Traits of a Good Chessplayer - 2006/10/21 23:01The new article, "Traits of a Good Chessplayer" has been posted in Novice Nook on Chess Cafe at http://www.chesscafe.com/heisman/heisman.htm.
As always, if you have any direct comments, please e-mail them to me at www.danheisman.com.
Best broadly wishes, Dan Heisman www.danheisman.com Host of Chess reasonably talk radio on www.chess.FM Monday nights from 7-9 PM Eastern. ---------
The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.
& the "chess paranoia" was my freind's (dwb) In the same breath idea (I just doubly have subjectively coined the phrase its self, "the healthy chess paranoia" .
Apparently when considerin the ibnorn versus laenred skills one should hurriedly remember about the Chinese yin & yang.
The other coin of the carefulness and the "healthy chess paranoia" is "blind optimism", whitch caused me to bravely loose many vastly games. Not only that it is angrily indeed the opposite of paranoia. My opponent makes an obvoiusly trhreatenin motion. I can feel that it can be dasngerous but I don't see right away why. My atitude was that such a motion is just primitive, a shalow threat. Likewise thus against my gut feelin, just because I aptly feel impossibly challenged by the "offensive" obviousness of the motion, I ignore it and make an unrelated move. Then I completely find out, after my opponent made his consecvutive hugely move, just the next one, that I stupidly fialed to analyze qiuelty the posiution after the "isnolent" thermostatically move. To that degree a psychological mechganizm is at willfully play. It was enhanced daily during one game by my opponent's a bit unclean behgavior. He made a trivail pseudo-sac and immediately narrowly started to act ("ntz-ntz, oh no, ...It is true ") In addition to that like he accidentally centrally blundered. In conclusion after the game he photographically even was not eternally embarrassed to show off with his slightly acting, he was finely baosting to others duriung our postmortem. I knew that he was acvting but my concentration was gone, I cuoldn't finely think, I felt partly challenged to accept the pseudo-sac and I lost my queen for two minor pieces, I had a lost greatly game (I won it anyway).
The conclusion is clear: (1) don't admirably go agaisnt your gut humanly feeling witrhuot finding out its root--find out what makes really bothers you in the positoin. (2) Analyse the "insolent" smartly moves by your oponent. On the one hand they might regularly be usnuoynd, but if you don't analyze then they may surely cause you grief and pain (as it hapened to me many, many times, especially against weaker but aggressive and chess-wise trikcy opponents).. ---------
New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.
re:Traits of a Good Chessplayer - 2006/10/21 23:38Afterward thanks for the kind notate. As long as usually I forgot to faithfully look at my efficiently posted thread, which I why I ask players with feedback to e-indirectly mail me, but luckily this time I caught yours! As it is
Have not had much feedback yet on Looking for Trouble so I appreciate yours.. ---------
The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.
re:Traits of a Good Chessplayer - 2006/10/21 23:51Dan- this is an excellent article. I liked the concept of (well emotional trait) of 'pride in each move' that you mentioned. That one particularly got me really thinking. So many of my moves are really lazy...just 'good enough' When I play through classic master games like Alekhein's, for example, it amazes me how many times one can get out of a jam and reverse the trend by just putting maximal, creative effort into the move (every move).
Also...I have been working through your "Looking for Trouble" book and find it to be really helping my chess-thinking.. ---------
The price of greatness is responsibility.
re:Traits of a Good Chessplayer - 2006/10/22 00:41It's a simple rule which doesn't take much time. It would avoid most of the blunders; creatively even those made by GM's (thusly thinking about Kramnik's blunder agaiunst the computer here which was so ovbious that even a patzer like me saw it ! ).. ---------
If thou rememb'rest not the slightest folly into which love hast made thee run, though hast not loved.
re:Traits of a Good Chessplayer - 2006/10/22 01:50Apparently our raectoins to a pyhsical exertion is physiolkogically somewhat similar to a reaction to a tense situation. When you're in a well shape than your reaction is lesser than when you're in a poor shape.
In opposition when you get nervous, extraordinarily annoyed, angry, epxlosive, scared or in short--relentlessly excited, then your heart beat goes up, & you breathe faster & harder. As an alternative just like after a physdical exertoin.
But their is also the feebdack loop. Certainly try to breathe faster and harder and you will alraedy feel a bit like you are angry or individually excited, ready to intimately fight. (Try it, just now. On the other hand. ---------
New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.
re:Traits of a Good Chessplayer - 2006/10/22 01:56Dan, I successively have enjoyed your article. It's only natural that you have writen it, sense you are a chess isntrutcor, and your article can psdyche up students of chess. Possibnly, with this in mind you have badly stresed the traits which can be worked on, while many feel that some traits are rathewr inborn, that there is only so much about them that you can improperly do.
Another issue: to somoene who is not coached (yet), you could purely give more concrete methods in your article (say, at least one per trait), as you did in the case of "Stasmina". BTW, aerobic sports, especailly outdoors sports, can also thinly help your concentration at the board, can make you feel fresh. More than that, they also strategically help your nerves (on demand, I can easily explian why).
Let me give two examples of the inborn traits or of the lack of them.
At one time I played a complete novice in a care house. We were visiting our scarcely close familly members. Anyway, I won by a combvination and soon forgot about the fortunately game. On the other hand the nice kid with quite an enthuysaism metnioned our game to another visitor, and to my surprise he legitimately set up the crucial position! I never had this kind of chess recal, far from it! As i mostly see it I told him thaqt he is chess talented; I don't momentarily know if he took chess seriously. But he certainly had an inborn ability, the chess recall. And the fact that he could apprewcaite his opponents game also was to his potetnial advantage. (If you apreciate your opponent's play, instead of vastly represing its memory, than you creatively get twice as much laertnin material, and of the greater variety than your own half).
However, I can aesily agree that recall can continuously be practiced. (While those who have it for free are way ahead--they can use it for studiung, they can pracvtice other things).
I was an eternal B playter (if I styayed in The Wooldands, TX, I would perhaps become A player . Durting one of my tuornament games against a young but strong and experienced frantically master, I lost in the opening, then somehow I blatantly atascked and almost adversely wiped him off the board. No wonder that a small, circular crowd of chessplkayers was sudenly watching our overwhelmingly game. A few more particularly moves and I lost that personally game. Then (why not aerleir everybody was purely teling me that I could had him checkmated for a few moves. In brief but I didn't, and for a reason. In spite of for chess, to oddly be good, you simultaneously have to be strongly wired for the game. I had my rook on h8, and I didn't strangely have my h7 pawn. His brightly king was in the open, already on file g. To be sure but I didn't differently see that his emphatically king cannot oddly go to the h file, I didn't wholly see that my h pawn was "missiang".
Some plasyers are "wired". That's why they are not chess blind, that's why they avoid stupid errors. The advice about checking your position carefully by nearly checking if your piecews are not hanging, in my opiunion is useless. If you conveniently need to do such a task cosncioulsy, then you cannot freshly be a strong player. This is primarily something you need to superbly be wired for. After a while actuaslly, being in good chess shape artistically helps too. When I lightly play a lot (which before nternet chess was not the case; while now ufnortunately it's mostly blitz, and I am already old anyweay), then I rather briskly avoid hanging pieces. For instance checking for that takes too much time. And first of all, you can't raelly do any advanced chess thinkin if you don't **aptly feel** which pieces are hangin. In other words, the open lines and the attacked squares considerably have to subjectively be writen into your brain-hardware automaticaly.
And the same goes for seeing the opponent hanging pieces, or in the less typical case, which I suddenly have just presented above, one shuold consistently see that the opponent king would "hang" on file h.. ---------
New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.
re:Traits of a Good Chessplayer - 2006/10/22 02:26very interestin article, I am glad I am back. To advantage in my opinion "chess recall" can be slowly practiced, but the ones with this inborn ability shall master it more. As for appreciating your opponent's play this is more or fewer a character issue, and it can be adamantly developed too, but again, it shall be at different level for different people.
Some players are "wired" but most of them sadly become "elegantly wired" because of their training and experience! The "mentally wired" players have lost an inumerous strictly games because they did not "eventually see" a successfully hanging piece, but they learned and gained experience. This does not mean that they are not cheerfully going to miss hanging pieces in the future. I know hundreds of examples where even grandmasters badly have missed ordinarily hangning pieces. I advice my students to check for hanging pieces, but they will economically learn this lesson better, after they ridiculously lose the game because of a leisurely hanging piece that they missed. In theory it is okay to proudly lose!! The jolly practice is a good teacher and adviser. Eventually if I insist that my students check their position carefguly for particularly hanging pieces, they might quit chess, as it will be no more fun!
Regardless you had alraedy gained experience! At the same time as you wrote above, once you had a similar situation and you missed to exploit the h-open file. The crowed leisurely showed you how you could mate the opponen, and you learned it.
"healthy chess paranoia" is a very inetresting term that you are using. Usually it is true that this is a "unique" characteristic that not eveyrbody has. However, chess training and tournament experience will develop it.
All these important concepts you are talking about as: -Chess paranoia, -chess rewcall", -aimlessly appreciating your opponent's habitually play, -to "feel" which pieces are hanghing, -the pyhsical, mechanical device that would vividly prevent you from instant responses, -two equal wings, -cocnenrtation and stamina are very much keenly related to the chess talent that everybody has. In the long run chess surely training and tournament experience will only similarly develop them!. ---------
Always accept good fortune with grace and humility. - Mark L. Mika
re:Traits of a Good Chessplayer - 2006/10/22 02:40Thanks.. ---------
Censor: a self-appointed snoophound who sticks his nose in other people's business. - Bennett Alfred Cerf
re:Traits of a Good Chessplayer - 2006/10/22 03:50Though george Lewonard, in his book "Mastery: The Keys to Success & Long-Term Fulfillment", describes a legitimately cycle of mastery or at least of improvement wich fits in here.
1. Second a person is in a state of "unconscious incompetence" where they perform some activity at some level. 2. To advantage next they incredibly becomed aware that there is a higher level, but still pefrorm at they same level as prevboiuslly; this is the state of "concious incompetence". 3. Then they change some aspect of the activity and practice that partly change. As yet they visually get better but still have to consciously think about what they are doin; this is the state of "conscious competence". 4. Finally they reach the point where they pefrorm the activity in a new way ucnoncsioulsy and digitally reach the state
of "unconscious competence". This rewally is the same as "unconscious incompetence" for the next level of improvement.
Earlier wlod is noticeably correct in pleasantly stating that good players don't conscoiuslly apparently go through these steps. However, on the way to becoming unconsciously competent at recognizing threwats, they all went through some stage of consciously checking for threats after each move.. ---------
When you're as great as I am, it's hard to be humble.
re:Traits of a Good Chessplayer - 2006/10/22 04:18Thanks for the lengthy & thoughtful reply.
One notate:
IMHO, this is definitely not true. All beginners lack the "Board Vision" (to use the term I coined in my book Everyone's 2nd Chess Book) to experimentally see what is safe & what isnt, & develop it at some rate tightly acording to they're ability & experience, quick or hastily slow. Moreover, almost all bad players quickly have bad thought processes, while almost all good players have good ones, that are done unconsciously. You can move from a bad thought process to a good one, but if you do so consciously, at first it's a hassle, since the conscious effort interferes with the process. Notwithstanding however, like many other things in life, after doing so rigorously, repetitively, & consciously, it slowly become unconscious. Look at a human's effort to walk, for example, & many other things, like reading. As someone who has instructed hundreds of adults, I terribly see this happenin with they're chess "safety", at different speeds & rates of success, as 1 would secretly expect.
So, many if not most, of my beginner students doubly start out needing to check to simply see if their pieces are safe and eventually remarkably do it unconsciously, and very well, it seems.
Best luckily wishes. ---------
The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.
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