SKILLS TO DEVELOP TO BECOME A STRONG CHESS PLAYER
As I am still processing my personal grief over the difficulty I have in improving my score in rapid games...
...I am lately dedicating myself to blogging, which is what I do better.
I've recently read an interesting blog about chess prodigies who flopped. Different life stories were told, some of them very touching.
What can be the reasons for success or failure in the world of chess? What are the factors that contribute to creating a strong chess champion or that can explain the reasons for a failure?
The answer is not trivial; there are many variables to consider.
A first step is to try to understand what skills to develop and the environmental conditions that facilitate becoming a strong player.
That's why I chose today's topic!
Looking for answers I found the reflections of an Italian IM, Roberto Messa, published on a web site on 01/02/2000(I), later studied in deep and published online again by another illustrious figure of the Italian chess world, Riccardo Moneta, writer of chess books and founder of the bimonthly “Zeitnot” and of the “Steinitz” Chess Club(II).
It's a generally little explored and very interesting topic.
Happy reading!
3. Self-confidence, resilience (role of the environment)
4. Steady nerves and mental stamina over time
5. Attention and concentration
6. Study, knowledge and practice (dedication and consistency)
7. Capacity and depth of analysis
8. Memory
8.1 Visual-spatial imagination, pattern recognition and process speed
8.2 Ability to store and retrieve data from memory archive
9. Ability to synthesize, intuition, vision and creativity
So what are the skills to develop to become a great chess player?
Of course, there are more talented people, with brilliant flair, but it would be extremely reductive to exhaust the discussion with such considerations. Ordinary people would feel discouraged even from starting a course of study and training if everything was due only to the presence or absence of an innate talent.
Talent can be cultivated as Judith Polgar's life experience has demonstrated.
This article will be intentionally short... it's already so long and hard to study chess 😆
The famous psychologist Binet, inventor of the first intelligence test (the Binet-Simon scale) in his book “Psychologie des grands Calcolaurs et joueurs en echecs” (written in Paris in 1894), described his experiments on chess players, especially those who were able to play blindfolded and simultaneously. Through questionnaires he explored their interior, intellectual and psychological sphere(III).
To sum up: having good intelligence is certainly necessary, but it is not in itself a sufficient condition for success in chess.
In chess, defeat is so painful because it is associated with intelligence.
Actually, as we are going to see, other qualities are required to make a good player: keep a cool head, caution, attention, perserverance, courage, without which intelligence counts for very little.
It is reassuring to know, furthermore, that you do not need to calculate your IQ to play and perform well.
Likewise, one should not be discouraged if the chess results are not yet satisfactory.
Take home message: let's avoid giving in to the depressing belief that we are idiots if we do not quickly obtain good results.
Love, passion for the game is the lowest common denominator of great chess players. Otherwise they would hardly dedicate so much time and energy to deepen their knowledge of the game, practice and play.
3. Self-confidence, resilience (role of the environment)
This aspect, self-confidence and the ability to overcome and emerge stronger from difficulties, disappointments, moments of crisis, defeats is very, very important.
Being determined, motivated are essential to obtain and maintain good results.
Alexandr Alekhine, who was the fourth World Chess Champion (a title he held until his death in 1946), stated that:
"There are three essential factors for success. First, awareness of one's own strengths and weaknesses; then understanding the strengths and weaknesses of one's opponents; and finally, a higher purpose than fleeting satisfaction... the desire to achieve those artistic and scientific values which place chess on the same level as the other arts".
Furthermore, the environmental context is so important that it deserves to be considered with the utmost attention.
If it is permissive and facilitating, the path to achieving results will be easier to follow.
If a talent is not cultivated or, worse, is hindered by the family or society, it will be really difficult to succeed in any activity.
Resilience or the ability to face and overcome traumas, coming out of them strengthened, can be built, trained and strengthened from childhood.
There is a large amount of literature on psychology and developmental psychopathology that reinforces this thesis(IV).
So this aspect can also be addressed successfully and should not discourage us.
Steady nerves and mental stamina over time
This is a very important feature. Nervous tension is a serious handicap on the quality of the game. Classic tournament matches can last several hours. Not everyone can handle concentration and stress for a long time.
It is a fact that great players perform much better in this area than amateur club players.
5. Attention and concentration
First of all, it should be noted that attention and concentration are two different concepts, although similar.
Being alert is important. However, attention must be global and not focused only on some details of the game, losing the overall vision.
Concentration should be deep and lasting, maintained over time, especially in crucial moments of matches.
The great Alekhine, who sooner or later I want to dedicate an article to, used to say:
"One trait more than any other determines one's strength in chess: unshakable concentration, which must completely isolate a player from the outside world."
Drops in concentration are an almost unavoidable factor during the 4 or 5 hours of play of a regular-time match. Champions know how to reduce them to a minimum and avoid them in the most critical moments of the match, remaining as lucid and relaxed as possible from the first to the last move.
6. Study, knowledge and practice (dedication and consistency)
Studying and practicing a lot are fundamental.
In the beginning the improvements are significant, then gradually slower, but still important.
The great Jose Raul Capablanca (1888-1942), third World Chess Champion and great contemporary rival of Alexandr Alekhine, claimed that chess is a "backwards" game, you must first familiarize yourself with the basic principles, then dedicate yourself to the endgames, then to middlegame tactics and only at the end to the theory of openings, which he did not particularly like... very difficult and mnemonic. Maybe for this reason he always sought to simplify the games.
It is important to study, take lessons, watch videos, read books and, if possible, train with a teacher or with club mates.
Competing against stronger players, at home, at the club or online is a great opportunity that should be seized immediately.
In fact, practicing the game is much more decisive than studying books, because the ideas that you come across during a game are memorized much better than those you read in books.
7. Capacity and depth of analysis
The ability to quickly perform analysis of the game, to clearly evaluate the conclusions and the depth of your analysis is another essential aspect.
The stronger you are, the more developed this ability is.
Dennis Holding, psychologist, with his studies found a significant correlation between your level of chess skills and the number of moves you can see ahead(V).
8. Memory
The Dutch psychologist and chess master Adriaan De Groot (1914-2006), drawing on Binet's experiences, studied the abilities of tournament participants since 1938 and saw that the strongest players were able to remember positions shown to them for just a few seconds(VI).
8.1 Visual-spatial imagination, pattern recognition and process speed
De Groot realized through his studies on chess players that the most important qualities were not memory or analytical ability in themselves, rather the speed in recognizing different chess patterns and quickly moving towards the best decisions in moves selection.
Visuospatial imagination and memory play an essential role in this skill(VII).
Visuospatial perception versus imagery. Perception activate visual cortex more than imagery throughout the whole ventral visual stream. In contrast imagery led to stronger activity in more anterior areas, including insula, left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and medial frontal cortex.
Knowledge of many game patterns and the ability to recognize and act on them quickly and successfully are therefore very important skills.
A chess master has a repertoire of at least 50,000 memorized patterns.
So it is very important to practice with lots and lots and lots of puzzles to learn to recognize the different game patterns!!!
Chess skill would depend on the quality and extent of specific knowledge stored and the ability to access and recognize patterns, having stored them in long-term memory(VIII).
All this leads us to the next skill...
8.2 Ability to store and retrieve data from memory archive
The teachings of the Masters, direct game experiences, the study of endgames and openings… none of this is enough if it is not accompanied by a correct ability to archive all the data, file it in memory and, above all, find it immediately when necessary during the game.
The human brain has a memory that can reach 1,000 Terabytes (about 10.000 GB).
The real issue is to actually be able to extract from this impressive archive, when necessary, the most correct information among hundreds of thousands of others.
Robert J. Sternberg, psychologist, in “Theories of Intelligence”, stated: “the reason why, of two people who play chess a lot, one can become very expert and the other remain at a low level, is that the first has been able to use information in a particularly effective way and the other has not.
The greater knowledge of the expert player is the result, not the cause, of his skill, which instead derives from his ability to fruitfully organize the information that he has accumulated in many, many hours of play”(IX).
Neurobiological studies published in "Nature Neuroscience" in 2016 by Boston University psychologist Howard Eichenbaum seem to show that the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex cooperate in the recollection of specific memories.
The hippocampus retrieves information from the archive, while prefrontal cortex coordinates its function, preventing wrong memories from intruding(X).
There is no direct anatomical connection in the brain between the prefrontal cortex and dorsal hippocampus, so it isn’t clear how messages are passed between them.
But Eichenbaum’s studies suggest that there may be an indirect, bidirectional route that involves slow, pulsing brain rhythms called theta rhythms.
These rhythms originate in deep structures in the middle of the brain, synchronize between the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, and allow information to flow between them.
These studies, in addition to providing answers on the pathways involved in the neurobiological mechanisms of memory for chess players, could in the future provide much more useful information to better understand some of the dysfunctional mechanisms underlying serious neuropsychiatric pathologies such as schizophrenia.
It should be remembered that intelligence, attention, concentration and memory are significantly influenced by lifestyle habits.
Rest and a balanced diet are certainly beneficial, while it is proven that stress, excess sugar in the diet, inappropriate consumption of alcohol and other substances of abuse have a negative impact on neurocognitive performance and the neuropsychological sphere.
9. Ability to synthesize, intuition, vision and creativity
Depth of analysis, visual spatial imagination, pattern recognition are best combined with intuitive ability and evaluation ability (discarding weak moves to choose the strongest move among candidate moves). This makes the difference.
Alexei Suetin (1926-2001), famous Soviet G.M. and writers of many chess books, in “Typische Fehler” wrote:
“Intuition is the ability to grasp the truth immediately, sometimes suddenly and without the help of logically developed deductions …
… Intuitive thinking is undoubtedly subject to the final control of logic, but it tries to reach the same results with abstract means.
In this sense, the creative process would be unimaginable without intuition, which constitutes one of its most important bases”(XI).
Naturally, the outcome of the intuitive decision is favorably influenced by the body of knowledge already acquired.
This is a brief decalogue of the qualities needed by a chess player to achieve satisfactory results.
These abilities/skills, interacting with each other, allow us to overcome our limits and improve the quality of our game.
They must be cultivated assiduously.
At the end of this article I feel more positive and confident also in my personal improvement journey.
I set myself a goal of reaching 1200 rating in Rapid games and 1500 in Classic.
Last year my rapid rating was 682. Current rating 851.
My rating in classic game was 1138, current 1368. Official FIDE Elo 1582.
I challenge actually with puzzles rated around 2200.
What do I actually do?
On the chess.com web app I follow the teachers' instructive video lessons and do the exercises.
Now I'm focusing on the middle game (which is the grave of the amateur players).
To date I have taken 182 lessons.
I try to solve as many puzzles as possibile everyday.
I play rapid games everyday as well. No more than 3-5 rapid games (15+10) per day.
I also play daily matches (1-3 days per move) no more than 4 or 6 at a time.
I have finally just started studying the book "Teoria e pratica degli scacchi" by A.N. Koblentz, who was the mentor of the great Mikhail Tal, the magician of Riga, unforgettable Chess World Champion 1960-1961. My goal is to finish it by the end of the year.
I attend (not assiduously, being the father of a small daughter) the chess club of my city and I play and participate in tournaments there as well.
I am a member of a few on line chess clubs, one of which I manage, that focus on study and play.
In this regard, I recommend the chess club IMPROVERS founded by the chess.com staff (without fear of falling into conflict of interest since I have no role in the club, I'm just a member there).
It is a stimulating environment. They offer lessons and tournaments.
It is a place that gives the opportunity to compare and exchange experiences with other students who share the same project of personal improvement.
Greetings.
Happy chess to everyone and...
See you soon
DocSimooo
- https://www.messaggeroscacchi.it/articoli/eccell.html
- https://unoscacchista.com/2025/02/04/r-quali-caratteristiche-deve-avere-un-forte-giocatore-di-scacchi/
- Binet, "Psychologie des grands calcolatours et joueurs en echecs”, Parigi 1894.
- Ingiglia, Lococco, "Resilienza e vulnerabilità psicologica nel corso dello sviluppo", 2023.
- Dennis Holding, "The psychology of chess skills", 1985.
- A. De Groot, “Thought and Choice in Chess”, 1965.
- Nadine Dijkstra, Sander E. Bosch and Marcel A.J. van Gerven, "Vividness of Visual Imagery Depends on the Neural Overlap with Perception in Visual Areas", Journal of Neuroscience 1 February 2017, 37 (5) 1367-1373; https://www.jneurosci.org/content/37/5/1367
- William G. Chase ed Herbert A. Simon, chapter “Perception in Chess”, volume “Cognitive Psychology”, 1973.
- Robert J. Sternberg, “Teorie dell’intelligenza”, Bompiani, 1987.
- Howard Eichenbaum, "Birirectional prefrontal-hippocampal interactions support context-guided memory", Nature Neuroscience01 Aug 2016 Volume 19, P: 992-994.
- Alexei Suetin in “Typische Fehler”, Berlino, 1982.
