We were lying on the bed and watching TV when my mom got a pairing text message. We were so confused. Shouldn’t my tournament start tomorrow? “Mom, did you register Austin for the 6-day schedule? That starts tonight.” “Oops!”
The game was about to start in about half an hour, and I was so unprepared. We were supposed to go out and enjoy dinner. I just couldn’t switch the on and off button and get myself in the mood of playing chess. It didn’t end well. I lost a drawing position in the first round. As for the second game, I was completely winning but blundered.
I was very upset and wanted to withdraw from the tournament because I never lost two in a row at the beginning of any tournaments. My mom told me I could withdraw if I gave her a good reason. Not being prepared is not a good one. In real life, things happen quickly, one would never be given a chance to be well prepared. You adjust and prepare. Just like in a chess game, you could not always get a good starting opening. Would you resign? Never! Fight hard, it’s too early to tell.
These made sense to me. I never resigned from a game when I was losing in the opening, why should I resign now? There were still seven rounds to go and it was too early to tell. The middlegame hasn’t kicked in yet. I wanted to fight hard. If I wasn’t ready before, definitely now.
This thought process proved to work. I ended up getting 6.5/7 of the last 7 rounds and won $108. I was very happy about the result. Well, not only the result. I learned that what happens early in the game (and real-life) doesn’t determine what happens later.
