Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
Have you ever found yourself comparing yourself to others?
I've been a true victim of this in the past.
From time to time, I scroll through social media and I can't help but compare the lives of others I perceive are in a better place to mine. Friends achieving things I admire, even those I don't know.
Pretty toxic and unhealthy behaviour I tell you.
This, however, is one of the most important things chess has helped me conquer.
Life is a process
True satisfaction, happiness, and success come after we have conquered the greatest of adversaries.
Notice, in life, when things come easy we don't tend to appreciate it as much. Compared to when we work super hard for it, then we can truly see the beauty and value in what we have achieved.
Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash
It may be something of exactly the same value but our appreciation of the said thing is much determined by how hard it was for us to get it.
Think about it, whenever money comes easily, we tend to abuse and misuse it. Not because the money itself isn't valuable, but because our appreciation of it at that time is far from optimum.
Also, imagine trying to chase someone, a romantic partner. Usually, it's the girls that play hard to get that the guys tend to appreciate more when they're able to finally get them. But when the ladies come easy, we tend to ignore their intrinsic values.
You see the pattern now?
As soon as you get to learn Chess, you get the understanding that the harder the opponents and moves you get to encounter over the board, the greater your satisfaction when you're able to conquer. And most importantly, the more beneficial it is to you as you become a better player in general.
This is something that is common to every human, not just a certain type of person.
And this is why men like Alexander the Great created chaos even when there was no need to. The art of conquering itself brings great pleasure
Sometimes, we think life is completely unfair for us. We see others doing well, especially financially and we begin to look at their lives and compare. But the truth is, as long as you're putting the work in, the fact that you're not there yet doesn't define you.
It's all a process, all the hardship you experience is to better prepare you for the great experiences and responsibilities to come.
Like Uncle Ben said: "With great power comes great responsibility"
Keep believing, and trust the process, it'll all make sense someday. And the satisfaction will be through the roof.
Never give up, keep the game on long enough and you might just find the defining moment.
Take it easy, take it one move at a time.
Hive Chess S17 Finale.
The amazing Hivechess season 17 came to a conclusion on Friday, the 23rd.
What an incredible season it has been, lots of interesting games, rounds, format, and overall an amazing experience. I haven't to give big Kudos to @stayoutoftherz for consistently conveying the Hivechess tournament successfully for 17 seasons now. Really amazing! 👏
The 10th and final round was a 5+1 80 mins Blitz Arena. And our top 3 Victors were:
- eniolw @eniolw
- Iamchessguy01 @iamchessguy
- Tortyllan @dhilan04
And for a finale special, I will be doing something a little different. I will be analyzing one game from the tournament victors and I'll share a number of interesting puzzle positions from the round.
Game 1
The very first round pairing was a face-off between eniolw and Tortyllan see the full game here
- e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. c3 e6 5. Bd3 Ne7 6. Ne2 c5
The game started as a Caro-kann – an eniolw special, white opted for the advance variation by going e5, usually with the aim of attacking the kingside.
10... h5!? Black is going for it. Trying to play on the Kingside as well and put pressure on the Knight on g3, as if White allows h4, the Knight won't have any good squares to go to.
White did allow it though and after, 12...Nf5, black has achieved equality and perhaps is slightly better.
17...b5 I like blacks play, playing on both sides of the board.
Black at this point has more space advantage and better piece placement. White on the other hand has his Knights on e1 and e2 which doesn't look too good.
20...a4 the b-file opens and black controls it at the moment.
23... Rb8 is a positional sacrifice. The idea is black gets a far advanced past pawn on the queenside, leaving white with a weak c3 pawn and white doesn't really have any counterplays.
27...Nc4?! was wrong as Rc8 simply wins the weak c3 pawn. 28.Rc1 to defend is not possible because of b2 pawn fork.
After 28. Nxc4 dxc4 29. Qe4 black was still better though, but lost the advantage against with 29...Rd8, Ne7-d5 was a slightly better idea, keeping the Knight on a very active outpost.
Play however continued with a queen exchange and a trade of black h pawn.
Then the last critical moment of the game came after 40...f6 White's only chance to draw was by playing Re1. But after exf6 and gxf6 White's king is lined up with Black's rook and with e5 coming, black infiltrates with his rook and Knight while White's rook stays passive on the b2.
White resigns after 45. Ke3
Puzzles
1.
Full game: https://lichess.org/BiUdm8qe/white
White played 45.d6??
What is the best move for white?
2.
Full game: https://lichess.org/jBkHDvRJ/white
White plays 35. Qe3? Can you find a better move for white?
3.
Full game: https://lichess.org/s5hnKm98/black
Black plays 20... Rfxd8?? Can you spot the best move?
4.
Full game: https://lichess.org/knh7vxG7/white
White played 18. Qf2?! Can you find a better move?
All positions are from games from the Hivechess Season 17 Finale which you can check out here
And excitingly, I ranked 2nd on the season's final standings amongst the >2099 rated!
Source
Big congratulations to @eniolw for emerging as the category winner. And also to all winners of the various categories and to everyone who participated to make the season a success!
For more details on the Hive Chess Season 17 Finale, please visit the official article
For the detailed rules please refer to the announcement post.
That's pretty much it. Thank you for reading!
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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