Basic Aspects of the Psychology of a Chess Player

Basic Aspects of the Psychology of a Chess Player

   Hi all! I would like to make my first blog for all of you on this subject, since it seems to me to be a very important point in the chess player's sports career. And it is something not only important in this discipline, but in all sports in general.

   Assuming that chess is a game or, if you like, an almost exclusively intellectual sport, it is logical to think that it must have many and varied relationships with the sciences of the spirit. Psychological factors intervene in the chess fight, both on and off the board, and different authors have dealt with them extensively and deeply, not only from a purely technical point of view ("psychological moves", traps, daring or conservative plans depending on the circumstances , etc.), but also from the reference to the people who cultivate the noble game.

   Psychological and Psychiatric Aspects of Chess

   We will start with the psychology of chess as a game, and then we will deal with the psychological aspects of the chess player. We have already indicated that chess is an eminently psychological game. Each movement is the result of a work of deep reflection, based on the analysis of the elements present on the board. Sometimes, especially in tournament or match games, sporting factors also intervene in addition to technical ones, such as whether or not it is advisable to accept a draw proposal in a slightly higher position or to force events by choosing a daring variant or even dangerous, or, on the contrary, to make a calm and conservative move, depending on the circumstances derived from our position or that of our team in the contest. Our personal situation must also be taken into account in each game, such as fatigue, headache, worries, etc., which will advise us prudence when deciding on the opening to choose or the game plan to follow.

   Another very important psychological element of the game is the reference to our adversary, whose category, technical knowledge, preferences, style of play, strengths and weaknesses we must know and analyze in advance, whenever possible. Let us not forget that in chess, as in any fight, the player who knows and studies his rival has gained a lot of ground and applies in each case the "recipe" that can most harm and oppose him. Almost all current teachers, and also those of the past, have taken these psychological precepts very much into account, and all their possible adversaries were perfectly cataloged in their folders. In this regard, Alekhine was among the most careful.

    An individualistic game

   Chess is a highly individualistic game, and defeat cannot be attributed to anything or anyone but ourselves. And this, in the end and in the end, redounds to our own benefit, because it helps us to make ourselves and, above all, to feel responsible for our actions and not to look for pretexts with which to justify our clumsiness and with which to deceive our own love . And the fact that we are victorious in the fight should not make us too proud, since our victory will always, absolutely always, be due more to the mistakes of our opponent than to our ability. Let's not forget that a game without errors on both sides must end in a draw. Chess teaches us, therefore, to be modest, both in prosperity and in bad fortune, which is still a great lesson for life.

    The psychology of the player in children

   Let us now examine some psychological aspects concerning the player himself, considered as a human person. In modern times we are witnessing a very intense promotion of chess among children. In Russia, for several decades, it has been mandatory in schools of basic general education. And, little by little, this custom has become general in the rest of the world, which has the immense advantage of not letting any natural talent for the noble game escape, due to ignorance.

    Some voices have been heard against the practice of chess in childhood, claiming that its complication is not suitable for practicing it at such an early age. If we recall the existence of "child prodigies" in chess, such as Morphy, Capablanca, Reschewsky, Pomar, Fischer and so many others, who at the age of five astonished the world with their skill in the noble game, we will automatically find the arguments refuted. wielded regarding the dangerousness of chess in childhood.

   On the other hand, the child is the most naive and spontaneous being in creation, and if he does not like a thing or does not feel strong or capable of it, he soon abandons it and forgets it. There you can see how many children who have learned to play chess at school do not practice it again, while others find pleasure in it cultivate it because they feel capable of learning their technique and making progress. Or, in other words, because they feel that chess is in accordance with their psychology.

In this sense, teaching children to play chess, far from containing any danger, constitutes a magnificent method of natural selection and the most profitable quarry to train great teachers.

   Another is the case of adolescents. The youthful age is that in which the professional formation and the maturation of the personality take place, that is to say, in which the future of the human person is forged. For this reason, those young people who, as children, were captivated by the charm of chess and continued to cultivate it with passion, run the risk of neglecting their professional training if they spend more time than is reasonable to study theory, play training games and even to intervene with too much frequency and intensity in official competitions.

It is true that there are some exceptionally gifted young people who soon reach extraordinary strength before the board, obtaining titles of national champions, international masters and even grandmasters, and who, in view of their early successes, decide to turn professionals, giving up their studies. university students or their learning for any other activity, whatever their level.

   Psychological aggressiveness in chess

   It is possible that deeper factors of the personality are involved, and in this sense the opinions of the great teacher Rubén Fine, who later became a psychoanalyst, are of interest and who in the book cited at the beginning of this article ensures that the passion for the so-called noble The game starts from the darkest and most grim roots of the human being, such as hatred of the father and aggressiveness.

  According to Fine, in the retrospective psychoanalytic study of many great players a desire to kill the father (represented in chess by the king's mate) and a large dose of repressed aggressiveness are clearly seen. I have had long conversations on this matter with many masters of the board and in not a few cases, especially those who have been characterized by their aggressive style, I have been able to verify, through their confessions, that they sometimes experience a morbid, bordering pleasure in sadism, when they find a decisive maneuver or combination to annihilate their rival, who struggles helplessly in the face of inevitable defeat.

   Control of feelings and emotions in chess

   As we have seen, instincts seem to intervene in the chess fight, affectivity will also play a great role, so closely linked to them in our psychic activity. Indeed, the emotional state of the player influences, sometimes in a decisive way, the outcome of the fight. When a naive spectator unfamiliar with chess enters the room where a tournament is being played, he will believe that all is peace in that silent environment, with the players immobile, even static at the board, and completely oblivious to what is happening to your surroundings. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Each thinking brain is, at the same time, a volcano of the most variable and intense emotions and passions.

    Sometimes, for the pleasure of having found a beautiful and decisive combination, others, for the impatience of not finding it. This, because his clock has advanced more than necessary and he is lacking the time necessary to sufficiently meditate the plays. The former, because his position is gradually worsening and he cannot think of a suitable remedy for his illness. And all prisoners within the environment, the climate of violent combat and uncertain results, in short, the emotion that every fight carries with it. For this reason, temperament is an important and sometimes decisive factor.

  Excessively nervous, impulsive, impressionable, indecisive people are, in general, ill endowed for chess, since this game requires at all times a clear judgment that is not possible when affectivity vibrates excessively. On the contrary, cold, phlegmatic temperaments, as was, for example, Morphy's, have a lot to win at the board, as they are rarely betrayed by an emotional explosion. The previous considerations lead us to deal with, albeit briefly, the psychiatric aspects of chess.

  Is chess unhealthy?

   It is often heard that it is a game that is harmful to mental health and that it can even cause madness in predisposed people. As I have had occasion to indicate on many occasions, such an opinion is unfounded. Chess is not among the possible causes of insanity, although we recognize that it is not intended for certain individuals who have not achieved a perfect integration of their personality. The fight against the board requires, as we have already said, intense preparation and great mental effort. But the same is true in a multitude of intellectual activities. With dedication without exaggeration, chess is totally harmless. Its dangers are rather indirect, as the reader will have had occasion to verify in previous paragraphs. It is about the eternal theme of the use and abuse of things. Excess is almost always harmful in everything, even the most harmless.