SELF-MANAGEMENT
When playing chess, you face three enemies: the pieces of your opponent, your opponent and finally – yourself. We all know that sometimes we, indeed, are our biggest enemy. Having ourselves under control is extremely important for success in such a demanding endeavor as chess.
382. Why is mental strength important for chess?
Mental strength is important for the four following key areas of success:
383. How do I improve my objectivity?
Disclaimer: The following is how I personally experience the world. I could easily be mistaken.
When it comes to objectivity there are two basic arche types: people who are seeking the truth and people who want to be right. Most people are located between these extremes. However, it appears that only a minority is flocking to the pole of the truth seekers. The reason for that is the dominant role of our ego. The ego is not only a driving life force; it is also responsible for our emotional survival. As most people are traumatized one way or the other and in different degrees, they are susceptible to experiencing emotional pain. In order to avoid this pain, the ego steps in by building an alternative reality, in which our identity or role get upgraded. An extreme form of this is called narcissism. That’s why in some teachings the ego is called the great deceiver. While this mechanism makes us “comfortably numb”, it leads to trouble whenever there is a clash with reality. Or, as Ayn Rand said: “We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”
Chess gives us ample opportunity to deceive ourselves. We could underestimate our opponent or overestimate our position. Let’s say you have White and don’t want to accept the fact that you were unable to accomplish much. In order to prove an advantage, you might overplay your position. Some people are not looking hard enough for their mistakes in post mortems and connect a defeat to some form of bad luck (lack of sleep, venue too loud, chair too hard etc.). I have met many people who exclaimed their ambitions, but didn’t follow through with systematic work. Some people confuse internet blitzing or the consumption of chess videos on YouTube with intensive chess training.
Try to find out whether you suffer from self-deception and if the answer is positive, you might want to change that by increasing your awareness through enhanced introspection and studying psychological mechanisms. The internet offers everything free of charge. Never was knowledge more available then today.
384. How do I improve my resilience?
Chess puts us under enormous pressure, as the loss of a game is attributed to intellectual failure, the notion of which is hard to endure. Taking failure too seriously could cause big problems. If you start badly into a tournament, you may lose your fighting spirit. Or let’s say you commit a severe mistake in a game and now you are beating yourself up for it. This hardly helps to concentrate for the rest of the game.
One of the most important qualities for success is resilience. Without resilience we cannot be successful when meeting obstacles. Part of being resilient is having the right attitude with regard to failure. Failing is no shame. Only the one who doesn’t try or never takes risks cannot fail. It rather is a shame not to try or not to stand up again after a fall and try again. If you consider spiritual, intellectual or material growth as one of your personal goals, the concept of learning will be in the center of your world view. In that case, you won’t have a problem of embracing making mistakes, as they are the best catalyst for your learning process.
385. What can we learn from the Stoics?
If your emotions are too heavily influenced by your chess results, it might be worth looking into Stoic Philosophy (Seneca, Marcus Aurelius). This holds that thinking can influence emotions. Smart thinking leads to a positive or moderate emotional state. For example, one should divide the world into things that one can control and things that one cannot. Don’t invest neither much time nor much emotional energy in things that cannot be controlled. Applied to chess, this means: You should do everything you can to maximize your chances of success. Train regularly, prepare for the game and work hard during the game. If you still lose, you shouldn’t dwell on it for too long, because you have done everything in your power. The result depends on how you are feeling on the day and on chance, factors over which you have no control. You sometimes don’t have control over what happens, but always over your reaction to what happens. This is the great differentiator between people. Take things as the come and move on with your sophisticated routine. In the long run you will succeed.
386. Are two draws better than a win and a loss?
Surely not, but some people think like that. They equate a loss with failure and might have been taught by their father that failing is bad. I made my opinion about failing already clear. Let me add that, if anything, I would consider not winning enough much more of a failure. It is true that chess is drawn and nobody can criticize you for a draw. However, for me it has the taste of a nonevent (unless you draw against Magnus, of course). You could also have stayed at home and spend some time with your family. So much effort for nothing. Again, there is nothing wrong with a draw, but not enough trying to win appears a bit feeble to me. Chess is a battle game, and if you don’t like the battle, maybe chess is not for you. Only playing for a draw and hoping not to lose cannot really be an enjoyable experience.
387. What is the most effective way of goal-setting in chess?
There are many kinds of goals you can have as a chess player: having a successful career, reaching a certain Elo-milestone, playing a good tournament or winning a single game. These goals are fine and can coexist with one another. However, the most effective of all goals is still missing in this list. If you focus yourself on a tournament, starting with 0/2 can throw you out of balance. It would be better to focus on eaxh single game. But even here you can lose your composure if you commit a blunder. Some players get too upset about this to stay fully concentrated. The best attitude is to just focus on the next move. Your sole task as a chess player is to make good moves. You are a move-making machine. Your whole chess career is one long chain of moves. Whatever happened before a move has no importance. Just concentrate on the present task. If your position is clearly worse because of a blunder, don’t beat yourself up about it. Take it as it comes and even consider it a challenge. Many players can play decent chess in blue sky situations, but only experts know how to save a critical position. Proving yourself here can also be considered an opportunity. If you translate this chess wisdom to life, it may help you in difficult situation. Don’t think too much about the past, as it can’t be changed anymore. Focus on what’s next and regard life as one long chain of single decisions (moves).
388. How should I behave in won positions?
Psychological mistakes are often made even in winning positions. Some players count the point as won too soon and play nonchalantly. This can lead to a number of minor errors, until the winning position turns into a clear advantage and, in the end, even a draw. The problem here, once again, lies in the mindset. Too much attention is paid to the result, and too little to the quality of one’s own play. Once again: your aim should be to make good moves to the best of your abilities. Time is precious, and the same applies to time spent at the chessboard. A tournament game is the very best opportunity for training. Every single move offers such an opportunity. This valuable situation should not be wasted.
Try to shorten the game and win in the quickest possible way. The longer the game lasts, the more mistakes can be done. In a tournament, it can make a difference, whether the game ends on move 30 or on move 70. Don’t waste your energy.
389. Do I have the right time horizon?
Success in chess is a marathon, not a sprint. Only those who have the stamina to study with discipline over many years, in order to absorb as much as possible from the vast body of knowledge, will truly be able to realize a big part of their potential.
390. What is my motivation to play chess?
Your motivation for playing chess could be intrinsic or extrinsic or a mixture of both. In case of your motivation being extrinsic, chess would serve you as an ego-booster. There is nothing wrong with that, but it would be better if there would be intrinsic motivation too.
Those who love chess for its own sake – that is, who derive pleasure from the pursuit of knowledge, the creative act or the aesthetic experience – have the best prospects. They have a twofold motivation. The intrinsic part would help you through the hard times, when progress is stalling. You would move on with your training due to the love for the game as such. It also helped you coping with losses. If you used chess solely to feed your ego, you would take a loss too much to heart. Try to really bond with chess by opening your eyes for all of its profound beauty. It will make chess far more enjoyable and keep you on track.
391. What is the energy matrix?
The energy a person has during a game can be represented as a matrix with the poles “high – low” and “positive – negative”.
high negative: engaged, but with a lot of fear of failure involved, tense behavior
low positive: indifference, no fear, but not much engagement
high positive: high motivation, the game is not considered a danger, but a challenge
Top sportsmen have control over their emotions and can conjure the state of high positive energy as desired. Here is a technique: Lay on your bed and try to think of your last tournament success. Try to evoke your emotional state at that time. Now practice this exercise 10 minutes every day. Chances are, you will be able to generate this state at will, meaning right before the game.
392. How does opening preparation affect my emotional state during the game?
If I am well prepared, I am full of confidence and I am looking forward to the game. This provides my brain with a positive cocktail of neurotransmitters, which is very useful for the battle. Someone unprepared, on the other hand, might feel like a pupil entering school without having made his homework.
393. Should I do sports before the game?
One of the absolute best results in my career occurred, when I played tournament in my home town, when the games were played at 2pm. Every day I did a small physical exercise by riding my bicycle and then run 2000 meters in a forest. As a result I felt very sharp at the board.
394. What should I eat before the game?
I wouldn’t eat heavily before a game like a big piece of meat. The body would have to spend a lot of energy digesting. Also stay away from short-chain carbohydrates. The sugar spike would make the insulin remove all sugar from your blood. A small portion of protein combined with long-chained carbohydrates as in pasta is quite a good choice. If the games starts in the morning, three eggs with carrots or a slice of bread sounds like a good idea. The moderate amount of protein wakes you up and the egg yoke is full of nutrition. Of course you can add some supplements of your choice. A high dose of creatin can give you energy after a night of bad sleep. You might want to do some research on that topic. Make sure that it’s of highest quality.
395. What should I drink during the game?
If you are used to coffee or if you you feel like having too little energy during the game (slow thinking, time trouble) you might want to stimulate yourself with coffee. Coffee is a psychoactive drug, which generally improves your thinking. If you drink too much of it, you might get too nervous or even exausted. Hence, the proper dosage during the game is an important side discipline. You should also dring enough water to stay hydrated. Your walks to the toilet will arouse your metabolism and are no problems if you don’t waste time walking around needlessly.
396. How to spend the time shortly before the game?
Even if you go by car, you might want to have a short walk to agitate your metabolism. Don’t arrive just in time and hastily fill in your scoresheet while still being in your jacket. If possible, sit ten minutes before the start of the game at the board, relax and focus on the game to the point of highest motivation. Needless to say, don’t get involved in any talks with team mates or acquaintances. Focus and forget about the rest of the world.
397. Do I study effectively or is it more entertainment than training?
Blitzing or watching YouTube videos tend to be more on the entertainment side. Real training should contain elements of reflection, inquisitive thinking and research. If it is mere consumption, the number of new insights will be rather low.
398. Is my training in line with my goals?
Random exposure to chess content is better than nothing. However, it is more effective to target certain areas (e.g. weaknesses, new openings) and perform a more directed kind of studying.
399. Do I analyze my games, including blitz games?
Chess, as life, is about growth through learning. If we don’t analyze our games, we don’t grow and repeat mistakes. I repeated mistakes many times in my life. As I don’t like myself in this role, I have reduced this self-sabotaging pattern quite a lot. Playing a tournament game is a time-intensive undertaking. Make it count and turn the precious raw material into a refined end product of knowledge. It should include the solution to the opening problem and a complete understanding of the game on a conceptional (not just tactical) level. What about internet blitz games? It would be a shame if you don’t perform a short analysis of the opening phase in case you encounter problems. My advice is to play only that many games, which you are able or willing to analyze after the session.
400. Do I do regular tactic training?
Tactic training is the soft spot of many a chess friend, as it amounts to work. As mentioned above, there is the temptation to do what’s most enjoyable, like playing blitz games or watching videos. Also playing through annotated games might fall under this category, if it is done in a passive manner without asking questions and analytical interventions. Tactic training comes closest to hard work. Here you can prove, whether you are up for the task of working systematically on your chess career. It is important, as tactics have a big impact on the results of a game. Furthermore, when solving puzzles you train several important disciplines at the same time: tactical motifs, tactical mechanisms and the process of calculation.
401. Do I do tactic training the right way?
You should do it in a serious manner by writing the solution down and assigning points according to what is visible on paper. That way, you cannot cheat yourself into believing you found the solution, when you only saw the main motif, but overlooked some sidelines for the defender. In a game, overlooking such options could lead to defeat. Try to simulate a game situation as realistically as possible.
402. Do I have a healthy lifestyle?
A healthy life style is good for everything, also for your ambitions as an amateur player. Your brain works better when your body is in good shape and your food is high in nutrition. Sleeping well before a game has a huge impact on the result, of course.
403. How do you get the most benefit out of chess?
One way to look at life is to maximize the amount of your personal happiness. How can chess contribute? How do you get the most enjoyment out of chess? As chess is a multi tier phenomenon with aspects of science, sports, art, entertainment and socializing, the answer varies from person to person. Now let’s assume the sportive aspect prevails, so your ranking in the Elo-list. In that scenario, you should do everything to maximize your chances of success. Making the game itself a source of overall pleasure by playing too relaxed and sloppy (not calculating hard enough, walking around during the game etc.) would be wrong. The game has a short duration, while the effect of success has a long-lasting on. Work hard during the game and enjoy the fruits of this effort later. When this habit becomes second nature, as it is rewarded by success, you will observe a peculiar thing. The hard work at the board itself will turn into pleasure!
