MediocreMan

Hollow Victories · 21 March 2026

There might not be any moral victories in chess, but there are plenty of hollow victories.

I have posted a few pieces on chess on this blog. Most recently, I posted about no moral victories. And as I was posting that particular piece, I realized that there are certainly many hollow victories. You know. Those victories that give you no pleasure. Those victories that give you no satisfaction. (Oops. Now, I am hearing the Rolling Stones. I can’t get no…) No no no.

At any rate.

There really are many ways in chess to get no satisfaction from a win. To get a hollow victory. The worst hollow victory is when somebody abandons the game. Especially after just a move. Or even worse, before the first move. It is a pain. Oh sure, your rating might go up, but where is the satisfaction in that? A couple rating points for no moves. And thirty or forty seconds of waiting. Really?

I just cannot imagine people walking away from a game. Think about it. You sit down to enjoy a quick game of chess. Just a couple minutes, and then before you make the first move, you stand up and walk away. Crazy. But that is what people do. They start a game, decide before the first move that they did not really want to play you, then, they just walk away. Without a word.

I know. It is just online chess. People do not really sit down across from you. They do not look you in the eye and decide that they do not want to play you. They do not have that opportunity. But they see your picture or avatar or a default silhouette. They see your ranking. Then they leave the game. Crazy.

It seems to me that if people are going to accept games, that they ought to have the courtesy of getting creamed when they think they are going to lose.

While I really think those first move or before the first move abandonments are bad, I think the games when the person knows he or she is going to lose are just as bad. I think that they ought to at least lay down their kings. What is it with these people? Have they never heard of the resign button? C’mon people. Either sit there and take the loss or resign. It is not that tough.

Okay. It sounds like I am ranting there. And maybe I am. But not really. In reality, I would just like to cajole people into sticking around and take their losses. It is not that bad. (I ought to know. I have lost so many.) And it gives their opponents a little bit of satisfaction.

Which is where I started. There might be no moral victories in chess, but there are surely many ways to win hollow victories. Oh so many ways to get no satisfaction. No. No. No.

Yes, I hate those hollow victories.

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No Moral Victories in Chess · 14 March 2026

There are no moral victories in chess. You either win, you lose, or you draw. Period.

I like to play speed chess. Blitz and bullet games. Blitz games are somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes per person. Bullet games are 30 seconds to a minute per person. Those are the ones I really like. The one-minute per person bullet games. The problem with those games is that you are playing both your opponent and the clock. And either one or both can be formidable enemies. There are many times when I lose to the clock rather than my opponent. Or more precisely, rather than my human opponent.

It is funny. When I first started playing bullet games, I would sweat out each move. I would feel pressured to move right away. So I blundered many a game. (I still blunder many a game, but that is a different story.) Actually, now that I think about it, I think I really just tried to play without worrying about the clock. I would just play my moves and the clock would catch up to me. I was always shocked when the clock struck zero. Time. I lost. Again.

The nice thing about playing bullet games online is that you just keep playing and playing and playing. (Again. Another completely different story.) And eventually, you get to a point where you are playing people about your ranking.

I play on chess.com and have played many bullet games. I win many and lose many. The interesting thing is that I cannot seem to get much above the ranking that I have. I go up and down about 100 ranking points around where I probably really sit. I actually like to think I am at the higher end of my bullet ranking, but I am probably right at that mid ranking level. Which is okay. It is always fun to beat people with higher rankings. And disappointing to lose to those with lower rankings.

The most interesting thing is that I have gone from thinking, “I would have beaten that person if I had not run out of time,” to “I should have beaten that person even though I ran out of time.” Actually, I have really started to think that I should just be faster. And I have actually started to think that the clock and my opponent beat me. Which is really the case.

Which brings me back to my thought of moral victory.

Thinking that I would have won had the clock not run out is akin to a moral victory. Or at least in my mind. I would have won if the time had not run out. I was better than my foe, but the time ran out. I would have won, but the other guy scored more points. Oops. No points in chess. But the thought is the same. “I woulld have won if…” does not make sense in the context of any contest. Unless of course, you finish the sentence with, “my opponent was not better than me.”

Now that I think of it, making excuses for losing is definitely not a moral victory. After all, a moral victory means that you played well or that you defended your principals well (according to the internet). Which does not mean that you played well but the clock beat you.

Which brings me back to my original thought. There are no moral victories in chess. Oh sure, you or I may play well, but when the clock runs out, you have either won or lost or drawn. You might take solace in the fact that you played well. I do. But it is not a moral victory. After all, as I already said (and hopefully backed up), there are no moral victories in chess.

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PHOBIA · 7 March 2026

Piranhas keep me out of the lake
Heebee jeebees come for goodness sake
Other irrational fears help keep me
Back from claiming my destiny
Intense fears, they come unbidden
At other times, they all stay hidden.

PHOBIA

Part of my fears
Heap up tears
Over the years
Become more fears
I cry more tears
At irrational fears.

phobia

Pleasantly calm I am becoming
Healthy fears are now forthcoming
Out with always people evading
Becoming brave, fear is fading
I am finally realizing
A life is worth actualizing.

[Write an acrostic poem in which the first letter of each line spells out the word ‘phobia’.
DailyPrompt prompt.]

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