Quote:
Originally Posted by NL Loki
Got stood up for a movie (50 shades of grey lol) so still single
I don't bother to watch it because I've heard a lot of negative testimonials (about depiction of abuse there). Did you find it watchable or terrible?
That you're single is not automatically bad, it depends on your attitude to it. Are you romantic?
Edit: don't forget that Feb 14 is first and foremost the Ferris Wheel Day
Regarding the chess career: in case I didn't state it assertively enough, it must be a quest for the grandmaster title at the very least. I briefly thought recently about going for CM/FM myself from the same ~1800 point, but it's just not worth my effort, especially because I break down under pressure.
And as you seem rather depressed, I advise against going for GM because, as IM YouKnowWho
stated wisely, chess is by 75% about psychology and execution and only by 25% about theory. If you look into your past games, you'll likely notice that most of your (half-)point losses happened not because of being less smart than the opponent, but because of making subpar moves that you wouldn't have made had you been in a calm state of mind and with no time pressure and if your success in life didn't depend on it.
It means that: 1) you might start loathing yourself for making those stupid mistakes like I do, 2) you might become afraid of making them OTB and thus feel more nervous and concentrate less on finding the right move, 3) your real-life problems might spill onto the board as well.
If you haven't read IM Joshua Waitzkin's 'The Art of Learning' book, you'd better do so asap. I was advised to read it in the poker context, which testifies that it's not only about chess and martial arts, but about competitive activities in general. It has a lot of insight into the psychological part of the game, can be rightfully called 'The Mental Game of Chess', being as instructive as Tendler's and Carter's series about poker.
Last edited by coon74; 02-14-2015 at 05:48 PM.
Reason: added reference to Waitzkin's book