Correct Attitude to Learning chess (making it rewarding and enjoyable)
“You can lead a horse to a river, but you cannot make it to drink”
Correct Attitude to Learning chess
Let us look at the Correct Attitude to Learning chess (making it rewarding and enjoyable). When I learned to play this game I was taught to be polite and courteous. The players I played did have a meltdown if the results went south, but they never lost their cool.
Nowadays, there is a lot of offensive, cranky nervous response, which may just be a generation-gap behavior, but is frustrating for those of us who learned this game in those times – when there was no social media influence and the impact of adrenalin-rush movies.
It becomes even more disturbing when I see my new online chess students getting frustrated (to put it mildly). Also, it seems more pronounced from the Western World kids – Ed
My personal observation, after over two decades of chess training experience, is that there should be no place for pride and taunting or overly depressing feelings because of the results.
Our approach towards our games, whether they be training games or a real chess tournament, dictates whether we end up shaky and down – or – positive and happy – while learning and savoring the game at the same time. That is why chess learning for beginners is a delicate process for both the coach and the budding chess players.
Maybe that’s because back then, we enjoyed the classes, thanks to our majority of the fantastic teachers, or we had a good bunch of friends to be spending time with, within a class or outside. Chess learning for beginners was a fun project for us coaches.
So does that mean that nowadays, chess learning for beginners and advanced players has changed direction? Or could there be other factors and external influences, like social media and screen devices, that are distracting the chess learning experience? I guess it is true to some extent. But it was also something more than that.
It was that the academy had nurtured a culture of respect for learning environments, a culture where even if a child lost a chess game or seemed sad, she/he was never taunted or disrespected.
All this was done with subtle monitoring by the Teachers and the trainers. Of course, there was healthy criticism involved here too.
Understanding this influence tells us something about how proper chess learning for beginners can be influenced.
By valuing children and their performance in chess and training regimen, the children slowly learn to value their own work and themselves (self-esteem).
Slowly, as chess kids entered higher levels, they matured and became independent and responsible for their own chess learning.
We, chess coaches, earned respect not because we were good instructors but because of what motivation we gave.
The chess kids learned not to glorify one player over another, whether in chess or scholastic. Every chess kid in the chess academy is important, and good results in chess are as much looked upon as in scholastic.
They learned to question their games, their lessons, and other players’ chess games, and also defended their points for such scrutiny.
Eventually, it came to taking responsibility for all their actions.
Chess Lessons, meant for me, will not be learned by everyone in equal measure because of plenty of circumstantial factors that affect how much each individual learns. But those who take away these essentials are those who will find it easier, to progress everywhere.
Academies and coaches that foster such learning are a rarity. But it helps to recognize what these factors are so we can help cultivate them even outside the school.
What is the Correct Attitude to Learning chess from a coach’s perspective?
Here are tips for us all – whether we are chess coaches or parents of chess players or merely chess aficionados.
1 Try not to involve your EGO.
My chess lessons and methods are evolving every day.
I tell my chess students to play with a Correct Attitude to Learning chess, one that is devoid of ego.
After all, we will not become chess grandmasters overnight.
Sometimes we will win – and feel good about it – but we will also lose, to stronger players and spend most of the time sulking about it.
2. Focus on chess learning as a fun experience than a chore.
Our aim as chess learners should be to have a correct Attitude to Learning chess – To treat a game as a test of understanding of chess, not an anxiety exercise in keeping up the ball-park of performance at a high level.
3. To search for truth in every position.
Every move is theoretically a test of our decision-making abilities, some more important than others, and whoever is more composed, will make the sound decisions and win the game.
During chess learning for beginners, questions like –
Should I exchange my Bishop with my opponent’s knight at f6 or not?
Should I play the obvious looking move or do a forcing calculation before choosing the right line?
Should I convert into an endgame or keep the pieces on board for favorable times?
will arise and confuse the chess kids, and for me, this is an enjoyable experience, irrespective of the result.
4. Every loss is a lesson. Learn from it.
When results are going south, I look at which moves and decisions were right and wrong, and how they can be used for future scenarios by my students.
The next time when they face a similar situation on the chessboard, the chess lessons that they have learned previously will provide the right guidance.
This is a very pleasurable and fulfilling experience for both me as a chess coach and my chess kids!
Never worry about chess ratings. I tell my students to not look at them. Those are just numbers – like shadows, they too will always follow our consistent performance’s upward graph.
5. Never blame anyone for your losses
As long as we continue blaming external reasons (or other people) not to learn eg: boring teachers, complicated textbooks, faulty assessment methods, school infrastructure is bad, etc., learning will always elude us.
What we need to have is a Correct Attitude to Learning chess – a small paradigm-shift, reduce the importance to our egos, and then the learning will be fun.
Lessons I learned
I am enjoying giving online chess lessons much more when I am devoid of any ego while playing with my students.
Developing an attitude of meditation throughout the game has made me what I am – a learner.
Hopefully providing lifelong satisfaction in this game. These are perhaps the biggest lessons learned by me.
About the Author
Hey, I’m Kish Kumar.
Over the last two decades, I’ve trained more than 500 students in chess, from India and abroad through online chess classes.
My experience helps me to identify the weak spots in the student’s chess armor, and that is where I provide help in making them reach their personal Milestones in chess with the Correct Attitude to Learning chess.
Many of these students went on to become school champions, district champions, state champions and went on to participate in national and international level chess events having achieved a decent FIDE rating up to 1900-2000 and an online rating of 2300 to 2500.
If you are interested in learning chess, do drop me a mail at kishchess at Gmail dot com or WhatsApp (+91 98410 70891)
Hey, I’m Kish Kumar.