Science or Sport Archives - chessbazaar Blog

There’s only one reason why you’re not a master, or a grandmaster, or even a world champion: Maybe it’s a lack of chess knowledge, in the opening, or the endgame. Maybe it’s a lack of energy at the board. Or, maybe it’s a psychological flaw. I can’t suddenly teach you all the opening knowledge you need, or give you an energy boost at the board, but I might be able to help your chess psychology. I think that the best way to organize chess psychology mistakes is with some of the deadly sins of antiquity.

Pride

You’ve checked the pairing sheets for this round. You’ve got an easy opponent this round. Look at his rating! You’ll get an easy win this round, and have time for a leisurely lunch. After every move, you get up and stretch. You chat with a buddy at the water cooler. When you get back to your board, around move 15, you start frowning. This position is a little uncomfortable. By move 25, you start sweating. Wasn’t this supposed to be easy? At move 30, you check your clock. Did you really use all that time? At move 37, in a vicious time scramble, you hang a piece. Whoops.

Greed and Gluttony

If the only way to refute a sacrifice is to accept it, you’ve refuted every sacrifice in the book. If you see a hanging queen’s knight pawn, you take it without thinking. If you’re a little bit better, and your opponent sacrifices a pawn, you gobble it up. But, those queen knight pawns have a habit of being poisoned. Accepting those pawn sacrifices gives your opponent just a bit too much counterplay. And all those extra pawns on the queenside? They don’t help you when your opponent mates you on the other side of the board.

Sloth

It’s been a long game. Three hours, at least. You have the great good fortune of being in a winning position. Even a beginner could win this, you say. There’s no harm in relaxing a bit. There’s no need to calculate so hard on each move. You don’t notice your opponent squirming out of his losing position until it’s too late.

Lust and Envy

What’s the best opening in the world? You might be thinking of the Slav, or the French, or maybe the Sicilian Najdorf. All of these answers wrong. Actually, it’s the opening that you’re not currently playing. Maybe you lose a couple of games in a row with your favorite opening. You decide to “move to greener pastures” and find a new favorite opening. You buy a couple of books, study for a few months, and whip it out at a big tournament, and are duly crushed. Find another opening, buy new books, wash, rinse, repeat.

Also Read: Skills to Master Through Chess

So, what can you do if you’re consumed by Pride in your high rating, or by Greed when you see a “free” pawn, or Sloth when you have to win a “won game”, or Envy when your openings just don’t seem to work? It’s not something you can fix overnight, but I do have some advice.

If you’re guilty of Pride, don’t look at your opponent’s rating before the game. Assume that every opponent is stronger than you until you beat him. The solution to Sloth is similar. Don’t let your guard down until your opponent resigns. You’ll have plenty of time to relax after the game.

Greed is a tough sin to beat. I recommend walking away from the board if you think you see a bit of “free” material. Come back to the board with fresh eyes, and check for any silly tactics. You’ll be amazed at how effective this is at preventing those silly mistakes that always seem to come after taking that hanging pawn.

For Envy and Lust, remember that you play your openings for a reason. Why switch away from a perfectly good opening that you’ve played for countless games because of a couple of losses? Unless you’re playing something obviously unsound, consider putting the opening away for a little while, then coming back to it once the negative feelings have subsided.

More than enough books have been written about every phase of the game of chess, but there is a severe lack of books on the psychology of chess. All of the knowledge in the world won’t help you if you don’t apply it, and you have to be in the right frame of mind to apply that knowledge. I hope this article has given you some help identifying your “deadly sin” and given you some ideas on how to overcome them.

More to Read: 10 Best Chess Quotes

We categories the activities into three categories — Painting as art, Physics as science, Football as sport— but if we talk about chess, then it can be plausibly be seen as all three, each with its own conventions. Chess action can be striking, systematic, or strategic. The former world champion Anatoly Karpov claimed in an oft-quoted remark that “chess is everything— art, science, and sport.”

Let’s see to what extent is this quote valid!

Chess as ART: Chess has got its own style, beautiful moves, and combinations. As the art of beautiful poetry creates magic all around, a Chessmaster also possesses the equal creativity. The way the chess masters moves his chess pieces and turns the game in his favor is absolutely artistic. Best chess games are not only limited to the stage, where it is performed but it is saved as lifetime memory in the minds of the player as well as the audience. Great chess games are breathtaking work of art and where much beauty is found in the elegance of a perfect and inescapable solution to a complex problem. Solving such problems making beautiful combinations is deeply gratifying and reveals aesthetic satisfaction. Combinations are the poetry of the game; they are to Chess what melody is to music. And these combinations can be purely regarded as art.

Chess as SCIENCE: About half of the greatest chess players in the world had mathematical or scientific backgrounds. Some people assert that there is always the best chess move in every position. Finding that perfect move involves a powerful logic behind it and that shows about its scientific approach. In the chess world, as in science, knowledge is acquired socially. As games are won and lost, newly “correct” and “objective” approaches to the game are discovered, and advice is reframed. This model suggests that chess theory is metaphorically likened to a science with experimental tests. Advancement depends on challenges over the board. Players participate in local and extended networks of knowledge but always based on the recognition of community. Innovation is necessary for grandmasters to dethrone their predecessors; the tactical and strategic approach considers chess as Science.

Chess as SPORTS: Anatoly Karpov remarked, “Chess is a cruel type of sport. In it, the weight of victory and defeat lies on the shoulders of one man. . . . When you play well and lose, it’s terrible.” Sports means competition. Like the world of Sports, chess games are also competitive. Why is chess so competitive? It is because of the various competitions organized by chess clubs and various chess tournaments held in different parts of the world. Players in tournaments can gain or lose rating points that measure their skill in comparison to other players. Ratings range from zero (novices start with an assumed rating of 600 but can lose rating points) to over 2800 for a top grandmaster. A rating locates one in a competitive hierarchy and determines in which tournaments one can participate and in which division one can play. Chess is famously an activity of the mind, with only the slightest movement of light wood pieces. But when we have lengthy games then bodily stress is also involved and the person needs to be physically sound as in other Sports activities.

With all these points mentioned above, we can say that the quote “chess is everything— art, science, and sport” by former world champion Anatoly Karpov proves to be valid.

Related:

Science or Sport

The Deadly Sins of Chess, By Connor Eickelman

Pride

Greed and Gluttony

Sloth

Lust and Envy

“Chess as Art, Science, and Sport” Quote in Brief