Monday 11 March 2024

A penny for your thoughts - Part 3

Wine Tea time

Back at the hotel, I start meeting other participants. The first day is always the easiest- greeting everybody and not having to wonder whether your “hi” might break like waves against rocks.

There’s still plenty of time until the dinner begins so I decide to do some reading. Sitting by the dreamy window while enjoying some cups of tea, I listen to my favourite classical music tracks and immerse myself in the book. I’ve recently discovered an author whose writing I like so much that I must limit my reading time per day so that I can enjoy his books for as long as possible.

It all started about a month ago when I saw some advertising of a book named “Mindful Chess” by an author whose name sounded familiar to me, but I couldn’t really say who he was- Paul van der Sterren. The book’s title was intriguing, so I asked a GM friend whose chess culture is much wider than mine if he knew him. Do you know the look someone gives you after you have asked a silly question? I felt like I teleported to the time I was about 10 y.o. and participated at a lecture by a famous GM. He had asked me to name all the world champions in a chronological order and I couldn’t. The look he gave me, followed by a somewhat pitiful smile made me cry of shame. Well, I know better than crying of shame these days, but I still couldn’t help feeling as ignorant as back then. I decided to make it right- did some research on the author and bought the book which I finished in one go. The plan was to read some pages before going to bed, but… All I can say- I couldn’t really close an eye that night because of the thoughts the book provoked, and I woke up the next day feeling deprived of sleep but given a precious gift- new horizons. Imagine my joy when just some days before coming to Nationals I got an email saying that another book by Paul was available in English! Moreover, it was an autobiography, which I thought guaranteed me many pages of delight.

Back to my tea and dreamy window in Eforie Nord. I opened the book and started reading it while admiring the last rays of sun. You might wonder why I had not started reading it when I was still at home if I looked forward to it so much. Well, the answer is – wisdom. As we all know, it goes hand in hand with ignorance. Jokes aside, I just trusted my intuition which told me that if I started reading it, I wouldn’t be able to let it out of my hands and I wanted to save some of the delight for the championship. I was right, hence the newly introduced rule of reading it for not more than 30 minutes a day. But don’t get it wrong, the rule was introduced only AFTER the 1st reading session. The moon was shining over the calm sea when my phone cried for the ‘n’ time “battery low”. I realised that I must hurry if I want to get any dinner at all. Finally, the time I spent on the treadmill served for something more than blisters.

Photo by David Llada
At the restaurant, I continued sending “hi-s” here and there on autopilot. Some calamari later, I understood that I can’t let myself lose touch with reality to such extent again, so the new ’30-minute reading rule’ was proposed. It wasn’t voted unanimously, but it made sure I got enough hours of sleep and daily steps.

I even managed to get to the technical meeting that evening, just in time to find out I’ll start with black. I must have attracted it upon myself with all those cups of black tea I had by the window. Guess what else it has attracted, or rather driven away- my beauty sleep. I comforted myself with the thought that my dark circles will go well with the board’s squares, and they did, at least for the first few days, but that’s a story for another time.

I promised you to share my thoughts from the time before the tournament began and here they are. Perhaps, one day, there’ll be a story on the ones I got throughout the tournament too… However, I have the feeling I might need a bottle of wine or two instead of the pot of not black tea I have just finished for that to happen.

 

THE END.

 

2 comments:

  1. I always enjoy reading your blog, great writing style :)

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