Duck power

Once upon a time, I was playing an important tournament. I started very poorly, struggling to win a single game against lower-rated opponents. At the middle my result looked pretty dismal. I understood that something had to be changed, possibly everything. (Given the results, even a random change was likely to lead to better results.)
And then I recalled how the famous coach Mark Dvoretsky wrote in his memoirs about zigzag, a psychological resource which often works in such situations. A player should do something unusual, step out of the comfort zone, do something else, experience some fresh emotions and hope that it helps to change the course of the event. I didn’t understand what the duck (wtd) was going on. I wasn’t playing that poorly, yet my results were bleak. The opponents played well.
Did I say “duck”? Indeed! I changed several things at once, among others I decided to play a bit games of Duck Chess after a very long break. Duck chess is a chess variant, one of those more similar to standard chess. There is a rubber duck which is a sort of block, and players complete their move by putting the duck to a vacant square, trying to cross the opponent’s plans. There isn’t too much theory, yet it is a very sharp tactical game where experience matters. On that day I played around 9 games with mixed results. It was the right time to stop. When I was solving a chess puzzle afterwards, I was wondering where to put my duck. On the next day I misplayed the opening a little, but then played well, finally won a game and then two more good games against strong opponents.
No, I didn’t win the event, then I would write this story from my official acc. I even narrowly missed my pre-tournament goal, yet my final result was much better than at the halftime. Duck chess helped me to forget about the poor results and come in better shape for the next games.
If you feel inspired by this, it’s time to remind you that not every zigzag works. Skills, chance and a good guess regarding the nature of the zigzag matter a lot. After all, I was a bit lucky in the first game after it. A friend once started poorly in an important event and then tried zigzag, going to a pub. In some cases even this helped, but he lost a few more games and ended up publicly reproached. (Not by me, of course.) Duck chess is non-alcoholic and less likely to cause side-effects.