I'm getting over how far back I've gone, and chess is fun again.
In my last post I talked about how disheartened I was to have slid so far back in my abilities. However, I'm getting past my surprise and disappointment (and fear of forgetting things in life), and I'm finally really enjoying playing again!
On Monday, I had a couple fun games at a local pub. I got exposed to a few different openings, discussed some failed ideas, lost every game I played, and had a blast! Strong pawn structures, the need for present material to capitalize on weaknesses, and the importance of tempo in the opening came up in my games.
The most memorable part of the evening was, after a long while losing a match, finding counterplay by gambiting a whole rook to expose the enemy king -- when I was already down material! My opponent and I wound up discussing the position and the only moves he had that would avoid checkmate, and we did find a line that allowed him to escape (and secure my resignation), but the experience was fun and rewarding nonetheless.
Gambiting the rook is a memory I'll hold onto because if you know my personality in daily life, you would not expect me to play chess the way I do. You might correctly predict that I sometimes play extremely cautiously, but you would fail to predict that I also play with ruthless aggression when I find a weakness to capitalize on. I wonder how people will describe my style when I have the strength to have a style.
Chess is fun. I'm not taking it too seriously this go-round. I'm trying to remind myself that it is a game.
I'll be going back to that pub! I may have even made a new friend or two, time will tell...
