Does one's playing style reflect one's personality?

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Avatar of Jonschesschannel

I was watching Maurice Ashley on The Breakfast Club. He stated that one's personality determines one's play. 

Do you agree? Are aggressive people aggressive players. Passive people passive players? ect.

Personally, I can see it ringing somewhat true for myself. In chess, I like to go in for the attack or take risks, but only after I am castled, and my king is safe. 

I'm somewhat like that in life. I wouldn't take risks such as investments unless I am financially secure. 

I'm also cautious and tactical on the board and IRL.

Do you find this to be the case for you too?

Avatar of psychohist

Yes.  The one I'm skeptical about is the one about eye placement:

eyes wide, plays on the sides

eyes together, plays in the center

One of the games in The Queen's Gambit featured an extreme contrast in eye positioning between the players; I should try to figure out the game and see if it reflects this ditty.

Avatar of Zidanefre

I’m not sure what my play style is. Sometimes I like to go in for a long squeeze game of cat and mouse, other times I win in wild tactical complications, and yet other times I defend solidly for the entire game and break out at the end.

Avatar of JuliusSneezer7
Sounds a bit like myself ! 👍
Avatar of llama47

Yeah, I think that's true.

Style is a tricky thing (not everyone has one for different reasons), but I suspect he's simplifying the idea for the sake of communicating the message. It's true that chess can reflect things about your personality and character. Not only revealing parts of yourself to others, but also making you more aware of yourself. This isn't only for chess. I think any endeavor a person undertakes, tries hard, and works for many years, will have the same effect.

Avatar of Melanniexxx

nah

Avatar of llama47

But using myself as an example, I'm a circumspect sort of person. My ideal is something like getting all the facts, carefully considering them, and then going from there.

So when I was new to chess, I thought sacrificing and attacking is how children played, and mature grandmasters must play on a deeper level where you can have a better position even if to the casual observer it looks equal.

So I enjoyed studying things like strategy and endgames... of course I also solved tactic puzzles, but I didn't bother trying to learn anything about sacrificial mating attacks until I'd already been playing ~15 years. They simply didn't interest me.

In fact when I was still pretty new, I had one book, some title like "the art of sacrifice" or something, the back cover or the first sentence said something like "Chess players superficially admire Capablanca, but we all know our hearts burn with passion for Morphy and Tal" and I was so disgusted I put the book down right there and never picked it up again lol.

Avatar of JackRoach

I have no style. Every opening I experimented with is for different styles. Giuoco Piano. Fried Liver Attack. Danish Gambit. Scotch Game. French Defense. I don't know if I will ever develop a style.

Avatar of WSama

I just read a blog on the matter, made me think about my own personality:

https://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/nothing-could-be-finer 

Avatar of Gimfain

I play chess the same way i play board games, card games and its definitely a reflection of my personality. I don't like taking unnecessary risk unless I'm forced to do it.

Avatar of snoozyman
My style is reckless therefore...
Avatar of Jonschesschannel
JackRoach wrote:

I have no style. Every opening I experimented with is for different styles. Giuoco Piano. Fried Liver Attack. Danish Gambit. Scotch Game. French Defense. I don't know if I will ever develop a style.


You play different oppenings, doesn't necessarily mean you don't have a style. 

Do you play aggressive? Queen out early? Cautious? Favor pawn structure... Those are ideas of styles.

Avatar of johnnie1801
I think there’s definitely a trait in personality to style of chess. My carefree attitude in life is the same in chess .. too generous at times ... a bit of flair.. brave .. organised..
Avatar of 2Ke21-0
JackRoach wrote:

I have no style. Every opening I experimented with is for different styles. Giuoco Piano. Fried Liver Attack. Danish Gambit. Scotch Game. French Defense. I don't know if I will ever develop a style.

"The Bongcloud (also known as the Boungcloud, or Bongwolke in German) is the type of rich opening that promises something for everyone. For the positionalist, White’s ambitious plan promises a game full of long-range novelties. For the tactician, some of the sharper gambit lines will leave him calculating to his heart’s content. For the endgame specialist, the complete flexibility in pawn structure leaves everything on the table. For the openings mad scientist, there is a wealth of unexplored passageways to delve. And for the casual club player, there is a pleasant lack of established theory which means he’s more likely to surprise his opponent than to be surprised by Ke2!" (Fabbro 2010)