One of the first things I do with a young player is to train them to keep their body still when playing. The object is to still the mind. If the body is giving conflicting signals to the mind ie the legs are doing a dance and the body displaying anxiety, it is almost impossible to tell the mind to relax.
So going back to a question asked in comments. What did I do as the mind coach in Asean? Let me give you my observations first. I noticed that both Tariq and Edward had some bad habits. They would burn the midnight oil going through their database to find new ideas. Read here. You will see that the time for preparation is long past. At the tournament it is better to keep the mind relaxed as the tournament itself generates a lot of pressure.
What I did was to remind them that the tournament is over 9 rounds. And conservation of energy is a key strategy. But at the same time I realised that this habit cannot be changed overnight. So all I did was to gently remind them. I also imposed a 11pm curfew but this was not strictly followed for the same reason. And then I did what I thought was the only possible solution at that time. I tried to reduce their pressure by waking them up every morning (since there have been previous incidences of our players oversleeping), making sure that they had enough rest in between games. (made possible because of this.) Read what Adzlin did here. And to foster the spirit of camaraderie between the players and between the parents since there is energy there too.
Another point; each person have their own particular demon/demons, bad habits, so there is no one prescription to cure all. In the case of Mas, I suggested that he fight on. Why I said that is because I suspect he needs to find back the fire in him. Something I believe he had in the past, from seeing his earlier games, and something he may have lost somewhere along the way.
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You are making the huge assumption that the mind works better when relaxed. From my personal experience as a player, I've seen players who think better with all neurons fired up, fully charged and ready to go.
ReplyDeleteThe leg-shaking and dancing as you call it, keeps the adrenaline pumping. And as we all know, athletes perform better with the surge of adrenaline. Now, you may deny chess is as physical as it is mental, but that is highly debatable. If chess is not a sport, why have we been striving so hard to get chess recognized as an Olympic sport?
But science and technicalities aside, I think chess players think the best when they are the most comfortable. Be it with their legs shaking, legs folded, and the most notable habit of Kasparov, with his watch removed. Try not to interfere too much with a child's mind, lest they go haywire from trying to take care of too many things. Let a child grow from his own experiences. Don't box him in.
Pressure is not necessarily a bad thing. If you learn about Lee Chong Wei, his training when he was young was all pressure. "Rumor" has it that his family members were huge gamblers and being the talented young badminton player that he was, he was like the goose that laid the golden eggs for his family. He was put under tremendous pressure in games that involve bets of hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time. Because of such experiences, he has learned to steel his mind and not be fazed under pressure.
That is why he is a class above the rest in Malaysia. But to be the best in the world, that is another thing completely.
There is a world of difference between mental and physical sports. It is far too simplistic to associate the both just because that are both called sports.
ReplyDeleteFollowing your argument I'd better pick up a few bad habits if I want to help Mark improve his chess. Do yourself a favour and examine your thinking again. And then try to change. You are dangerous to yourself and others.
You have once again managed to sidestep the issue and resorted to "name-calling" to completely dismiss another person's thought just because they are different from yours.
ReplyDeleteDo yourself a favor and try to accept different points of view. You keep asking others to open their minds but yours is completely shut. For someone who has no real experience in playing chess, you sure pretend like you know a lot. Your half-baked and pretentious ideas are confusing other chess players and are even more dangerous.
I sincerely hope that you do not impede the growth of the young chess players in Malaysia and I urge others to avoid your convoluted "techniques" which are harmful to a real chess player's growth.
I was merely suggesting that there is something to be gained from the adrenaline rush that sports players get. Why is your mind so closed?
In case your mind can't process what the issues at hand are, let me summarize it all for you:
Issue 1: Chess players think better when they are more comfortable, regardless of whether they dance or not.
Issue 2: Try not to interfere too much with a child's mind, lest they go haywire from trying to take care of too many things. Let a child grow from his own experiences. Don't box him in.
Your ability to connect dots is uncanny. How did you jump from "allowing independent growth" to go ahead and pick up some bad habits?
Again you demonstrate your lack of technical knowledge in chess. Did you really think that they were staying up to learn more ideas about the game? They were preparing against their opponent's opening, and perhaps studying their style of play, a detail on which you will no doubt have a rebuttal. But let me tell you, every decent chess player does this. What do you think is the purpose for strong GMs to have seconds? (Here's a hint, there's so much to prepare that the GMs can't even do it on their own)
ReplyDeleteGo to the link where I talk of training for competitions. I am talking about over preparation to the point of exhaustion after the middle rounds. Here I think we can take a page from Penang and Singapore. There is a "coach" present to help in analysis for the very reason you highlighted. That is a genuine point.
ReplyDeleteThe half-baked chess coaches that we have nowadays are hardly qualified to give any insights into the opening preparations of our junior players. Let's say a junior player is a specialist in the Sicilian Dragon. How is the coach going to know much, if at all, if he is a Caro-Kann player himself?
ReplyDeleteWill he be able to offer useful ideas in a short period of time? The coaches in Penang and Singapore can assist in positional understanding analysis. They do not assist in opening preparation, unless he (or she) is a specialist in that particular opening. In this day and age of opening databases, it is practical to work with the computer rather than a "self-proclaimed" coach.
There is some truth in what you say. That is why our session with Ziaur was on how to prepare rather than what to prepare. I will write more on this topic at the appropriate time.
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ReplyDeleteI don't understand you. Are you contradicting yourself? If you had a training session to teach players how to prepare, they damn well better prepare. And FYI, preparation can only happen before a game. As in the 12 hours that players have between the pairing coming out and the round starting. I'm not going to elaborate on this. If you still think preparing the night before a game is wrong, ask your Ziaur.
ReplyDeleteYou can't get exhausted from preparation. Without preparation, you will end up spending more time thinking during the earlier stages of the game. Guess what that leads to.
I can see you are out to prove a point. Do you see that you are selectively reading? Read my post tomorrow. I also did not say it was for the players. It may be helpful if you check up the term confabulation. May prove helpful to you.
ReplyDeleteIt will be detrimental to me. I've had enough reading about chess from someone with no technical knowledge on the game. Good day.
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