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.
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.
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.
Power of the common Pawn – Chennai (Tiger) Express
This was one brilliant game of technique played by Vishy Anand, that shows how positional understanding is the foundation of all tactics. Its not often you get to see a game that literally keeps you mesmerized. There was some inefficiency by Wesley So but that does not take the credit away from Anand. A champion has to be brave and this is what Anand demonstrated – he showed the Power of the common Pawn today in Shamkir 2015.
The 2nd Vugar Gashimov Memorial took place in the Heydar Aliyev Center in Shamkir from 17th to 26th April 2015. The participating players were: Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Viswanathan Anand, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Vladimir Kramnik, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Adams Michael and Mamedov Rauf.
Magnus Carlsen won the 2nd Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerhaijan with 7/9 a point clear of Viswanathan Anand. However Vishy produced some of his best games here and notable is this one as told earlier.
Carlsen finished a point ahead of Viswanathan Anand who had an interesting event. Anand was also impressive as he remained undefeated, though he also had ample chances to win against his arch nemesis Carlsen in the first round.
We can learn how chess is played from up-there. The perspectives are sure to raise your understanding and your elo too. A game that I liked a lot is shown below.
A brutal technical win over Wesley So by the Chennai Tiger Vishy Anand. It was all about endgame finesse and understanding. And the Power of the common man, er… the common pawn.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. Nc3
d6 9. a3 Nb8 10. Ng5 $5 Nc6 {[%csl Gd4,Rg5][%cal Rc6d4,Gf3g5,Yd4f3] Taking
advantage of teh fact that the Knight on f3 is missing in action albiet
temporarily.} 11. Ba2 Nd4 12. Ne2 {Exchanging the Opponent’s active piece.}
Nxe2+ 13. Qxe2 h6 {The courage of a chess player. A very intuitional sacrifice
(that happens only when you look at the position from a bird’s eye view) and
one that is purely positional rather than tactical. Wonder what the engines
must be thinking about this move. It is what I call a human-like move!} 14. f4
$5 hxg5 (14… exf4 {seems to be an idea for another day. However I think
Anand must have simply moved back the Knight to f3.} 15. Nxf7 (15. Bxf4 hxg5
16. Bxg5 $19 {Seems to be bad for White.}) (15. Nh3 $13 Bxh3 16. gxh3) 15…
Rxf7 16. Bxf7+ Kxf7 17. Bxf4 {Nothing tangible for White again. So there seems
to be a lot of ways where Black could have kept White subdued}) 15. fxg5 {
Pawns on the 5th rank and beyond, are powerful and work almost like a piece in
terms of strength. That is what makes a player stand out when he can
understand the fluid nature of how the power-balance can shift subtly.} Ng4 $6
{What is that Knight doing?} 16. g6 {There goes the battering Ram! This pawn
is on steroids and seems unstoppable! That is the ‘Power of the common pawn’.}
Bg5 $5 (16… Nh6 $5) 17. h3 $1 {At first sight this looks like a move that is
kicking the Knight. Look deeply and you will see that the h-pawn is raring to
join its friend on g6! This li’l fella is planning for the future!} (17. Bxf7+
Rxf7 18. gxf7+ Kf8 {gets nothing for White!}) 17… Bxc1 18. Raxc1 Nh6 19. Qh5
$1 {The Queen comes in for the kill. A menacing move that takes adv of the
power of White’s active pieces.} Be6 20. Bxe6 fxe6 21. g4 {There is that pawn
rush to attck and soften Black’s fortress. Poor Black is helpless even though
he is a piece up.} c6 $6 {Anand thought this was a mistake during the press
conference as I guess it is not doing anything about the impending aftermath.}
22. Rxf8+ Qxf8 23. Rf1 Qe7 24. g5 Rf8 25. gxh6 Rxf1+ 26. Kxf1 Qf8+ 27. Ke2 $1 {
No more checks!} gxh6 {Subtle pawn play by White. Conversion from this
position is an entire game altogether. It is here that Anand had to shift
gears and play delicate strokes. No mad rushing here.} 28. Qg4 Qf6 29. h4 d5
30. h5 d4 31. b4 $1 {Bringing the point home. This requires finesse on the
part of the White player.} Kg7 32. Qf3 Qe7 33. Kd1 Kg8 34. Qf2 Kg7 35. c3 dxc3
36. Kc2 Qc7 37. Qc5 Kg8 38. Qe3 a5 39. Qh3 axb4 40. Qxe6+ Kf8 41. axb4 Qa7 42.
Kxc3 Qa3+ 43. Kc2 Qa4+ 44. Qb3 Qa7 45. d4 1-0
Never under-estimate the Power of the common Pawn !
Further Reading –
Kish Kumar is a passionate Chess player and coach at Golden Chess Centre and loves teaching the various aspects of Chess. When not involved with Chess he is busy life-coaching! Connect with him here 🙂
Chess Informant – the esoteric art of learning chess – hacking your chess brain. Why esoteric? Because it was not known publicly till now. And why hacking? Because we are using action instead of passive knowledge. And why are using this book to hack our chess training? Read more…
For whom is this article useful: For aspiring chess players with a penchant to learn new techniques. Not for the beginners and children below 7 years. Also for coaches who believe in trying new techniques.
Why only Chess Informant books: Any good book will do but my experience with the Informant was first-hand so I can speak with confidence and honesty. Also I believe that they have an edge as they have only the fresh and latest games for every quarter publication.
What will you gain: You will save a lot of time. You will hack your learning technique to climb faster in the ELO ladder. These may not have been mentioned in any book, atleast none that I know of.
So let’s get started with the esoteric art of learning chess
If you are here reading my blog post, you are a chess player on the path of improvement (atleast not a non-chess player, since all chess, players like to learn to improve their game). In addition, if you have been in the chess field for some time, you must have come to know or heard about the word ‘Informant’ or ‘Informator’ in the Chess book scene. Chances are you might have even glanced at the book in a tournament stall and either took a few minutes to go through it by flipping a few pages, or looked at the pictures and thought that it was a niche book for a thoroughbred professional – who was up there in the 2500 rating range which you were/are not. You might have even thought of quitting chess, if this was what you were going to be taught when you became stronger.
How wrong and misinformed you could be, (or I was…) !?
However, I won’t blame you for this. That is the initial impression that I had too, when I saw it, some 18 years ago. So I must start with a revelation here.
My actual chess improvement started only after I had included the informant in my regular chess discussions and coaching classes, some 15 years ago – when I was aspiring to come to terms with not just the opening stages of the game, but almost everything that was problematic: my repertoire, my Strategy, my tactical skills and my endgames.
On hindsight, I am wondering why I did not look at this book when I started seriously researching about innovative chess training!
Here are my suggestions – Chess Informant – the esoteric art of learning chess :
1. People learn from mistakes and smart people learn from others’ mistakes.
Don’t make the same mistake as I did. Therefore, if you are a 1200 – 1500 player, I suggest you to look at these informant books with your trainer, in a way that suits your playing strength as outlined below.
I will be detailing my experiences with these informants and if you follow me you may be able to save some time and remove some misconceptions in the way.
2. Myth – Too many variations and diagrams that look like a PhD thesis submission.
First, take a deep breath. And do as I say.
Look at the diagrams one by one. Now look at the move printed below it. Usually this move would be given a symbol of either a ‘!!’ or a ‘!’ or in rare cases a ‘!?’. That is where the fun starts. Go to a real chessboard and stick up the position as you see it in the diagram. DO NOT worry about the game or annotations for now. Fire your brain’s neurons and understand why that move was considered GM class. This is where a good coach comes in.
Warning: When I first did so, I made the mistake of looking at the diagrams and then blindly looked at the continuation given in the book. And I thought that was enough. I was partially right – since I was initially learning at a rapid pace. Then when I hit a wall I came back and chewed the positions again, this time slowly.
3. The secret on how to really juice up the esoteric chess knowledge from such diagrams:
They will measure your understanding over a period of time. I found that these diagrams were there for a purpose, but not all the explanations given in the book will help you.
It depends on your chess understanding or rating range.
In fact, there are no verbal explanations; only moves and these moves only skimmed the surface of the chess ocean. They were/are like a guidepost for the reader – to help him when he re-visited the book, after a period of time. In my case, I remember I found one strange fact EVERY single time I revisited the diagram:
I was able to see NEW layers of Chess wisdom each time I saw these diagrams.
The secret was that I got to see a new facet of chess knowledge every time I saw these diagrams. It was as though, whenever I added knowledge to my brain my eyes were endowed with special vision lenses. I could see a new layer of hitherto hidden information portrayed in these diagrams, whenever my brain absorbed stuff and my knowledge increased.
Words will not be able to describe this phenomenon, but you will understand where I am coming from, when you sit down and do as I did. In your case, I suggest a revisit after 2-4 months. You will notice that the diagrams speak a new language after such hiatus.
4. Listen to the book and the positions, at first. Each position is a story by itself.
Now when you do read the moves succeeding the diagram you will notice that they do not always mention what you discovered on your second sitting or third sitting. At best, they will tell you what is obvious initially, atleast for an approximately 1900 + rated player to see. And that, is because if they catered to all rating ranges then they would miss the quality of analysis.
5. One size cannot fit all. It is up to us to choose what we want from the ocean of chess treasure.
In other words if you are a 2000 ELO player reading these Informants you will not see the diagrams similar to the way a 1500 rated player sees. To explain it further – If you are rated say 1500, just ask a 1200 player what he sees in any diagram. Almost invariably, he will say something that is elementary for you.
If you are interested in shoring up some hidden techniques, practice the Chess Informant – the esoteric art of learning chess method.
And dig deep.
Any informant will do; for that matter, the more recent ones are better for many other purposes that will be outlined in the later articles. It depends on your chess understanding or rating range. Whatever be your strength or class you will get something of value.
The trick is to innovate your learning. So – hack your learning process with the Informant.
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or any experience to share, I am always willing to hear them. My email is ‘chessgolden’ at the rate of Gmail dot com.
*****Empire Chess is offering a huge discount on digital and hard copies! Make sure you get the deals while they last.
Note: the links in this article are affiliate links.
Congratulations to her for a stupendous performance.
In the last game of the match, Natalia Pogonina needed a win at all costs, and she needed a miracle once again in the tournament.
Unfortunately, she had Black, and Mariya Muzychuk only needed a draw!
Muzychuk pretty much clamped down Natalia in the deciding game.
And a new champion was crowned on this date (see her smiling pic on the left).
The grueling Women’s World Chess Championship took place from March 17 – April 7 in Sochi, Russia.
The knock-out tournament was attended by 64 players, including the former World Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), Anna Ushenina (Ukraine), and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), the three-time Russian champion Valentina Gunina, the World Vice-Champion our own Humpy Koneru (India), our other strong contender Dronavalli Harika, as well as other leading grandmasters.
Unfortunately, the reigning champion Hou Yifan was could not make it for personal reasons, but as the winner of the FIDE Grand Prix, she will still be able to challenge the new champion to a match duel.
Mariya Muzychuk comes from a distinguished chess family in Ukraine.
Her parents are both professional chess trainers and introduced the kids to the game at an early age.
Her older sister, Anna Muzychuk, is also a chess professional and is ranked among the top 8 female players in the world.
Mariya, the 15th World Women’s Champion had a wonderful year in 2015, winning the Women’s World Championship against top players,
This title was claimed by Yifan Hou the subsequent year, but Mariya has been a prime player in women’s chess for a very long time, having the #3 on the rating list at one time.
In a tournament that spanned approximately two weeks, it was getting crazier and crazier each passing day.
The Indian challenge was well carried by Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika but in the end, a bit of luck was also needed.
What is commendable is the dream run that Harika had.
What poise and stamina! I wish her many more years of top-notch success as she is one who deserves it fully.
The World Women’s Championship was indeed a revelation for her!
The level of tension and fight can be understood by the fact that of the four matches left, three were to be decided in the tiebreaks!
Harika Dronavalli was the only player to avoid that fate, as she defeated Meri Arabidze.
Both Humpy Koneru and Natalia Pogonina were able to win in the tie-breaks, with the Russian winning her game with her trademark entertaining Benko Gambit.
Did Harika Dronavalli find her energy using the Ancient Indian Yogic pose called Vajrasana?
I remember seeing her here in Chennai during the WinTV Chess tournament where she was accompanied by her parents.
She has not changed much! Anyways, now that the secret is out of the bag I think many female players in India will follow her, and we may get to see a lot more Vajrasan in Chess!
I was gung-ho when I saw her leading along with Humpy, and when she faltered I was sure destiny had planned better things for her.
One thing is for sure – anything that helps is welcome in these pressure-cooker situations (see Nakamura’s pic below)!
The World Women’s Championship tournament was indeed nerve-wracking for the followers and the players!
In this series of posts I will be discussing about the secrets of positional chess training and why you must care for it as much as tactics and endgames. For those of you who have not read my article – An excellent positional sacrifice, I strongly recommend you to read it before proceeding further.
How to increase positional chess knowledge?
if you are below 1600 FIDE rating, I would suggest focusing solely on tactics, tactics and tactics, and everything I’m about to say is not applicable until you’ve improved more.
So, if you’re over 1600, and mostly satisfied with your tactics, but too often you end up having no clue what to play next. Then what?
Now you need to know about about the imbalances in chess – how they affect your game, and how to take advantage of them by manipulating the factors.
This means learning about endgames, as having the favorable positional advantages will usually help converting into a favorable endgame.
This is a lengthy topic, far too large to explain in one article; fortunately, there are good books and resources out there. The best books for learning the basics of both of endgames and the middlegame are by Jeremy Silman.
For chess imbalances, I would recommend How to Reassess Your Chess, 4th Edition(make sure you get the 4th edition – it is a lot better than the earlier editions).
For endgames, check out Silman’s Complete Endgame Course. Both are very easy to read, and are geared towards players rated 1400 and higher.
Harvesting the positional weaknesses present in the opponent’s position requires deep strategic understanding.
What is Strategic Chess Understanding?
This strategic understanding comprises of two elements:
Awareness of positional factors such as effective piece placements, quality of pawn structure and safety of the King
Generation of ideas or plans to make use of these factors.
Foundation of positional chess training
Here, the first step is to build a base of understanding. That is where the part of a coach comes in and also a good criteria how a good coach can be identified. The base of understanding has to be built from the basics of endgames.
Secrets of positional chess training – Combination of hard and smart work
When we talk of Chess dynamics, thematic attacks and configurations are what an aspiring player needs to be given.
I am referring to an aspiring player who has mastered the basic tactical motifs like pin, skewer, fork etc.
At this stage he is like a aspiring chef who has just learnt the magic of making a tasty recipe; his true test would come when he is able to juggle with the resources present in the refrigerator, that too with a sudden unexpected onset of guests to his home.
Here confidence also plays a vital role in bridging the gap between rote-knowledge and skill-knowledge. The trick here is to convert rote-knowledge into skill based on repetition and familiarity, by constant practical applications.
Merely knowing how to bake a cake doesn’t make one a good baker. Doing it properly when time demands makes one an expert; similarly in chess winning consistentlyand properly, makes one a GM.
In later articles I will be expanding on many techniques to accentuate this bridging of knowledge. So I request you to follow me on regular basis.
Pillars of positional chess training
The next step is to build familiarity by constant revision and repetition of information. This is the most hallowed part of chess training regimen.
It is here where many people stumble, fall or stop altogether. Some players skip this entire process due to wrong assumptions and false guidance. I cannot stress enough the importance of this revision process and there are many ways it can be done.
For example, take the case of tabiya’s, when we first learn a new plan of attacking the castled king or mating the the uncastled king we tend to look at a few model games. The trick is not only about remembering this plan but also being able to execute when favorable configurations arise on the board.
And doing so also requires a confidence which needs to be built slowly over time.
Ready for the test drive?
The final stage is executing a move taking into consideration the above discussed factors under test conditions such as time pressure situations or high-stake scenario. This is the true test of chess understanding.
Obviously, the initial routines are difficult and test our dedication. And this is what separates the masters from the amateurs.
What I have experienced as a Chess coach observing the process of ‘UNDERSTANDOING’
Yes you read it right. It is not a typo and it stands for doing things right by understanding them first. I would like to share my experience from the Chess Coach’s perspective in coaching juniors, who are improving rapidly. They are also getting positively addicted to the game. I have been varying my training methods to ensure that the interest levels are sustained for a long time and compared to when I started some 8 years back, made some observations and corrections vis-a-vis my coaching/training regimen.
I believe that at present I there is a good amount of involvement and drive in the children, and that is due to the different approach to remolding their thinking.
Let me hear from you if you have had any similar experience so that we may learn from it and benefit.
Here are my observations on what I think are important factors to be considered when coaching children:
What I have found is that there is a difference between juniors and adults in terms of interest areas.
Juniors are way too interested in competition and thrill, while adults like to arm themselves with concepts and have a learning approach to the game.
I have also found that children who do not have any thing forcibly thrust on them tend to do weaker than the children who have a fixed homework schedule. Not only fixed but studiously followed.
Some discipline is usually expected here.
From the Chess Coach’s perspective – Learning by teaching.
The Master and the student.
The meeting point when children sit with me is also not trivial (for me), in my experience. I have achieved a fulfillment when the entireclass sits and contributes, rather than just the bright kids. In order to avoid this disparity I usually break down the position to make it digestible to the weaker or younger kids after having given everyone some time to think about a tactical position.
I make it a point to get a written answer rather than a verbal one as it helps maintain track of each and every kid while keeping the answer hidden as long as possible. And in the rarest cases when everyone falters in getting the right answer I follow the pattern of mental imaging and visual guiding.
There are a few kids who I consider as the brighter ones but they too sometimes fail to get the right answers after 10 minutes or so. In such cases two things happen.
I take this opportunity to pamper a weaker player to perfect his answer if he somehow intuits the correct move but fails to see the follow-up continuation properly.
My analogy is to see the chessboard like an eagle flying over it and approach any middlegame position after getting a grip on what actually is the problem in that position. This helps in understanding. I will divulge more about this method later.
Some books are great a must-read and learn to improve your chess.
At present I have a few good books going. To generate interest I usually start with1000 Checkmate Combinationsthat brings the stronger players’ forward and also is not that difficult for the weaker players to rub shoulders. I do around 10-12 positions at most to kick-start the momentum.
After 4-5 positions of great difficulty the weaker players get the hang of it and they start chipping in with their intuition guiding them now rather than brute force calculation.
The internal dialog starts and then understanding sinks in after the warm-up session, by solving 6-8 positions. It’s akin to the people with defective eyesight getting a sudden burst of clarity by using some corrective lenses.
My job here is to make them see the position in its entirety.
Tip for fellow chess coaches: –
Sometimes I have to get my thoughts in focus and need some warm-up myself to answer or refute the wrong variations. It is fun to see children catching my ruse; the stronger ones need to have proper visualization skills to see my ruse while the weaker ones don’t see it coming for a long time till they play it out manually!
Mistakes by stronger students:
I usually frown upon the ‘silly’ mistakes made by stronger players as it shows their weakest link in the chain. This area is where they will falter while in a tournament. In this regard girls are better than boys as they have a better discipline and understand the importance of good thinking habits. The books may vary – the orientation may vary but the mental self- discipline is something that I stress all students right from day one.
Then comes the playing part:
I make them play blitz and if the class strength is good they play a mini tourney. That way the session is lively and interesting. While they play I also remind them of the the “viewing from a higher vantage point” to separate the woods from the trees (‘see the chessboard like an eagle’ and ‘approach any middlegame position as a human’). That way they have a sense of satisfaction when they implement the tactics they have just recently learnt and it brings a big smile on my face.
My question to you is –
Should I allow take-backs and not enforce touch-piece rules while they are training? Also should there be a difference in this according to the strength of students?
Your comments are always welcome…
Oh BTW – Empire Chess is offering a huge discount on digital and hard copies! Make sure you get the deals while they last.
