Does Chess get More Enjoyable the Better You Become?
While reading this article, chances are that you have played a game of chess or two but don’t really understand the hype around it.
Or maybe that you are a beginner in chess and are just wondering if you can end the pain someday. Some people find that chess is more than they bargain for.
This is because chess is surprisingly stressful yet addicting at the same time. You want to get away from the source of stress but it is surprisingly engaging in some way or the other.
It would be nice to know if chess actually becomes more enjoyable as you get better.
Not only will you become motivated, you will also get to appreciate the downhill along the way. This article will share my personal experience on the topic and some key knowledge known about it, let’s get started.
The true beauty of chess will only be revealed once you become better
When we are only watching a game between two chess masters we cannot understand the ideas they pull through. This is why most beginners consider chess boring, they just don’t understand the concepts that are being used in the game.
But what happens once you become better? You will naturally be able to comprehend deep ideas and find your way to appreciate them.
Chess is immediately reduced to a game the moment you take your first move on the board, you are no longer a viewer, you are now a player.
As you improve, you start to become aware of various facets, such as the arts, entertainment, and scientific research.
When it comes to playing chess, I believe that having a deeper grasp of the most beautiful master game is the most useful thing you can expect to achieve, since it is the most beautiful master game.
As with many other activities, everything becomes more enjoyable as you improve at it. Having said that, the further you learn, the more you realize how very little you know and how much there is to learn.
Even while it’s highly unpleasant to make errors and lose against low-rated opponents over the board, it’s still more enjoyable to win the majority of your encounters which will be more likely once you have gotten better.
The more I progress at chess, the more enjoyable I find the game to be. It evolves into something that is more imaginative, more remarkable, and more engaging.
Assume for the moment that a newbie is solely aware of material equilibrium. The entirety of a position’s characteristics may be gleaned from the number of material that is currently on the board.
The next step, after you have reached an intermediate level, is to begin focusing on fixed positional characteristics. For example, passing pawns, backward pawns, and pawn dominance, among other variations.
Then, after you have reached the advanced level (a good estimate for the advanced level would be 1800 on official fide), you will begin to comprehend the fluid aspects of the game.
How the mobility of the pieces can recompense for deficiencies in the structure. You get the ability to recognize an unique edge in your situation, one that a novice would immediately miss.
You will suddenly begin to adapt strategies that would be incomprehensible to you when you were still a beginner. The door is now open to a vast array of opportunities.
Did I personally find chess enjoyable once I became better?
For me it becomes more enjoyable the stronger I get. Not in terms of ratings, since I never feel like my ratings are accurate. But for me, as my knowledge increases, so does the amount of enjoyment I get out of it.
I loathe being in a situation where I have no idea what move to make or where I am, but the more I learn, the more enjoyable it becomes for me.
Except for the times when I’m confronted with the reality that what I understand is insignificant in comparison to everything else there is to learn and what experts already know.
There are two main reasons why chess is becoming more enjoyable for me as I get better.
1) The better I get the better I can incorporate additional splendor, variety, and variety of alternatives and patterns into the sport. 2) Making a mistake is a source of immense frustration.
I would have a much better rating, and my matches would be a lot more enjoyable, if I didn’t lose half of them due to terrible mistakes that were caused by “lack of attention.” I hate having to toss away a fun game because of one mistake I made.
For me, any activity is more enjoyable when I am performing above and above what is expected of me, and it is less enjoyable and more upsetting when I am unable to reach those standards.
Because of this, I go between phases in which I am having fun and phases in which I am frustrated because of my ambitions. There is seldom a stretch of time that is either consistently enjoyable or consistently frustrating.
You will notice a significant improvement in your comprehension of chess as your rating becomes upward. Because of this understanding of chess, one may better appreciate chess, which in turn makes playing chess more enjoyable.
The game of chess, on the other hand, may be quite difficult at times. When I lose a lengthy over-the-board game, I feel like my vitality is completely depleted, and I have trouble sleeping that night almost every time.
During the match, the majority of people are anxious, and the pressure is palpable; yet, when you win a match in the perfect manner, it may offer you a great deal of good emotions.
Some people finds being a beginner in chess is more enjoyable
It is important to remember that nothing is set in stone, different people will react differently in cases that they get better. Believe it or not there is actually a case to be made why being a beginner might actually be more enjoyable to some people.
When you play at a low level (or beginner level), things start to happen. Inaccuracies open the door to combination. The more risks you take, the more pleasure you have.
As you go through the levels, the enemies get more formidable. They never provide you any permission for anything. They do not provide anything free of charge. The positions need a greater amount of careful calculation.
When this happens, there is a movement of discomfort throughout the mind. The brain becomes overwhelmed. An individual’s winning rate will naturally suffer as they face better opponents which adds to the stress.
The winning positions are also not as beautiful since a little material imbalance is all that is needed to win the game.
Personally I think that most people find chess enjoyable as they become better, but there are those that prefer playing lower level competitions for the reasons above.
However it is important to note that low-level players are usually the ones that perceive low level plays to be more beautiful.
Higher rated players find higher rated plays more enjoyable, especially wins from positional endgames where it seems like a draw at first glance.
Chess is enjoyable at any level, but it becomes really good once you get better
I think that chess is overall, very enjoyable.
The fact that it can be enjoyable at any skill level is one of the many reasons why chess is so popular. Chess, for me at least, is one of those games that, as I grow better at it, gets more enjoyable.
Topping a competent and powerful player is a nice sensation, and it’s also amusing in a way to know that you can roughed up 1200s again and over without them having any understanding where they went wrong.
That is what a lot of people say, but I am not that brutal.
Regarding method of calculating: when you achieve higher levels, determining longer variations is probably actually about the same amount of work as a low ranking player evaluating more simple ones.
This is due to the fact that an elevated player innately recognizes what to glance for from observation and does not feel worried about a multitude of stuff that a low player might be concerned about.
A player with a higher skill level may notice one-move and two-move combinations practically instantaneously, while a player with a lesser skill level may have to spend more time looking about and working them out.
Being good in chess is enjoyable overall, especially the challenge
At any stage, the excitement comes from putting in the effort, challenging yourself, and discovering excellent techniques to use against competitors of equal ability, and of course, the optimism that you will finally prevail.
At greater levels, instead of having a free bishop and attempting to find the two move combination to win it, you have to trap the lonely piece and strive effectively at determining a few lines that demonstrate you can manipulate it.
This is because giving away a free knight and scrambling to find the mixture of moves needed to win it takes a lot of effort. As your skill level increases, you become more aware to seemingly little details.
Concerning myself, I can state unequivocally that there is a higher level of tension inside the game.
Nevertheless, I feel less dread of the unknown. When I first started playing, I attempted to consider every possible scenario, such as “what if they misplace that piece later?” What if they swapped rooks with each other?
What if this and that, there are a plethora of possibilities. When you improve, you are liberated to overlook the very terrible moves almost automatically.
Also certain scary-looking moves may be avoided by using reasoning and knowledge rather than getting mired down in calculations like a lower-rated player would, which is what would happen if you played against them.
The fact that the game is more stressful heightens the satisfaction I get from doing well. And having less anxiety about what could lie ahead makes the experience that much more enjoyable.
I think the intermediate level is where you get the most enjoyment in chess
As I become stronger I find chess enjoyable, this is true. But I am starting to think that the intermediate level is probably the best and most enjoyable of all.
Don’t get me wrong, higher level is still better than lower level since I am able to perform advanced ideas and understand the hidden beauty behind them.
However I will admit that I am not really at a professional level, in other words, I am better than most people but I am still weaker than people who have been playing chess for a long time.
You can say that I am at an intermediate level, I look advanced for some people but is quite mid to real experts in the game. I think this is the primary reason why I enjoy chess, being intermediate is a blessing.
In my opinion, the most enjoyable part occurs somewhere around the intermediate difficulty level. When you’re just starting out, you don’t comprehend or respect nearly as much, and your matches often end because of silly blunders.
Then, when it comes to the point where players spend numerous hours a day studying to obtain any progressive edge over their adversary, it’s no longer a game since there will be a lot of pressure to convert, and it’s no longer fun.
It’s not a work, and it’s not a means to an end, so it should simply be played for pleasure, but I believe the most fun can be had somewhere in the center.
This is where there is some talent and knowledge and a fight to triumph, but it’s still just a thing to play for enjoyment.
When you have two of the most renowned players in the game going up against one other, maybe that’s when things start to alter.
Because of this, games have the potential to be breathtaking works of art, and it must be a relief when the majority of the strenuous education is over and you can finally compete with the top players in the world.
Naturally, there won’t be many individuals who get to this stage in their lives.
Competitive chess is really brutal, it will make you question if it is really worth it. I think that being intermediate where you are good, but not too good would make chess really enjoyable.
Conclusion
As a general rule, chess becomes more enjoyable as you get better since you are able to understand hidden ideas that are subtle.
You will also be able to play better and win a lot of games which is the most enjoyable outcome of all. However it is still quite relative.
Some people will enjoy being a chess beginner more since they are able to execute aggressive lines with sacrifices. People like me on the other hand think that being at the intermediate level is the most enjoyable since competitive chess is too stressful.
Being intermediate is a losing strategy in any other game, but maybe not in chess. That is all, thank you for reading.
