Chess is quite an easy game to learn.
An average person can learn all the basics of chess in only a few hours.
However, where the difficulty arises is in the art of Mastery.
The complexities of the 64 squares become more evident as you advance in the game.
The same can be said of the game of life.
The farther you go in life the more complex it may become. You begin to realize there are so many things you do not know.
You get humbled by the fact that some things are not as predictable as they may appear.
In Chess, it takes tremendous dedication, consistency, and hard work to become a master of the game.
The highest official title a player can earn aside from becoming world champion is the GM (Grand Master) title.
Just to give an idea of how difficult that feat is. No one from my country has been able to achieve the Grand Master title ever.
Similarly, in life, becoming one of the best in anything you do requires just as much work, perhaps more, as it is required of one who wishes to master the 64 squares.
And even at Mastery, you find out you're only human and you can still make mistakes.
Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash
That being said, there is one factor that helps.
Whether it's in mastering chess or mastering life.
That factor is LUCK.
I think this is something that's not talked about a lot.
To achieve some level of success in any area of your life. You require some degree of luck.
Factors like:
- Location
- Time
- Money
can play an important role in your road to experiencing better luck.
But luck isn't something we have control over — or is it?
"Good players are always lucky" is a common saying in chess.
Yes, we may not have direct control of luck.
But, we can improve our chances of getting good luck.
For chess players, this is achieved by placing the pieces on the appropriate squares, especially during the opening phase of the game.
Well, just like in chess, you can improve your chances of good luck in life by positioning yourself in a good spot as early as possible!
You can achieve this by working hard to constantly learn and develop yourself.
We can create our own luck by setting goals, developing skills, and making choices that align with our objectives.
Hive Chess
So this week I got the chance to hop on Hive Chess once again. I didn't perform very well and the first game I will be analyzing is one of my games against the Hive Chess creator & convener @stayoutoftherz
Game 1
ZGM_Samostically (2136) vs stayoutoftherz (2023) view game here
The game started as a Caro Kann. I went for the 2 Knights variation with Nc3 and Nf3.
All standard moves ... however, my first mistake came after 14. axb5?! At the time, I thought I was harmlessly releasing some tension on the queenside but this only gives black the initiative with ideas like a5 and Rc8, putting pressure on my queenside.
- g4? Another mistake. In desperation to get something going, I weakened my kingside for no solid reason.
Perhaps I would have had better chances with 15. 0-0 but after ... a4 16. Ba2 c3 17. 0-0, the computer still gives black a +2 advantage.
After 15. g4 Bg6, trying to forge on with the idea of an attack that was nonexistent, I played 16. Nfe5? blundering a pawn. And with my position already bad.
But it's not over until it's over so I surely didn't resign at this moment.
My opponent did an awesome job of not letting me off the hook and keeping his advantage with active play.
23.Nf4!
I had no choice here but to take the Knight. And with more pieces coming off the board, the closer black gets to winning.
After a series of moves, the final blows came
31.Bd3!?
Even better was Rd2! and the queen has no good squares to go. Say after Qb5, Qf3, and its Qb8+ Kh7 Qh2 Rxb2 and the Bishop has no safe squares, white loses the Bishop and the game.
Bd3 however was good enough to get the job done.
Game 2
Pavarotty (2375) vs rosmarly (2101) view game here
Pavarotty had a great tournament.
One game I found particularly interesting was this game against rosmarly
Here he played the King's Indian Attack. One of my favorite openings.
The KIA starts pretty slowly but can easily lead to an overwhelming attack on Black's king or a positional masterclass. It entails a lot of maneuvering and you have to be aware of the basic ideas at the very list or you could easily get crushed.
It is playable against countless structures black wishes to employ and black can't really do much to avoid the set-up.
Another good thing is that it can be reached in different ways, even with 1.e4 which happened in the game.
In this game black opts for an early dxe4
Sometimes black delays castling and later castle to the king's side, but not in this game.
The game progressed with the standard maneuvers.
Black tries expanding on the Queenside
White goes N1d2 which I don't like, white seems to be trying to neutralize black's play on the queenside, but this was a bad move though as after, c4 black Knight can only retreat to f1 and Black's position is simply better.
Black misses c4! and played Na5, 16.b3 was played to prevent the Knight from jumping to c4
Letting White have the a-file for free was a crucial mistake in my opinion
Just like the majority of KIA games go. White still has an initiative for a kingside attack as there are usually a handful of white pieces on the kingside from the early maneuvering.
Qg4!
My kind of move. Going for the King.
The game continued 28. Qg4 Rd8 29. Nf6+ Bxf6 30. exf6 g6 31. h5 g5 32. f4 and with black's camp under fire he makes the decisive blunder.
Can you spot the sequence of finishing moves?
leave your thoughts in the comment below.
Want to check out more games from the tournament? Go Here
Also, you can check out the official round post here
I am @samostically,I love to talk and write about chess because i benefited alot from playing chess. I love to review books and movies too!.I believe life is all about staying happy and maintaining peace.
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