unsubscribed_account1 blog | Open New Blog

"obviously chess is a battle of sorts"? , but the question is "what is the struggle between", and is it really a struggle or a natural flow. To percieve it mearly as a strugle between two opposing forces may lead you to miss much about the nature of the game and it's evolution. Yes the are fighting one an other, but like in martial arts to oppose force with force leads to ugly games without any grace or finnese. For me this is best illustrated by the sicilian defence, white stakes out e4,d5,f5 with the initial and common advance of e4, and black as opposed to directly opposing this searches for a way to flow round the occupation of said squares with the advance c5. Without writing a book on the subject, I would say it is due to the very nature of this move that makes the sicilian so exciting to play and watch.

When one is playing chess, are you battling someone else or yourself. I would say the latter. Certainly for me  it is an internal battle or struggle for better understanding not just of the game but the essence of life and how to deal with everyday situations. Panic about an aggressive move and your sure to make a blunder and fall for the trap... However, keep a calm head and your likely to find an fine solution and make your opponent pay for his over aggression. Like in life a ballance must be found between aggression and passivity. To much of one or the other may leave you exposed, or inactive. A ballance between arrogance and confidence is also essential. If one is over arrogant against a low rated opponent overreaching your position is common. They may not see how to beat you, but if you do, for me you have essentially beaten yourself. Respect and sportsmanship plays an important part in the conduct of games. Like in life if you cannot take or give  advice without being arrogant and aggressive your window of learning is greatly reduced. Playing chess helps one develop these aspects of character (amongst many others) and transpose them into life. For me it isn't about winning or losing, just expanding ones mind. A good loser always learns a lesson form the loss and is stronger after. Sometimes to lose is more valuable than to win.

This could go on but I got work to do.