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HOW TO BE A BAD LOSER/WINNER The chess world is littered with bad losers, and has been for centuries. Let's face it, you won't get anywhere if you're prepared to accept defeat lightly. Is losing at chess worse than losing in other games? Well, probably yes. You start with equal forces (as opposed to most card games). There is no luck involved (so out go backgammon, snooker, pool, monopoly and other dice centred games). Physical differences between players matter not a jot. It's just your mind against your opponent's. I'd go out on a limb and say that nothing (in games world anyway) undermines your confidence more than losing a game of chess. Chess also has it's fair share of bad winners. We all secretly like bad sportsmanship. It gives us something to talk, laugh and complain about for years afterwards. Don't agree? Ok, try this: name the 3 most memorable world chess championship matches. I'd like to bet you've got Fischer vs Spassky in there, and there's a fair chance that Karpov vs Korchnoi is there too. The reason? Well it could be for the chess, but more likely its for the crazy gamesmanship that went on around it. HOW TO BE A BAD LOSER Excuses The main weapon in a bad loser's arsenal is the excuse. Actually it's hard to use even a valid excuse after a game without coming across as a bad loser. The favoured excuse for GM's through the ages has been 'ill health'. In his book 'Grandmasters of Chess', Harold Schonberg notes, "It is a well known fact that no healthy player in the history of chess ever lost a game", and he goes on to state how Staunton, after losing to Anderssen, ran letters in his chess magazine which suggested he should been "in a hospital bed at the time, not before a chessboard". "I missed a win here..." - this could be true, but it has the effect of undermining your opponent's victory. It's the same as saying "you were lucky". "Mouse
slip" - A popular one in these days of internet chess.
Blame someone else - whether it's your opponent "not playing the opening correctly" and thus avoiding the theory you spent the last 10 years memorizing, or someone putting you off (maybe a hypnotist in the audience), it's always someone else's fault. Say your opponent is a bad player anyway -
HOW TO BE A BAD WINNER
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