Taking the Journey Along the Road to Improvement

It is a lifelong quest that never truly ends for chess players.

The more we play, the more patterns we pick up, the more mistakes we make, the more inspiration we have. We win, draw and lose games with the whole spectrum of emotions that comes with each result.

This journey along the road to improvement is different for each individual player, writes Peter Kitchen.

But for many active members of Shrewsbury Chess Club, the first half of the current league season has seen plenty of instances where stepping out of the comfort zone – and perhaps enduring some short-term pain as a result – has been a vital first step towards improving their playing ability.

The A team’s recent Shropshire Chess League draw with Telepost B is a fine example of this. It is a match we would have hoped to win, and indeed we did lead twice, only getting pegged back when Nathanael Paul lost the final game to finish on time.

But despite the initial disappointment at not winning the match, a look at the bigger picture shows there was a lot to be proud of in that match – and that it would serve the development of the players involved well.

Take Nathanael on top board for starters. He entered the final stages of the game knowing a draw would be enough to clinch the match – and indeed that looked the most likely result with a wall of eight pawns for each side blocking up the board.

But knowing his opponent Daniel Hilditch-Love was short of time, he saw an opportunity to play for the win and opened up the position, despite having just dropped an exchange.

Ultimately, it was a risk that on the night didn’t pay off. But it nearly did – and Nathanael hasn’t become the feared player he is by taking draws and not trying to extract the most out of a position. It is a model attitude for others to follow.

Likewise, Dan Lockett endured disappointment on the night, losing to a lower-rated opponent in James Holyhead. But Dan too pushed himself out of his comfort zone in an attempt to develop his game – usually a very solid player, he aggressively sacrificed a piece for two pawns and despite having the black pieces maintained an initiative and attack for most of the night, only to leave himself open to a counter attack towards the end.

It could be argued that playing this way will serve his development and understanding better than playing in his normal style.

I was also particularly taken by comments that Francis Best made after he lost a tight game as black against Chris Lewis in the defeat at Newport A, where he missed a tactic that would have netted him a potentially decisive material and positional advantage.

He said: “Technically, the subsequent ending was drawn but easier to play for white and, now low on time, I played a few inaccurate moves until finally Chris was able to push through his c-pawn to win the game.

“I was cross with myself afterwards but actually, when looking at it now, am pleased that I managed to create winning chances out of nothing, even if I subsequently went wrong afterwards.

“It was also much more balanced towards the end than I realised and you only get better at such endings by not agreeing to draws and ploughing on.

“One take away is to keep looking for resources through counterplay, even if things look difficult. I think I stopped looking, if I’m honest, already having thought the position was gone.”

The England cricket team has garnered a lot of headlines and attention for its “Bazball” approach to Test matches, particularly being very aggressive in its approach to both batting – scoring at a very fast rate – and bowling with aggressive fielding strategies.

While I wouldn’t quite put Shrewsbury’s chess players in the same bracket, what is clear is that a change in approach and avoided a staid way of thinking can only be beneficial to them in the long term. Particularly not taking draws and playing positions out – knowing that all three results still remain possible.

While we learn a lot from our mistakes and losses, it is also only right to acknowledge and appreciate when things go right.

During the Telepost B match, Mark Smith played an excellent game to defeat John Westhead, seizing the initiative and a pawn’s advantage in the middlegame before finishing off the ending with a superior knight versus a bishop in an extremely clinical style.

Mark, like all of us, will have played many games like that where victory may have slipped through the net in the past – but this was a really cool and controlled performance from start to finish.