Hello! I’m Fritz. You’ll never believe what happened when my friends and I represented our school at a chess tournament. It was such an amazing opportunity for me to play on the team and for the school as well, and I hope to repeat this until I leave. To cut a long story short, my game was extremely tough. But if you’re interested in knowing whether I won or lost (or something in between), check out my blog! Are you ready? Let’s get started!
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Wednesday morning came around, and sure enough, I woke up bright and early at 5 AM. Showering had to be quick, because it was game day and we didn’t want to be late for the match after our coach messaged us that breakfast was ready.
We ate around 7:00 am, so as soon as we finished it meant walking time. We knew where we were going luckily – not too early but still with enough time to get there.
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When we arrived, they called us for a picture before the event started. I was so happy at that time because what I saw inside was full of chess boards and the pieces looked so nice.
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At 8:00 am, they started the orientation to explain all the rules of the game and what we could or couldn’t do. After the orientation, finally, it’s time for the games. When they announced who our opponents were, I got nervous suddenly. It’s funny how those butterflies in my stomach always come during events like this.
So the game started and every move I made was so careful. There is also writing while playing so it added more pressure because that’s not really what I’m used to. But that's not a reason to let myself lose and I knew it.
In few minutes while reading my opponent's move, I made a mistake. That wrong move was why I lost and didn't even think about that possibility.. It was really frustrating me because it was just first game and losing like that after all these years felt really disappointing… I was disappointed with myself.
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We did not have another game until 1 pm the next day, after that match; I was ashamed of myself for losing so quickly. From there on out, I made up my mind to win every game. We ate lunch around 11:00 am, and the coach recommended taking time off to clear our minds since we were still in shock over what had happened. It wasn’t a complete loss, because three of my teammates won and only two of us lost, which wasn’t terrible.
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We went back to the library around 12 after taking some time to relax, and it was almost 1 pm when we got there for our second game. By the way, our games were set up in a round-robin format — meaning we would play eight rounds total no matter if we lost them all or won them all — then all our scores would get added up and top one to three players would be named winners.
I was locked in when the second game started. I couldn’t let myself lose again; I was already embarrassed from earlier. It brought me joy while playing because my opponent was talking with me and creating camaraderie. It felt like we weren't just playing to win but also making friends during the event. After the game, I won! I was so happy because all my effort paid off, and I managed to secure a victory.
After the second game, the third and final game for the day was scheduled for 3:00 pm. In the third game, as it started, my opponent proved to be quite skilled. I almost lost, but then they turned the game around. So, my standing ended up being 1 win and 2 losses.
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To summarize, by the end of the games, I ended up with 4 wins and 4 losses, which wasn't too bad. What I took away from this experience is that no matter what happens, you just gotta keep going in life. Sometimes we'll face setbacks, but the important thing is to learn from them, get back up, and keep fighting for what matters to us. Thanks for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it!