I haven't been playing, studying, or following chess that much lately. I did take some interest in the World Chess Championships earlier this year. It was nice to see Ding Liren make a comeback and clinch the title. I have played less than ten games except those that are visible on Lichess. I have a chessboard spread out in my room in Bajura and Humla. There is no chessboard in my bag or with me here in Kalikot. At home in Kathmandu, my children lost the Black pawn. So, I couldn't set up a chess board there either. I haven't had access to reliable internet connection for most of this time. I have also not prioritized chess even when the connection was decent. There are some offline materials lying around on my phone and laptop but I haven't really studied them. Am I giving up on chess? I guess I'm not. I will definitely come back stronger and give it another go. But for the time being, let me not abandon it completely. Just one hour of study this month has given me a lot of energy on my recent games. I still have a lot of reason to hope to do things in the future. In the second half of 2023, I will write more often on this blog and take some baby steps towards improving at chess. I don't need to be better than anyone else. Let me be better than I've ever been. Then I can maybe take it somewhere from there. So even though the first half of 2023, wasn't the best six months of chess in my life, it might be better than the two years before that. I can see that everyone is getting better around me. But I must continue to devote some time to chess and not ignore it completely as I have often done recently. I should also post regularly on this blog even if it makes no sense to me.
