Maintaining focus and concentration

One hundred days of Adult Chess Improvement #41

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking about our performance as something fixed. I am, of course, talking about chess, but this could apply to anything - jogging, our relationships, washing the dishes, literally anything.

The truth is all the other things we are doing subtly influence our playing level. Or not so subtly. This is not a binary system of black or white. It is more like a colour wheel. OK, this is pretty obvious you might say. And it is. But then why do so many of us immediately blame our chess ability when we blunder rather than looking for underlying reasons. Explanations not excuses.

Not sleeping well, a poor diet or physical fitness, excessive alcohol, outside worries, excessive alcohol (yes, I know I am repeating myself, but...). All these things may have a far greater impact on our performance level than our opening prep, tactical training or endgame knowledge. Perhaps we don't want to acknowledge them because they are more than just inconvenient truths.

The very best players need to face up to the same questions that we do. We draw conclusions about their mistakes in games as if they point to their failings as players. All too often it is external factors that hold the greater sway.

Two examples will suffice. Magnus recently lost three games in a row against The young prodigy, Prag'. However, how much of this was down to the fact that in the game prior to these he had clinched outright first place? Just a faint relaxation and serious mistakes started creeping in. 

Or consider Alireza's poor performance in the 2022 Candidates Tournament. When he looks back on it, will he regret playing long blitz sessions in the days prior to games? 

What can we do about this? Botvinnik trained with loud noises and sparring partners who blew smoke into his face. He was ready for the most extreme attacks on his powers of concentration.

I for one am not going to resort to that. But it could be that some mindfulness practice will benefit me more than a more rigorous training programme. And, come to think of it, this improved focus will also level up my training - a double win!

My daily study schedule has been temporarily suspended. Read into that what you will.

The updated mistakes log:

A Chess Mistakes

A1 Knowledge 

I missed a clever quiet move at the end of a forcing line**

I missed the point of the puzzle*

A2 Skill  

Miscalculated a pawn ending ******

B Mental Errors

B1 Thinking 

I treated a capture as if it were a forced move *

I didn't calculate through to the end ******

Difficulty in visualising a position during analysis**

I didn't consider all the attacking options - fixated on one tactical idea******

I didn't determine all the candidate moves *

I didn't look for my opponent's threat

I didn't consider all the defensive responses - I missed interposing a piece***

I didn't consider all the defensive responses - I didn't analyse all escape squares*

B2 Psychology 

I played a move too quickly without checking all available replies ********

I got carried away with my "solution" *