This piece is intended as a partner article to the previous post, “Why Experienced Chess Players Should Play in Tournaments”.
- What you think you know can hurt you.
The only way to test what you’ve actually learned is live play with a clock against a human opponent. Chess players are decision-making animals. The real test of your strength is decision-making under fire. ‘Book-learning’ is useful and necessary, but unless your opponent blunders, you have to learn to make choices under pressure. Can’t do that with a book or, in my experience, with a computer. Chess players are excuse-making animals. We tend to cut ourselves more slack than our opponents do. I prefer using the computer to validate choices made in life play over the board. Use the computer to learn from your mistakes.
2. Human opponents do what they want, not what you want.
No matter how hard you study, they will present you new problems over the board. You have to learn to play against bad moves in an open field loaded with traps.
3. Losing is necessary and OK.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The worst handicap any player can proceed under is the belief that you have to play perfect chess to win. You just have to play better than your opponent. So focus on what you can do, not what you should do.
4. The problems you fail to solve have more to teach you than the ones you succeed in solving.
Play up as high as you can and see every mistake as an opportunity to find and correct leaks in your game. I like blaming myself for losses – I can fix me.
5. Feedback, feedback, feedback.
Consult friends, opponents, books, databases, and computers. Anyone or anything that can help you identify and understand your mistakes. Every game, every bad move, is an opportunity to learn.
6. But first you have to MAKE moves.
7. Chess is concrete, practical. We learn by risking failure and by making choices.
8. For fun. Once you get past the fear of losing and develop a little confidence, chess is almost pure fun. Join us!
-Don Maddox