Category Archives: Q & A

Question #7: How To Study Chess Games?

Q & A, University,

Jerome asks:

Hello,

first of all, thanks for your very nice website and your very instructive videos.

I have a question about studying chess games. What do you think is the best method ?

– go quickly through a lot of games, just to get a feeling of where the pieces go (and maybe improve your intuition).

– go through commented games and try to follow the comments (preferably without moving the pieces on the board)

– look at the game from the point of view of the winning player, and try to guess each of his moves. This is bit difficult to do with printed games, because your eyes may slip to the answer, but it can be done with computer softwares by hiding the next moves.

I guess one could or should do all of them, but what do you think ? How are you doing to prepare your commented game videos ?

A side question: I like very much to watch live games, for two reasons:
– because there I have no choice then trying to guess the next move
– because I find very instructive to see how quickly / slowly the players play, depending on the situation. One can really follow the “tempo” of the games when looking at live games.

Do you know if there exists games recorded with “time tags” and a tool able to replay a game at the real speed ?

Thanks

Jerome

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Question #6: How To Deal With Nervousness Prior To And During A Tournament?

Q & A, University

Hi all,

Greg asks:

I am playing in a Swiss System weekend tournament in a few days, and I am concerned about the amount of anxiety I feel before and during competitive events like this. I love chess, but I often become so anxious that I am often unable to think clearly and to play as well as I can. In post mortem analysis, many times I cannot even recall why I played a certain move in a given position. Have you any suggestions to help me overcome this anxiety?

Continue reading Question #6: How To Deal With Nervousness Prior To And During A Tournament? →

Question #5: What Is Tunnel Vision?

Q & A, University, , ,

Hi all,

Pablo askes:

I’ve come across in Lev Alburt’s books on the term “Tunnel Vision”. He mentions it but does not delve deeper into a topic that seems endemic to many players.
Can you expand on this issue and its remedy?

Hi Pablo, I’m not completely familiar with the works of Lev Alburt. After doing some research though, it seems that his idea of “Tunnel Vision” closely relates to my idea of thinking broad instead of deep.

He also suggests looking “around” for more candidate moves while calculating and trying to avoid unclarity which normally pops-up when you go deeper an deeper with only one specific line.
I quote from his “Chess Training Pocket Book”:

Once years ago, I had a student who, in spite of his considerable experience, had a habit of sticking with a single line of analysis at critical junctures, even when there were actually several attractive candidate moves. He did this even when his chosen line became unclear. I realized that this habit is common to many players. So I invented an exercise to get him to pay attention to all logical candidates, given the time constraints he would face in practical play.

When you tackle any position, whether here in this book or in your own games, first make a mental note of all the moves that suggest themselves—the candidate moves. Sometimes the very best move leaps to mind immediately—that’s your chess intuition at work! But usually two, three, or even four come to mind. If one candidate move seems much better than the others, begin analyzing it immediately, and continue until you see either that you can reach a successful conclusion, or that the line becomes murky. Or you may even find a flaw.

The notion of “several attractive candidate moves” as mentioned above can be misleading in the sense that it tends to suggest “among your own moves “. Of course it also applies to the opponents cancidate moves! He too can have attractive candidates!

It is exactly this kind of thinking that I am also teaching the members of the Better Your Chess University. Check out the recent series of lessons #13-#17. Some amateur players have this kind of knowledge. The difference between them and masters (in this area) is that they don’t apply it, since they have developed other thinking habits.

What’s important here is awareness, namely the kind of awareness that you are supposed to think in this (new) way. It’s like being aware of the fact that when you are meditating you are supposed to focus your attention on your breath and not indulge into thoughts. At the risk of becoming too spiritual here: Tibetan Buddhism suggests that while meditating you divide your mental energy as follows:

  1. be 50% “spacious”
  2. be 25% attentive (on your breath)
  3. be 25% aware (this awareness oversees that you are focusing your attention on your breath)

You can do something similar in chess. It helps to drill-train this new way of chess thinking until it becomes a habit and than re-evaluate your results. I’m thinking to introduce these drills more explicitly into the study materials.

I will address these and others issues in more videos to come.

Waldemar

Question #4: What About The “Pick A Great Player Approach”?

Q & A, University

Hi all,

Pablo askes:

What do you think about the “pick a great player approach”? I mean by that when they recommend that as training study you choose a great player who shares your opening repertoire and try to emulate his through his games in solitarie chess.

Hi Pablo,

I’m very much in favor of that approach, since it is very important to have inspiration in chess, especially when you are trying to improve. It is good to have someone to look up to and learn from, also as far as your opening repertoire is concerned.

Actually I say something about this in part III of my How To Build An Opening Repertoire article series on my blog. Check out tip #6.

You may also want to listen to the interview with IGM Karel Van Der Weide. He also makes remarks on the subject. You can find it here:

Interview

Who would you like to pick as your model player?

Greetings,

Waldemar

Question #3: Should I Also Study The Opening From My Opponents View?

Q & A, University

Greg asks:

When seeking to learn an opening, of what value is it to obtain material focused on the opening from the opponent’s view. For example, if I wish to play the French Defense, is it useful to study “anti-French” books?

Hi Greg,

The danger with many opening books, is that they are simply not objective. If you have a book for instance called: “How to win with the French”, then you can bet the author is choosing and describing the material in such a way that the inevitable conclusion must be that the French is a very good opening.

Although this does not hold true for every opening book out there, it is something to keep in the back of your mind. Therefore, as a system of checks and balances, it does make a lot of sense to study what White can do in turn to take the French apart. So books that show readers how to do that (“How to beat the French.”) are very useful to study as well.

If you do, you will benefit, because you’ll have a more objective and realistic view on the French, its possibilities and impossibilities, and the risks you can take.

By the way, I’m interested: are you contemplating to play the 3…Bb4 or 3…Nf6 lines against 3.Nc3?

Au revoir!

Waldemar,
Speaking French

Question #2: Should I Use A Chess Engine?

Q & A, University

Hi all,

Mitchell asks:

Hello.  I am a fairly serious chess player rated about 1500.  I was wondering what your views are on using a chess engine like Fritz in trying to improve.  For some reason, I’ve noticed that the more I review my games with Fritz, the worse I play.  On the other hand, the more videos of yours I watch on BetterYourChess.com and here, the better I play.  Do you think maybe this is because I shouldn’t be using a chess engine until I have reached a higher rating?  Thanks so much!

Hi Mitch, thanks for the compliment! It is simply really, the fact you play better when you watch videos by humans such as me, has to do with the fact that you are human too!

What I try to do in my videos is VERBALIZE what is going on and I always try to learn something general from what is going on in concreto. This leads to greater understanding. We humans cannot survive without these generalizations, since they allow us to go to the heart of a position rather quickly.

Although computers are also programmed to do more judgement and less calculation, they are still very much based on calculation powers, their so-called brute force.We humans simply don’t have that, also the top-players don’t have that, so we need something else and that something else is the aforementioned understanding.

Something else: If you want to improve your chess, never use your computer as your main analytical aid. The reason for this is: you become very lazy! Also, there is no exploration, verbalization and humanization. The main analytical aid should first and foremost be yourself.

Only use the computer when you have done your own bit of analysis first. Remember, chess is very much a sport for which you have to train yourself. It is the same as with other sports. If you want to get a better serve at tennis, it doen not help to watch Federer endlessly. Skills therefore need to be developed and are more important than knowledge. The most important general skill is finding your way in unknown (chess) territory.

After you have done this however, you can use the computer to check your moves and analysis. Every time you are surpised by the computer’s suggestion ask yourself:

“Why is he playing this move? What could be the reason for this move in human terms? Aha, he brings another piece into the attack. Or: Aha, he makes use of the pin. Or: Aha, he waits and strengthens first. Etc… “

If you verbalize and humanize then you may stand to gain from the computer’s help!

Good luck!

Waldemar

Question #1: What Is Your Suggested Training Regime?

Q & A, University

Hi all,

Patrik asks:

What is your suggested training regime for a grumpy old geezer limited to, say, 30 minutes of Chess Training per day plus a slow game or two per week?

Well Patrik, that is not bad! Some of us don’t have that time. I would say that you should at least try and pay attention to those one or two slow games that you play per week. Analyze them yourself first and keep notes. Only check your analysis with a stronger player or a chess engine after you have done your own analysis. Then refine you analysis. If there is some remaining time, do tactical exercises in which you practice your visualization and calculation. Also look up the games you played earlier every now and then from your database or file.

Good luck!

Waldemar