Chess is a demanding game. For many of us, the game represents a never-ending sequence of challenges. We grow fixated on losses, obsessing over every imperfection in our play, agonizing about the missed opportunities and how we destroyed our rating. In this way, we hold ourselves to unrealistic, if not humanly impossible, expectations. Give yourself a break. Relax and enjoy your chess games. Be proud of your brilliances and learn to laugh at your blunders rather than beating yourself up for not being perfect.
As an example of this philosophy, I present an absolutely atrocious move I made in a recent game that resulted in my own chuckling amusement.
So I missed a mate-in-1 directly leading to the loss of my queen. However, I likely enjoyed the moment more than my opponent!? Why? Because erroring in such a dramatic fashion is worth a good chuckle or two. Just remember to laugh at your mistake and not at yourself and you will be on the path to a lifetime of enjoying chess to it’s fullest.
And if you didn’t find that as amusing as I did, here is a riddle about the knight.:
Riddle: Which knight invented King Arthur’s Round Table?
Answer: Sir Cumference.