THE RULES OF WINNING CHESS Part-8

8. Overcome the fear of losing

"Like everyone else, you want to learn the way to win. B u t never accept the way to
lose. To accept defeat - to learn to die - is to be liberated from it. Once you accept, you are
free to flow and to harmonize. Fluidity is the way to an empty mind. You must free your
ambitious mind and learn the art of dying. "
         Bruce Lee

Defeat in chess can be likened to a symbolic death. Whilst most players can
learn to take it in their stride, at the time of the game a player should feel that he's
literally fighting for his life. Not to do so means that they are not as involved as
they should be.
So how does someone reconcile the fear of a chessboard death with taking the
necessary risks to win? Many players do not; for example, they'll withdraw themselves
from the chess act so as not to feel too much pain when they lose. Such
players are likely to dismiss their defeats by saying 'it's only a game'. But this
leads to a dramatic lowering of motivation.

Other players may have their psyches more fully invested but then try to reduce
the risk of ever losing. So whilst their motivation may be much stronger than
those who don't care, they are likely to avoid moves which lead to strategic imbalance.
This in turn may make it difficult for them to win games and thus enjoy
much success in tournaments.

Is there a better way? Yes indeed, but it's not at all easy. The trick is to overcome
the fear of losing without starting not to care, which in a sense means learning
to die. This is something I've struggled with in my own game and I still draw
far too many games. But I continue to find inspiration amongst some of the great
players in history, such as the fearless Danish Grandmaster, Bent Larsen.
Larsen' s remarkable tournament record was at least partially down to his willingness
to risk losing. He saw a draw as the loss of half a point and would go out
of his way to unbalance the game with risky openings. Here's a good example of
both the danger and opportunity presented by his approach, an opening that misfires
completely and then a brilliant fight back from a lost position:

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-7

 7) Learn patience

"If there is one thing that I have learned over the past forty-odd years on this beautiful
planet it is that all things are possible, but they can take time to achieve. And the person
that finds himself in too much of a hurry is destined for failure in one form or another.
Impatience kills dreams. "
Geoff Thompson (Shape Shifter)
Patience helps chess players on many different levels. First of all there's the patience
required with trying to improve and continuing to work on your game even
when it seems like you've reached a plateau. Plateaus are in fact quite normal as
George Leonard describes in his best-selling book Mastery. And patience with the
plateau is essential for continued growth:
"There's really no way around it. Learning any new skill involves relatively
brief spurts of progress, each of which is followed by a slight decline to a plateau
somewhat higher in most cases than that which preceded it. The curve above is
necessarily idealized. In the actual learning experience, progress is less regular;
the upward spurts vary; the plateaus have their own dips and rises along the way.
But the general progression is almost always the same. To take the master's journey,
you have to practice diligently, striving to hone your skills, to attain new levels
of competence. But while doing so - and this is the inexorable fact of the journey
- you also have to be willing to spend most of your time on a plateau, to keep
practicing even when you seem to be getting nowhere."
The other way in which patience is invaluable is during an actual game; trying
to rush things is a very common error. There are also situations in which it's very
tempting to do so. For example, if your position is very good you might want to
finish things off too quickly. And then there's the issue of playing against lowerrated
players.
I've seen countless numbers of games lost by players who build up an advantage
against a lower-rated player and then ruin everything in their impatient attempts
to finish the game off quickly. They start to play for threats in the hope
that their opponent will miss something and become increasingly frustrated when
this does not happen. It's much better just to keep applying pressure when sooner
or later there's a good chance that they'll crack. And the following effort by Tigran
Petrosian is a case in point.
After a somewhat dubious opening Petrosian gradually outplays his opponent,
patiently provoking weaknesses and improving the position of his pieces. White

might well have held the game had he only needed to find a few good moves. But
the wily Armenian's patient play made him find dozens of them, so it was no surprise
when some mistakes finally appeared.


Jan Sefc vs Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian
EUR-chT (Men) 1st (1957)  ·  Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen. Classical Variation (B84)  ·  0-1





PGN For Computer:-

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 a6 7. Be3 b5 8. Bf3 e5 9. Nf5 g6 10. Nh6 Be6 11. Ng4 Ng8 12. Nd5 Nd7 13. Bc1 Bd5 14. Qd5 h5 15. Ne3 Ngf6 16. Qc6 Qc8 17. Qc8 Rc8 18. a4 b4 19. Be2 a5 20. f3 Nb6 21. c4 Bh6 22. b3 Nfd7 23. Kf2 Nc5 24. Rb1 h4 25. Rd1 Rc6 26. Bd3 Bf4 27. h3 Nbd7 28. Bc2 Nf8 29. Bb2 Nfe6 30. Nd5 Bg5 31. Kf1 Rf8 32. Re1 Kd7 33. Rbd1 Kc8 34. Kf2 Kb7 35. Ne3 Nf4 36. Nd5 Nh5 37. Ne3 Bd8 38. Nd5 Ne6 39. Kg1 Nef4 40. Bc1 Nd5 41. Rd5 Bb6 42. Kh2 f6 43. Be3 Be3 44. Re3 Ra8 45. Kg1 Nf4 46. Rd2 Ne6 47. Red3 Nd4 48. Kf1 Rf8 49. Kf2 Kc7 50. Kf1 Kd7 51. Kf2 Ke7 52. Kf1 Ra6 53. Kf2 Ne6 54. Re3 Nc5 55. Rd5 Raa8 56. Kf1 Ne6 57. Rd2 Nf4 58. Re1 Ra7 59. Red1 Rd7 60. Re1 Rh8 61. Red1 Ne6 62. Re1 Nd4 63. Red1 Kd8 64. Re1 Kc7 65. Red1 Kc6 66. Re1 Kc5 67. Re3 f5 68. Kf2 Rh5 69. Kf1 Rg5 70. Kf2 Rg3 71. Kf1 Rf7 72. Kf2 Rf8 73. Kf1 Rh8 74. Kf2 Rh5 75. Kf1 Rhg5 76. Rf2 Kc6 77. Rd2 Kc7 78. Rf2 Ne6 79. Ree2 Nf4 80. Rd2 Kc6 81. ef5 gf5 82. Bd1 Rg7 83. Bc2 R3g5 84. Bd3 Kd7 85. Bc2 Ke6 86. Bd3 Rg3 87. Bc2 Rg8 88. Bd3 e4 89. fe4 Nd3 90. Rf5 Nc5 91. Rfd5 Rb3 92. Rd6 Ke7 93. R6d4 Rc3 94. e5 b3 95. Rh4 Rc1 96. Kf2 b2



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-6

6) Don't think, feel

"Don't think - FEEL. Feeling exists here and now when not interrupted and dissected
by ideas or concepts. The moment we stop analyzing and let go, we can start really seeing,
feeling - as one whole. "
Bruce Lee
"A great many people have mastered the multiplication tables of chess nowadays and
even know its logarithm tables by heart. Therefore an attempt should occasionally be made
to prove that two times two can also make five. "
Mikhail Tal
Chess is often portrayed as a game of logic and reason yet in reality it is highly
intuitive. It is beyond the capabilities of even the fastest computer to calculate out
every possible line of play. Thus we have to 'guess', or rather intuit the value of
different moves and their consequences. And for the best players this goes way
beyond knowing what they should do when a particular pattern arises.
Intuition is in evidence when a player sacrifices material for some other factors
such as time and space, such 'irregular' patterns calling for mental abilities way
beyond the usually drudge work of applied technique. Certain players are well
known for such intuitive abilities, for example Mikhail Tal.


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-5

5) Be you r own sternest critic

"Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something. "
Moreihei Ueshiba
One of the most important qualities a chess player can cultivate is to effectively
learn from his losses. To do so requires several abilities, not least of which is
enough humility to admit that one has made a mistake in the first place. Those
who make excuses for their defeats will never even look for the true cause. This in
turn will make it hard for them to eliminate any weaknesses in their game.
Once weaknesses have been correctly identified it then requires willpower to
do something about it. A classic example is that of Alexander Alekhine who lost
his World Championship title to Max Euwe in 1935. For the return match
Alekhine repaired his health by giving up alcohol and went on to win a crushing
victory.

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