Glenn Diaz - Unsplash
How one year of inactivity affected my chess (positively?)
I've been thinking whether to write this or not, but since I'm bored and I work on a ship now, I feel compelled to talk about chess because I miss playing it so much!
Long story short, in January I played my first classical tournament since February last year. To be completely honest with you, I didn't study much because I was taking a break from chess. (Only took a peek at some new openings that I wanted to try out).
My plan for the tournament
I set myself a fun challenge: Every game I play, I have to play a new opening, so, I looked into some main variations, ideas and that's it.
I also tried not to be influenced by the player's Elo, rather focusing solely on the board and the game itself. Many times I can get lost in the game and get stuck in the plan I previously had in mind and my vision can become blurry and it affects my thought process. Therefore, I'm constantly reminding myself to reassess the position from scratch, after every move, seeing whether my original plan is still valid. This helps me to adapt to the demands of the position rather than forcing ideas that no longer work.
Without further ado, here are some of the games:
Game 1
First game is always a "warm up game" to get my mind back in classical chess mode. So it can go either very well or very bad (normally the latter).
Game 2
A very tactically complicated game, after the disaster it seemed like I had chances to draw, but to no avail.
Game 3
This one went a bit better and I'm quite proud of how I hold onto that position despite feeling so under pressure all the time.
Game 4
For sure that this game is, until now, my best classical game yet. I was playing with no fear and was completely focused and determined. And my opponent was rated 200 points higher than me (1885).
Short Reflection
As I mentioned before, I'm not a chess expert, I'm not trying to educate anyone and very likely my analysis is not the most correct. I'm just sharing my experience.
Chess is a very beautiful game, but it is also a very tiring one. I think stepping away from the board for a while helps reset the mind. We can get stuck in the same patterns and ideas. A short break can bring back motivation, creativity, and a fresh perspective.
Be happy, be kind, play chess.