Training with Josh - Practicing for OTB

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog!

This post is the first in my series called - Training With Josh where I will be talking about how you can improve! This series might include tactics, GM games, recommendations and more! Basically anything that will help YOU on your chess journey! If you have suggestions message me down below.

In this post I will be sharing my thoughts about playing chess OTB (over the board) and how to switch from online chess to in person events. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic we have been playing chess online for over a year now! And when switching to otb it can be very hard to calculate. Blundering tons of pieces and calculating way too long is very normal when first switching to otb. I will be sharing how you can avoid doing this when preparing for an event OTB. I hope you enjoy! Now onto the blog!

TIP NUMBER 1

USE A REAL BOARD WHEN PRACTICING AT HOME

Using a real board I found the following very helpful.

• Playing Puzzle Rush Survival on an actual board!
• Finding a friend who is willing to play against you on chess.com in a classical format (usually 30 minute each side) then playing on (and calculating on) an actual board.
• Playing out study's or regular puzzles OTB.
• Playing out your main lines OTB.

BENEFITS

Calculation! This is very important because you will be surprised how bad your calculation is OTB!

1. Openings! Sometimes your openings will seem to "look different" OTB even though it isn't.
2. Practice. This goes without saying, but it's just more practice that will help you a lot!

TIP NUMBER 2

PLAY WITH A FRIEND OR IN A LOCAL CLUB

This one is pretty self explanatory. Besides just having lots of fun with your friends it adds an extra layer to practicing in person. And pooling together your ideas can improve your chess!

TIP 3

CALCULATION

Yes calculation, I mentioned this earlier in the post, but I wanted to highlight this. Calculation is a big part of chess, and sometimes it is overlooked when training. Here are some ways to practice calculation. Everything below I recommend doing on an actual board.

• Do difficult puzzles that push your calculation, strive to GET THE PUZZLE CORRECT! I can't say it enough most people (including me, I am guilty ) rush the puzzles and "hope" they are correct. Instead when you do a puzzle "know" it is correct, always calculate an extra move. Push yourself!!
• Again, try to beat your record in Puzzle Rush Survival, and set it up on a board and take an entire day if needed on each puzzle (when they get really hard that is)
• Use chess.com learning and select the rating range and select some hard puzzles to calculate. Even select the theme if you want!
• When you analyze your games (or GM games) try to calculate as many moves as you can ahead in the game, without putting it on the board! When you can't see it in your head very well put it on the board from memory and do it again with the next moves. depending on the rating range start off with 2-3 moves ahead each time, and if you can try to get to 5 or more!
• Make sure to "evaluate the position in your head" after your calculation. Meaning make sure you aren't blundering something along the way at the end of your variation. And if it is forcing make sure your up material (or another imbalance)

BENEFITS

1. Increased calculation!
2. Increasing your perception on how to "evaluate the position in your mind"
3. Practicing multiple branch lines e.g. lines that have multiple moves after the one you played that all need calculation, and then branch lines in each of those etc...

These skills are all very important, especially when you play classical games in person, you might find your calculation is very weak otb without practice.

TIP NUMBER 4

USE 3D PIECES ONLINE

I bet everyone reading this just burst out with "EWWW 3D PIECES??"

I know, I know, 99% of people don't like playing with 3D pieces because it is a lot different and feels weird. I was no different when I had several friends recommend it to me.

Now, when I say use 3D pieces I mean using it for rapid/classical games, or tactics. If you are extremely comfortable with it, use 3D pieces with blitz as well, but with bullet it is really hard.

BENEFITS

1. Helps you switch your pattern recognition to the 3D aspect of chess.
2. If an actual board isn't available, this is the next best thing.

TIP NUMBER 5

STAYING HEALTHY

Staying healthy is always a good rule to follow in anything. But sometimes as chess players we don't exercise as much as we should, or we "skip breakfast" even though you just "sit" there playing chess in classical games (especially in tournaments) the mental stamina required "demands" a healthy body!

• Every morning eat a "Healthy" and "filling" breakfast!
• Try not to "skip" meals.
• Drink lots of water!
• Exercise every day preferably 30-60 minutes.

All of the bullet points above "especially apply to tournament players" When playing in a long "classical tournament" You spend all day (anywhere between 1-7 days) sitting! So eating, Exercising, and drinking lots of water are a MUST!

BENEFITS

1. Feeling awake and ready to play for morning tournaments. (it's always good to be awake)
2. Simply put "Playing better" when "you" are healthy you can be at your top form when playing!

I hope you all enjoyed (or suffered ) through my first blog series - Training with Josh and hopefully this will help you in your chess journey! Feel free to criticize this post so I can give everyone better content! I apologize for the extra long blog. Have an amazing day!

Josh Price