Why some never reach their full chess potential.

I started playing chess a lot more frequently in 2005 when I met one of my best friends who taught me most of what I know about chess.  

We started playing chess as a group in Starbucks.  We played a lot of games, and we were competitive.  We started off playing 10-minute games, then we graduated to 5-minute games, then, someone, decided for all of us that we should play 3-minute games.

So that's what we did.  We played 3-minute games.  We had a lot of interesting games, that were all unrecorded.  As the years passed, some of us took breaks from playing, and eventually, due to covid, we stopped meeting.

One of the guys that I played with at Starbucks was a guy who took a long time to come up with moves.  He was one of the smarter chess players, as one might call it.

Most of life's greatest secrets are very easy to understand, yet hard for most people to have their heads wrapped around those ideas, simply because it sounds too simple, and they have different ideas of how things work.

This guy has his own ideas of how chess works, at least the e4 e5 opening.  I told him the secret to that opening, and it was like I was talking to a wall.  He didn't listen at all.  You can tell most beginners of any field of study the secret to whatever field you are applying for, and they will not listen, if their foundation is not set properly.

I know another guy that I have played with many times, who "has his own ideas about chess" as well.  The problem with how these people play chess is that they have given up on themselves, and decided to use deceit, and trickery, to beat people at chess.

This kind of deceit can be taking too long to make your moves when both parties are playing without the clock.  Or, making bad opening moves, just to make your opponent get a big head, or waste time on the clock.  This is the wide path, and most people take this wide path, not just in chess, but even in other aspects of their lives.

I went to the cemetery today to visit my dead mother for mothers day.  My Father, I, and one of my brothers went.  As we were leaving, a car parked too close to the center of the road and there was something on the other side of the road creating a narrow path to lead outside of the cemetary.  

I was too scared to go through this narrow path.  I just parked in front of it.  My brother had to get out of his car and pass it for me.  

All my life, I have been following the wide path.  The path most people take.  Not just in chess, but also in every single other aspect of my life.  

The narrow path to chess is to just look for checks captures and threats, for every move, including watching what your opponent is doing on the other side of the board.  Most players don't do that.  They use gimmic openings as a tricky psychological device to give the player on the opposite end of the board false hope or a big head.  They are hoping that they themselves will also start making not so the best moves.

The sad part of the story is that this strategy works very well.  The flip side of the coin, is that one picks up bad habits, and doesn't really learn about chess really at all.  They are playing a different game entirely. A game of deceit and trickery.  Which doesn't mean they are bad people, it's just that they are hindering their own development, by not looking for the best move all the time they lose sight of why we play chess.  To become better decision makers, rather so, they rely on these devices which are not chess, to overcome the individual they are playing.  Chess is fun.  Chess is free.  Chess is beautiful, but in the wrong hands, it can hurt a chess player that is just following the simple truth, that chess is about making the best move possible all the time.  

I'm not even talking about speed chess.  Speed chess is a very different animial.  yes, you do anything to win at speed chess.  However, to mislead people into having them think you are not as good at chess as you really are, really shows you just have something to hid.  you are probably thinking, "I might be in a tournament with him one day, I don't want to show him my tricks, I'm just going to let him win."  The most respectful thing you can do to a chess player, is play your very best, all the time.  Yeah there are times one must play inferior moves to help the person on the other side of the board learn, but if it is because, you are trying to gain a psychological advantage over your opponent, then you have given up on your self, and taken the wide path.

Like I did with my car at the cemetary, I have been waiting outside the gate of the narrow path all my life.  

Again I will say, the narrow path to chess, is to get better at chess the right way, the conventional way, not by making up gimmic openings, or relying on deceit and trickery to gain an advantage.  Get a coach.

It's time for me to start going forth into the narrow path (in all aspects of my life), the path that is not taken by more people, because they don't understand it.  Some people will believe this is utter foolishness.  Others might listen.

It's so simple, yet without a solid foundation, it sounds really foolish.

You may win the game, but you will never win the war.