Bad behavior
Submitted by
on Sat, 06/28/2008 at 8:17am.
Between the age of 7 and 10, playing chess came with a serious risk to my health. Not because I did nothing else and became fat and lazy, nor because I was allergic to the germs that other players left on the chess pieces, but simply because some of the guys in my chess club threatened to beat me up when I would win our game.
Unlike today (sigh), I used to be a strong player for my age. I started playing when I was very young and won most of my games. This did not make me very popular with the older kids, and after most club-nights I had to run for my life.
I was thinking about the survival of the fittest chess player when reading the information brochure of the chess club I recently joined. After not having played chess in a club for many years it was about time to enjoy the game “live” again! It was the fairplay section of the club rules that made my mind wander off. “A good player must also be able to handle losing. Some of us are bad losers, try not to show it. On the other hand there also are bad winners. It can be humiliating to say that your opponent played badly or that it was obvious that you would win. Try not to be too exited with your win, it can be disturbing to people. It may sound strange, but for most people losing can be easier than winning .”
This made me think… The bruises, my bleeding nose, the broken glasses, maybe this was all my own fault. It probably had nothing to do with age difference but simply because I am not good at winning.
Am I an *ss when winning I wondered, and then some memories came up - like this one; it happened in my chess club 10 years ago. I was 24 years old at the time, had not played for 10 years or so, and tried to make up for the lack of experience by studying openings every weekend. A sad life, but I enjoyed it 
. On Monday night, I played black against an opponent that usually opened with 1.d4 and I happened to study the Budapest gambit over the weekend. So on move 1 I was excited already! Play commenced… After d4, Nf6, c4, e5, dxe5, Ng4, Nf3, Nc6, Bf4, Bb4+, Nbd2, Qe7, a3, Ngxe4 we reached the diagrammed position and it shows one of the “known” traps in the Budapest defense.
My opponent took the bait and played axb4 here, and after only 10 minutes of play, I moved my Trojan horse to d3 and said "checkmate". But I did not say it quietly, I forgot to be dignified in victory, got overexcited and said it out loud: "CHECKMATE!". 40 faces turned our way, wanting to know how on earth one can lose in just 10 minutes. "Oops, sorry!"
In my current club, fairplay seems to be under control. People sometimes seem to use playing chess as an excuse to hang out and drink beer 
. And I am not planning to change that... So if I can keep the drinking under control I hope to be able to enjoy the club nights without suffering any physical injuries!