THE RULES OF WINNING CHESS Part-9

9) Know yourself

"True mastery transcends any particular art. It stems from mastery of oneself - the
ability, developed through self-discipline to be calm, fully aware, and completely in tune
with oneself and the surroundings. Then, and only then, can a person know himself "
Bruce Lee
One of the most common problems amongst players who come to me for lessons
is that they want to play like Mikhail Tal. Occasionally, very occasionally,
this is an appropriate style for someone to adopt. Usually it is not.
Being ruthlessly objective about one's capabilities is one of the most valuable
traits a chess player can have and it is simultaneously cultivated by playing the
game. The chessboard has a way of ferreting out all of our weaknesses from vanity
to pride and sloth. One of the signs of great players is that they are highly objective
about both weaknesses and strengths. Here, for example, is a passage from
The Middle Years of Paul Keres in which the great Estonian Grandmaster describes
how he learned to conserve his energy by not playing too much. Such thoughts
are typical of those who devote their lives to mastery:

"It is often said in the earliest part of my career that I conducted single, decisive
games with an insufficient sense of responsibility and earnestness. But my
participation in the training tournament at Leningrad and Moscow showed that
such was also the case with me in whole events. It was naturally my desire to
make acquaintance with the chess-masters of the Soviet Union and measure my
strength with them over the board and, finally, to get to know their method of
play and their various researches into the game of chess. But I should not in any
way have undertaken this in the sort of form I found myself after the A VRO
Tournament. I should have copied the example of Botvinnik who quite rightly
refrained from taking part in this training tournament.

"Naturally, the consequences of this thoughtless behaviour on my part were
not long in coming, especially when one takes into consideration the good playing
calibre of the tournament participants. I lost two games in the very first rounds
and had to make a vastly concentrated effort in order not to collapse completely. I
succeeded in winning three good games in the middle part of the tournament,
these being a highly complicated struggle against Tolush, one with an interesting
exchange sacrifice against Levenfish and a well carried out King-side attack
against Smyslov. But in a whole series of games I conducted play in a style beneath
criticism, as for example in easily won endgames against Reshevsky andRabinowitsch, or in the encounter in the last round with Alatortsev. I stood well for quite a long time, but in the end my physical reserves were exhausted. I lostboth of the last two games and finished up in the lower half of the table.

"The result of this tournament was indeed bitter for me, but also extremely instructive.
Shortly after the Leningrad-Moscow Tournament I was invited to take
part in a fine international tournament in Kemeri, but this time I did not repeat
my mistake. I refrained from participating and only took part in national matches
against Latvia and Lithuania. The next tournament in which I took part was some
months later, the Easter Tournament at Margate.

Read More Previous :-

THE RULES OF WINNING CHESS Part-1
THE RULES OF WINNING CHESS Part-2
THE RULES OF WINNING CHESS Part-3
THE RULES OF WINNING CHESS Part-4
THE RULES OF WINNING CHESS Part-5 
THE RULES OF WINNING CHESS Part-6
THE RULES OF WINNING CHESS Part-7
THE RULES OF WINNING CHESS Part-8