Common Sense Principles of Chess Psychology

1. Know yourself.

2. Know your opponent.

3. Be patient.

4. Avoid overconfidence.

5. Be prepared to fight. Your opponent will be.

6. Keep your mind on the game and your behind on the chair.

7. Respect every opponent- male, female, child, or computer- but beat him, 

    her, or it anyway.

8. If it's good for your opponent, it's bad for you; if it's good for you, it's bad

    for your opponent.

9. Find your natural style and don't fight it.

10. Analyze, don't guess, the battlefield is littered with fallen kings whose

     dying words were "I didn't see that." 

11. Be realistic. Don't attack when your position doesn't justify attacking, and 

     don't defend against imagined threats.

12. Play opening that force your opponent out of his natural style.

13. If you're opponent plays an opening move you've never seen before,

     don't waste time try to refute it. Play sound developing moves.

14. Never offer a draw unless you really want one.

15. You can't win by resigning and you can't win by agreeing to draws.

16. A blunder is not the end of the world. Keep your wits about you. It ain't

     over till it's over.

17. If you are losing, sell you're life as dearly as possible.

18. The ability to manage time is as important as the ability to play endgames.

      (Alexander Alekhine)

19. When in time pressure, avoid complication. If you can't avoid complications

     avoid time pressure.

20. Rushing your oppponent when he's in time pressure by moving quickly creates

     artificial time pressure on yourself.

21. If you're concentration is broken, don't make your next move until you've

     studied the position and are sure what's going on.

22. Arrive for your games on time. If your opponent is late, it's his problem;

     don't make it yours by trying to take advantage of it.

23. Get plenty of rest, watch what you eat, keep fit.

24. Psychology is a powerful weapon, but it is not a substitute for knowledge,

     imagination and technique.

     "Psychology plays a very important role in chess, particularly in matches

  it is necessary to understand yourself and your opponent, and to use this 

  knowledge in concrete situations on the chessboard; to deviate from the 

  strongest continuation in order to place opponent in a position he does not like 

  to play. sooner or later everyone will inject this element into the game."

                                                                               -Anatoly Karpov

                                                                                World Champion

                                                                                   1975-1985