Psychology of Chess Weaknesses | 4 Easy Hacks
What is the Psychology of chess weakness?
Professional players (those who have a rating and play for prize funds) use psychology in chess a lot more than amateurs, both in online chess games or serious OTB. Let me explain the Psychology of chess weakness with an example.
There was a game between Fischer and Mikhail Tal, and Tal had sacrificed material since he was by nature very tactical. But Fischer had only one move that could refute the sacrifice, and he wrote the move he intended to play in his score sheet.
[Back then it was legal then to write the move, think about it, and play it. Nowadays you are not allowed to do it. You must first make the move on the board and then write it down].
When Tal came back after looking at other grandmaster games that were being played, he saw the move Fischer wrote and smiled slyly.
Fischer then played an inferior move compared to the move he wrote down and lost the game. When asked why he changed the move from what he had written, he replied that it was because Tal had given a subtle smile when he saw the move Fischer had written.
Had he not fallen to the psychological trick of Tal, Fischer would have had better results!
Psychology of chess weakness in the present day
Psychology is an indispensable component of one’s chess strength or weakness. To win a chess game one needs to have not just a bedrock of chess knowledge, but a strong psychological demeanor. Every sports arena has examples of players who could not overcome a terrible loss and lost their composure in the rest of the games. No wonder they would be at a loss trying to figure out what went wrong.
As a well-known translation of Sun Tzu puts it, “all warfare is based on deception.”
In our Online Chess classes at Golden Chess, one of the tools I used to check the chess kid’s progress is to see if he has any psychological weakness.
For example, when I play an online game at the end of my Online Chess classes, I use a technique, like a grimace or a simple frowning sound, to make my student think I had made a bad move. I am sure lots of fellow coaches do the same too! The student gets excited and gets lulled into a false sense of complacency. This makes him play without proper calculations and make a mistake after that.
Over the board, the psychology of body language also plays a major part, like for example, how you are seated, how you look at the board, how you move the chess pieces, how fast you play, how long you think (my favorite trick), staring at your opponent, etc.
If you feel confident, then you make your opponent feel uncomfortable. And one way to ooze confidence was to come late to the game board.
Fischer often came too late at the board if he knew his opponent was not strong mentally. I know of one Indian IM who would always come 30 minutes late and play fast, rattling his opponent.
Another glaring example of the use of Psychology of Chess Weaknesses is a famous game between Karpov and Miles which went 1. e4 a6.
Karpov must have felt strangely coerced to punish this move, as no chess player had played this move. Not even an amateur forget about grandmasters played this move. Result? Karpov stretched, overplayed, and lost.
Of course, a6 is very inferior to mainline defenses, but it’s not something a player of Karpov’s stature would have lost sleep!
In really fast time control chess games online, one psychological trick is to play very fast.
4 Tips on overcoming the psychology of chess weaknesses
1. Cover your shortfalls.
Find your most insecure area of knowledge and place all of your efforts into transforming it into a powerful force.
For example, if your greatest weakness is the inability to do deep calculations and analysis then this shortage affects both the tactical and analytical requirements in OTB gameplay.
And unless you improve these skills first, any future chess improvement will be difficult and results will be inconsistent.
You avoid or delay improving on your blank spots and this is the main reason you stagnate since you are not eliminating the problem that keeps giving you trouble on the chessboard.
Our prime focus in online chess classes for kids is to keep checking for the blank spots in the kids’ chess knowledge.
2. Your weakness will be your opponent’s strength!
Whatever your weaknesses maybe if you don’t turn them 360 degrees into your strengths they will be a constant source of pain.
Here are some approaches to converting your weakness into strength:
- Unwavering Focus – Give priority to your chess training, and eliminate diversions when training.
- Daily Practice – Practice regularly and daily. Keep a diverse training schedule that provides you with a fresh outlook every time you train. Your practice should be focused primarily on your blank spots. In our chess classes for kids, this is our prime focus.
- Make it interesting. One day could be solving tactical problems, the next day could be endgame ideas. Choose as per mood, time, and energy.
- Stretch your training – Always give the fullest involvement during every practice session, and do not hesitate to stretch yourself, during the chess training session. Each session should build upon the last while constantly revisiting the old lessons learned.
- Having a serious game – Playing serious games at the academy or home (with a family member) allows you to reinforce the concepts and ideas picked up in your training environment to match play.
- Integrate conceptual conscious thinking and note-taking into your daily practice.
3. Finding Your Weaknesses
The following tips might help you to isolate the weaknesses in your chess game:
- Review your games, preferably with a coach or a stronger player. An experienced coach will immediately see the mistakes and separate the wood from the trees. This perspective though not free will help save a lot of time.
- Ask your coach to regularly evaluate your skill sets by curated tests, to find your weak areas. We at Golden Chess Centre regularly conduct evaluations in our Online Chess Classes via Skype or Zoom.
4. Create a Training plan (with your coach if possible)
- A good coach will create a plan based on his assessment of your strengths and weaknesses and this will help you in saving time and climbing faster.
- Continue solving puzzles and tactics.
- Another technique we use in our Online Chess classes is to play over master games using an analytical method.
- Never try moving the chess pieces when analyzing or solving problems. Must treat training as a tournament scenario.
Conclusion
With your self-confidence boosted by regular online chess practice, you will slowly realize that Psychology of Chess Weaknesses will not pull you down.
Whatever efforts you put into mastering the game, the same quantum of self-confidence will be your strong point.
Essential Reading:
Think Like a Warrior: The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable (Sports for the Soul)
Tournament Chess Set Triple Weighted – 100% satisfied!
9 EASY Steps to Online Chess Classes – Golden Chess Centre