I once did a short project with a french guy who was Nichols mental coach. A guy called Michele Ganne. Or spelled something like that. He brought me to the National Sports Complex and showed me an immersion chamber where the athletes are placed to train their minds. In Australia sports psychology is a big thing.
I wonder why we dont do the same for a mind sport? I dont think we are that weak in technical skills. I think where we are weak is in mental strength.
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I don't see Bobby Fischer having a problem with mental strength, because he beats everyone. The same goes for the best.
ReplyDeleteIt's only those who are on the path of trying to get there, where they are no longer sure of their abilities, that they need help.
I'm not saying mind coaching is not good - it applies even to those who are technically the best they are. Hence it has its relevance.
But shouldn't those who are not technically good work on their technique first? Then if time permits, work on this later?
Both/And John, Both/And. :)
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiousity, can I ask you a question I ask some of our National Juniors? How many games do you lose in a tournament because of emotional reasons? That is games that you already know the technical solution but just couldnt see at the time or just could not control yours impatience, frustration or fear? I'm curious.
ReplyDeleteLet's take the recent Merdeka Rapid games.
ReplyDeleteI was winning against Tan Ken Wei,my ex-student. He blundered his Queen missing my tactic. I lost the game because I failed to find the best move. I was listed as unrated but with a Singapore rating of 1712.
I lost against Ng Ee Vern in a winning position,1 whole Bishop up but failed to see his pin.
Both wins are attributed to my lack of chess practice. I had no fear against Ee Vern who though was much better than me, could not break through my position and had to take risks to win.
At the Merdeka Team Rapid, I had to be extremely cautious knowing my poor form. So I relied on my positional sense to out-plan my opponents rather than trying to out-calculate them. The strategy worked and I scored 4/5. Lost to an Indonesian because I missed his tactic and thought it was sound but upon checking the analysis with Fritz, realised that my thought process let me down.
Generally I do not fear anyone when I sit down to play because I know that if they are better than me, they will find the moves to win. However, so long as I do not give them the opportunity, they will have to create chances by taking risks. My last round opponent was winning against Saidali Yuldashev in the Rapid Individual. So I was very careful not to play into his hands when he tried to complicate the game by sacrificing material. Instead I avoided his invitation time and again. He got flustered and made serious positional mistakes which I capitalised.
For those wanting to know more of this technique, I learnt it from reading Simon Webb's excellent book " Chess for Tigers" under the chapter "HOW TO CATCH RABBITS".
Chess is a struggle, I agree, not just technical superiority but also psychology is involved. Learn to direct the game to your strengths. Steer clear of your weaknesses. But you must know them first in order to do that.
Incidently, I played Lim Zhuo Ren last year.
ReplyDeleteHe was winning the exchange against me, but somehow could not find the path to win. He became frustrated wondering why I am giving him so much trouble even though I am losing.
Somehow we Singaporeans revel in playing on even though we are in inferior positions because we believe that miracles can happen so long as you don't give up.
Check out the number of ridiculous wins under Great Singapore Swindles in www.singaporechessnews.com.
Finally time was catching up and Zhuo Ren had to offer a draw to avoid losing on time.
So resilience can be learnt when you have seen it happen. I did - by witnessing my good friend defend a lost position against an Australian IM and in the end, the IM was so tired that he blundered a piece and resigned.
This is what we call Mind over Matter - you need to see it to believe it, then experience it yourself.
Thank you for this sharing John.
ReplyDelete"I dont think we are that weak in technical skills. I think where we are weak is in mental strength. "
ReplyDeleteAgain, u still believe in this statement just like from Day 1. Maybe, oneday when your son gives up chess for good. You will actually realise that our Malaysian players (including your son) are weak at both aspects.
""I dont think we are that weak in technical skills."
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is that you have not seen the types of "supposed to have" technical skill that made a GM. Also, majority of our national juniors possess less than 1/3 of those required skills, how r they going to flex their muscles against a series of IM's and GM's in any given tournament.
Remember, some hardworking Juniors (now or mostly back in 90/00's) can get a draw or a win against 1 or 2 IM/GM in a tournament just to show they are on the right learning path but the path is still very long down the road and nothing to be proud at that point in time.
So far, no one from the 90/00's actually accumulate enough required skills. I dare to say that no one actually passed the 2/3 required skills. How to reach the goal to become a GM?
Yes I believe in that statement. What I see recently is an upsurge in technical and we even have some locals winning against some GM's. So technically we are not all that far off. Also with Ziaur here I think we will even go a little further. But where we are weak is mental strength. Yes including my son. But I see him working hard at improving that aspect so maybe there is hope yet. The question we should pose is how can we improve the mental strength of our players instead of just stating the obvious.
ReplyDeleteI believe if you r willing to pay top dollar (not ringgit) like in tens of thousand to Ziaur, you will find out a complete list of technical stuff what it takes as a minimum required skills of a GM.
ReplyDeleteI bet you will see a brand new dimension in chess that are not suppose to be there previously in your mind.
Go back to your previous comment. Stop there and slowly consider this. If they can win against one GM or IM, it shows they have the skills. The problem arise as you properly identified when our players have to meet them in series. That is a function of mental strength not technical. Now go and read what I said in "Change". Our players need to be taught how to think without resistance so they have the stamina for the long haul. Do consider this. You are almost there.
ReplyDelete"Stop there and slowly consider this. If they can win against one GM or IM, it shows they have the skills."
ReplyDeleteYou still do not see the real technical. Let us not talk about chess. Let's talk football.
Malaysia U23 defeated South Korea 1 - 0 in July 2010. Using your anology, Msia team has the skill like South Korea to reach World Cup. Probably that's what the Msian officials and footballers thinks they r able too.
Do you remember that M'sian Senior defeated South Korea (2 - 1) in 1995. Does that mean we have the skill like S. Korea back then. We cant even smell a place in Rd 2 preliminaries among contries from the same Zone, while S. Korea has featured in World Cup 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010.
S. Korea is GM, Malaysia is still dreaming to become GM without the required skills (at least 10,000 pieces of chess knowledge).
By the way, S. Korea has played in every World Cup Final since 1986. Malaysia defeated a 2004 World Cup squad in 1995.
ReplyDeleteWow! That showed Malaysia have what it takes but looked at other football results against any other countries in the last 15 yrs. More shit than glory. Why --> U to ponder?
I was a hardcore football fan and I learn what it takes to play good football using chess theories, and how to play good chess using football theories.
Should read ... Malaysia defeated a 1994 World Cup squad in 1995.
ReplyDeleteNo one is denying technical. Just saying both/and. Read my postings on paradox.
ReplyDelete