Why do you play tournament chess

[Mate Milinkovic]

I have been asking myself lately why do I love tournament chess so much. I would like to know other peoples responses to this question is as well. I am willing to travel to different tournaments and pay the entry fee and hotel costs etc just to get a chance to fool people over the board. Winning games feels great but I get the biggest rush not from winning games but from fooling my opponent. Winning a game from a brilliant tactic or sac and watching your opponents face drop is super exciting for me. Winning a 70 move game where my opponent saw all my threats and moves is not exciting for me at all. What are the reasons all of you play chess.

[Adam Cormier]

Re: Why do you play tournament chess

I play chess in tournaments to increase my chess playing abilities. I want to play the strongest move possible with ever increasing frequency (or at least greatly diminish the number of poor moves I play in the average game).

I also enjoy the positional crush with white, where white slowly squeezes black to death, all time favourite type of game.

But as black I also enjoy tactical massacres in the Sicilian.

I feel that knowing I am playing a strong opponent and able to beat them helps show my improvement in the game/sport. The fun of playing against titled players and hopefully eventually getting a title yourself is a great thrill in both the ups and downs.

I think there are many good reasons to play in tournament chess, plus the friendships that are formed and social communities. Its a very good use of money in my opinion.

[Ken Kurkowski]

Re: Why do you play tournament chess

"University and Chess, a difficult mix"

It's been many decades since I was a university student (McGill BEng '74) so things may have changed, but I recall we were encouraged to have a broad, multifaceted college experience in those days. That meant, in addition to attending lectures, working on assignments and cramming for exams, getting involved in campus activities such as newspaper/radio station, politics, drama club, competitive sports (intramurals for the less athletically gifted), chess (of course :)) not to mention purely social activities like pub nights & parties.

[Bindi Cheng]

Re: Why do you play tournament chess

Winning a game from a brilliant tactic or sac and watching your opponents face drop is super exciting for me..

I used to love brilliant tactics and sacs that work but then eventually I realized it's because my opponents just suck and not that I'm good.

Winning a 70 move game where my opponent saw all my threats and moves is not exciting for me at all.

Playing against a strong opponent where they see all your threats and moves but you somehow still outplay them is the most satisfying result of all. Of course they'll need to make minor mistakes but not everyone can capitalize on them. Winning slightly better positions will do the most good for anyone's chess.

[Ben Daswani]

Re: Why do you play tournament chess

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[Felix Dumont]

Re : Re: Why do you play tournament chess

"University and Chess, a difficult mix"

It's been many decades since I was a university student (McGill BEng '74) so things may have changed, but I recall we were encouraged to have a broad, multifaceted college experience in those days. That meant, in addition to attending lectures, working on assignments and cramming for exams, getting involved in campus activities such as newspaper/radio station, politics, drama club, competitive sports (intramurals for the less athletically gifted), chess (of course :)) not to mention purely social activities like pub nights & parties.

It's still pretty much the same at McGill. It doesn't mean it's easy to deal with both university and chess though. After a weekender, going back to the university on Monday is quite painful (those who played in the CUCC can confirm)...

[Michael Zaghi]

Re : Why do you play tournament chess

It is pretty difficult to attend chess tournaments during the semester, unless you're at UofT, Guelph, or Ottawa etc. There were a few in Mighigan I wanted to go to but it never worked out with midterms.

Overall, I really do not enjoy chess tournaments all that much. Offcourse it's really nice when you gain near 150 points in one tournaments, but unfortunately that usually doesn't happen. I think my first few tournaments it was very exciting because I had never experienced that type of 1v1 competition before. Going on 10,11,12 I rember gaing 10 points, spending $80, and felling like I had just completely wasted a weekend. The problem with chess tournaments is that for 90% of people it is simply not conveinant for them. I'm not complaining though, a lot of things are inconveinant, people still enjoy them and take part.