Red button
The Holy Veil
It's not the 4 minute mile of chess, but it's a damn good 6 minute mile. Truth be told, reaching 1800 is probably the 6-minute mile equivalent of chess. But if we're being honest my chess trajectory was always going to pass my running trajectory, and it just took a little pandemic to make that happen.
From zoom meetings (to play chess with people I'd hardly met) to Wednesday Arenas rising from the ashes of erstwhile clubs - you can thank me for not posting the photo of death as my cover photo for this blog post.
And yet, the grace of Lichess notwithstanding, I took my cross of 2000 with me wherever I went, not knowing how to shirk it. Tapping my shoulder was the cold knowledge that a coach would help. But the warm human on my computer screen could not inject the serum I needed in this cold-blooded pursuit.
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Then along came the smiling GM Smirnov, in the dead of night, on the YouTube screen. And he had something to say along the lines of "2 Chess Rules to Reach 2000 ELO rating."
Finally I could light the way, with Smirnov holding the lantern. The shadows of the staircase may loom large on the cave wall, but I was finally there. The first thing is to calculate all variations to the bloody end. That is the blood encrusted end. No detail left behind.
So then you might ask yourself, didn't this author say in Veilleux he couldn't calculate all the variations but should have played on instinct? The short answer is that I probably have to calculate better to get to 2000. (I have to both find 10. Ndc4 Bxc4 11. Bxe7 Kxe7 12. Qd2! and not spend time trying to make something work.) Don't go down a path you can't see the end of.
The second thing is to know how to attack with your pieces. Going back to Veilleux as a reference, that means stirring in 12. e5. Consider all the possibilities before spending time trying to calculate whether the flashy one works - always look for the better move first in Laskerian fashion.
Concluding Thought
Smirnov implores us to play actively. This is where intuition comes in handy, provided it's grounded in calculation. In the video "The Most Important Chess PRINCIPLE" he explores this concept.
And no, I never said I had to play better on intuition in the Veilleux game. I wrote I had to calculate better. In fact, I made a conscientious effort not to go down the rabbit hole.
