11 Things I Wish I Knew About Chess When I First Started
Fonte:
The Chess World
Written by Yury Markushin
Monday, 11 November 2013 00:00
Every chess master
was once a beginner. Even the great ones like Kasparov, Anand, Carlsenand Kramnik knew less about chess at
one point of their career than you may know now.
With experience you look back at the ‘old days’
when you first start playing chess and think with irony, I wish I knew
that earlier! Why no one told me that before? My results would have been
better, much better. This article is for those who just starting out playing chess and
want to avoid mistakes many players make.
Advice 1: Take your
time
I cannot count a number of times I have observed a
novice playing chess and losing just because he or she did not take enough time
to think. If you have a habit of making your moves 1.5 seconds after your
opponent made his, you need to use the following method to get rid of this bad
habit.
After your opponent made a move, look at the board
and ask yourself a question ‘why was that move played’ and ‘what can you do to
neutralize its threats’? Then, respond with your own move. Unless you
playing blitz you should take at least 30 secondsper move,
even if response looks completely obvious. During that extra thinking time you
may spot something you have missed at first, and that something could save you
a game
Advice 2: Don’t be
intimidated by your opponent’s credentials
This is something that happens very often, on all
levels of chess from 1200 to 2700. Let’s assume we are 1400 rated
and are about to face 1800 opponent for the next round. A
typical 1400 rated player would see the difference in ratings of 400 points
and already gets frightened of his opponent. He would set himself a limit to
draw the game (without even a possibility of winning), since it’s impossible to
beat such a high rated guy. Then, he would exchange a few pieces and passively wait for that
magic draw to come, just to lose due to some tactics missed while being
intimidated by the opponents rank.
There are multiple methods of dealing with that
issue. Some players don’t check their opponent’s rating before the game; some
people actually get themselves together and play better chess if they know
their opponent is higher rated. Do whatever works for you, and remember, ELO points don’t win the game, good moves
do!
Advice 3: Play
actively
This is a continuation of the previous point. I
have already mentioned that you should not be afraid of your opponent
regardless of the rating difference. If you do, the game is lost before it even
began. As I have written before in How to Beat a Stronger Opponent at Chess most
players mistakenly assume that achieving a simple position on the board is the
best way to draw a higher rated opponent. Why is that not the case? Because
higher rated players usually play simple (standard) position much better than
lower rated players. That’s pretty much the reason why they are higher rated.
So, what do we do in order not to lose the game
then? Exactly. We need to complicate the position as much as we can, play
actively, attack your opponent and create as many problems for him as possible.
This way, even if you lose, you will lose actively fighting and not passively
waiting for your opponent to come and checkmate you in the corner.
Advice 4: Manage
you food intake before the game
Food is quite an individual thing since some
players play better chess before they have a meal and some players play better
chess afterwards. The general rule of thumb is to avoid big meals before
an important game and consume something ‘light’before the game. If you had too much
food your body will concentrate of digesting the food lowering blood stream to
the brain, which may affect your chess performance. On the other hand, if
you’re hungry, fully concentrating on chess may be difficult. You can read more
about chess diet in one of previous my
articles.
Advice 5: Warm up
before the game
Many players play the first game of the day really
badly, blundering and losing quickly. Don’t make their mistake. If you have an
important game coming, take 15 minutes of your time and solve a few easy
tactical problems just to warm up your ‘chess muscle’.
There is no need to pick anything challenging at this point, you’re also
building up your confidence. It is especially important if you play chess in
the early morning when your mind and body may not be completely awake and ready
to be totally productive.
I had trouble myself playing first round games in
the mornings since I didn’t turn into a game right away. That cost me many
loses and draws in good positions. After I start practicing this little
tactical warm-up trick, I noticed my first game of the day results improved a
lot.
White to move and
win
Advice 6: Don’t
resign too early
This is another very common problem that can be
seen in the game of novice chess players. Some players resign immediately after
they lose a pawn or two playing on 1300 level. In fact, on that level even if
you’re a piece down you can still manage to win the game thanks to your
opponent’s blunders. Don’t resign unless you absolutely sure the game is
lost! If there is a tiny chance of drawing the game, play it on. It’s
much better to play on in couple of lost games for a few moves, than to resign
a drawn game. You may want to check out my guide how to play chess in a lost position.
Advice 7: Calculate
tactics multiple times
This one is really important, on all levels of
chess play. Imagine you find a nice tactical combination with a queen
sacrifice, leading to a mate in two. You’re so excited and want to astonish
your opponent and to end the game quickly claiming your win by a tactical brilliancy. You play a first couple
of move quickly sacrificing your queen and preparing to checkmate your
opponent. And then… oh my God, did you really miss something? It’s not a
checkmate and the opponent’s King has an escape square? Now all the
excitement is gone and you need to play being a queen down. Pretty much the
game is over for you.
Lesson to learn from here is simple, if you want to
sacrifice something always, always and I mean always double or triple check you
tactics!
Advice 8: Keep
yourself awake during a game
If you’re sleepy, you will blunder and lose the game. It’s as
simple as that. Do whatever it takes to keep yourself awake and focused during
the game. That includes diving into a cold swimming pool, running sprints,
doing pushups, etc. But seriously, stay awake and you will reduce the
possibility of making a blunder. Some people stand up and walk around during
the game when their opponent is thinking. Others drink water during the game.
Some grandmasters splash cold water on their face in the bathroom during the
game to get a little refreshed.
Coffee is another
option...
Advice 9: It’s not
over until it’s over
Imaging you are up a piece and now you think that
the game is pretty much over and you’re just waiting for your opponent to
resign. This is the most dangerous time to get overconfident, to make a mistake
and to lose a completely won game. This is a time when your opponent may come
up with some brave idea to save the game and to attack since he has nothing to
lose. Stays focused and look out for threats. Remember,
the game is not over until your opponent is checkmated, his time elapsed or he
resigns. In most other situations you can still lose the game.
Advice 10: Ignore
any disruptions
In order to stay focused on the game and play the
best chess you need to learn to ignore any disruptions. That can be a snoring of your opponent, yawning of the
spectators, somebody’s ringing phone or a smell of freshly baked pizza, who
knows? Whatever happens, if it’s not a life threat, you should be focused on
winning the game.
Kramnik ignores all
disruptions by blocking his ears
Advice 11: Calm
down!
Many chess players get
nervous and stressed out during the game of chess. Look at Ivanchuk (YouTube),
he is one of the top grandmasters and still gets extremely stressed out during
his games, especially in time trouble. It’s difficult to deal with stress
during the game, but if you manage to control it your result will improve. Good
luck!Fonte:
The Chess World
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário