Thinking for Yourself Pt. 1
To become one of the best or simply good at chess, you must think for yourself. Yes, you have to learn a myriad of opening variations, middle game tactics / themes and endgame techniques. But, if you blindly follow the recommended path without thinking for yourself, you will invariably find yourself in a series of positions that are incredibly confusing. The moves your opponents play may even be inferior but you won't know how to prove it!
I recently ran into this situation when reviewing a fun free course on Chessable Short & Sweet: Nguyen and Jarmula's 1.e4 e5 by IM Piotr Nguyen. The position in question comes from an interesting sideline of the Berlin Defense: The Rio de Janeiro variation. This variation is a fresh modern way to surprise an opponent who is expecting the mainline. While I was studying I came across this interesting position:
Here, IM Nyugen includes the move 13.Nd4 without commentary but the question arises. Why not play 13.g3 right away? Now it is your turn to figure it out!
And, the line continues with 15.Be3 Bg4! with a small edge and initiative for Black team (15...Rxe5 is equal and just fine as well). I don't want to go too far into the weeds here but the main point is important for all players: Think for yourself! In modern chess, you can have engines, courses and coaches all telling you what to do and your brain can get crowded with all of that information so much so that you don't do any thinking yourself. At the end of the day, chess is a PvP game - a player vs. player game. Only one player at a time can play and that is you! Don't squander the chances to learn how to think BEFORE you get to the chess board even if you are following the suggestions of an International Master or even Coach Q!
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