4. I took part in a school level chess contest when I was
10 years old. I had an encounter with one of my
classmates in the semifinal. He almost never beat me
before. I lost because I underestimated my opponent.
It made me shift.
5. Before this contest, I was a little bit conceited.
Especially when I met something that I thought I was
familiar with. Until I met the opponent who had the
real strength, I didn’t realize that what I did could be
no more wrong. After this contest, I knew I should
change my Attitude. I should treat everything
seriously and should not underestimate my
opponents.
6. If I underestimate my
opponents, I may give
them the opportunities
to see my flaws. Then
they would attack me in
a way I am not prepared
to defend myself against.
When I underestimate
my enemy, I will pay the
final price.
7. I communicated this shift to different people in
different ways and got different responses. I thought
deeply for what I should change and what I should
tell the others. In the one hand, I want to do some
explanation for myself that why I lost the game. In the
other hand, I hoped other people could learn from
my story.
8. I told my parents why I lost the game. They
encouraged me and told me that I should learn from
this lesson. To my surprise, my parents said that they
had already known that I have the weak point that I
was easy to be conceited. They just did not speak out
and let me learn from my own mistakes. I did really
appreciate what my parents’ did to me.
9. I also told my classmate who beat me in the semifinal.
He was a modest person and also one of my best
friends. He admitted that he did a lot of preparation
in order to increase the probability of beating me in
semifinal. He also said that he hope I could be better
and take my opponents seriously in the future.
10. I have seen many people who underestimated their
opponents. I told them my story and hope they could
change their attitude. I persuaded some of them and
most of them did a good job. The other people who
ignore my dissuasion were finally failed to finish a
good work.
11. My coach used my story to warn his group after
group of trainees to let them know that the most
important thing in playing chess are not only skills
and proficiency but also attitude that never
underestimate the opponents.
