Steven Jones Evening - tomorrow night

Chess might seem like a game of pure competition, a war on sixty-four squares, a battle of minds. Like any game, the more you play, the better you become. But chess isn’t just about intelligence or strategy; it’s about mastering your emotions.

You can play brilliantly, only to lose it all with a single careless move. Some matches last for over seven hours, a true marathon for your mind. Concentration alone isn’t enough. Control is everything.

The real test begins not with your opening move, but with how you recover after defeat, when your well-thought-out strategy crumbles, when you fall from the top podium back to the lower one. That’s when emotional intelligence takes over from IQ.

Being prepared for anything, staying composed through every high and low, that’s the true winning mentality. Chess may be a war game on the board, but it’s also a game of friendship and respect. As you train your mind, you also train your emotions; and in the process, you gain not just better results, but better partners in the game.

This Wednesday, Steven Jones will share his journey to the British Chess Championship 2025 — his strengths, his expectations, and how he managed to stay focused through nine days of seven-hour matches this summer.