Look at how Bobby Fischer went crazy.
Psychological warfare
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kasparov is thought to have intimidated his opponents psychologically by banging doors, leaving the board at awkward times. he is also called by someone i forget who to be like a feral animal walking up and down ferociously grunting like a bear.
pdve wrote:
kasparov is thought to have intimidated his opponents psychologically by banging doors, leaving the board at awkward times. he is also called by someone i forget who to be like a feral animal walking up and down ferociously grunting like a bear.
yea, i remember, someone also said he was like a lion
Go to Google Images and put in "kasparov stare" and take note of some of the images, particularly the first, third, and fifth images. The fifth is of Tal. It's said to have unnerved many of his Grandmaster opponents, both for Kasparov and Tal.
Eventually you get used to people preparing openings especially for you, but the first time someone does that I imagine it could put you off your game a bit.
Some people get a bit afraid if they hear their opponent has been working with a Grandmaster coach, perhaps thinking that that will have elevated their game faster than their rating reflects.
Losing what you thought was a drawn (or won) game, or even drawing something you thought was easily winning can put a player on tilt at a tournament pretty quickly, and if that happens more than once with the same opponent, that can stick with you. The next time you play them you wonder if they'll escape a loss again, or if they'll come up with some magical way to not just avoid losing, but to win.
Some people are pretty superstitious...lucky pens are the most common among chessplayers I think.
Occasionally a player will forget to hit his clock after a move. The opponent who is kind will remind him. The opponent who isn't as kind will think until he's come up with his own move, and -then- remind him. The opponent who's not even that kind will think until his opponent notices on his own, taking as much time off his clock as possible.
Occasionally nature calls when you're also in time trouble, say with 3 moves and only 2 minutes until time control. A sadistic opponent can run their own time down to make you that much more uncomfortable as you can't afford to go to the restroom and have them hit their clock as soon as you get up.
If I come up with more, I'll post again.
The opponent makes a dubious move, followed by a draw offer. That happened to me once in Blitz and it made me freak out. (I declined his offer and lost on time eventually)
Lucidish_Lux wrote:
Go to Google Images and put in "kasparov stare" and take note of some of the images, particularly the first, third, and fifth images. The fifth is of Tal. It's said to have unnerved many of his Grandmaster opponents, both for Kasparov and Tal.
Eventually you get used to people preparing openings especially for you, but the first time someone does that I imagine it could put you off your game a bit.
Some people get a bit afraid if they hear their opponent has been working with a Grandmaster coach, perhaps thinking that that will have elevated their game faster than their rating reflects.
Losing what you thought was a drawn (or won) game, or even drawing something you thought was easily winning can put a player on tilt at a tournament pretty quickly, and if that happens more than once with the same opponent, that can stick with you. The next time you play them you wonder if they'll escape a loss again, or if they'll come up with some magical way to not just avoid losing, but to win.
Some people are pretty superstitious...lucky pens are the most common among chessplayers I think.
Occasionally a player will forget to hit his clock after a move. The opponent who is kind will remind him. The opponent who isn't as kind will think until he's come up with his own move, and -then- remind him. The opponent who's not even that kind will think until his opponent notices on his own, taking as much time off his clock as possible.
Occasionally nature calls when you're also in time trouble, say with 3 moves and only 2 minutes until time control. A sadistic opponent can run their own time down to make you that much more uncomfortable as you can't afford to go to the restroom and have them hit their clock as soon as you get up.
If I come up with more, I'll post again.
thanks
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Hi all,
I'm writing a screenplay on two chess players. The crux of the story is how these two players affect each other psychologically and how the off the board battle affects their on the board battle.
Could anyone share their personal stories or stories about others that would fit into this?
I'm also intrigued by Mikhail Tal. I heard that people were afraid of him because they thought his gaze would hypnotise them. Is that true? are there any similar stories?
Thanks for your time