The Psychology of Playing Chess

aronchuck wrote :

<I agree it should be on a separate thread.  It is a constant problem for everyone regardless of strength since chess is a game played by humans.  We all play the same game and suffer the same psychological difficulties.  Winning sometimes involves taking calculated risks and consequently taking on a certain amount of psychological pressure.  How that is handled, particularly when you throw in the added time pressure is one thing that I find is so impressive about the Elite players and yet it isn't talked about very much in chess books.>

QueenTakesKnightOOPS   wrote: 

somebodysson's Introduction to this thread:

Some of us have been talking about playing chess  and we've been having a rich discussion about 1. target-mindedness, 2. questions to ask while playing to direct one's attention to the best moves, and 3. we've been annotating each other's games with emphasis on these aspects of playing. 

The above quotes are from esteemed colleagues QueenTakesKnightOops and aronchuck, who have proposed opening this new forum thread, so that this important aspect of the game, whether you call it 'nerves' 'emotions' 'impulse-control' 'psychology'... so that that aspect of the game can get discussed on its own thread, without muddying the thread we already have going gangbusters. 

So here it is. I'm imagining that this could lead to discussion of 1. best practices for self-control during games, 2. annotations of games where emotions/nerves/psychology/self-talk/impulse/depression/over-confidence played a role, either in the outcome of the game, or in the choice of a particular move or line, 3. posters asking for help with their version of psychological barriers to best play ...or ... you name it... maybe this thread will generate all kinds of other related discussion that doesn't fit into any of the above categories. I'm super tired, so I imagine that the above list isn't comprehensive in the least,,,so let's see where we take this. 

People get ready there's a train coming! All aboard!

This should be good!

The underlying issue here is probably pressure so I'll kick it off. I will probably be giving a counterpoint view here in this thread because I like pressure. It's never bothered me, from doing exams at school to playing Chess or working high pressure dangerous jobs. I don't know why, but I've only had one freeze moment I can recall when I was carrying a beaker of 300 C hot oil to a laboratory for testing & a liquid waste pit exploded from a spark from a welder. I remember total freeze, I just stood there for a moment, flames were going up 30 feet, stuff was catching on fire & I was holding 2 liters of 300 C oil that meant instant 3^rd degree burns if I spilt it on myself. So I'm not immune to it but it does take a bit to set me off.

In Chess pressure focuses me even more, if I drop a piece I fight even harder. When I do tactics training or puzzles with no pressure I don't do as well. So what is it that I do that others struggle with? I don't have an answer yet but as this thread is not about me we need to look at triggers & responses from ppl who don't like pressure. Aronchuck has mentioned that in his experience pressure can have an effect of up to 300 rating points on a persons game. I agree & it may be even more in the case of someone who has a total meltdown under pressure. So this is not going to be an intellectual discussion with a few basic pointers for dealing with it. This is a serious part of Chess for many people & we need to gain an understanding of it & come up with some meaningful solutions.

<Climbs off soapbox & waits for next post>

Sombodysson - There are many many reasons why and how pressure can effect a person. If you have time could you post 3 annotated games - The First one from online against a human and the second against the computer and another one from an in the flesh OTB... But Can you annotate them as to how you were feeling and thinking for me? Ie - I was excited because I knew  had the win, I felt pressured after losing  a piece and anxious - my thoughts were racing or my thoughts were muddled I couldn't concentrate ., a woman walked by in a short skirt and my mind went blank ( unless you bat for the other side and then a man in tight jeans)  etc etc :D ????

yes, I'm going to post a game where I will annotate my emotions. thanks for the good idea. I played one last night where emotions played a role, and I have to more long games scheduled today, one in a half hour, so I will def post some. 

@QTKO (that's QueenTakesKnightOops) your comment about this thread isn't about me...I was actually finding your story about how pressure helps you very instructive. Pressure helps me too in many situations, esp where my skill in relating to people who are angry, or my skill with eye hand coordination plays a role. The pressure makes me focus and do better work when the stakes are high, exactly like your example of the hot oil and the fire.

So as I was reading your piece I was anticipating and excited to read more about your experience of pressure in chess playing, and then you wrote 'this thread isn't about me'...QueenTakesKnight...this thread is about you and all of us. Run with it. Tell us more about pressure in chess playing...tell us more about when you drop a piece and you fight harder...tell us about knowing you have a win and how that focuses you.

I played a game last night where I was up a piece, and I felt the opposing player was prone to making bad moves, and then a couple of distrations happened, the chess.com server went down for three minutes during my turn on an important moce and I feared the game would be marked that I aborted it...the server c came back on and I wrote a chat to my opponent (which I never do during games... I don't chat during games) and I wrote him that that was close, I thought the game would be aborted, then I went back to looking at my move, and it was a complicated position for me and I saw the danger to me and I saw the opportunity...and I didn't think it through well.. and made a bad move, losing a piece and a couple of pawns and lost the game. 

I'll post it later today once I annotate it. 

QTKO, write away! 

Thanks folks. 

@42flaming zombies:interesting what you write about miniskirt. I was playing a good looking woman at my chess club a couple of months ago, and was winning, and seriously had this messed up thought that if I beat her in the game I won't have any chance with her outside of the game. (yup, I'm single). She was real pretty. I threw the game. We talked afterward and she told me she thought  I should have won the game. I didn't tell her what my thoughts were that led to the loss...so that's real too...and I played a little kid a few months ago, and thought he may cry if I win...so I threw the game...I think  my own lack of skill also played a role in these, but these thoughts and emotions also def play a role. 

And no, I didn't ask her out, but she came up to me a couple of weeks ago in chess club and told me her opponent was no show and was I available for a game...I wasn't because mygame was about to start...but it was nice that she overtly sought me out to play a game... will keep you posted on her and er... chess

Somebodysson - I am about to head to bed so will write more in the morning - but a hint on Women in Chess - most will be quite angry if they learn you have thrown a game because ---they think ---that you believe they are not good enough to beat you without you throwing the game. Much better to beat them and never ever tell them you threw the first game - well at least for the first year of dating  lol 

Ok not sure if that made any sense lol But yeah keep me posted on her... and er... chess * grinz*

42, i think you are wrong. If the girl finds you great and attractive, she will find it nice if you did this to make her happy. Chess and love are too complex for easy rules.

@ Someboysson

Point taken on what the thread is about, I'll keep posting on whatever experience I think can help. I was trying to get things up & running without trying to make it seem like it was about me .... sometimes I overthink things

I have a few good stories about pressure in Chess but I don't have answers as to why I respond 1 way & others have a totally different response, but I'll thrown them into the mix as we get this going. I would like answers too.

sounds good. 

alright Loufor you and 42flaming, let's talk chess  I'm sure both of you have thoughts, games to post. etc. Welcome to this new thread. Let's keep it chessy, k?

Dang!! There goes my story about pressure when the 2 top players in a tournament were dealing with one having an affair with the others wife

haha, good. did they emotionally annotate their game?

Have a brother that is a formidable  tactical  attacking  player and we had our epic battles where  in some I had clear advantage and due to nerves and excitement would suffer  a brain glitch and lose focus.  So to clear the mind amd deal with nerves started to do 15 to 20 minute brisk walks  right before game.  It worked so well that he started to walk too. Also as already mentioned deciding to be focused on the task at hand and  keeping your eyes on goal despite emotions and dealing with what is at hand helps  me tremendously not only in life but also in chess.  It really helps dispel  a lot of anxiety for a cooler brain.  Also,  what helps me a lot is playing on an empty stomach and being properly hydrated.  Less energy for nerves and water calms me down.  And brain seems to work better with less glucose in the bloodstream.  And thats how I deal with psychology of game, maybe simplistic  but it works for me.

I agree with ToJ except for the glucose thing.  Empty stomach = blood not being directed from the brain to the bowel for workload, which is good.

However, there is research about glucose intake effects on performance of intense brain activity.  Two groups were given intense mental activity, then given a break in which they were given drinks.  Unknown to the subjects, half were given sugar-drinks, the other half sweetener-drinks.  The group with sugar drinks performed significantly better in the after-break mental activity (adjusted for their before-break performance).

So glucose is important for mental tasks.  (DIabetics beware!)

Of course, how you ingest that glucose is important.  A meal is a bad idea because of the workload required to digest it.  Sugar drinks can help, but we know they produce a spike in sugar levels which result in dramatic drops after a short period.  Not what we want.

Good advice is snacks which release energy over a period of time.  Chocolate digestive biscuits (cookies for our North American friends) are an old favourite because the chocolate gives instant sugar, but the biscuit/cookie part provides a more sustained release of energy.

post a game with 'emotional' annotation! and I will too!

On a different note, I find fatigue is my biggest issue.  

(I'm older, and I belive fatigue becomes a bigger issue than emotional stress as you get older.)

I find that my performance drops off a cliff if I have been called out overnight, or am sleep disrupted for any other reason.

Anyone who watches the amazing IM Rendel's "Hack Attack" on chess.com TV (8pm UK time, Mondays) will notice how his performance drops as he gets on for 2 hours of 1 minute chess games.

And I recommend reading NM John Chernoff's hilarious tale of performance drop off after sleeping under a piano before a tournament ("How to Make Master in 300 Difficult Steps")  as well!

actually, very interesting aronchuck. I wrote on 'the other thread' early on that I thought more clearly in tactics puzzles than I did in the games. I didn't exactly know why, but I wrote "if I approach every move of my otb games like they're a tactics puzzle my success rate would go way up". I haven't been able to do that, and, I admit, I'd forgotten that I realized a couple of months ago that I needed to do that...your post clarifies totally. I am 'game result' obsessed with the game...if I have a superior position or a marked material advantage, I start counting the point, and getting excited. Then I look at my superior position, and I think 'if I lose this game now how will I be able to face my colleagues on chess.com'. Similarly, when I look at a losing position I stop fighting, because I feel the ending has already been fated. 

If I could de-fuse the game-result-focus and adopt more of a find-the-best-move-focus I would make much better moves. 

I can't speak to draws and superior or weaker opponents, because at my level there are rarely draws, and we're all so weak our 'strength' is afaik essentially meaningless. 

just a head's up. Let's talk chess, k? Maybe people are getting attracted to the title "Psychology of Playing Chess" and substituting 'physiology of playing chess' or 'chemistry of playing etc' (blood glucose).

The purpose of this thread is to discuss chess, chess moves, chess games, chess positions, and the intersection of the mind and the game/moves/position, and chess dilemmas as aronchuck so clearly introduced... so let's focus on chess. thanx. 

A Long Rambling Post

How I handle Pressure

The Scene: State Rural Tournament, my biggest event to date, gateway to the State Rural Championship which was the qualifier for lower level players to the State Championship.

So the pressure is there from the start, a good result gets me closer to my goal of playing in the State Championships. A bad result sets me back a whole year.

Rituals:

Rituals can help some ppl deal with pressure, I hate them but I had developed one for tournaments that seemed to help.

So, I arrive at the venue after a 2 hour ride & get there at least an hour early. Check out the venue, find toilets & coffee station, check in, find the Tournament Director & get permission to park the Harley inside the hall. Check the draw & find what board I am playing in round 1. Get 1^st coffee & look for someone I know. Indulge in small talk while subtly sounding out the strengths of my opponents.

10 minutes to start, put my scorebook & notepad at the board, check that the pen works & the spare too. Check the clock, make sure it works & doesn't have a weird action (smaller tournament hazard, the clock may have been thrown across the room a few times) Get next coffee & make sure ashtray is empty (Well if Mikhail Tal can smoke so can I, not an option these days)

By this time my opponent has arrived, introduce myself & reset the clock & show it to my opponent for his approval (or get the TD to do it in some tournaments)

In my head a quick review of my plan. For this tournament my favourite opening as White the Stonewall Attack with a fall back plan of a mainline Queens Gambit. Emergency opening for players who know me & my game is the Kings Gambit. As I always play 1/- d4 this should surprise them!

For Black its a Grunfeld defence or a Sicilian. I am working on the KISS principle for openings, play what I prepared & wing it if someone throws something weird at me.

So the TD calls the start of the tournament. 1/- d4, press clock & write down the move preparing to play the opening quickly if it stays in the book. 1/- ...f5!! Are you kidding me! A Dutch … No-one plays the Dutch at this level, most of them have never heard of it, what the hell do I do with this? The Dutch is not easy to counter if your opponent knows it well & you don't. All my plans are out the window on the 1^st move of the tournament.

I carefully laid down my King shook my competitors hand in congratulations, signed his score sheet & then headed for the nearest Bar.....!

Well no, that’s not what happened. Usually when confronted with something unusual we are taught to make sensible moves & obey the opening principles, control & occupy the centre, develop your pieces, castle to safety etc. But wait, what do I know about the Dutch Defence? I've been working my way through Modern Chess Openings to familiarise myself with mainlines of what I might encounter in OTB play, & this is why!

The clock is ticking, my opponent has a bemused smirk on his face & I am on move 2/-, hmmmm!

Ok, what do I remember about the Dutch. White usually fianchettoes Kingside. That had stuck in my head as I usually do this as black in the Grunfeld & Sicilian Dragon. I also remember a weird Knight move … Nh3 to support a strong Bishop on f4. Ok, there’s a plan, now what else? I play the Stonewall Attack as White so I know a bit about the pawn structures good diagonals for Bishops etc, so if he plays the Stonewall variation at me I should be able to see what he is aiming for. The clock hits 5 minutes & I finally have a plan. The moment of panic has passed, I have a plan, it only took 5 minutes in a 60 minute time control, time well spent. I am relaxed, focused & ready to go.

I have no idea how I did that under pressure, maybe this thread will help me to understand & others how to do it. Anyway here's the game with a few notes along the way also relating to pressure I encountered along the way.

So I came out of a pressure situation with a win but I've coached others who would have a total meltdown when confronted with such a situation. My contribution to this thread will be on how I handle pressure successfully but I am very interested in what we can develop to help people who aren't as lucky. So I guess rituals & good preparation are the key points to success in that tournament.