Hi everyone!
I just started reading ‘Think Like a Monk’ by Jay Shetty. Shetty is a former monk and now a purpose coach. In his book, he writes a chapter about fear, that made me think about what I’m fearing in chess.
This week I have played two 45+30 games. In both games, I end up giving a pawn in each game to try to save them. Here are the endgame positions:
My opponent had more chances in game 1 compared to game 2, but both games lasted for +70 moves. I managed to survive both games. However, I noticed that I was a bit fearful of misplaying the positions. I also offered draws in both games to avoid this potential pain from losing.
“Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life.”
—Buddha
From a learning perspective, I should just have taken it as a good way to learn the endgame. But at the moment in both games, I just wanted to escape with half a point.
The free climber Alex Honnold, who famously free-climbed El Capitan, has faced many questions about taking risks. I think the following quote puts things into perspective:
”So many people condemn me for risk taking, but I find it sort of hypocritical because everybody takes risks. Even the absence of activity could be viewed as a risk. If you sit on the sofa for your entire life, you're running a higher risk of getting heart disease and cancer.”
—Alex Honnold
In some of my past OTB games, I have also offered a draw to avoid the risk of losing. Something I need to change moving forward.
In short — by fearing losing I have risked not learning
I asked on Twitter what others fear in chess:
What do you fear when playing chess?
Best,
Martin
Great article! shame I didn't see it sooner! I'm still a relative beginner/intermediate in chess but I definitely get that endgame anxiety. Although I've studied and should know how to draw an endgame I'd still rather offer a draw than play it out..
Great article. For me it is wasting my time training chess when there are so many things to try out there.