Never Give Up! Anything Can Happen...
There is a great Japanese proverb (saying) that goes, "Fall down 7 times, stand up 8." What do you think that means? For me, it means you should never give up, even though sometimes things are really hard and you are struggling a lot. Even if you fall down, you will always get back up. In chess, 75% of your game is your attitude! If you start tanking, YOU WILL LOSE! That sounds pretty obvious, right? Well, then it goes without saying you should always try your hardest! Psychology plays a really big role in chess. Today we will look at a game that I played a few years ago against a weaker player. I made a bad move that totally opened up my king. Suddenly it looked like I was about to get mated in one move, and I had only 2 minutes left on my clock!! I gave up my queen, but I played on. Later, my opponent blundered his queen away, and I was able to win. By, Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl).White is threatening mate. Do you see it? Should I give up because he is trying to checkmate me? Nope! I mean, maybe I do get mated, that's the worst that can happen right? But if you give up, you can never win.
In the game, with less than 2 minutes left on my clock, I gave up my queen to stop the mate. Be5 works too because it blocks the rook, but I am clearly losing... Still, I fought on!
After realizing you made a mistake, the best thing to do is stand up and take a deep breath. Try to shake it off and keep playing! The worst thing to do is mentally give up. You never know what could happen. Maybe your opponent will give you his queen on the next move!! Even if he doesn't, at least you made it hard on him. 
