"The game of chess is the touchstone of the intellect .at the root of chess is a battle of minds.chess is a reflection of life,requiring a determination to compete and a desire to win .to succeed ,you must .will power alone is not enough.you have to use your brain .you must think .and you must train yourself to think in a different ways -Yasser Seirawan
My name is Abimbola Osunfuyi ,the '36th National Amateur champion' .i am known as the young GM ,a pseudonym vested on me back in 2009 by coach Abiodun Johnston University of Lagos (UNILAG) sport center chess joint although i am not a chess Grandmaster yet but i guess i'm still on 8,000 hours of the required 10,000 hours of the genius touch .its been a decade since i got acquainted to the beautiful game of chess although i only got active in 2011 and i have lost a lot of instructive games probably because then i play openings i see in a chess magazines or because Garry Kasparov beat Shirov with such opening and i didn't know the fundamentals and theory.but as a player continues to compete,he will experience many losses.dissatisfied ,the player seeks to sharpen his skill and stop repeating the mistakes of the past by reading books on chess. As humans after learning there is desire to apply and experiment ,in the course of my experimentation i contested in the monthly Saturday blitz event @ Odion Esangbedo abode between 2012/2013 ,an event where there are many a strong player ,likes of IM ADU,IM ODION,IM BUNMI,FM AJIBOWO,CM CAMPBELL,SMALL B,CM BALOGUN,MR DAVE,MR FRED,MR YINKA ,JEGEDIZZLE,UCHESKY, LALA to mention but a few .although i was the youngest and under dog there but i was glad i was learning from my losses and i must say i could not disagree more and its not about reading chess books and theory its understanding .these people really understands chess; they do not have to learn it.they can improve ,of course ,but the basics are very natural to them.its because of the undertaker i now know what to play against petroff defense,femi balogun - KID,small b-grunfueld,adu -nadjorf,odion -alekhine,fred-london system,lala-french,campbell-caro Kahn,ajibowo-dragon,jegedizzle-dutch,uchesky-center counter,Mr Yinka-Scandinavian, Mr Dave-latvian.
After winning NBL amateur category in December 2013 ,i established myself as an aspiring youngster along came 2014 ,the transition year in my chess career,i became strong because i realized that ,chess you don't learn, chess you understand knowing the basic can take you more than half way to mastership . Often when you are winning a chess game,there comes a moment when you want to get things over with. As soon as your opponents moves,you rush in with your own response.this lack of care has led many potential victors down the road to oblivion. It takes only one moment of inattention to fall for some hidden tactical trick .2014 in retrospect i have learnt a lot of chess lessons ,the one of which was the worst and most costly example of my inattention .it was the 2nd Lagos chess classic 'round 4 and i was playing against the strong rated Egyptian IM EZAT MOHAMMED and was black which i was rather happy because i have 90% confidence in my black piece repertoire and was on the fabulous winning streak after defeating 4 rated players ,as an opens player then all i did as white was to attack and eventually win because in opens when you attack your opponent ferociously he would make some inaccuracies but its otherwise in the masters section you have to quietly consolidate your position by developing all your forces and getting your king to safety .only when everything is protected and your army is fully mobilized should you start marching up the board with this you overwhelm your opponent and he surrenders eventually,a simple strategy which i had to learn in my defeats .my game against International ,Master Ezat of Egypt at the second edition of the Lagos classics (2014) on move 29, i played a Knight Sacrifice in a position arising from the Kings Indian defense, 29...... Nxg4 ! 30 fxg4 Bxg4 we got to a position where i was better
The IM had time constraints and he offered me draw which i declined because i felt i was winning ,and i stood up literally dancing for joy ,because with this victory came a record breaking feat of defeating an Egyptian and getting a thousand dollars bonus (Bounty) reward from Nigeria chess federation president ! Chess players were frantic.the current National champion CM kigiha Bomo was signalling to me to go sit down and take the game seriously; there would be plenty of time for celebration after the game .but because nobody is allowed to offer advice while a game is in progress ,they were forced to watch in horror as the drama unfolded .my euphoria became hysteria .....and it would be a memorable game tagged the good game i lost and i cried like an under 14 kid ,not because i lost the game but because of the faux pas of some Nigeria chess players "young gm what were you thinking you should have accepted the draw " and the future suddenly looks bleak because of such a demoralizing statement.sometimes we underestimate our abilities ,the black inferiority complex . ,i went ahead to lose my next two games because i didn't overcome the pains of defeat and couldn't forgive myself psychologically and emotionally for losing such a game .i'll never play Kf6 again.....
Every success i know has been reached because the person was able to analyze defeat and actually profit from it in the next undertaking .the year 2014, i have played 40 classic games ,6 tournaments ,3 rated ,3 unrated ,10 lose,23 wins,7 draws. 1/12/2014 i got my first FIDE rating of 2190 although i expected my first FIDE rating to be 2901 which most Nigerian players spend their entire chess lives on a fantasy island called '' someday i'll '',with great power comes great responsibility . i became a real chess player that knows where the piece belongs ,real players don't put piece on awkward squares ; only lesser player do so and a real player has nothing to do with rating ( even though ratings naturally illustrate who is real and who is not) The continuous pursuit of rating is counterproductive - the beauty of chess will be left behind in the desire for a certain rating or category.
The rating is less important and may not always reflect the real value of a player. Maybe he only needs to play more tournaments or maybe he needs a better opening which suits his style of play.
With the rating clause on me ,i guess my chess mentality changed i didn't want to lose again and don't want to see my rating drop as low as 1500 in the long run but wanted it to be in between 2300 and 2500 range in the short run but i misconstrued the fact that life is more difficult for those who don't face reality ,john c. Maxwell once said ''what you do must be based on reality'' and also journalist Sydney J Harris observed ,'' an idealist believes the short run doesn't count . a cynic believes the long run doesn't matter .a realists believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run ''.9/12/2014 the plan to represent Nigeria at the African individual @ Nambia got checkmated reasons best known to me and individuals involved , I visited mid- west Nigeria,Warri to be specific for the NFC president cup and it was fun and quite intense although the tournament was not seeded with top Nigeria chess players but it was memorable because i lost to the ingenious genius and Onovughe Ochuko as a result of my piece passivity and then i realized that a player who wants to improve should concentrate only on understanding chess better and more deeply. At those moments when he wants to study a good lesson or an instructive game, to solve different positions, to understand strategic subtleties and to find excellent moves ...at that moment there is
progress... and the rating will surely increase sooner or later.i'll never play Be2 against the Sicilian and never allow my bishop to be passive in any position again.
I hope i have succeeded in clarifying what is meant by a real chess player ,and what seperate one from ordinary chess superstars. It is not a matter of calculation or home preparation but another ,more basic quality ,based on an understanding of where the piece belong .GENUISES ARE MADE NOT BORN ,the year 2014 i guess after establishing myself as a top Nigeria player and blazing the trail ,future generation youngsters started emerging likes of Anwuli Daniel ,Lapite Oluwaduritimi,Aanu Babajide ,Julius Nwachukwukikosem, kikosem Igwubor to mention but a few with the advent of stockfish,droidfish via androids the rate of assimilation and improvement is increasing geometrically , Nigeria chess is bound to be dominated by the young and vibrant and this youngsters have different style of play,the positional,tactical ,aggressive, strategic and attacking. attributes of world best players .nowadays when i play a tournament i am expected to win ,although i might be the strongest amongst the youngsters and here comes the ingenious genius winning tournaments,my game against Eugene Uwana
UWANA Eugene - Abimbola Osunfuyi (Warri)
in warri (NCF Presidents Cup) ,i was black and i played Bf8 ,the losing move.i nullify the the pitfall of comparing myself to others .which can lead to tremendous frustration and dissatisfaction ,because you can always find someone better off than you are.
My present circumstances are a direct result of my past choices. My future will be the result of my current thoughts and action .i guess i'm going to be the national champion before the next leap year from now and i know what i need to do and i'm working on it .2015 will be a great year for me 'the year of chess conquest and perfectionism ' .2014 is just a year of introduction into the chess limelight.
i'm very proud of what i've accomplished ,but i recognize that i have benefited immensely from the support and assistance of so many others without whom i could never have achieve any measure of success. My foremost thanks goes to almighty God who has been my source of inspiration and whom through his guidance my career is pursued to this stage. I will also like to express my profound gratitude to my mother who single handedly has brought me down this turbulent road of chess pursuit and who has been my strength,my rock and my comforter in times of pain,i will forever remain indebted to her ,also my siblings who have been there for me. My thanks should also go to my chess team Oladotun Giwa # team i see u# and Ejim Ogochukwu and a host of other team boyo students whom due to limited cannot be mentioned here.
Sometimes God send our guardian angels in human form,my gratitude to my wonderful coach Mr Boyo Paul Kehinde ,who has been a symbol of patience and tolerance in providing materials for my chess improvement and in contributing to my knowledge in this respect.
I remain ABIMBOLA OSUNFUYI ,THE PRIMUS INTER PARES NON SECUNDUM ....ALSO KNOWN AS LEVON SPINOZA ...HAPPY NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE...
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