How to deal with losses

Before we start with this blog, I have a question: Have you ever lost a game of chess? Seriously, have you? Unless you are a supercomputer or a lier, the answer is: "Of course I have lost a game or two (or around 50% of games I've played)".

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Now, let's dive into how to deal with losses:
About tilting and raging: A lazy and actually quite frustrating technique to deal with losses is to tilt and to rage: This means, that you get even more frustrated and keep on playing this boardgame, until you have won some games more. Usually, you will lose even more games with this state of mind, as you are trying to win quickly, thus you will try dirty and ususally uneffective tricks and move very fast - with the result being, that your Opponent will indeed play a blitz or rapid game against a player, who is playing a bullet game. And as we all know: Less time equals to less time to think, which in turn is equal to not grasping the complexity nor the resources, plans etc. of any given position (unless Super GMs do it, then it is a-ok, apparently). So, raging and tilting ain't no good...

What about the good old Ragequit: You simply stand up from the board and walk away, essentially leaving the clock ticking. This is most often seen after a heavy blunder or really fast time controls after a "normal" blunder. A ragequit may not equal to raging and tilting as you are physically going away (leaving the board, so to speak) so that you cannot play any more games after the current defeat. Thus, the ragequit may be a solid option for you, but it isn't so nice if you are the one winning experiencing your Opponent ragequitting. Also, it does not teach you anything to prevent a loss - it merely prevents you from playing again and thus losing. But because you need one more person (or entity) to play chess, you should respect your Opponent and not leave him while the game's still ongoing - instead, we come to resignation.

The classic resignation: A resignation can happen for a multitude of reasons, but most of the time it will happen that someone blundered or is in a dead lost position and then resigns. Why? Well, if you resign, you are likely not enjoing how the game goes, moreover you are dissatisfied with the current position and see no point of delaying the - seemingly inevitable - doom. Another thing a resignation conveys is respect for your Opponent - but civility is a complex topic that we won't dive into today (maybe in a future blog though). Another way to end the game is through time-out...

The abrupt end through a time-out: While timing out is seen most often in faster games, it may also happen through the means of stalling (letting the time run out - basically a ragequit) which is very inpolite (again, a topic for another time). It most often happens if someone is, well, go figure, low on time, as time's running out for that person that has no time and can't make a move in time. And thus, their game is timely decided by timeout. Again, most often you will see this in a bullet or blitz game, though rapid games may end so too if you are taking more time to think for a move than your Opponent - a way to try to circumvent this is by using your Opponents thinking time to think for yourself. Also, using the clock as a weapon and trying to flag the other person is a common way to win in low time situations (another topic for another day).

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Now we have taken a look at some ways to lose - now, what can we do to get the most of a loss? Afterall, we can't change the past - but we can change the future! Thus, we have to do a few things:

-- When we notice that the game is going downhill for us (without a return), we do not play "against ourselves", a common behaviour I for instance used to do was to give up all my pieces without a fight and then resigning. This is something you do not want to do! Instead, imagine if you were playing with your Opponent's pieces and ask yourself, which move would be the most challenging from this perspective. If you find this challenging move, try to make it possible as you know it would bug you, so it might annoy your Opponent too.

-- While losing, don't think about the missed chances, about this ridiculous blunder, about this obvious mistake - no! Think about your current position: What must be achieved to make it a holdable - not a winning - position? If you know the answer, work towards it.

-- DO NOT RESIGN TOO EARLY!!! This is another thing I used to do: I blundered a Knight and siimply resigned. Yes, in a classical game or against a very, very strong Opponent you should resign in such a case, you should also resign if doom is inevitable or if you want to be "polite". But give your Opponent his run for the money, experiment what you can do to make it the most challenging for him to win. Often, you should strive for aggressive, expanding activity - even at the cost of material. If you then end up in a superior position, do not go passive!

-- We have to analyze our game after the game - at first without the help of stockfish, later then with the engine, thus we can identify our weaknesses and improve them.

-- We have to calm ourselves, if the game was hard or annoying or if it was a time scramble: Without this, you cannot move on playing as you are most likely to still be in the same mindset.

-- We have to see the positive in it: We did all we could to prevent a draw and we can start over again in the next game. Thus we can stay motivated (if anything works better for you to motivate you, feel free to use that as motivation is very, very important!).