Mistake

Yesterday i played a chess match against this player from Malaysia in Chesspark. The usual site i play in. He was a much stronger opponent,1900+ rating and i was 1700+ only, and i thought of just trying to give him a tough fight. The fact that he had the white pieces, which means he gets to go first, made it even harder for me. And i had won 99 games in total of 187 matches. So i thought my 100th victory will have to wait a little while more.

Fast forward to the middle of the match. He made a terrible mistake. He lost his queen, the most powerful piece on the board. And he couldn't capture back the minor piece which captured his queen. Meaning he lost a whole queen for nothing! I had a totally dominant position and very safe king and he's king was stuck in the middle of the board, his pieces were undeveloped. Whereas i have a potential huge attack against him.

At this point, he went missing. He didn't get disconnected. He was in the game, but was not making any move. Maybe realising he made a terrible blunder. Or he went away for awhile. The clock was running down on him. I had about 11mins left. He had only 7minutes. After analysing the position abit while waiting for him, i realise that there was no way back for him. So i started typing in the our game chat. I told him,
''there's no hope for you in this position.
for a 1900+ player, you are not alert enough. you attack so prematurely against me.
even if you cheat now using computer help, also lose. You are down 1 whole queen. no way to catch me.''
And i actually said this ''Thank you for giving me my 100th victory.'' He didn't reply anything.

Eventually he did make a move which i expected. He had only 4minutes left. And i had 11minutes. I played fast knowing that i can smell victory. As the match went on, i made mistakes after mistakes. And as you would have guessed it by now. I actually lost the match! I blew a promising position and after 53 moves i resigned.

The previous chess post, i wrote about presense of mind even in winning position. I didn't have that. And my worst mistake is showing disrespect to my opposition. Call it arrogance or over confidence. I realised in any situation in life, be it work or home, respect for others is of utmost importance. In competition of any sport, no matter how weak their situation is suppose to be, you have to respect them and finish the game off by doing your best. This match thought me alot in life. I was so pissed, i played another 3 matches to get my 100th victory and didn't win any 1 of them. So i took a break and eventually got my 100th win this morning.

Im thankful for this lose. As i can say, i learnt a lesson in life. For those who play chess, can view the match below.




At the end of the game, once i resigned, he finally typed, and he said
''i caught you.''