Things Chess players can learn from 2 year old baby
Amazing Things Chess Players Can Learn from a 2 year old baby!
Recently I came across a two-year-old child and after observing his daily activities, I was amazed at what we can learn from him.
Here is the list of practical tips, that I learned from the baby.
Chess playing is a habit that will not be easy to quit.
Because, apart from playing in tournaments, you can also play online with other players, not only from your country but the entire World.
Being a chess player is in itself a big achievement, because very few people in the world have the playing acumen and skill needed for Chess.
You can learn the tactics of Chess from your daily life activities like when watching TV or watching movies; all it needs, is just a keen sense of observation, that is!
6 Things Chess players can learn from 2 year old baby
1. Never complain.
Have you ever observed a two-year-old child going about his daily routines?
If anything, he’ll never complain. Wait… you’ll say, a baby could cry – but that is not complaining!
He is only expressing his emotions by either laughing or crying.
The same concept we can apply, in our chess growth process, – that is – we can take all our responsibilities for our losses (and wins) on our shoulders.
So that we never complain about any shortcomings or bad luck, for lack of success in Chess.
Friends, no one will spoon-feed you, even a good coach will not want to do this – he will and must, guide you.
The rest is your work.
2. Just One Target.
A two-year-old child has just one target – once he/she asks for anything, Then come what may – that ‘anything’ is the main desire for him.
When you started playing chess, what was your target and your dream?
Remember that, all the time.
There is an Indian mythological tale in the Mahabharata (revered lore in Indian tradition).
When the famous teacher Guru Dronacharaya asked his best disciple Arjuna, what he had seen when he ordered him to attack the target with his arrow.
Arjuna answered coolly – “The only thing I see is the sparrow’s eye”.
The same thing is also applicable to our chess pursuits – single-minded focus.
Have you ever wanted something desperately and after some time, not so much?
A child has a fixed time for getting up early in the morning, taking food at a fixed time, and then sleeping at a fixed time.
If you don’t have time for your chess training, then you won’t make any progress, which you were thinking at the start of learning chess.
This is all about doing the same thing daily – and – finally one day you become an expert in any field.
There is one good saying – “to become an expert in any field you need to put in just 10000 hours of intense practice”.
Do it daily and see the leap in your performance after 6 months.
5. One baby step at a time.
Have you noticed how a child is always living in the present moment? Babies demonstrate remarkable persistence when learning new skills.
Like crawling or walking. Likewise, chess players can learn to persevere through tough games, setbacks, and challenging positions, developing resilience along the way.
The child only takes one small baby step at a time and does not crave immediate success in whatever he wants.
If he observes a toy at the far end of the room, he does not run.
He takes whatever is possible in small steps towards that toy, and goes with a one-minded focus.
Babies learn by trial and error, repeatedly trying until they succeed. Chess players can adopt this mindset, especially in analyzing games, learning from losses, and refining strategies through experimentation.
That is how we must be in our chess preparation and training.
Small steps are needed daily.
Science has proved that anything done daily for 21 days in a row becomes a habit, and if you start small it is easier to create a habit.
A child doesn’t have anything to worry about. Like when to eat or how to eat, etc.
You should also not have any worries about whether you can achieve mastery or not.
At Golden Chess Centre, we ask parents and the students, not to look at the results.
Babies are fully present in whatever they’re doing. Similarly, chess players can benefit from focusing entirely on the current position on the board, without getting distracted by past mistakes or future possibilities.
The game quality, is what the coach looks into, not the match points.
Results will improve automatically if the quality of your game improves.
And looking at results will only add up to the pressure.
In Chess, results depend on just one last mistake and if the student keeps training persistently in a disciplined way, even that mistake will be removed by sheer dint of hard work.
Let not success excite you, or failure pull you down.
The Amazing Things Chess players can learn from 2 year old baby are worth keeping in your mind.
When the players see that they are not able to win a particular opponent then they go into a QUITTING mindset. Quitting is a very easy thing. But principle motto of life says – “WINNERS NEVER QUIT AND QUITTERS NEVER WIN.”
Golden Chess Centre conducts regular training sessions for dedicated and upcoming chess players in Nanganallur, Madipakkam, Adambakkam, Moovarasampet, Kilkattalai, Kovilambakkam, Puzhuthivakkam, Ullagaram and Pazhavanthangal – Chennai,
There are online sessions for serious chess players who live out of Chennai and if you need to join one, please click here.
Learning from Chess Champions and World Chess Championships
Question from VM: I have a doubt regarding learning from Chess Champions and World Chess Championships. Reading all games from world champion is really time consuming process and also tough to understand without the help of annotations. Also many opening lines played before are dropped at high level due to suggested improvements by chess engines. Do you still recommend it? If so what is the order to read? Are there any sites that have world champions games annotated (or at least all world championship games games annotated). What learning process can we can follow (for 1800 player) – VM (Coach and player).
Answer: Whoa! That was a beautiful questionnaire raised by you VM! In fact if I understood you correctly, it has four questions embedded in it.
Is it a recommended practice (even nowadays) to look at annotated games of World Chess Champions and Championship matches given the fact that many old points of analysis have taken a change with new lines overtaking the old ones?
What is the order to read/look at World Chess Champions games?
What learning process would one have to follow if he/she is around 1800 rated chess player?
Are there any Websites that have these games with annotations?
Before I jump into my suggestions – keep in mind that more books have been written on Chess than all other sports and games combined!
And even though I have approximately 2000 to 3,000 chess books, some of my friends have far more than that! In fact, my collection is considered to be just average!
Okay… but why I am talking about this here?
Just to drive home a point that chess is not dogmatic and fixed – in parameters. There is so much diversity, that it is mind-boggling.
And since you asked from a 1800 rated player’s point of view I will suggest answers based on that point of view.
Question # 1: Is it a recommended practice (even nowadays) to look at annotated games of World Chess Champions and Championship matches given the fact that many old points of analysis have taken a change with new lines overtaking the old ones?
Answer: Depends on your objective. First off, a few basic facts so that you and I are on the same platform of understanding.
At at 1800 Fide Rating you will be pretty decent tactically and also have a decent idea of strategy in action as far as your repertoire is concerned. So if your interest in World Champions is merely for documentation purpose then by all means go through their games in chronological order – or – as per your favorite players list.
Opening lines may change but middlegame/endgame ideas and tactical themes will never change.
You said – “Reading all games from world champion is a really time consuming process and also tough to understand without the help of annotations”.
It’s crucial for all chess players to find something that they like, that they are passionate about, and that, they truly enjoy learning and playing Chess and try to become better at that, every single day.
That is how you attain your goals, and so when you choose to look at World Champions for inspiration it is a commendable decision. It may be difficult and time consuming. But it is worth every second when you see the results coming.
So, find your passion, set your goal and make good, healthy choices along the path like learning from Chess Champions and World Chess Championships, and you will find success following you like a shadow.
The way to learn from un-annotated game(s) will be outlined in a later article.
But if you have access to a good source of annotated games such as
then it is easy to understand the advanced strategy of these high level games.
You said – “Also many opening lines played before are dropped at high level due to suggested improvements by chess engines”.
Let’s worry about the high ground when we get there and let’s not worry about the Engines’ suggestions – that can happen when we are beyond 2300.
The Engines may be very strong tactically – they can find the best move in a messy position but they cannot explain why it is a good move!
If you were to blindly follow only the top theory then you will be deeply disappointed when you play against a club player. Because you will be at a loss on what to do in case your opponent deviates from the main lines which is what usually happens in the below 2200 rating ranges.
Coming to Engines suggesting improvements, those suggestions will work well for them not for us humans who cannot play like an engine every time.
So use the Engines with great deliberation – better still to avoid them studiously and leave that to the trainer.
If however your purpose is learning from Chess Champions and World Chess Championships and brush up your thinking abilities in Chess, then why study just just World Champions?
Why not learn from a 25oo rated Grandmaster’s games or a 2300 International Master?
In fact you will be motivated when you are able to solve positions or guess their moves since theoretically you are playing far above your level of understanding. And gain much needed confidence that is essential for chess players.
You will see that even Grandmasters are human and are liable to make mistakes.
So the answer to your first question is a broad yes, with a caveat. That means, to look at only champions’ game may actually deprive you of much needed practice which you strongly need as your opponents may not be GMs or IMs too.
So look for the learning wherever you find it. Don’t restrict yourself to just the cream. After all the GMs have all been there through that path and learnt it the hard way. So you may not be an exception. Of course I am not suggesting you look at games played by players lesser than 1800 or even 2000. I would suggest as a general rule of thumb to look from 2200 upwards.
You can learn from almost every game and everyone above your rating level. But that does not mean that greater the difference the more you can learn! There is a limit to everyone’s grasping power and you need to go step by step.
This way you will be pulling yourself up from a length of 400-500 elo and that will be your GYM Stretching exercise regimen for successful chess muscles.
Question # 2 – What is the order I would suggest to look at World Champion games?
Answer: Very simply put, in the exact chronological order that they were champions. Once more I would suggest looking at the bigger picture, by looking at the top 10 players of every WCC era. It will provide you will all the necessary fodder in your chess training regimen. Prepare a dossier of interesting positions or points of analysis and that will be your ready-reckoner before your next tournament.
For example if you start with Steinitz then also look at (not necessarily in the same order as below).
Emanuel Lasker
Mikhail Chigorin
Harry Pillsbury
Siegbert Tarrasch
Wilhelm Steinitz
Paul Morphy
Joseph Blackburn
Louis Paulsen
Adolf Anderssen
Johannes Zukertort
The reason I suggest looking at the same chronological sequence of champions is because you will then understand the evolution of Chess thinking, that actually simulates a chess player’s evolution from an amateur to a Master. In those days there was no technical help in the form of computers but trust me, when you look at their games you will wonder how deep they could play.
Question # 3 – What learning process would one have to follow if he/she is around 1800 rated chess player?
Answer: I would suggest that first of all any learning must be consistent. No huge gaps in the schedule and no jumping between books. You can read as many books at a time as you want, but remember to finish them. As far as the learning process is concerned the answer is huge so it warrants a separate article by itself.
Question #4 – Are there any Websites that have these games with annotations?
Answer: The immediate one that comes to my mind is www.pgnmentor.com. You have all the players games listed and you can use a firefox addon like Down them all or Flashgot which helps in downloading all the files from a page automatically.
Bottomline: You can learn from almost every game and everyone. Play against people from all different levels at different time controls from all around the world. It’s when you go beyond the 2300 stratosphere that you will have to change the training schedule and syllabus.
Let me know if you have any further questions about learning from Chess Champions and World Chess Championships or any other points that are unclear! I will try my best to answer you in coming articles.
Some of the books I have enjoyed personally are listed below.
Explaining the hiatus in articles and posts here –
This post today aims in Explaining the hiatus in my articles and thoughts here. Many of you may be wondering why the site suddenly went static and stopped moving some 6-8 months ago. The truth is that it was hacked. Not this site but another sub-domain that was parked inside the same web host account of this one and it took a lot of time to clean up and re-host that site on a dedicated web-space of its own, to prevent any similar collisions in future.
Then after that was taken care of we decided to revamp the looks of our site and this was done assuming that it would be a breeze! Nothing could have been further than the truth. It took some inordinate amount of time to configure properly and to compound our problems it we had exams to contend with.
Sometimes we felt that this was passe what with our priorities looming large and our passion getting a hit on account of being torn in the urgent-and-important-quadrant of priorities. However we sat tight and waited till everything settled down to a minimum.
Our lessons:
When intuition is strong, doors open automatically. Keeping a balanced mind amidst problems will sometimes just be enough. There is nothing you can do about things beyond your control. If the flame of passion is strong you will eventually find a way to do it. If it is positive it is a good thing. If not, God bless you…!
Always give priority to long term commitments. And do not plan anything that is long term, without a really long and hard think about it. If you are confused ask friends. Never beats getting friendly advice. Human mind is frail and weak. It will succumb easily to temptations and distractions. If that is the case I suggest not taking up anything that will demand a long dedicated effort on your part.
Anyways, the end result is that we are back, and we are good! We are rarin’ to go and to start updating you with the latest in the world of chess, as and when they happen!
The Author Kish Kumar is a coach at Golden Chess Centre and is passionate about teaching Chess to beginners, intermediate level and advanced players.
8 Year old CEO woos security experts in Delhi, and how!
8 year old CEO woos security experts with wit and aplomb. Barely out of his milk teeth, this kid knows what it is like to be a CEO and also has his head clear on what he wants to become. No wonder he was invited to speak at the Ground zero summit in Delhi in November.
And since he could not reach for the Mic he was made to sit on a chair thereby being aptly named as the ‘Chair person’ of the event! Meet Reuben Abhishai Paul – Cyber Security expert and CEO of his gaming company called Prudent Games.
His other interests are Kung Fu, Gymnastics, Swimming and Music.
His company creates educational apps for children, combining knowledge and fun in a way that keeps children interested and involved. One of the applications by Prudent Games teaches children how to create strong and secured passwords. Another application teaches the basics of Brute Force technique to children, which is a popular method of hacking.
His presentation, titled: “Developing ROOt-Kidz: The future of Cyber Security” was about the importance of cyber security, and why parents should learn to implement and teach their children basic cyber security paradigms for keeping their computers and laptops safe.
Demonstrating his skills and knowledge, he displayed to the the audience how easy it is to hack into any website or computer using ‘click jacking’ and ‘Java applet’ attacks.
Later, fielding questions from the media like a pro, Reuben explained that it all started a year-and-a-half ago.”My father trains people in the area of software development and cyber security, and I used to be listening in and one day when he was on a business call and seemed to have forgotten some terms, and I prompted him from back. He then began training me.”
But there’s much more to Reuben than gaming or cyber security – at the age of two, he was crowned America’s ‘Most Beautiful Baby’. ‘RAPster’, as his friends call him, because his name forms the acronym RAP.
Watch 8 year old CEO Reuben Paul speak amidst experts like a Pro!
Chess is a fun game, till you enter your first tournament!
After which all hell breaks loose and two things may happen. Either you will be consumed by passion – or – stand as a bystander in frustration or awe. My intention is not to scare you out of the sport called chess but to help you prepare for it with a proper mindset without any fear or phobia. Separating the wood from the trees …
Chess is both science and art – and chess improvement will come when you consider this fact in your training.
Separating the wood from the trees – Key points to keep in mind.
If you practice only tactics, you will miss out on the connecting-big-picture while playing, and if you only play with strategic understanding with a weak tactical acumen you will be running a race with just one leg.
What is the best way to stand calm amidst the chaos regarding your Chess improvement?
Lets take some important points and talk about it in case you decide to take up the challenge of a real tournament Chess game!
Absolute passion or interest in Chess. Why? Its simple. Just as coal or water is needed to fuel a Steam Engine train – in the same way the fuel of excellence is interest or passion in whatever we do. Without this basic foundation, the building will collapse for sure. Ask yourself – are you passionate about your chess improvement and if so how much? Your chess improvement is directly proportional to your innate passion.
Time management. What do we mean by Time management? Its just a way of squeezing time whenever we are able to – for the sake of our training regimen. Plan for a day/week/month and keep looking for more. Do not allow lethargy or laziness come in the way. Diligent training will fetch rewards. Not just getting up one fine day and solving 50 positions and not looking at them for the next few days completely!Do you eat your food in the same way? I mean stuffing 3 meals at one time and then going without food the whole day?
Weeding out the negatives. What is meant by negatives? It can be anything. Eating too much or too little. Watching too much TV or having a late night sleeping time every day. It can also be anger or frustration or even lack of confidence. Just avoid these to the best you can.
Getting motivated in real life. I get motivated whenever I see the achievers and the dedication in almost all chess players who have been playing for more than a decade. (Not just in Chess but in other sports too). Our focus in chess gets a boost when we see the energy levels of the legends.Their achievements seem like a miracle but their efforts and sweat are hidden.Imagine and appreciate that hidden aspect and sit down for the training with a thought to achieving that height of dedication.
Let me know if you have any suggestions or doubts by way of comments. Share if you feel it will help others.
Golden Chess Centre conducts regular training sessions for upcoming chess players in Nanganallur, Madipakkam, Adambakkam, Moovarasampet, Kilkattalai, Kovilambakkam, Puzhuthivakkam, Ullagaram and Pazhavanthangal – Chennai, as well as online sessions for those players who live out of Chennai.
It was a thrilling finale to a historic event. In the final round, Judit Polgar drew with Levon Aronian, while Vladimir Kramnik also drew, with Michael Adams. Hikaru Nakamura fought against Luke McShane, who blundered, while Magnus Carlsen, despite a guaranteed first, pressed hard against Vishy Anand, came close to winning, but eventually drew.
The 2012 London Chess Classic took place in the Olympia Conference Centre from Saturday, December 1st until Monday, December 10th. A win was counted as three points, a draw as one, and a loss zero.
You said – “Reading all games from world champion is a really time consuming process and also tough to understand without the help of annotations”.
You said – “Also many opening lines played before are dropped at high level due to suggested improvements by chess engines”. 
