How important is Physical fitness in Chess – 5 Tips to better focus in chess

How important is Physical fitness in Chess – 5 Tips to better focus in chess

Role of Physical fitness in Chess

Dear Coach. How important is Physical fitness in Chess? I wonder if we must take into account the state of our health when we are about to play a chess game. Will it affect our performance in chess and if so, what are the precautions we need to take, to maintain a balance?

Yours sincerely – Abhishek.

Dear Abhishek.

We are not talking about casual chess games but a serious Chess tournament.

Chess is addictive.

We continue playing when given a chance regardless of how we are feeling mentally or physically. This is a sure recipe for blunders in chess.

Now, coming to your question.

Is Physical fitness that important?

It’s hard to overstate the importance of Physical fitness for your chess games.

At first glance, you might think that Physical fitness is not important, and you can always rely on your brain’s abilities alone.

Well, this is not entirely true. Of course, you are endowed by nature with a sharp analytical mind, for daily pursuits, but they might not meet your requirements in chess.

Since chess needs certain specialized abilities, you want to get the mind to function at a higher than normal peak to meet your milestones in chess.

Without making an appropriate selection of physical training, your physical fitness and stamina won’t be adequate for chess tournaments.

You don’t want your games to end badly due to the loss of concentration, after 3 hours of an intense grueling chess fight, do you?

One of the most crucial aspects of chess abilities is – focus in chess.

A chess player without consistent levels of focus in chess won’t be able to perform at optimal fervor. And that’s the exact recipe for disaster that you want to avoid.

Your Physical fitness can help with a powerful performance in chess that reeks of consistency.

Fortunately, ‘focus’ is a lot like a mental muscle. The more you work on it, the more powerful it gets.

My job as a Chess coach + trainer is not merely teaching chess, but building requisite resilience, focus in chess, and other impactful areas.

Physical fitness in Chess

5 Tips on achieving peak focus in chess via Physical fitness


1. Play chess only when you are clear-headed.

We function better at different times of the day, and it varies from person to person.

For e.g., I play better at night, while you may play at your best in the afternoon. We need to figure out our optimal performance times and play only when we are focused.

So as far as mental health is concerned – yes, it is essential. But that is not the complete story.

In the case of a serious OTB (over the board) chess tournament game, the stakes are much higher.

You need all reserves of energy, and must also be psychologically focused and clear.

A simple daily routine, like early morning running or brisk walking, increases mindfulness and a state of being in the present.

And a good diet to enhance a chess player’s stamina is essential for peak performance in chess too.

2. Play when you are free from distractions.

That is because the human mind must not be disturbed while doing something that needs our complete processing power.

It could throw our brain into an imbalanced state of mind.

It also makes us feel irritated and lose focus in chess.

Furthermore, it’s all about putting away diversions, whether they are physical, your mobile phone, or psychological (your fears), and being in a zen state of mind.

Developing focus in chess along with Physical fitness is the key.

A simple rule of thumb to regain focus. Start by taking several deep breaths while focusing on every breath.

When you feel your mind begins to wander, gently guide your attention back to your deep breathing.

3. Do not stress yourself about the results.

The third most important piece of advice I give my students (and the parents), is to treat all training games as match games, and all match/tournament games as training games.

That way the pressure is taken off the mind and the transition, to a peaceful and thoughtful state of mind, is flowing.

This state of mind is essential to harness the full potential of our minds. And train with this neutral outlook, all the time.

4. The most important factor that helps in achieving all this, is Physical fitness in Chess.

Even though Chess is a mental game, the physical fitness of the chess player helps a lot, in generating the required mental energy.

To keep calculating, at sustained depths in a chess game, mental equilibrium is desirable, to say the least.

Try cultivating the habit of morning walks or better still running as it will provide the much-needed oxygen for the brain to function clearly.

Clearly, exercises are great stress busters!

5. Build up stamina and lung capacity.

Talking of physical fitness I must say that it is very important to have good stamina and lung capacity, to handle all the tension that arises during a serious chess game’s pressure.

One way to increase lung capacity is to blow rubber balloons that kids play with or do aerobic exercises for 10 minutes.

In case these are not possible, try climbing up and down a flight of stairs for 5- 10 minutes.

Or even cycling.


To sum up – Role of Physical fitness and performance in chess.

Play only when your mind is clear and capable of focus in chess. 

Play when there is no distraction.

Take all training games as serious games and all tournament games as training games.

Make sure you build up your Physical fitness in Chess by regular training for that super performance in chess.

 


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ChessBase Reader 2013 (Free version with limiatations)

The new ChessBase Reader conveniently displays all installed databases and training titles – with a modern menu ribbon look. With the free ChessBase reader, you can

  • Open all standard file formats (.cbh, .cbf, .pgn), 
  • Play through games on a stunningly rendered board, 
  • Watch ChessBase training videos 
  • And much more. 

Download it for free now!  Free download available here.

It is not possible to save a chess game in a database (.cbh or as a .pgn) in chessbase reader. You can use SCID Chess (free) to do this then transfer this .pgn into Chessbase Reader. Reader allows one to use Chessbase products for training but to analyse game I suggest using Arena or SCID.

I would also recommend ChessDB which is quite powerful for a free program with the ability to download from TWIC from within the program. Also import from a player’s ICC history is a good tool. You can hook up to UCI engines to assist your game analysis.

Most importantly you can save your games into a PGN database (but you cannot import Chessbase format). It has good search capabilities for a free program like player reports and search for games with exact position match. I will be explaining all that in a separate article.


Exam fear – Beat exam stress and score

Exam fear – Beat exam stress and score

Exam fear – Beat exam stress and score (last-minute mashup?)

Exam fear - Beat exam stress and scoreIt is natural to feel stressed and nervous.
Don’t worry it will pass.
Here are my suggestions to overcome these jitters and to fulfill some study schedules.


Action plan to get the demons out of your mind:

  1. Have a simple plan of study. Keep it simple. Simply list down all major headings and sub-headings of a particular lesson on a sheet of paper. I call this the stock-taking method. You will be ticking off whatever is completed.
  2. Tick for those topics that you studied reasonably well.
  3. Circle where you also practiced and are quite confident.
  4. Underline for those where you need revision and repetition.

Rules for the day’s schedule

  1. First thing in the morning, plan targets for the day. For this planning, spend 5 minutes maximum.
  2. Take a short target for next 30 minutes, one specific ‘heading’.
  3. Don’t think beyond 30 minutes at a time.

To gain maximum out of the above 3 pointers you have to follow some recommendations.

  1. Take small break every 45 minutes. Stretch lightly during the breaks.
  2. Maintain a regular sleep pattern. Leave study at least 45 minutes before sleep. During these 45 minutes, wash your face, settle down, breathe deeply, close your eyes, relax your mind, and allow yourself to drift to sleep.
  3. Unless really necessary, avoid tea and coffee. They may lengthen your waking time. But they can also disturb your sleep, reduce grasping capacity of brain, and make you feel tired when you wake up next day. Instead of tea or coffee, have lemon water or green tea with sugar.
  4. Avoid TV, films, chatting, long phone calls, social media unless absolutely necessary. These will tire your brain. Speak less with others. Allow your brain to spend time with yourself.
  5. Play music, or sing, or dance, or simply meditate during the short study breaks.

The best advice I can give to CBSE chess students is to keep the learning schedules consistent throughout the year. Prepare well when you have time, because no one knows how tomorrow is going to be.

It is better to start sharpening the sword during peace, rather than after a battle has begun, as an old story says.

Education will not give what you want. It is what you want that will give what you want.

Exam fear – Beat exam stress and score

Exam fear is a very common phenomenon among children, and it has a avalanche effect, there is no doubt about it. But, have the powers to be, ever tried to think about how to remove the fear & make exam a fun task rather than a jittery one? How to make them capable to overcome their fear of exams and especially on weak students to make them stronger?
Share your thoughts…

The author Kish Kumar is a trainer and Coach at Golden Chess Centre. He can be contacted on his Facebook page.