I think it probably was! He definitely had a gamesmanship vibe — played a lot of moves very quickly, put the pieces down VERY firmly. If so, it worked. The weirdest part was the knight move that came before the draw — it had the energy of, "Well, this is over, I'm just going to stop attacking you." It wasn't a good move but it kind of added to the psychology of, "I guess this... is over?"
Hey Kevin, I really enjoyed this post and its always WAY harder at the board, but the one thing missing is some analysis of variations. I haven't plugged this into an engine, but if you take on e4 and play Rook e8 check then re7 arent you just winning a pawn due to Nh5 or Ne6 threats? (Hence the +1.5 evaluation?) If thats correct you've got to play for the win, and shouldn't fear losing too much. (Again, easier said than done!) Keep up the great work.
Thanks Ben! It's funny — part of why I wanted to write about it this way is because when I was looking at it over the board I was totally thinking about it in terms of evaluations and emotions and not in terms of concrete variations. Which... isn't great! It's part of why I ultimately decided to take the draw and not fight it out... I found myself struggling to touch back into the chess realities of the position. I feel like in the future I would be best served by just taking a deep breath, dismissing all of the concerns about the outcome, and really trying to look at what might happen next.
Next question, was getting you to think about evaluations and emotions instead of calculating why your opponent offered the draw?
I think it probably was! He definitely had a gamesmanship vibe — played a lot of moves very quickly, put the pieces down VERY firmly. If so, it worked. The weirdest part was the knight move that came before the draw — it had the energy of, "Well, this is over, I'm just going to stop attacking you." It wasn't a good move but it kind of added to the psychology of, "I guess this... is over?"
Hey Kevin, I really enjoyed this post and its always WAY harder at the board, but the one thing missing is some analysis of variations. I haven't plugged this into an engine, but if you take on e4 and play Rook e8 check then re7 arent you just winning a pawn due to Nh5 or Ne6 threats? (Hence the +1.5 evaluation?) If thats correct you've got to play for the win, and shouldn't fear losing too much. (Again, easier said than done!) Keep up the great work.
Thanks Ben! It's funny — part of why I wanted to write about it this way is because when I was looking at it over the board I was totally thinking about it in terms of evaluations and emotions and not in terms of concrete variations. Which... isn't great! It's part of why I ultimately decided to take the draw and not fight it out... I found myself struggling to touch back into the chess realities of the position. I feel like in the future I would be best served by just taking a deep breath, dismissing all of the concerns about the outcome, and really trying to look at what might happen next.