Chess players can learn a lot from golfers and tennis players. Number 2 seed Andy Murray just made it to the Wimbledon quarterfinals by beating the unseeded Fernando Verdasco the hard way (4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5). The New York Times reports:
Tennis and chess are played by humans: we try to minimize our unforced errors, but we will make them on occasion. If you find yourself in a pawn-down endgame this weekend after having already lost your first round, keep fighting! (But don't equate fighting spirit with lashing out wildly...it's a difficult balance.)
As Andy Murray understands, games against lower-rated players don't win themselves. In my last tournament game—house player at the CCC Preview Open at IIT—I almost lost to Philip Linninger (his pre-event rating was 864, mine was 2070). I was probably busted when Philip's flag fell: will post the game when I find the misplaced scoresheet.Murray struggled with Verdasco’s aggressive left-handed serve, which regularly topped 130 miles an hour and hit the lines.Murray double-faulted on set point to lose a tightly fought first set, but he seemed to get back on track by breaking Verdasco in the third game of the second and took a 3-1 lead.Then things got ugly for Murray and his fans. Verdasco won five straight games, and Murray failed to convert three break-point chances to lose, 6-3. When it was over, Murray was loudly cursing and scolding himself as he sat during the changeover.“I was up, 3-1, and then made some bad mistakes, poor choices on the court,” Murray said.A few years ago, that might have been the end for Murray, whose emotions so distracted him that he could not right his game. But a more mature Murray, a Murray with a major championship under his belt, did not panic.“When you’ve been in that position a lot of times, you know how to think through it and not get too far ahead of yourself,” Murray said. “I definitely didn’t rush when I went two sets-love down. I slowed myself down, if anything, and that was a good sign.”
Tennis and chess are played by humans: we try to minimize our unforced errors, but we will make them on occasion. If you find yourself in a pawn-down endgame this weekend after having already lost your first round, keep fighting! (But don't equate fighting spirit with lashing out wildly...it's a difficult balance.)
