Why Chess Is My Favourite Game?

I believe in Chess.

“Did you know that there are more combinations in chess than all of the atoms in the universe?” This is the quote that led me to chess exactly a decade ago. When that quote came up to me from my teacher, I dragged my mom with me to the chess tournament which happened to be the first match that day. I arrived a few minutes before the game, so right after I took a seat, the whole room went quiet.

The cacophony of laughter and voices that accompanied the start of the tournament now trickled down to eerie dead silence, intermittently shattered by gasps and sighs whenever the players made a move.

After two hours of mind-boggling battles, only one pair was still in their game. Both players seem worn out; the air grew thick with anticipation overtime when the match was getting close to an end. With a heavy sigh, one guy covered up his face and faced the table, and the other one stood up and walked back to the journalists piling up at the door.

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The tension lifted off the stadium right after, just as mysteriously as it appeared. By now everyone must have known the winner and started murmuring. But after taking a long breath, the seeming winner announced “I lost, but I’m glad that I lost. He deserved it.” To me, that brief sentence was not a sign of resignation but an honor. He had fought, and he had fought his best, there is nothing to be ashamed of.

After those few seconds, I went straight to my mom and asked her to let me study chess. After a year of constant practicing and learning new techniques, I finally got a chance to sign up for a school tournament. When the day arrived, I was shocked when the name of my first opponent was last year’s champion.

But the pressure was lifted. “What shame is there in losing to the school’s top player,” I thought. I gently shook my opponent hand, and the match started. Two hours went by like an arrow, and right after I let go of my Queen, my mind went blank. I have put every last bit of strength for that last moment, and now, everything seems so calm. The only thing I could do was looking at the chessboard and let go of myself. My opponent stood up a few seconds later, and he went straight to the referee. “So that’s what victory feels like,” I smiled.

My rational decision had become a source of pride. It was also a chance to learn. By driving myself to the limit in a person-to-person test of wills, I learned the value of real-life interactions and the irreplaceability of relentless effort. Assiduousness in strategy brought me to success, eroding my opponent’s mental strength and endurance.

Life is not all too different from my experience with chess, I learned. We map out a strategy, a battle plan, and from there success or failure is a matter of following through—relentless hard work and the resolve never to quit. Every match is a new story and a remarkable ordeal. We just have to be willing to embrace it, prepare for it, and devote ourselves to it.