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tipsyjourneyman
26-Jun-12, 08:49
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 Local and/or General
Tipsy J.
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tipsyjourneyman
26-Jun-12, 21:09
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hmm that seems a strange thread first message. How tipsy was I? Allow me to give examples, specific chess discussion: "did I do the right thing in this move sequence?" whereas general chess discussion: "Are computers ruining chess?" (That was actually a topic from the Chess Openings club but I thought it an excellent example).
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"The ability to think strategically in chess. . . "
Real chess players know where to put the pieces, Kasparov remarked, all but quoting
Capablanca.
Strong chess players know how to harmonize their pieces, Motani and Smyslov have written.
A particular element of handling the pieces is
"the ability to think strategically --
to get the pieces working towards a common goal," asserts Jacob Aagaard.
And Aagaard's point of view is reinforced by Ukrainian super-Grandmaster Pavel Eljanov:
"It must not be forgotten that the chess pieces are a little army, and the players are
commanders who should be striving to seize the most important strongholds on the battlefield."
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tipsyjourneyman
02-Jul-12, 11:25
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Chess and Battle
Thinking strategically in Chess is something I both struggle and perform well at. My big issue is separating the battlefield like nature of chess from the fact it is still a game and has various peculiarities in it that do not correlate with military strategy. For instance, capturing and holding the centre is an easy idea for me. Forcing knights and bishops into early retreats or out to impotent positions upon the flanks is another of my favoured tactics. BUT, in a battlefield, the action is fluid, force an extension in the line or divide the opponent's forces and naturally your own troops would then exploit the gap. This is not so with chess. About the middle of the middle game, having, hopefully achieved my goals of capturing the centre etc is where I catch myself thinking, "Alright, my opponent is dancing to my tune, but, what do I do now?" It's not really until the end game that I can suddenly see six, ten moves ahead.
The far-seeing abilities of high ranking players, perhaps most demonstrated by Fischer's Game of the Century, have me mystified. Battles, which have elements of randomness, are not subject to such far-seeing strategies. Indeed, on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, when Wellington was asked by his 2IC what his strategy was, Wellington responded by asking who would be attacking. When his 2IC replied that Napoleon's troops would be attacking, Wellington said words to the effect, "Then how may I inform you of my strategy when I have no idea of Napoleon's?" Another example from Waterloo was the disastrous French cavalry charge on the formed British squares, the cavalry commander at the time had mistaken an orderly retreat of some Anglo-Dutch infantry to a more defensible position for a rout. Such is the way of the battlefield. With chess however, every move you and the opponent makes is transparent, the end game is wholly the product of the middle, the middle the product of the opening. I sense that if I could completely grasp this deterministic nature of chess, then I would shoot forth in leaps in bounds. But it escapes me. I'm still only a three or four moves ahead player. Oh well, just keep plugging away I suppose!
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C O N T R O L
CONTROL: focus on this one goal -- with all its ramifications -- and your answer may appear.
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tipsyjourneyman
22-Sep-12, 06:40
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PHEW!
Hey everybody been flat out like a lizard drinking but though I'm still busier than a bumblebee crossed with a beaver (Have I used that analogy before?) I should have time to occasionally pop in here and stimulate some discussion. In the meantime, don't be shy, you think of something, POST it!
Cheers,
Tipsy
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shamash is correct
your pieces are extension's of your body. Like a boxer you must learn how to bob and weave,strike and withdraw, mislead and betray.All in harmony. When you raise your arm above your head you do so at your brains command. When you move your pieces it should be the same and as natural as moving your arm or foot. A GM does this instinctively.
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