My first foray into chess - part II
A humbling experience to say the least
Before we get into it, this post is the second part of this story! To read part I:
(… continued…)
The chess master was about to respond with a rebuttal, but was denied the satisfaction. Bill jumped in with a long rambling speech that essentially requested for the lecture to resume to the beginning so that Bill could understand the strategy.
It looked as if the chess master was about to explode. “I’m sorry, who are you?” he demanded of Bill.
Although it was my first time attending the club, I could tell that the chess master had dominion over the club, and was dumbfounded and angry with this attempt at undermining his authority, especially by two newcomers. The three then devolved into an argument about the strategy. The chess master was touting his years of experience. Bill was asking whether the chess master could train his daughter. It was pure chaos. The orthogonal personalities of the trio resulted in a tension was so palpable. There was no resolution.
Like a cool breeze, the club organizer wafted in and calmly directed the room to prepare the boards. Bill turned back towards me, “Whatever this guy is selling, I ain’t buying,” sticking his thumb over his back towards the chess master. “Don’t believe half of what he says.”
This was my first 30 minutes. I felt like a windswept leaf in the hurricane that is the world of chess.
The club organizer entered our names into a computer software along with our ranks. I did not have a rank, and when inspecting my Chess.com rating, I found it too low for the software. I was off to a great start.
At the click of a button, our matchups were projected on a screen and we all scattered to our assigned boards. Self-conscious and nervous, I explained to all my opponents that it was my first time playing over the board in literally decades and I just recently started learning this past winter. Some were gracious about this information; others ravenous.
In my first game of tournament play, I was matched against an elderly gentleman. Given the man’s age and surly demeanor, I figured I was about to be destroyed. However, I was strong in the opening and started to relax. I was focused on mobilizing pieces and controlling the center. However, I was thinking too long and my clock was running out. In an effort to save time, I quickly pushed a pawn forward with my right hand, and smacked the clock with my left hand.
“SAME HAND!” the man yelled at me, piercing the silence of the tournament play. This made me jump, not only from the volume of his voice, but the realization that I had violated a tournament rule: the same hand that you use to move the piece is the one you use to hit the clock. I apologized and we continued, only for me to lose on time just a few moves later. 45 minutes in and I had witnessed a vociferous argument and was yelled at for breaking the rules. Despite the nerdiness, which I am no stranger to, chess was tougher than I expected. It felt like high school waterpolo practice all over again.
My next two games were played against guys my age. The first of these I played very strangely; I nearly moved my way into submission. I was playing too defensive and my position was so backwards and jammed that at one point only a pawn was playable. Despite this, I was still able to capture his queen, but resigned because I again ran out of time.
The next game I was clearly outplayed and was checkmated. But I noticed a strange phenomenon that I wonder if other online chess players experience: the 3D nature of playing chess over the board resulted in me moving my bishop off diagonal. It’s as if my depth perception was so used to the overhead view of the board that I couldn’t process diagonals effectively. I’d put my money on that this is a novice problem.
Finally, I arrived at my final match. Staring across from me was a child, no older than 6 years old, with jet black hair that fell in a perfect line across his forehead and midway past his ear. A bowl cut that I haven’t seen in ages. He was sniffly, rubbing his sleeve across his nose. My focus flittered from thoughts of COVID to getting destroyed by this kid.
“What’s your rank?” he asked deadpan. I explained that I had only started learning a few months ago and essentially didn’t have a rank.
“He’s 1300!” remarked the table to my left; both kids couldn’t have been more than 10 years old. Although I was new to chess, I knew that 1300 was much higher than my supposed 300 that was entered into the software earlier that night.
“Great! Go easy on me please,” I said with a smile, genuinely excited for the game. I played my usual moves, but realized immediately I was playing with a different beast. He was moving his pieces before I could even hit my clock! It was incredibly unnerving to have an opponent move so fast; he was anticipating my every move and had already calculated the perfect response. He was so deft. So fast. I could tell this was easy for him; no thought required.
In roughly 8 moves, I was checkmated. As he slid his knight into the final blow he was already sliding off his chair to inform the organizer of his victory for the official record. When he came back, went through the game and he debated various moves with me; none of which I registered. He was simply at a different level. I was in awe.
The games then began to end, one by one, falling like dominoes around me. It was getting late, so I thanked the organizer and headed home, more motivated than ever to learn more chess and attend more meetups. I wanted to learn all the openings, study the variations, practice the 5-minute games on Chess.com to get an intuitive feel for the game. I would come back next week and, hopefully, start to get better.
I enjoyed the chess meetups for a few additional weeks, and managed to even win a game against a beginner like myself. Little did I know that my life would be turned upside down for a few months. My dog Luna, a kind bounding black lab mix and my wife’s source of happiness, took a turn for the worse and developed idiopathic thrombocytopenia. Thankfully, she was able to make a full recovery after a few months of treatment and rest. But as of this writing, I have yet to return to my local chess meet up. Like Luna’s platelets, my chess skills need time to develop and grow.
If you’ve made it this far, you must really be into chess. If you ever want to play a game with a beginner, feel free to connect with me on Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/member/mkmiecik14 I love playing chess and I always have a great time!