Hey everyone! It’s me again, and this time, I’ll be sharing about one of my favourite hobbies — chess! Yes, I know, you all read about chess being my hobby and think: what a nerd. Yes, I am indeed a nerd. My hobbies include playing chess, reading books, learning new instruments and listening to music. I also like to improve my Chinese by watching Chinese singing competitions and reading Chinese books.

However, chess is genuinely fun! I first realized this when I was on exchange at Boston University and joined their chess club for one semester. It was really fun! Everyone there actually wanted to play, and no one cared that I wasn’t the best player. They were still willing to play with me, banter with me, and team up with me in bughouse (a format where you team up and play in pairs). I think it was the first time that I realized that chess could be a great social activity — in Singapore, many of my friends don’t really play, but in Boston, everyone there would make chess jokes and banter and laugh with each other. It didn’t matter that I was bad, because everyone around me would help me.

Anyways, chess has been my casual hobby for the past…approximately one to two years, and in that time, I’ve learnt a lot — not just about chess, but about life lessons that chess can teach you. I thought it would be good to sit down and reflect a bit on those, and share my reflections with all of you! So sit back, relax, and read on.

1) Never Resign

The first thing I’ve learnt from chess is to never resign. I started as a relatively lower-level player — I think at one point I was at 500 — and over time I have slowly worked my way up to around 1100 online. And the one thing I’ve learnt from my many online games is to never give up. Never resign. Ever. Because there is always a chance that your opponent makes a mistake.

I have had games where I am down in everything: in the number of pieces on the board, in the placement of my pieces (my king has been very exposed and susceptible to attack), and in time (when you play online there is usually a time limit, and if time runs out you lose). I have been down in every possible way, and yet I have learnt that opponents can make mistakes too. Some of them accidentally miss checkmate in one. Some of them end up losing more pieces than me somehow. Some of them run out of time. In chess, anything can happen, so never give up hope.

I think this is the same for life. There are times when you want to give up. Trust me, I’ve been there. Every time I look back at my semesters, I usually wonder how I made it out alive. I remember being exhausted, feeling stressed, and having many many stress breakdowns. I remember having so much to do every day, and having no time to myself. I remember all the mental pressure that I had to face. And yet, I never quit. I always did my best in all my modules and kept going. In the end, I did decently, and I am always proud of myself for constantly trying.

Another moment that struck me is when I was disappointed with my IB results. I took IB in 2020 and had a very high predicted score. However, my actual results were relatively low compared to what I had expected. Also, I was trying very hard to get into Cambridge at the time, and the rejection letter combined with my disappointing results just made me very, very upset. I had worked hard for my grades and Cambridge, and I had everything prepared. It just…wasn’t enough. And at the time I was upset. I wanted to give up. I remember refusing to get out of bed to even eat. It was bad. But I managed to get over it. I got accepted into NUS Psychology, continued to work hard, and am now receiving a Master’s degree at an extremely low cost, which is a significantly better deal for me academically and financially.

So even when you feel you are at your lowest, always remember to not give up. It’s easy to say, and the reality is much more painful, but from experience, it will be ok. Don’t give up.

2) Just Take The Draw

In chess, there are three possible outcomes: win, lose, and stalemate (i.e. a draw). Now, when you start the game, you obviously try to win. However, sometimes, simply taking the draw is more beneficial than fighting for the win. This is especially true when you are losing. If you are in a worse position, the theoretically simple thing to do is to try and force a draw. However, many chess players (myself included) would rather fight for a win. Of course, the problem with that is, I end up losing — in other words, I get a worse result simply because I was too stubborn and refused to lower my expectations.

Of course, there is something to be said about not being too proud or too stubborn to listen to the people around you. But for me, the biggest takeaway is to be practical. If you know you are losing (and very badly, at that), then if there is an opportunity, just take the draw. Similarly, I remember when I first started university. I was trying to do all the readings, learn everything given and cram all the material every week. Yeah, that was a bad idea. Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t do the readings. But I will say: be efficient. You don’t have to read every single reading every week. Pick the readings that help you understand the content, or the ones that will be tested. Stop trying to learn everything, because there simply isn’t enough time. So, to all students who are entering university: pick and choose the things that matter, and invest effort into those things. Don’t try to do everything, you will be burnt out.

3) Learn From Your Mistakes

In chess, there will come a time when you will lose. It could be your first game, your fifth game, your fiftieth game. It doesn’t matter. You will lose at some point. No one can win every single game. Even world number 1 Magnus Carlsen has lost games before. Everyone loses. The important thing is to not let it get to you. And it can be hard. There are so many clips of chess streamers raging when they lose a game, especially when it was very close. I myself have experienced this frustration — I have in fact hit my chair when I accidentally lost while up a full queen, the most powerful piece in the game. However, you have to learn from your mistakes.

I remember when I first started chess, I wanted to play with “good people”. However, I wasn’t at that level — I couldn’t see tactics, I kept losing, and even worse, when I got to the 800 level, people would try to use a trick called scholar’s mate against me. Instead of actually trying to learn from my mistakes, I was too frustrated and upset, and I would just click “next game” without thinking about why I was losing. Needless to say, this was not very conducive for my chess education. I was clearly not learning from mistakes, and was definitely not improving in the game. I don’t know what it was — pride, frustration, me thinking I can figure it out on my own…I don’t know. But it wasn’t very good.

Similarly, in life, when you don’t perform well for an examination, for example, it is always good to reflect on why. You might not want to review it, because it brings up a lot of negative emotions, but it is still a necessity. I remember when I finally had to reflect on my IB results. I had ignored it for a long time, because I was still upset. But I had to take that experience and learn from it. I sat down, I reflected, and one possibility I came up with was burnout. I had been trying so hard to get the perfect grade that I basically made myself wake up at 7am everyday (even during the holidays) to study. I was really, really burnt out. And in the exam hall, I was so done with exam questions that I didn’t have the right amount of anxiety. I didn’t care about my answers anymore, and didn’t double-check them (which is not a good thing).

And so, when I entered university, I implemented a policy: I would only do the work listed on my schedule, nothing more. And if I finish early, then I finish early and can do whatever I want. I have kept that policy until today, and quite frankly, it’s a much better idea than constant studying. I do still get burnout, but at least it is more controlled and significantly less severe. In summary, learn to learn from your mistakes.

And that’s all from me! See you guys in the next one!