Enjoyed a lot your post! Playing 10-minute games online seems like playing classical games nowadays.. But real focus means real fun, whethever field you are actually interested in
This was such a well-timed post, thank you. I used to love our weekly OTB games at the local chess club for exactly the reasons you mention, but we haven't been back in-person post-COVID out of an abundance of caution for our high-risk members. Wanting to get back into it, I signed up for a tournament this past weekend and got destroyed—on the board and emotionally—by kids rated 100–200 points lower than me (I try not to put much stock in Elo ratings but they're hard to ignore). I played worse and worse and I think a large part was that I'd lost the mental stamina I once had.
As someone getting into chess at a later age, I don't have any results-oriented goals. I just really enjoy learning chess as an intellctual pursuit and self-improvement project. Still, going 1-4 in a tournament as one of the highest rated in my section was humbling, to say the least. I'll be taking a break from tournament play, but I do see the value in it and will probably be back sooner than later.
Try being a TD/Arbiter. You don't get to sit down!
Enjoyed a lot your post! Playing 10-minute games online seems like playing classical games nowadays.. But real focus means real fun, whethever field you are actually interested in
This was such a well-timed post, thank you. I used to love our weekly OTB games at the local chess club for exactly the reasons you mention, but we haven't been back in-person post-COVID out of an abundance of caution for our high-risk members. Wanting to get back into it, I signed up for a tournament this past weekend and got destroyed—on the board and emotionally—by kids rated 100–200 points lower than me (I try not to put much stock in Elo ratings but they're hard to ignore). I played worse and worse and I think a large part was that I'd lost the mental stamina I once had.
As someone getting into chess at a later age, I don't have any results-oriented goals. I just really enjoy learning chess as an intellctual pursuit and self-improvement project. Still, going 1-4 in a tournament as one of the highest rated in my section was humbling, to say the least. I'll be taking a break from tournament play, but I do see the value in it and will probably be back sooner than later.
Nice post!