GM preparation
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lorenzo_tamiazzo
Dec 4, 2016
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#1
A question from a rookie: Carlsen said he should have prepared better for the match, but what exactly does the preparation consist of at that level ? Don't they already know the game and openings inside out ?
Obviously at the WCC level players are already pretty good, and although it's not entirely clear what their preparation consists of (especially because the players themselves try to keep it secret), I would expect very difficult tactical exercises, deep opening preparation (deeper than what they already know - for good examples look at Kasparov-Anand, game 10, 1995, and Karpov-Kasparov, game 16, 1985, for a more recent example showing computers haven't killed opening preparation, Carlsen-Kramnik, Stavanger 2016), analyzing their opponent's games to see which positions they are uncomfortable playing (and to understand their opponent's decision-making process), solving a few studies, training games (either whole games or games where the starting position is a not-so-easy-to-win endgame) against seconds.
As you can see there is a lot to do, whithout even mentioning physical preparation (playing that many high-level games can be tough, look at what happened to Karpov in 1984).
As you can see there is a lot to do, whithout even mentioning physical preparation (playing that many high-level games can be tough, look at what happened to Karpov in 1984).