Ok, so you arrive at your office like any normal day, full of energy (yeah..., right), ready for another day of hard work. You turn on your computer, check your e-mail and begin your day-to-day chores... Then that prickly question pops on the back of your mind: "Has any of my opponents made a move?"
Let's face it! We are chess junkies! But that's the subject of another blog entry... (BTW, if you're NOT a chess junkie, my most sincere apologies) So, what do you do? You log on to your Chess.com account and take a peek... "It's not gonna take long, I'll just have a look to see if anyone has played"... And, oh, surprise! Someone has made a move! Inmediate reaction: you click the "My Move!" link "just to see what the move was". But, no...
Once you see the board, you start analyzing and thinking about your every possible response to your opponent's move; calculating variations in your mind and getting a rush of adrenaline once you spot an exciting check or sacrifice; all of this while keeping an eye on the lookout for costumers, co-workers or (worse) the boss... And here comes catastrophe! You hear someone coming, grab the first piece that crosses the path of your mouse cursor, drag it to its destination and click the "Submit move" button...
And the precise moment your finger releases its hold on the mouse, you see it: your brilliant sacrifice is, in fact, a dumb blunder!
Curiosly enough, you had already seen it was a blunder! It was the first move you looked at! And, obviously enough, no one was coming...
This has happened to me several times now, and I'm sure it has happened to some (if not most) of you... It's what I call the "Work-related 500-ELO-drop Syndrome"... How many chess games have been lost, how many poor queens have been left hanging? Why do they have to make that damm "My Move!" link red? It's just so tempting!
The name is self-explanatory: when playing chess while trying to keep up with your job (or school, or driving, or extreme sports), one of them is going to suffer. Most of the time, it's chess... So, you end up playing like a patzer. In my case, since I'm already a patzer, it only leads to remarkably stupid moves... :P
I guess the ultimate solution for this problem is "Don't play chess at work!", although I would add the corolary "If you are going to play chess at work, tell the secretary you are not available, for anybody!" Please, do comment on this issue and let me know what you think. And also, let me know that I'm not alone if you also suffer from the dreaded 500-ELO-drop Syndrome...
PS: Thank you, amazing people of HRCE Ltd. for the photo... It's the best one I found... :P