A contrast in style

No, not a contrast in playing style, but in feedback style.

Last night I ventured back to my club for the first time since January. Plamen and I battled it out for over four hours; in fact, all of the 34 other boards were done by 11:00 pm, while we were still playing until about 11:40 pm.

As usual with late-finishing games, ours attracted an audience towards the end, including a few of the stronger players at the club. They were watching me trying hard to hold a draw as White, down a pawn in a rook-and-pawn endgame. Eventually I failed and had to resign.

A few minutes later a couple of players walked up to me. They had missed the finish and wanted to know what happened. “I lost,” I said.

One of the players, rated more than 500 points higher than me, was frankly incredulous. “There’s no way Black could win in that position!” Very tired, I could do more than smile wanly, nod, and mumble something like “I’m sure you’re right.” It wouldn’t have stuck in my mind, though, if he hadn’t come back to me twice more in the next few minutes to repeat his statement and his incredulity. I began to think to myself “You can say that all you want — it won’t change the result.”

The other player, a National Master rated 600 points higher than me, was also surprised to hear that I lost. But his reaction was more like “Oh, OK. Listen, after the pawn exchange on on f6, take a look at playing h4 for White. Here’s why. [discussion of principles] If you think about these things the next time you find yourself in a similar situation, you’ll find it easier to hold the draw.”

To Vadim I say, “Thanks, I will!”