Some thoughts on the knight on the rim

One quiet Tuesday evening I finally sat down with my notes on the knight on the rim. I have started writing down what I was thinking during the game, which has been a humbling exercise.

Looking back

The slow part turned out to be the best part, which I didn’t expect. There is a rook ending I’ve now lost from the same position twice, and I’ve written it on a card. I played the first ten moves from memory and then realised I had no idea what the position was for. Looking at the game afterwards, the losing move was the one I’d been proudest of.

I read a lot about this in a friend’s old notes, then ignored most of it and learned the hard way. For a while I blamed my opening repertoire, but that turned out to be unfair. It’s the kind of small job that I put off for a few weeks and then finish in an afternoon. What surprised me most was how small the change was.

If nothing else, writing it down means I can’t pretend I didn’t know next time.