analyze this
monday morning, just got back from running. why i wake up before 6 .am. to run baffles me. i can’t say i honestly enjoy it, but i do it. not always, but enough. when i run, in addition to thinking “this sucks, i hate this, i want to stop, i could be eating a pizza, ” i also think about other crap, like how much i want to really really really learn chess, it’s mysteries, its inner secrets. running isn’t teaching me about chess, but it does build up my tolerance for suffering, so i can handle losing at tournaments a bit better.
the tour de france is over. someone came in last. that guy, for the rest of his life, can brag about it. people can say “yeah, but you finished last in the tour de france” and he can, with all pride, answer “yup. i FINISHED the TOUR DE FRANCE.” first off, the guy finshed. second, it was le tour. to come in last in le tour is cooler and better than winning some of the smaller races. it’s the freakin tour.
well, i kinda wanna be that guy in chess. i don’t need to be a grand master, i don’t need to dominate and destroy. but i want to be good enough to come in last at the highest levels. i want to look at a position and correctly say “oh, white looks strong, and more developed, but black’s king is safer and black is generating a strong attack against a weaker white king, so black has a better position. i’d move b5.”
i’m probably going to enter the chess tournement in reno, nevada, october this year. gives me something to train for, something to shoot for. and i might get to meet r.l. pearson of wahrheit chess blog fame. and it’s reno, so there is that.
i shall leave you with a puzzle. it’s not tactics, it’s positional.
white to move and eventually win. i’ll post the answer tomorrow evening arizona time.
