibble off a bit of my self-esteem, and as many as four losses in a row would leave me utterly disheartened and unwilling to play another game for the next few months.

There were times when I thought that my opponents had mastered some mysterious formulae that ensured that I would blunder my way to their advantage. I also imagined that those formulae bordered on the occult, and were available only to members of some mysterious society. Of course, now I know how ludicrous that sounds.

Playing against a novice today, I saw reflections from my past. I felt very sad when my opponent blundered away his pieces starting with an exchange of his Queen for my Bishop as early as on move 7. Time and time again I wanted to ask my opponent to take a move back and reconsider his options. But I played on.

I will not say I did a great job; I still have a long way to go on the path of improvement. But I'm willing to teach my opponent (or any novice) whatever I have understood thus far.




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Many thanks.
Prady.
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