Pressure of the internal variety

Pressure can come from both external and internal sources. The external factors come from fixed tournaments, unhealthy competition where the outcome is based on who you have jacked up or not and not based on any understanding of chess. And so that is not the purview here.

Let me tell you a story. There was one tournament shortly after Mark became U12 Champion in Perak. As we were heading to the tournament I noticed Mark was wracked in fear. Now the tournament organiser is a known anti Mark person and responsible for many unscrupulous acts. The then U15 champion was also at the tournament and he was a player who consistently beats Mark.

I felt that given his state of mind it was better to turn back and spend our time identifying where the fears were coming from. And so we did. You see when the fear is amorphous, without form, it cannot be handled. We first need to give the fear a name and then we need to find the tools to deal with it.

And so we identified the fears. The first was the playing style of the U15 champion. He plays a very patient noncomittal game. And Mark didnt like those games. And so we took note of that. The other problem was ego. And so we talked about how that would increase his own internal pressure. We talked about the nature of chess. That it is a game played moment to moment. And that focus and concentration is important. Worrying about winning or losing is not going to help. Just one more thing to think about. And not only that, it is unnecessary and did not contribute to him winning. So we gave his fears a name and we developed tools to manage it. We also developed understanding of the nature of the game.

As for the organiser, I told him this. I told him that was not his responsibility. His job is to play on the board. Handling the organiser is my job. I will handle it. And so I took that load off him. Otherwise he would not have been able to carry so much and at such a tender age. Otherwise he may have quit.