One of the things I liked most about playing poker was that it was actually relaxing. When you've achieved a certain level of proficiency, nothing that happens at a poker table can faze you. Already, I'm finding the same is true of blitz chess. That may sound very odd, so I'll try to explain. To play poker well, you must be able to recognize patterns, and react to them in ways which have served you well before. Once you've seen the patterns enough times, they become like old friends, and they don't surprise you. You look forward to their reappearance, and to reacting to them in the ways that you know so well. As it turns out, that's also an excellent description of proficiency in blitz. Played in this fashion, blitz is very akin to meditation. You're trying to become a seeing eye, and to lose your ego. It almost becomes a case not of you recognizing a pattern, but of you observing a pattern recognizing itself :-)
neostreet: 1200 (44-46-7 (97))
monvieux: 1264 (278-226-15 (519))
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