"The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement, several very valuable qualities of the
mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to
become habits ready on all occasions for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have points to
gain, and competition or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety
of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or want of it. By
playing at Chess then, we may learn:
First, Foresight ...
Second, Circumspection . . .
Third, Caution . . .
And lastly, We learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances
in the state of our affairs the habit of hoping for a favourable chance, and that of
persevering in the secrets of resources. "
Benjamin Franklin (The Morals of Chess)
The most important aspect of winning chess is the cultivation of certain personal
qualities. Over time I've become increasingly aware of the importance of
these traits having spent years rubbing shoulders with both winners and losers.
Winners have certain things in common that I believe provide the bedrock of their
success. And losers too have certain traits which lead them towards self sabotage.
Chess lore is not particularly rich in material about how to cultivate these
traits, perhaps assuming that players either come to the game with them already
intact or develop them through play. My own belief is that they may also be
honed through other sources as they are in fields such as martial arts. For this reason
I've drawn heavily on sources outside of chess for this section.
1) Train with deadly seriousness
"You must be deadly serious in training. When I say that, I do not mean that you
should be reasonably diligent or moderately in earnest. I mean that your opponent must
always be present in your mind, whether you sit or stand or walk or raise your arms."
Gichin Funakoshi
"Progress comes to those who train and train; reliance on secret techniques will get
you nowhere. "
Moreihei Ueshiba
"What I have discovered is that anyone with average ability and a strong desire can become
a top amateur in any chosen field if they invest 3,000 hours into its study and practice.
That amounts to one hour a day, six days a week for ten years. If the same 'average'
person wanted to become a world beater they would need to invest 1 0,000 hours, which is
the same weekly commitment extended over thirty years. Of course, if you were to increase
your investment your return would be greater and the time to fruition proportionately
shorter. "
Geoff Thompson (Shape-Shifter)
There's no doubt in my mind that the number one prerequisite of success in
any field is to immerse yourself in it, body and soul. Every strong chess player has
had a period in their lives in which they ate, slept and breathed chess, but curiously
enough such dedication has not carried with it the same degree of respectability
as other fields. Accordingly many chess players appear to have downplayed
the amount of time they've spent on the game, perhaps so that people will
ascribe their feats to natural talent. But don't be deceived, this is simply not the
case.
The figure of 10,000 hours is sometimes quoted as the time taken to achieve excellence
in a particular field, and assuming a reasonable degree of talent for the
game plus enough opportunity to play, this seems to be a reasonable ballpark figure
to get the International Master title. Further progress beyond that may take
incrementally greater effort, and indeed many players don't progress from being
International Masters to Grandmasters.
Clearly there are going to be many ways that a simple count of man-hours
should be qualified, for example the quality of someone's training efforts is going
to be vital. But this nevertheless provides a vital insight into just what it takes to achieve a high level in chess.
In my own career I had been an International Master for 10 years before deciding
to dedicate myself towards achieving the Grandmaster title. So from late 1992
I focussed my efforts exclusively on an increase in playing strength and a hunt for
title norms. I set up a tournament schedule for 1993 and beyond, and between
events lived in a caravan with nothing but chess books, a computer and a rigorous
time-table. Fortunately I had secured the title by August 1993 so this Spartan existence
did not have to last too long.
