Nova Daily - 25 June 2025: False incentives

Hi!

Let's start with the good news of today: I'm back to 2600 in bullet. YAY! Strangely, the game that I got it with was against an account that I had previously reported for a cheating suspicion. And I was correct, because that same account was closed today, after I had plucked 12 points from it. What gave it away for me is that in two earlier games, that opponent went for a repetition of moves in a winning position with (if I recall correctly) more time on the clock.

Upon sharing the news of my reaching 2600 again in BC, I was asked whether I'd be going for a title or not. That's an interesting question that gave me the idea to write today's story:

False incentives

Chess is so measurable!

- Ben Johnson, Perpetual Chess Improvement, Chapter 11: "Status and titles: title envy, deflating ratings and tales of inspiration"

One of the things that makes chasing a title very seductive is the fact that, like Ben Johnson indicates in the chapter that the quote comes from, chess is very measurable. A title is a real representation of strength, because it means that you've achieved something measurable in your life. Everyone is free to chase any title that they want, and expend as many resources on it as they see fit.

I'm not saying that I'm extremely different from these people, and indeed my starting to study my openings and systems in much more depth as of late is to see how far I can get. But along the way I've come to realise a few things that I feel are worth sharing here.

Many people do things for the sole purpose to generate attention. They measure their success by the number of followers on Twitch, subscribers on Twitch, clicks on their blog posts, views on TikTok; you name it. There's nothing inherently wrong with wanting attention: it is needed for our physical and mental well-being, it is a commodity, and nothing is to be gained from being ignored. Cassandra is the perfect example of this; this might be a topic for another entry.

Money is another incentive that people have, and that too is completely understandable. In our current day and age, money is necessary for people to provide for the necessities that enable their survival, and in terms of the social evolution of the human species we haven't yet reached the point at which we as humanity can dispense of this commodity. However, people like Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, the Wright brothers, Thomas Edison, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Jacque Fresco (to name a few) didn't show a monetary incentive when they left their footprints in history. What drove these people was something more authentic: curiosity, and an inner calling.

When we are unclear on what environment we are training for, we also fail to clearly identify what will lead to success in those environments. Things get confused and the goal of training gets lost. This often leads to the introduction of artificial success criteria. True success criteria is always directly linked to the environment we are training for.

- Iain Abernethy, "Karate's Three Biggest Mistakes"

What the phrase "Artificial success criteria" means is that you measure success by something that's ineffective to the goal you're trying to pursue. The achievements page on Chesscom and Steam qualify as such: I don't see how having played against someone from every country in the world would make me a more complete human being or a better chess-player. (It's also very easy to rig this.)

I'm not saying that they shouldn't exist. Quite the contrary: I see these as another way to have fun on the site, and I'm definitely not against people having another fun way in which to engage with the game of chess and this website. But if my goal is to become a better player, then it's unproductive to busy myself with filling up the passport entries, or to move Heaven and Earth in order to checkmate with a pawn. No matter how fun these pursuits might be, I'm not measuring my success along these lines.

If rating becomes an obsession to you, you'll find it harder to play well. If you focus on good chess, the results will follow, and subsequently the rating will also follow. However, a higher rating can have real effects in terms of being eligible for sponsoring, invited to tournaments, or as a title requirement.

And speaking of titles: these are even more tangible. Titled players have free Diamond membership for the rest of their lives, and titled players can sometimes enter tournaments at a discount or even completely for free. And a title is a badge-of-honour that represents a real lifetime achievement.B ut with titles, too, obsessing over it makes the journey that much longer.

My answer to the question was: "It would be nice, but I'm not obsessing over it. If I manage to get one, it'll always be a byproduct of playing good chess. So that's what I focus on."

The game

I don't really want to talk about today's rapid game because right from the start, some very specific thoughts crept up in my head that aren't worth repeating here. I'll just present the game without any analysis for the time being.

I'll happily await tomorrow.