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 The Most Important Talent in ChessThink how your last lost game occurred: Did it occur because you couldn’t remember a set of moves or because you could not figure out what to do? It was probably because you overlooked something! There was something you did not see. A world champion has said that the opening requires reason and logic, but the middle game requires observation! You will benefit greatly from playing chess if you develop a stronger power of observation. All blunders are due to insufficient observation. Yet, players use their time learning opening sequences, doing exercises in logic and reasoning, instead of developing new eye habits. The way that we gain observation in chess over time is by tactical play and tactical exercises. But there is a faster, easier way to develop the power to see what the opponent fails to see. Players normally make no effort to increase their ability to see the board. They just move the pieces. Sometimes the wrong piece, sometimes to the wrong square, but move the piece they do! Seeing the board they don’t! Instead of becoming better at the skill they lack, they buy a chess book. Or, they think it happens seldom and is therefore not important. You need to see the board differently. This is not, contrary to some opinion, a checkerboard! Try looking just at the empty board, let your eyes explore the lines – the ranks (rows), files (columns), diagonals. Look at them from every direction. Put a piece on the board and look at the lines it blocks, move it and look at the lines it opens. Now, look at the squares. Put a piece on the board and look at the squares it attacks. Now, move it and see if you still see those squares that had previously been under attack. Look at the new squares attacked. By exploring the lines and squares of the board, you will make such strategic observations as a knight attacks the color it sits upon on it’s second move. This is what will enable you to see two knight moves ahead, not intelligence. The reason one seldom blunders or makes errors in his moves is that he is not moving the pieces! He is improving the board. He is making adjustments to empower his use of the board. If you want to significantly add points to your rating, ask yourself the following four questions before making any move: What squares will this move seize? What squares will this move release? What lines will this move open? What lines will this move close? Don’t rely on memory. Don’t rely on intelligence. Don’t rely on reason and logic. For the games you next begin and for those games now in progress, on every move perform these four checks. It will be dull. It will be boring. It will be uncomfortable and troublesome. But, do it anyway. You are building a habit, a habit of observation. You will find that as you do it, it becomes easier and faster. You will not see the blunders, because there will be no blunders. You will then find that you don’t have to think about it, it has become habit. Like breathing, it just happens. You are becoming an observer, not just a spectator! Just as there is a difference between knowledge and appreciation, there is a vast difference between education and training. Education results from sensory exposure. You become educated by reading, listening, touching, tasting, and smelling. That’s the acquisition of knowledge. And the formal acquisition of selected knowledge is education. But training is the acquisition of behaviors; habits and skills. You only need enough education, knowledge, to appreciate the behaviors you must acquire. (Skill is just beneficial habit, it also comes from repetition). Observation is a skill! You will not get it from listening to a lecture, reading a book, watching a flick. You will get it from only once source: Practice! Remember Mr. Miagi: “Wax on, wax off.” Practice does not make perfect, practice makes permanent! When we practice the wrong things we acquire permanent handicaps. Only perfect practice makes perfect. It is not what we know that determines our success, it is what we DO. Many see the chess board; few observe what is happening because to them it appears static! The chess position is alive! See it! All of it! |
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Be the spectator of your own game. |
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my opinion I say (and I am by no stretch of the imagination the only player to says this) Learn the principles of chess, the basic rules, like never a piece more than once in the opening, pawn structure, good and bad bishops and knites and alwasy captuer towards the center and many other rules to play by. Learn the forks, the pins, the defence of weak squares the creation of outposts and such. Learn the basic principles and play by them, thats it. f*** 7 combination moves, learn that when your in the 1800's not hovering around 1000-1200 I am basically paraphrasing Josh Waitzkin for the record, I did not come up with this myself. |
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Very nice put Jim! One of the main influences is yourself, the struggle you do during a game is not with your opponent, but, with yourself.... can you believe you can win this or that game? If not, chances are bigger that you will lose. And this can have an important influence on your observation "skills"! Jo |
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fatcat2 07-Oct-09, 11:21 |
The Most Important Talent in Chess. I started playing chess competitively, in tournaments, comparatively late - by which time my comtemporaries, who had started playing at very young ages, were already streets ahead of me. The one thing that enabled me to catch up with them, and start to beat them over the board, was determination. What I lacked in experience, I made up with by reading chess books, playing at a chess club, entering as many tournaments as I could possibly fit in. Determination, in fact, will breed the talents that tennesseehiker mentioned above: perception and observation. Also, when coupled with a lot of free time, it will increase experience. I believe that the determined chess player is already a step ahead of all his rivals. |
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combinations 17-Oct-09, 18:45 |
Most important... Enough said... |
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Observation Might be some value if some of us, whoever might be interested, were to work through some chess puzzles and share observations, could be a way of sharpening up the skills. Something to think about - Jukka |
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dungeonking 20-Nov-09, 13:56 |
I agree |
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terrible huh - observations tho... I see myself as always winning! My pieces just dont listen!!! frustrating... |
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Important Talent in Chess I like what tennessehiker said at the beginning of one of his paragraphs...You need to see the board differently. Read that paragraph many, many times and take your time when playing the middle game. Regards, Andy |
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bugsey 10-Feb-10, 13:52 |
Much wisdom a higher rated player to see it in operation. The board is so dynamic that computers must have the edge, Is there such a thing as the perfect move? Looking at a chessboard is almost like looking at infinity.Our only saving grace is that we are playing an equally handicapped human. What a great game. |
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Infinity? "There is no room for mechanical thinking in chess." IM Josh Waitzkin |
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antagonistknight 11-Feb-10, 05:29 |
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