Fear and Panic
Submitted by
on Thu, 06/05/2008 at 3:41pm.
Somebody once quipped that fear is the first time you can't do it the second time, and panic is the second time you can't do it the first time.
And the chess equivalent? For me, fear sets in when I'm a piece down without compensation against an experienced player and panic (also spelt r-e-s-i-g-n-s) sets in when I drop a second piece. Or, for that matter, have a lost end game against an opponent who has demonstrated his ability to win it.
Which reminds me of a lunch-hour game I watched on the Big Board in Sydney's Hyde Park, many years ago.
Not long after FM John Curtis—pictured in the grey suit—won the City of Sydney Championship he was playing one of the park regulars—a useful player but nowhere near John's class. The man lost a piece and, always a gentleman, John let him have the move again. A little later the same thing happened, and later on again.
So during the game John had given this guy three pieces back—equivalent to the odds of a three-piece handicap—and then, scrambling to finish the game before he had to return to work, he made an error and lost the game.
And what what the gracious response from his opponent? “You're not so good after all are you, Mr Champion. Who's the champion now?”
The poor man didn't realise he'd already lost the game three times and was only there due to John's generosity.