Tuesday, April 01, 2008

The Next Big Thing

It turns out that despite my devastating, heartrending (blah, blah) loss in the last round of the Reno CC Ch. Qualifier I'm not going to be taking six weeks off after all; due to a player dropping out I've been invited to join the fun in the Swiss that will determine who makes the "Elite Eight" and the match play portion of the event. The first round is Thursday, the pairings are up on the RCC site, and behold, I get to take on Kevin Gafni, aka drunknknite, in two days. Awesome! Playing with the best players in the club is and has been my goal, and now the opportunity is at hand.

I've been thinking about and working on the problem I had with "running out of gas" in the game mentioned above, and have come to some conclusions and taken some actions. First, I resumed running three miles three times a week; second, cut down on overall food and sugar consumption, and; third, have generally reduced my daily stress level through the use of various mental disciplines.

Even more important I've decided there will be:



!!!

In my Secrets of a Grandpatzer series I quoted the late, great Dr. Kenneth Mark Colby:

To be a master one needs good physical and mental stamina. But health, mental or physical, is not necessary for the grandpatzer.If you look at a group of us in a chess club tournament, you will observe what wrecks we are...Having problems is not the problem; it's what you do in spite of them that counts. To rise above physical illness and pain, to strive for your best in spite of these distressful states, represents a challenge for the aspiring grandpatzer with artistic goals.

There you have it--my opponents are probably tired, too! Whatever issues are going on before the game will be forgotten during the game, and will no longer be reported here. Having done what we could, let the chips fall where they may.

I'm really excited about my "second chance" to play in this tournament, and I'm going to give it everything I've got.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

First, I resumed running three miles three times a week; second, cut down on overall food and sugar consumption

Um...April Fools', right?

Robert Pearson said...

@LEP--Despite the date, all training methods contained in this post are recreations based on actual incidents.

Unknown said...

Hi Robert, I answered you and I can truly tell you're motivated! This year's tournament is going to be tough.

tanch said...

What doesn't kill u only makes u stronger.

I would have relished this opportunity to the utmost if it was me. I liked playing against stronger opponents because it's the sure fire ticket to improvement. :)