Defence against the dark arts.

There are two ways you can go about developing your chess. Observe the 2 methods. One go the way of developing psychological tricks ie the dark arts and the other go the way of substance. The later spends his energy studying the actual game of chess and has a deep understanding.

Lets see how the former fare in actual competition. The practioner of the dark arts can win against the weaker opponents. They get into their opponents minds and switch off their ability to play chess, to think. But when they meet someone who really knows how to play chess and has learnt the defence against the dark arts, they lose. Why? Because actually they cant play chess.

I have found this true when I competed in Bridge and in Business. This is the argument of substance vs form, of value vs mere packaging, of skill vs bluff. Think on this. Which will go further? Which way do you want to go?