Enjoy the game

Every now and then one of our pupils turns out to be very promising. Tim was such a rather talented boy and seemed to grasp a lot of aspects of the game without even explaining them to him. He loved the game right from the start when he joined our chess club. He was almost always one of the first pupils that found the right answer to the given exercises.

But when I observed some of his first games he surprised me. He had a chance to win the game in a rather easy to see mate in two, but he just captured a pawn. Some time later he even missed a mate in one.
OK, in the end he won the game, but it surprised me that he was unable to take advantage from this kind of possibilities in his own game.
Afterwards I told him that he had missed a mate in one. He answered that he had seen it. And he also has seen some opportunities for a mate in two and a mate in three. But he also said that the game would have come to an end if he had checkmated his opponent. This should have been a pity, because there were so much pieces left on the board to capture. So he just wanted the game to continue.

I only could say he was right. He was right for the moment. It is far more important to enjoy the game in itself instead of enjoying winning a game.

Tags: Chess