Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Perspective and the old cup story.

The story goes, "Is the cup half full or half empty". Actually both are right, both answers conform to reality. It's not 3/4 full, 3/4 empty or any proportion in between. It's either half full or half empty.

And yet, the differing perspective changes many things. The one that sees it half full continues to have hope, he continues to persevere. He sees a win in every 2 games. He continues to fight when the cup is only 1% full because he sees 1 game won in a 100. And that is till a step forward. He only gives up when the cup is empty. Zero percent. For at anytime something can change before zero is reached. For instance, the ceiling can drop on the opponent and knock him out, :) or he can suddenly have an anxiety attack and give you his queen. 1% translates to 1 game in a 100.

On the other hand, if you see 99% lost, then crash, some crash at 60% lost etc. etc.

The perspective counts. It's important. It gives you the fighting spirit. There appears to be some changes in the Malaysian chess world today. Do you see it as half full or half empty? Do you see the progress or do you find the faults?

Every chess game has faults, even the World Championship. So, should we give up chess now because it is not perfect? Or do we strive to make small but significant improvements, in the direction of the GM. I hope we reflect on this.

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