Things my Dad Taught Me

#182 - Letting things go can be beneficial

In chess, it is ok to make an exchange of pieces as long as you come out of the exchange on top. This can happen if you lose less pieces or pieces with less value (going by the rough rule that Knights=3, Bishops=3, Pawns=1, Rooks=4, Queens=5) or if you gain even a small advantage out of it, having equal losses. For example, you may cause them to double up their pawns, or create a pawn island. Or you may know that they prefer Knights to Bishops and force them to lose their preferred piece. You may cause them to use a move retreating, while you continue advancing.

This goes against my traditional game-playing tactics. As a child I was always very cautious (and I still am in lots of ways). I would save my money in my Snoopy pencil case, watching it pile up, whereas my brother would spend his whenever he felt like it. I would refuse to actually play anyone at marbles because I really liked my collection and didn't want to risk losing any.

I had a rubber collection and people in my class were trading them with each other. I traded a rubber shaped like a christmas stocking with my friend for one she had shaped like a dice. Later that day I regretted my trade so much that I stole my rubber back out of her bag. She had a feeling I'd done that when she noticed it was missing and searched my bag for it. It was right in the outside pocket, but must've been just out of her sight as she looked, so I got to stand there and righteously say, 'See! It wasn't me!' That's one of two times in my life I can remember stealing something. The girl ended up being my best friend in later years and I think I eventually admitted what I'd done to her.

I digress.

The point is that when I was little my dad would try to get me to play chess against him (he had really enjoyed chess in the 70s and even joined a club once, only to find that he was way out of his league after going that first time, and quitting). My brother doesn't have a mathematical brain, so I doubt he had the patience for chess as a child (though he had a phase of enjoying it in his early 20s, where he found some kind of affinity with Bobby Fisher).

So, he probably enjoyed that at least one person in the family was vaguely interested. When we played, I would hate it any time I lost a piece. I would probably have a small sulk until he put my piece back on the board and let me retake my previous move so that my piece was safe. Dads are good like that. This meant my early childhood chess experiences eventually left me somewhat jaded. Why play a game where you have all these pretty pieces with neat names, only to have to lose them (or have them stolen away)?

But at some point he convinced me that sacrificing a piece could actually be a good thing, and I eventually learned to do this without it hurting too much.

And sometimes the game gets a lot more interesting once the board gets less congested. It gives you cleaner lines and allows your more powerful pieces room to move. Clutter and holding on to pieces just for the sake of it can slow the game down.

It's ok to lose things if the overall change for you is positive. This is something I'm still trying to learn in life.

Thanks, Dad.

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And the kid in the top video clip is super-cool. If you're gonna have a prodige kid, might as well be a music prodige like that!