Kramnikstudentc24: 2022

A Compilation of all Tweets made by RB Ramesh via his Twitter Account ( https://twitter.com/Rameshchess )

Ramesh on tweeting

Will be nice if people actually read the tweets before pressing like button! In these days of social media "Maya", stupid posts get insane number of likes instantly. Content with substance is largely ignored. I prefer audience to "like" ONLY if the content has some value to you.

Ramesh on Chess

Chess is the perfect game: It allows you to sit in a comfortable chair, drink coke, eat popcorn, and for doing all this together, the general public thinks you are intelligent :) When I said this to some of my students, they all whole heartedly agreed! Lazy gamers!

General attitude with many parents is that, let me provide the best I can in terms of good coach, good tournaments, hardware/software, books, etc. Invest time (taking child to competitions), money, effort. Provide the best to child and influence growth of child positively

All this does not ensure success or positive growth. If that is the case, all the champions in the world in various fields will be the children of rich people. It is mostly not the case. It is ultimately the qualities of the child, that makes all the difference.

Every individual has different qualities in differing ratios. Learning ability, hardworking capacity, passion, determination & devotion all vary, play major role in progress or lack of it. Focus more on qualities of the child along with providing external comforts & requirements

Role of parents

What will be the ideal role for parents whose children are into chess? I perfectly understand that what I am about to suggest won't be acceptable to many or most parents but that is how I feel about this issue.

1. A child should play chess only because the child loves chess. If the child is also ambitious in it, so be it. My suggestions are for parents of children who are passionate about chess and ambitious.

2. This is not applicable to children/parents who came to chess because either/both parents want their child to be successful in chess more than the child.

3. Success itself is something that means different things to different people. Ultimately, chess should make the concerned child happy. If that happens, irrespective of what the player has achieved or failed to achieve, I would consider the player as successful

4. Playing chess, practicing chess can give various other benefits (pls google for various benefits of playing chess)

5. Our children are just in our temporary custody till their wings grow strong and fly away in their own journey, most likely, leave us behind with our own life and all its battles still to be won!

6. Things we learn in schoolbooks, from friends, parents, siblings, elders, from chess, etc are all part of the education of an individual. Various aspects of our personality evolve to make us a better, tougher, good individual.I don't see them merely as a means to earn a living.

7. If an individual is capable, resourceful, he can make a decent living by some means or other. The world is full of opportunities if we are willing to be deserving of it. As parents, we should not be too concerned about how our child will earn his/her salary.

8. Make them capable individuals who can think and act on their own without compromising on their honesty & integrity. 8. As parents we should support our child's chess needs out of love & a sense of duty. It should not be seen as an investment with expectations of a higher return.

9. Do not spend beyond your means and if you do so anyway, it is your burden to carry not the child.

10. I invested my time, money, energy, effort, and emotions into my child's chess career is no guarantee for the child to play good chess or not.

11. Whether the child will become a good chess player or not is something one cannot predict, we can only hope it happens.

12. We should be ready if it does not happen the way we expected it to happen.

13. A child should never feel, I should play chess well because my parents have invested so much into it. It will simply put enormous pressure on a young child's shoulders which are not ready for it yet.

14. A child should never feel, if I don't do well in chess, I am a failure in life, or I have failed my parents. 15. Parents can only provide opportunities, facilities, necessities, but these do not have much impact on a child's chess growth beyond a certain limit.

15. A child's chances of doing well in chess relies on the following individual attributes:

16. a) Reasonable amount of talent. No, being good in studies, maths, science, etc., does not have any impact on chess.

b) Passion for the game along with some amount of ambition to get better

c) ability to work on their own and learn

d) not outsource their learning completely to coaches, streamers, authors, etc. Rely more on self - effort and learn to be independent.

e) Learning from coaches, books, videos, etc should be seen as a supplement to learning on own.

f) learning ability in chess. This is one of the key elements in my view.

g) ready to struggle and come up in life. Put in the hard work to succeed.

h) success should be deserved and earned, cannot be bought.

17. Do not micromanage, over analyse every minute detail.

18. Focus on helping your child build a contented, confident, self-reliant, sincere, hard-working personality with a good value system. This will help the child be a good learner & increase chances of being successful and happy in whatever they do. End.

19. Chess is not just a game, it is an enquiry, it is a journey towards something that is higher than our present self, a conscious, deliberate evolution. It is a pursuit where we try to learn to use our internal and external resources optimally. It is everything life is about.

20. In every pursuit we try 2 become a better version of ourselves, that's what makes us really happy. But v think achieving what we sought out for in 1st place makes us happy. Success is just consequence of us having become better. Fame, power, money, recognition r lateral benefits

21. When I came to chess as a young kid, wanted 2 b World Champion, was sure it is only a matter of time. Never even went anywhere close to it! Even though the bubble burst at some point, I am still happy I learnt so much from this pursuit and eternally grateful for the opportunity

It is necessary for every player to occasionally ask themselves, whether their current work ethics is taking them nearer to their aim or not? How long is it going to take, at current rate of effort and progress, to achieve one's aim?

That should guide the player to make the changes required. Without periodic introspection, we will be working aimlessly and as a matter of routine. We will soon get into our comfort zone and will not dare come out of it and get stuck.

As a parent of 2 young children, I feel we are simply temporary custodians of young individuals with their own future and life. Care and provide for them to the best of your ability, within your means. Teach them value of values and leave karma do its job as it inevitably will.

Teach children to earn & deserve success, or anything for that matter, through self-effort & hard work. Not to be dependent on others beyond reason. Have seen many children think “my coach will teach whatever I need to learn". As though a spectator of one’s own growth

Parents’ unrealistic expectations

Some of the common "requests" from modern chess parents go like this:

1. Can you share your syllabus/curriculum with me before deciding to put my child under your training? (parent knows a little bit of chess, of course.)

2.Will you analyse my child's games and work on his weaknesses? (He plays tournament every weekend and can have one class per week for a one-hour duration)

3. Can you teach this or that opening?

4. We need 'special' classes before so and so tournament that is coming up next week/month

5. Can you arrange for a playing partner for my child?

6. He defeated a higher-rated player in one round and lost to a lower-rated player in another round. How is this possible?

7. My child is interested in karate - music - cricket - academics and chess. How soon can you make him a GM?

8. My child can spare 45 minutes per day on chess, how can you ensure he gains rating points in every tournament he plays?

9. My child lost a game and is very upset, can you please talk to him and get his confidence back?

10. My son is 'weak' in this, that, and that other thing. What can you do about it?

My mind voice: once again open that 'gumthalakkadi seeyakkai podi' daily two teaspoons, after food. PS to parents reading this: read it in the right spirit!

Making of a champion

It is not chess crazy parents who produce champions, usually, they do more harm than good. It is usually the parents who can stay away from technical issues and stick to providing opportunities, who help in creating champions. It is chess crazy players who become champions

Development of a Prodigy

1. Had an interesting interaction with a western scholar on topic of child prodigies recently. A presumption is made that child prodigies are simply a product of child abuse, child labour, parents forcing their child to learn something and be good at it to earn their livelihood

2. This presumption thus becomes the “truth”. Then the “truth” is proven right by further “explanations”. The alternative that a child can actually be interested in an activity is simply dismissed because it doesn’t suit the narrative that is being built.

3. If we are going to be critical of a child working for hours on a daily basis in chess with presumption that a child is not old, mature enough to decide for himself/ herself, then how do we justify a child being forced to go to school and made to learn things by others?

4. Aren’t children all around the world made to learn different “subjects “without caring for whether the child is interested in it or not? Aren’t they being judged as “intelligent” “capable” “successful “based on “marks”, “grades” etc? Isn’t attendance made compulsory? Freewill?

5. How can some adults be given the right to decide what, where, when, how a child should learn inside the school ecosystem and the parents be denied the same right, outside of the system? Without a single proof, sweeping conclusions are drawn based on one’s own prejudices & bias.

6. ability to consider pros & cons, different magnitudes of a problem, multiple angles to any important issue is simply lost for some.” I believe in something so it is the truth “is becoming The norm. Space for differing opinions is shrinking under “rational thinking” arguments.

Who makes a champion

Getting a lot of enquiries from eager parents to teach chess to their children. Let children enjoy the game and learn to appreciate its beauty. It is not the coach that maketh a champion. Every player/individual makes his/her own destiny. Teach them the value of values, give them space & time to learn & flourish at their own pace. Don't judge them on a game-to-game basis. As parents, our duty is to support our children for 2 reasons: 1. Out of love 2. Because it is our duty. How it pans out is not in our hands.

On dealing with mistakes

Got a message from a parent: A child new to chess got to 800+ USCF. Parents noticed the child making blunders in a few games. Suggested child to slow down, since then lost 9/10 games, started losing on time for the first time.

Current diagnosis by parents: Overthinking, not playing good moves as before. Parent query: What should we do? This is a very typical approach by many parents. Pardon the long reply:

1. Just because as parents we support our children to take up any activity is no guarantee the child will excel in it. The child should be interested in it, have reasonable talent, should invest some time to get better. Child driven approach better than parent-driven approach

2. Micro-managing by parents, finding minute faults in everything child does in chess will be counterproductive. Parents should "not" try to identify chess weaknesses in children and come up with "logical" solutions. Many strong players of today played fast when they were young.

3. A young child will make mistakes, it should be expected, not feared, nor "corrected". When we don't understand the real problem, we tend to come up with "solutions" which make things worse.

4. An upcoming player does not know many things yet. They should be taught those things. While learning them, they will still make few mistakes, but this is the only way to learn. If we try to avoid all mistakes completely in the beginning, it won't work.

5. We are simply denying the child an opportunity to make mistakes and learn in the process. Earlier, parents were not so obsessive about quick results. When I did a chess coaches seminar recently, one of the common problems coaches faces is how to handle over-ambitious parents.

6. not wanting children to make mistakes = not wanting children to learn anything worthwhile in life. In the above instance, the losing on time habit was forced upon the child by the parent in their trying to avoid blunders.

7. This "keep winning every game without making mistakes" expectation is driving many children to use unfair means in online games to win, to lose interest in learning difficult things as it would involve some risks, start playing not to lose instead of playing for win,

8. they play under extreme pressure of parental expectation, lose all confidence in their own ability to learn, & make them think "results (ends) justify means".

9. What is the ideal chess parent role then? Let children enjoy chess, teach them the value of learning through self-effort, teach them achieving anything worthwhile takes perseverance, consistent effort, overcoming/ handling temporary setbacks,

10. winning and losing are just different experiences, one can learn worthwhile lessons from both experiences, and enjoy the whole journey. Giving these values, handling logistics, and then STEPPING BACK will help the child grow at their own pace.

Choosing a Coach

There are so many great coaches who are untitled (as players) for teaching upcoming players. Better to go by track record of the coaches while choosing. See if they have experience, if their students have shown improvement consistently etc. than the title of the coach.

Also it makes sense to learn from coaches appropriate for the level of their player. Currently, everyone wants to learn from Grandmasters simply because they can afford them. Most GM coaches(including myself )can’t handle the requirements of a beginner or too lower rated.

Many parents while approaching for coaching, highlight their child’s rating in lichess or similar websites rating points. They should realise online platform rating is not = fide/uscf ratings.

Ramesh’s advice to Coaches

Expectations from a coach

Many children have this attitude that my coach will make me a gr8 player like he has done with others. I don't have much of a role, apart from listening to coach. Somethings cannot be learnt/mastered just by listening. Knowing is not doing. Intense effort & commitment required.

Dilemma of a chess coach

One of the dilemmas for the coaches is: to teach what the parents will approve, what the student would like to learn, what is essential in the long run for the student or what the coach knows well! Option 3 is not easy for many for various reasons.

Trial and Error

Most Indian GMs and IMs got their title through trial and error, books, self-learning from playing etc. Not following any one path/system/method. Practical approach. When that combines with experience, they become effective trainers!

India is also lucky to have many non-GM coaches doing great job at different levels grooming talent. There is big risk in taking names! Easy to miss many deserving ones. Good network of academies, plenty of decent tournaments, good government support, +Ve media coverage

Habits of coaches which affect students

Common habits of coaches which can discourage/affect students’ confidence negatively are:

1. Use words/language/tone which can hurt/blame/insult the student, making him feel worthless, doubt his abilities & negatively affect his self-confidence. Coach gets feeling of in control.

2. Give positions which are too tough for the students' current level. The student can easily feel, I am not getting the right moves so maybe I am not good enough for chess.

3. Constantly pointing out what the student is doing wrong without providing solution/alternatives

4. Many coaches feel, constantly telling the student what is wrong with them motivates them to overcome their weaknesses. But most often, it simply reinforces in student mind that he is weak in many areas and loses self-confidence as a result.

5. What should the coach do about weaknesses in student chess education? It probably makes sense to make the student aware of what he is doing wrong and ask the student what prompted him to think the way he did.

6. From there, we can discuss what are pros and cons of thinking in that manner and ask the student to come up with alternative way of thinking in similar situations.

7.Let me give a concrete example: A student misses a tactic involving pawn sacrifice. instead of telling the student, that his tactical vision is poor, we can ask the student why he missed the idea with pawn sacrifice

8. Most amateurs are not comfortable giving up a pawn if there is no forced win, for vague compensation. We can say, if our pieces are becoming super active or if we are getting a strong attack/ quick development, we can give up a pawn. Show more examples, try to convince him.

9. Here the emphasis is on learning new concepts, with explanations and examples rather than emphasis on what is going wrong. Weaknesses are not like pimples - we apply some cream and it disappears. Doesn't work that way.

10. Our main approach should be, overcome weaknesses by building corresponding strength. Focus more on building on strengths of the student. This way the student feels he is growing strong by learning new things and also overcoming weaknesses in the process

Sad moments of a coach

1. One of the saddest moments every coach faces often is when hard-working, sincere, passionate children move away from chess. They come in with lots of passion and ambition, but due to various reasons, they could not realise their dreams within the time frame allotted to them

2. When young children reach 10th grade, if they have not 'achieved' something 'big' in chess, usually they will be diverted to academics. For every young achiever, there are 100s of kids who belong to the moving away category.

3. Whenever a child moves away from chess, a part of us dies within. Have seen many such children follow chess online many years, decades later too. As a coach, my heart is filled with many such voids. In many ways responsible for letting them down, miss every one of them.

Role of a Coach

1. Setting a goal based on students’ ability

2. Cultivate the passion for chess in general and towards learning through struggle in particular

3. Make the students aware that a lot needs to be learnt and we should start now!

4. Remove fear of results especially losing games

5. Teach child not to play to satisfy others expectations or to fear others criticisms when results not favourable

6. Teaching student that learning more & becoming stronger in the process is the only way to ensure good results

7. Teach students to handle temporary setbacks

8. Teach students the value of hard work

9. Making the student understand that simply Knowing is not doing

10. We should play for experimenting, learning, to know about ourselves

11. How to handle time-related issues

12. Help the student to form a schedule to prepare at home

13. Which areas are important at a young age: opening- middle game - endgame?

14. How to help students prepare openings on their own instead of relying on readymade databases or others' work

15. Teach the student to learn on their own from reading good books

16. Teach the student importance of self-learning

17. How to concentrate

18. How to improve calculation ability

19. How to handle a student in bad form

20. How to handle a lazy student

21. Bonding between the student and the coach

22. To teach everything we know or to hold back and give in small doses

23. How important it is to interfere during tournaments

24. Is it good to play one opening for a long time or jump between many openings

25. Balance between surprising our opponents and playing openings consistently to learn

26. Learning versus results

27. Communication with parents

28. Importance of endgames

29. Making the student analyse without moving the pieces

30. Improving their positional understanding

31. Checking the validity of your material

32. Upgrade yourself continuously

33. Teaching the student how to learn more and effectively from the effort invested.

Ramesh on plight of chess coaches

Most Indian coaches don't want to go with Indian team as the pay is degradingly low. What they will earn in a couple of days privately, is what is paid officially for 10 or 15 days.

Regarding awards for being Coach of Indian team or Indian players from Central government, less said the better. Last 15 years or so, I (and most other Indian coaches barring few) have not received ANY award from Central government for winning medals or producing talents.

Can you guess the fee that was paid per day for being Coach of Indian Chess team for official events like Olympiad, World Team Championship, Asian team Championships? No one would believe it. Things got slightly better eventually, though nowhere near what it should be.

The Indian system looks down upon Indian coaches for most part. Foreign coaches mean 5 to 10 times more fee will be paid, forget about competency of coaches or results produced for the country. Slave mentality due to centuries under colonialism still prevalent among many still.

2 decades ago, only officials from State federations were sent as coaches along with Indian contingent. More of a political appointment. Slowly things changed for better. Former players, Indian coaches started accompanying our teams but decent pay was almost non-existent.

Many times, players in Indian contingent would ask me why am I even coming with the team for such small fee? We were slowly building a system, proving Indians are in no way less competent as far as training goes. Even now, Indian talent in chess training is largely under utilized

Even as recent as last year, for training same group of Indian junior and sub junior players, I was paid probably 1/10th of what a "foreign coach" was paid if I am not mistaken for doing the same job. I did one camp and refused to do the next one for same reason.

Most Indian coaches don't want to go with Indian team as the pay is degradingly low. What they will earn in a couple of days privately, is what is paid officially for 10 or 15 days.

ZERO award from Central Government for following achievements in 15 years:

1. World youth medals = 34

2. Asian youth medals = 40

3. Commonwealth medals = 23

4. National titles =36

5. Asian Seniors medals = 5

6. Bronze medal in Chess Olympiad

IS there a sports policy?

I was offered a lucrative offer to work with few Canadian players for World youth Championship at Mumbai last year & refused it to be coach for Indian team despite huge parity in fees where we won many medals. Should Indian coaches continue to take this approach in future too?

Unless the Ministry of Sports starts listening to stakeholders who are working on the ground and making a real difference, instead of Officials and bureaucrats who have their own axe to grind, nothing will change for better or it will take too much time

Focus of a Chess Coach

As coaches, it is not sufficient to transfer our knowledge to our students. It is also important to teach them to learn on their own. Inspiring, motivating, and being there in tough times are all important. Teach them good work ethics, and how to handle success/failure.

Focus and Handling Pressure

Concluded a five day Fide trainers seminar at Mamaia, Romania. Had many interesting discussions and tried to highlight Indian perspective of learning, handling pressure, and technical stuff. Personally love such interactions across cultures.

A few aspects I was trying to stress were: teach young children to play to learn, prepare at home to learn, weaknesses are simply the absence of strength, focus on building/acquiring strengths & most weak areas will resolve along the way, whatever remains we focus on them.

Teach children that it is not bad to lose once in a while, expect the unexpected and handle them gracefully. Believe in your ability to learn and handle difficult things. Chess is a learnable game with proper effort and inclination.

Teach children how to prepare at home on their own, which areas to focus on, and the source material. Importance of self-learning.

Culture, society, upbringing, and our personal philosophy heavily impact how we perceive, experience & react to things around us. Few concerns everywhere: how to handle overly ambitious parents, children not working hard, how to design their training, how to teach in groups etc.

Quality over Quantity

Young coaches should not only try to work with more number of students but also focus on producing great talents regularly. Invest everything you got in the process.

Ramesh’s advice to chess students

Advice to upcoming players

Young upcoming players should gradually learn to play main openings to understand opening principles, concepts of quick development, the value of centre etc better. Established professionals can play any line they are comfortable with.

Upcoming players (till 2500 I consider players as upcoming) should not ape what professionals/GM's do. Important to get the basics in right place first. Learn to calculate well, improve your understanding of different aspects of the game, become strong in the analytical process.

Don't outsource ur learning process to others. We should go through grind of seeing, analysing, thinking, trying to understand what, why & how a strong player takes decisions, what factors influence the decision-making process, etc. Improvement does not happen in social media

As long as we think solutions to our problems lie elsewhere, as long as we think someone else will guide us in the right direction, we will live a life of perpetually waiting for things to fall in place. Things don't have to be perfect before we do what is required to be done.

We don't need to learn from the best book, best coach, play in best tournaments to improve - they don't exist. More important is a commitment to work hard, learn things the hard way. Find your own way of doing things, make corrections along the way, try different approaches.

Emphasis on self-effort

Some students ask for positions to solve, as homework. Some parents say, can you give some work to do at home for my child. I am not in favour of such an attitude where only if someone gives me something to do I will do it, left on my own I will simply waste my time. Won't do.

Rather than listening to other's views on the games (commentaries) why not analyse those games ourselves, WITHOUT ENGINES, form our own opinions and grow in the process? If the intensity of our effort is lacking, should the outcome of such an effort be special?

Excellence in a field is possible only with obsession and single-minded devotion. The world cup is happening, Biel closed and open tournaments are happening, why not analyse the games from these events on our own?

When we see a game, with each move being played, our mind should instinctively come up with million questions. Why this, why not that? Why now, why not earlier/later etc. More important is our effort in trying to come up with logical answers to such questions. Hunger, curiosity.

Qualities of talented students

Have had the privilege & honour to work with few of very talented young minds in chess from India over last two decades.

Few qualities that stand out:

1. Never complain about what is not there,

2. not wait for everything around them to be ideal & perfect

3. Never shy away from putting extraordinary effort into self-growth

4. Never have high expectations from others but only themselves

5. Fully trust their coach and surrender courageously to learning well whatever is taught

6. Do not expect the journey to be easy, accept challenges as opportunities to be overcome with more determination

7. Sincerity in effort

8. Absolute dedication to continuous growth

9. Fierce will to fight, struggle & come up in life

10. Not care too much about others opinions

11. Not get bogged down with every minor/major setback but try again with renewed intense effort & somehow get the job done

12. Keeping faith in themselves irrespective of outcome.

13. Ability to give up things/ distractions which do not complement to their growth.

14. Humility

For students playing major events

I keep reminding my young students during major events to stay completely away from Social media for toxic comments from a few. Few "fans" believe that sportsmen are playing the sport to meet their expectations. Constant judging/criticising thru narrow lens 'empowers' them.

Handling criticism

1.It is very important for young players to learn to distinguish between constructive criticism and cynical criticism (or is it cynicism?) from people who do not have their skin in the game.

2.It is extremely easy to throw words around carelessly when it concerns others mistakes and justify elaborately when it comes to themselves. Hence my suggestion to my students has always been to keep away from social media (at least not be very active) in their formative years.

3.Those who pass lose comments on others will expect perfection from others, but when it comes to themselves, it usually is all about the various reasons and justifications for their mistakes. Whether you do this, or that, they will still manage to find something to criticise.

4.They have the knack of sucking out positivity in any situation like dementors in Harry Potter movies! More importantly, they will never provide solutions to the problems they criticise so vehemently about. Ruthlessly ignore such cynicism.

5.On a related topic: It is very tempting to bask in the glory of attention in social media but in long run, it has no meaning or value. We are simply a "news item" for others. Others will simply move on to next item in the list after commenting about our news in their timeline

6.Better not to manipulate ourselves into being someone who will meet the expectations of others. It is better to be ourselves, with our faults and evolve into someone with whom we can live comfortably. Basically, be true to yourselves.

7.Young players will not have the maturity to handle (cynical) criticism from non-experts and casual readers. Especially when things go wrong, they will rub it in nicely. It will negatively affect a player’s self-belief.

8.Casual experts strongly believe they are contributing to society with their negative comments. Let them live their life their own way.

9.Be sure of what you want in life, identify what needs to be done to achieve what you want and focus all your time-energy-effort-attention into doing those things instead of worrying about casual-experts’ opinions.

On passive play

Indications of passive player (defensive mindset, low confidence, lazy!):

1. Exchanging pieces and pawns at first opportunity

2. When something is under attack, defend it immediately

3. Pull back pieces unnecessarily

4. Building nest (keeping pieces close to each other).

Reasons for passive style:

1. Not working regularly at home

2. Working regularly but it largely consists of playing blitz online, solving puzzles online, working on openings. Not much productive is happening

3. Low confidence - result of poor learning at home

4. Worrying about losing a game and resultant loss in rating (undue importance given to result and rating) makes a player play not to loose instead of playing for win

5. Overwhelmed by opponents high rating or poor result in past games

Importance of losses

In chess, if we are not willing to lose few times bravely, we should be ready to lose more often, cowardly. Learning to take risk and learning to handle losses in early part of our chess career is essential.

Other’s opinions

These days, how others will view us will change from tweet to tweet, ball to ball in cricket terms! Individual opinions on issues and others keep changing in an instant constantly. Being “successful and wealthy” is given too much importance than they deserve - all maya

On priorities

When I was a young chess player, not becoming a GM in chess played havoc to my mental peace, constantly feeling agitated! Looking back, can only laugh at my incorrect priorities. There is much more to life than being successful-popular- wealthy -wielding control- exercising power

Frequently reviewing Master games

Generally, I suggest to my students to see at least 10 games played that day by good grandmasters on a daily basis to know what is going on in the chess world.

I Will add a caveat henceforth: only games lasting more than 20 moves with decisive results will be counted!

Tool-kit for amateur chess players

Basic tools kit package for amateur chess players:

1. Develop EXTREMELY FAST in the opening phase (even at cost of sacrificing a pawn)

2. Do not play defensive move against every threat (go for sacrifice or counter attacking moves)

3. Don't play defensive moves at slightest provocation

4. Don't do automatic recapture, watch out for intermediary moves

5. Don't move an already developed piece without valid reason

6. Do not exchange pieces and pawns blindly, do so only if you gain more in the bargain

7. Put some effort to calculate small variations instead of taking casual decisions most of the time

8. Don't just see games of strong players, ANALYSE them, try to find the moves yourselves, compare your thought process with the player & evolve your thinking process accordingly

Doing difficult things

When I started playing chess seriously, my brother told me to cover the moves from book with one hand, try to guess the correct move and learn in the process. This is all the "coaching" that was required at that time. Important thing is to "do" things, improvise along the way.

Critical point to note for aspiring chess players is that, we don’t become great players & then start doing difficult things. Only by learning to do difficult things, taking tough decisions, one becomes a strong player. Being complacent, letting things drift along is not the way!

Taking risks

1.One thing that is becoming a very common feature of young children playing chess these days is that rarely I see games where a child is seen attacking the opponent voluntarily or sacrificing even a pawn for attack or quick development. Are these becoming a thing of the past?

2.If it is the case, what could be the reasons? a) Earlier, the rating list was published once in 6 months so the players hardly thought about it. Nowadays even before playing a game, a player calculates how much they are likely to gain or lose from that game.

3.Fear of losing rating points is a big negative influence in steering a child's playing style & approach to the game. Playing not to lose rating points by playing not to lose the game is becoming the norm. Playing for a win happens only when the opponent is very low rated

4.Even while solving puzzles, children do not sacrifice a pawn/piece. The result is we are producing a whole lot of average players. We cannot change the way how ratings are instantly made available to the public but we can try to insulate ourselves from being influenced by it

5.Another reason is parents’ interest and involvement in trying to help their child build a good career or achieve success. When parents monitor closely on a game-to-game basis, children feel they are being judged all the time and become defensive.

6.Constantly living with a feeling of being under a microscope is not pleasant at all. We should not impose it on a young child. It will curtail their creativity, curiosity, enthusiasm and make them fearful of losing and being harshly judged for that.

7.Children should be taught that losing and winning are two sides of a coin, one is not better than another in the short term. We should encourage them to be creative, not afraid to take risks even at the cost of losing, be curious, experiment freely, enjoy the whole experience

8.while being fully involved emotionally and intellectually in the process of learning and growing. A child should feel self-confident, worthy, valued and trusted. I have personally seen many young children's chess career busted by constant nagging negative criticism

9.My personal approach is, what is going to happen will happen no matter what. Let's stop bothering about the consequences and focus on how we can deliver our best in the current situation. How we can positively contribute to the problem at hand & constantly upgrade ourselves

10.We should focus only on becoming a better version of ourselves day by day. Accept the outcomes, judgements, consequences with humility, and keep learning something positive from every experience.

11.In that sense, I am easily put off by people who constantly nag, see negativity in everything around them, criticize even small mistakes- practically live the life of a dementor! We should not be dementors to our children.

12.I have also come across parents who are very understanding, teach good values like working hard, struggling & coming up in life, earning, deserving success through sustained effort, giving space to learn in own time etc. Such parents are unfortunately becoming very rare.

13.A parent who is understanding, patient, supportive, trusting is the biggest source of strength for a young mind. I generally don't work with a child when I feel the parent is too dominating, won't let the child be a child and learn things in their own way.

14.Through chess one can become a better person if not a successful player. Is that not worth the effort?

It is perfectly normal for a child to defeat a "higher" rated player in the morning & lose badly to a "lower" rated player in the afternoon. Both are normal at the upcoming stage of a player. Similarly, it is normal to lose from a better position or win from a lost position too.

One main reason why the young generation players are less prone to taking risks could be: as humans we have become too judgemental of others (except ourselves!). Less patience, a fast-paced lifestyle, less tolerance to even minor mistakes. Everyone is a critic on every subject.

On improvement

1.In chess improvement, few players are able to master the critical skills required to become, say, a GM & beyond. Over 99% of players do not even reach 2000 rating ever in their life. Most of chess instructions work on the assumption that everything can be learnt by everyone.

2. One of the main reasons why most players do not cross even 2000 rating is their inability which comes from an unwillingness to grasp and adapt to ways of thinking which are different than the one that comes naturally to them.

3.For e.g.: Many players give too much importance to material in their chess understanding. They will find it difficult to sacrifice pawn(s) for quick development/initiative/attack/long term compensation. They try to play within their limitations & avoid any kind of sacrifices

4. Another reason for the lack of steady improvement is focussing more on their "weaknesses" than building strengths. Most coaches/parents/players want to identify their few weaknesses and eliminate them and become a strong player as a result.

5. An upcoming player has not built adequate strengths in different aspects of the game. So, the absence of strength is obviously there. An analogy in real life: When the Covid pandemic hit the human race, no country was adequately equipped to handle it.

6. Every nation had to work on a war footing to build and scale up its capabilities on various aspects like face masks, PPEs, sanitisers, vaccines, ventilators, beds etc. Some managed better than others. Usually only very few will be working on building these capabilities.

7. Most will be passing commentaries, judging these efforts on day-to-day basis according to their limited understanding of the most technical issues. Such commentaries will usually be negative in nature. Similar to focussing on negatives while trying to build chess capabilities

8. Players who grow stronger are usually the ones who do things themselves rather than be passive spectator/commentator. Focussing on negatives in everything has become a mental disease in these days of social media. We should focus on building strength to the best of our ability

9. If we are not part of the solution, we should at least not become a part of the problem. Doers should learn to ignore the negativity around them. Our emotional energy should not be wasted on negativities.

10. No point in waiting for everything to be in an ideal situation before we act. Instead, we should play an active part in creating the ideal situation we expect from others as a matter of right. There is no missing piece in the puzzle out there. Tatvamasi.

Thinking in clusters

Thinking in bunches is a common mistake by upcoming players. Like Bd2-Re2-Rae1. Does not take into consideration that opponent gets a chance at each turn to do something about our idea. Planning can be done in above manner, but how realistic it is, should be ascertained as well.

Effective training

Once a player learns to analyse any position reasonably well then learning concrete stuff like openings is easier and more effective. They now know the reasoning behind each move and can relate to it better.

I mentioned in a tweet that chess training is in many aspects still largely unexplored territory. For example, if a player has time trouble issue, what is the correct method to handle it? This is an issue faced by players over decades. Does THE RIGHT SOLUTION exist?

For me the most interesting questions related a problem are:

1. what is the real issue?

2. What triggers the mistake?

3. What personality traits cause the mistake?

4. How should it be handled?

5. What changes need to be made?

6.Can all the issues be solved? to what extent?

Most of the commonly accepted solutions to problems and training methods are simply generalisations. An author who is most likely a player gives his opinion on an issue, others read and disseminate it down the line and it becomes the method or solution to the problem

On the topic of candidate moves: Kotov wrote about it first. “Think like a GM” Subsequently @GMjtis on “improve your chess now “ then Nunn in “Secrets of practical chess” , later “Wandering in the jungle” by Krasenkow expanded and interpreted differently.

On a common issue like time trouble, no, correct, universally acceptable working solution is in public domain. Many opinions exist. What causes time trouble habit, can it be cured, what needs to be done, role of work ethics, role of personality influence etc least explored.

Many players across generations have mastered successfully all or most important components of chess to a large extent. Still, their numbers is very less in comparison to those who have failed by huge margin.

Can concepts in chess like calculation, attack etc be taught to mass successfully like algebra or trigonometry? Do we have such a syllabus or system of training?

Most of what strong players over generations, across countries, have learnt, are mostly self-learnt with possible positive influences from trainers, books etc. Not because of them. Results of individual efforts largely. Lack of universally effective training methods?

For successful players, many things came naturally, relatively easier to them. They could learn most things effectively & efficiently. Unfortunately, for the rest, even basic issues are tough to assimilate and absorb. For every body builder out there, thousand obese people exist.

How to Train

A recent experience: A person constantly exposed to listening to others' opinions on events happening, attended professional training. He felt, not much teaching is happening since it was less of an explanation (more of doing actual work). Chess cant be learnt by listening alone.

When we are young, while learning a new skill, we pick up basic rules pretty fast, as a result, there is a quick improvement. Our mind is generally free from personal biases, prejudices, misconceptions, strong opinions.

We learn to form firm opinions faster without personal experience, proper knowledge, or understanding. Our opinions are easily influenced through hearsay or by the opinions of people we trust, believe in, look up to, our heroes. Has both pros & cons depending on the influencer.

Playing chess for many years does not automatically make us better with time, at some point, we all get stuck, do not make progress, learning and evolving slows down/stops, we get frozen and for many, their performance even begins to decline.

Art of analysis -I

1. While analysing an interesting position: We are not just trying to find solution to puzzle in front of us. If that is the only objective, then even if we find the solution, we don't evolve, learn much, we don't make appropriate adjustments/ corrections to our thinking process

2. It becomes mechanical. While solving, we should also observe how our mind works. What we see, what we miss, do we find good resources for opponent, are we concentrating well, is our effort worthy, are we thinking in only 1 direction

3. or are we trying to see all aspects of position from different angles, are we curious enough to find the truth? Basically, are we being too simplistic in our approach (due to laziness, lack of ambition, poor concentration, poor analytical skills,

4. lack of proper training, lack of interest in seeking the truth about the position etc). Or are we trying to embrace the complexities of the analytical process as part of our learning and trying our best to upgrade skills to cope up with them.

5. Let me illustrate this with an example:

A famous composition by Wotawa 1959.

White to play and win. Please see the diagram and take your time to solve:

6: A student gave the following solution at first:

1. Rf3+! Ke6 2. E5 Re5 3. Re3! White is winning.

So far so good. The moment he saw this interesting $ creative solution, he stopped his search for truth. He was convinced he has seen everything there is to see in the position

7: I prompted him to look for few more details in the line he mentioned. Then he came up with another interesting line which is

1. Rf3+! Kg7 2. Rf5! White wins, cutting Rook off from a- pawn. A new dimension is revealed! Hidden, exciting features of position are brought out

8: Again, the human frailty intervenes, he convinced himself everything that is worth looking into, has already been done.

When again prompted to dig for more details, finally he found

1. Re3+! Ke7 2. E5 Rh5!? 3. Rf8! White wins because of the advance of a pawn cannot be stopped.

The point I am trying to make is this: We need to cultivate our analytical skills in a way we can search for truth in all its glory without letting our shortcomings (laziness, lack of curiosity, etc I had already mentioned above) get in the way.

9: Bring out as many facts out into open and in the process grow stronger. This is the best way to learn & improve our skills in chess. We should be curious to know how our mind works. How we can enhance its performance by adding more arsenal to its thinking & analytical process

10: It is like we use stones to light a fire, which is good. We found a solution to problem we are facing at that point. But we should also be aiming to find a lasting, sometimes simple, sometimes complex, multiple solutions to the problem of lighting fire.

11: Circumstances will not be the same all time. This quest for growing from simple to complex and finally the whole thing becoming simple again, led man to come up with match boxes, lighters, cooking gas, turbines, boilers, engines etc.

12: We evolve from simple to complex. Complexity is not something we be afraid off in long run. From complexity things eventually become simpler. iPhone 11 is far more complex with multiple features than say iPhone 1. Which is easier to use? Where can we get more things done?

13: Our current low competence level should not scare us from evolving from simple to complex. With effective training, we can accumulate the complex skills required to handle complex challenges we face. This is real growth; this is the way we become stronger.

Analysing one’s own games

A highly controversial viewpoint related to chess development: All along, it has been stressed that we should analyse our own games in depth to identify our mistakes so that they can be eradicated/overcome with proper subsequent work.

I believe our mistakes/weaknesses are consequences of our thought process which in turn is seriously affected by our bias/prejudices/thinking habits/personality/training or the lack of it etc.

Till about a couple of decades ago, players had very less access to chess information/games, less practical experience as they played in fewer competitions, no access to coaches, playing partners. So everything had to be learnt by self-study.

Since we did not have access to study other players' games, we simply learnt by analysing our own games. Hence it was very important method to train ourselves back then. But now we have access to tremendous amount of information. We can very well analyse other players games

and learn a lot in the process. Regarding identifying and overcoming our own mistakes/weakness’s part: Weaknesses are in most cases simply absence of Strength. By building strength many of the so-called weaknesses can be overcome.

Our real long-term weaknesses are closely linked with our training methods, attitude, habits formed, personality etc. If we are determined enough, work hard enough in the proper way, they can be overcome to a large extent. Most likely we have to live with our traces of weaknesses

A player usually intuitively knows his weaknesses and over a period of time comes to accept it as permanent feature. This happens because, we ignore/avoid some areas in our chess training bcoz we don’t like that area much/we get bored/its not exciting enough/we had bad results etc

When we avoid some areas due to personal bias (I hate endgames they are boring) they in turn become our weaknesses later on. In reality even a player who does not analyse his own games in depth still know his weakness. Overcoming it is the real issue not diagnosing it.

A good thorough analysis of other players games in different topics also helps us equally good to overcoming our weaknesses. Wanted to write more but have a class now.

Art of analysis -II

In this position, a student suggested Na4. His reason was: the "natural" 17. Bf2 Qb2 18.Rb1 Qc3 now 19.Bg6 fg6 is coming. What he missed was, instead of direct Bg6, he could first play 19.Rh3! h6 only then Bg6 and white is winning.

I put "natural" in quotes as it is NOT natural to sacrifice a pawn for many upcoming/young players. Caveat: By young or upcoming players I don't mean by age but to describe any player new to chess or trying to grow as a player from a lower rating to a higher rating.

It is easy to categorize the player's mistake as related to calculation. But if we look deeper, there are other possibilities. a) Some players are simply prone to avoid risky moves in their analysis/games. Such players will quickly "refute" risky ideas with faulty analysis.

Why does this happen? (Being risk-averse), a1) By nature some are like this a2) Lack of exposure or training to risky play at initial stages. The critical question is, can a player who is risk-averse by nature, learn and become good at taking risks through proper training?

The jury is open on this, but I believe to a large extent this is possible if the training happens before the risk-aversion grows to phobia proportions in the mind of the player concerned.

The player needs to learn to be more creative/imaginative/mentally tougher to come up with clever/ not so obvious solutions to the problems faced.

Every player should be exposed to all important aspects/approaches in chess in their formative years before they develop an aversion/dislike/phobia to some areas in chess. In the early days it was fashionable to categorize players into attacking or positional.

It was possible in the past to even become a world champion with phenomenal strength in a few areas and not as strong in other areas of the game. But these days with access to information and training tools, it is imperative to evolve into a universal player to go far in chess

Broadly speaking, those important aspects of chess are opening related - aggressive/attacking play - Positional/strategic thinking - Calculation - Endgame related. An upcoming player should not be averse to learning any of these aspects if he/she is ambitious.

The other interesting aspect is that the player concerned "knows" that moving the knight to the corner is not good in general, that, we should play where we are strong, or that Na4 is too defensive. Despite all this "knowledge", the player "chooses" to still go for it.

Handling bad positions

a). Sometimes when position is bad, I would mentally resign in my mind, I am going to lose the game anyway, which releases pressure to a large extent.

b) Then I can focus on the job of making the realisation of advantage as difficult as possible for my opponent. b) You should not drop the intensity of your effort in difficult situations (don’t give up mentally)

c) You should enjoy the defending process, not do it mechanically. Tell yourself, I am going to defend this and sit hard.

d) It is a skill you can acquire through your effort. It is mostly about good attitude

e) Not every time we defend well, we are going to be successful

f) Learn from others good defensive efforts and be inspired

These are just few lessons from the master. It was personally a fulfilling experience. I hope the audience learnt as much I hope they would have

Developing intuition

Was seeing a game with students in online class, at many places, multiple moves seem possible & equally good. One student asked how to take decisions in such situations.

Experience, prior knowledge in similar situations, our skill level, intuition, result of our analysis, comparison, personal preferences etc. could be relied upon. Most importantly, we don't need to know consequences clearly, to do something we believe to be the correct path

The ability to handle things as they come is also very crucial skill to possess. In concrete situations, we should try to know every crucial detail before taking decisions. But in other situations, improvising along the way is essential. Also depends on time available.

Stronger the player, better the quality of his intuition. More honest a person is, better the guidance from his Conscience. If a weaker player (sorry for the terminology) & a not so honest person relies on intuition & conscience respectively, more probability for wrong decisions.

Online cheating

Amount of cheating in online chess is sickening. Online games becoming a collection for computer VS human games. Even in online classes children use engines. Kids please don’t do this to yourselves. A normal chess player is million times honourable than a successful cheat.

Due to some bad apples ("some" in itself is HUGE given the volume of online chess players since lockdown), good performance from genuine chess players also gets tarnished at times. Human greed affects not only those indulging in it but innocent bystanders too, like pollution.

Got the opportunity (?!) to analyse young children's games during an online official championship to identify games where engines were used. Result: More than 70 out of 77 games checked, the moves of the winner match with computer moves. Sickening experience.

But one "heartening" thing in this mass cheating orgy is that in most games, the engine user in some cases, was "kind & considerate" enough to offer the opponent multiple draws offers to cushion the impact. Touched by such kind gestures.

An eye-opener. This mad rush for "success at others cost" is the "in thing". There is no going around it. The saddest part is, children are probably offering draws knowing what they are doing is wrong. But they are probably not in a position to resist the forces behind them.

Being a good human being at "any cost “should be THE ONLY priority if humans not becoming wild animals again. Animals are probably ashamed of us already. Rather than becoming popular & earning well, not losing whatever little human qualities we have should be taught to children

The players who use engines these days know this danger, hence use it only in the second half of the game after playing to their strength with many mistakes in the first half of the game, to reduce the probability of getting caught.

To the chess-playing kids out there:

Each and every one of you is special. Irrespective of whether you become a well-known chess player or not. Success is not about becoming popular or making money or your name appearing in newspapers/tv/media or looking good in others eyes.

You are in possession of many talents. Work hard, be ready to struggle and come up in life the hard way - the right way. Learning and improving your strength is the only way you can grow. You should deserve success. You should earn it in the right way.

Being a good human being is the ultimate success one can achieve in life. Everything else is temporary. Give your best, accept all outcome as prasadam. If you are not happy with outcome, work hard to upgrade ur skills. Getting upset, losing confidence, unfair means not solution

Importance of character

A man is known by his character or the lack of it in my view. All else is secondary. One can lose wealth, relationships (you scratch my back I scratch yours kind), professional success, power, control, popularity - but if one loses character then mental peace is lost as well.

Being grounded

Absolutely essential to stay firmly rooted to the ground irrespective of positive or negative feedback from others. Very easy and tempting to get carried away by nice words of well-meaning people. We are just a drop in the ocean. Inconsequential in the bigger scheme of things.

Using engines in classes

The trend of using engines help during online classes by students has been steadily increasing. Using engines during over the board tournaments and online events have gradually evolved into cheating even in classes.

Complete degradation of values when it comes to achieving “success” at any cost, over generations is clearly visible. Anything is fine as long as my immediate needs are met (liberty?)

unlimited exposure to all kinds of information at tender age and the supreme feeling of entitlement that I deserve the best in terms of outcomes despite no substantiating effort to earn or deserve it.

Ends justifying means, lack of good examples to look up to, skewed priorities in life, small missteps judged as failures & minor gains branded as success, constant need to look good in others eyes even at cost of compromising with one’s conscience. Wish these are just my imagination

Expectations vs Outcome

Expectations is starting point; outcome is the end result. Expectations should lead to better effort - leading to learning - leading to positive experience- leading to acquiring skill- leading to favourable outcome. Anything missing here?

Bringing the best out of you

Just saw a video clip of Indian Cricket batsman Kapil Dev hit 4 sixes in 4 balls in a test match, when India required 24 runs to avoid a follow on against England. Batsman on other side was Hirwani! Sometimes, you need the worst on the other side to bring out the best in you!

Introspection

Was discussing the effect of lock down on my chess students. Suggested to them to make a list to get a better idea about themselves:

1. Which openings you are currently playing with white and black? Make a list

2. Identify the openings/variations with bad results, be specific

3. Identify the openings coming often in your tournament games. For 2 & 3, prepare alternative lines/surprises.

4. Make a list of areas where you feel you are weak/you don't like/you avoid, in your tournament games & in home preparation (Endings, Closed, complex positions etc.)

5. Make a list of non-chess related problem areas like, poor concentration, low confidence, time trouble, laziness, don't know what to prepare, no time for chess, handling losses etc.

6. Make a list of areas you want to learn in next 3 months. Priority areas in next 1 month.

It is important we don't focus only on our core areas & strengths all time. Don't ignore: we are not comfortable/not to our liking/ doesn't suit our style areas in our preparation & in tournament games. Building on our strength & overcoming our shortcomings, both are important.

Decreasing solving abilities

Was giving some very simple puzzles to solve to a group of online students, most of them struggled to solve even them. Solving standards are falling in general, probably because, children have other means to have fun in chess (variants, bullet etc)?

External vs Internal stimulation

Feedback from students: Low confidence, laziness, converting good positions into win, not good in defending bad positions, need to improve calculation skills, specific opening problems, poor concentration, distractions like tv series, video games, outsourcing learning to coaches

All our senses are tuned towards external stimulation and messages. All our quests are aimed externally: power, wealth, relationships, control, peace, possessions, ownership, recognition etc. Indian philosophy is in the other direction - internal. Quest towards the roots. WDTT

Common tricks lazy/uninterested/unambitious children (usually attend class due to parental expectations) employ during classes:

1. Keep silent for LONG time without giving moves

2. Keep giving moves every few seconds till they accidentally find correct move

3.use engines

Focus

Very focused professionals are known to live in a self-made bubble and shield themselves from public opinions to focus all their focus on their profession. For non-professionals this is tough to comprehend.

Choices before a chess player

Some important choices before a chess player:

1. Poor time management versus proper time management, both on and off the board

2. Laziness versus hard work

3. Poor self-esteem versus self-belief

4. Eager to learn versus preparing for results

5. Focusing on our effort vs playing for results

6. Keeping good concentration on board vs a distracted mind

7. Handling losses maturely with acceptance vs overly self-critical approach

8. Worrying about ratings too much vs playing to become stronger & improving our abilities

On Confidence

Issues that affect our confidence:

1. Lack of regular, quality work at home

2.When we don’t learn required things and grow, our confidence becomes either stale or starts declining

3. Bad results in short run or over a period of time can affect our confidence

4. Unexpected mistakes we make in our game can affect our confidence

5. We need to accept our mistakes and convert them into opportunities to self-analyse, learn from them and correct the mistakes

Pondering

Today, was working with a group of students online, an interesting position where a pawn sacrifice was possible. Few saw it & wanted to go for it, few saw it but were scared and another few who did not even know such a possibility existed.

An instance, where our personality (fear of sacrifices, courage to take risks), indifference, lack of alertness, lack of knowledge, casual approach, playing obvious moves all time, lack of proper training etc. influencing our decisions. Basically, our weaknesses coming to the fore

Most players in such instances, don't pass & wonder, why did I miss that, how can I ensure it doesn't happen again, how can I learn to spot such sacrifices on time, what should change in myself? etc. Curiosity is simply missing. Passing & pondering is crucial at such moments.

Generational Changes

As a former Chess player and a coach, have seen some gradual changes taking place over generations.

1. There is less of original human creativity but increase in computer inspired creativity (its both negative and positive).

2. Defensive skills of humans have gone up considerably under computer influence (positive)

3. The human and computer calculation skills have gone better considerably (positive)

4. Opening preparation has gone phenomenal changes for better most part, for worse from other angle

5. Humans can play more openings, remember them better, organise content, analyse positions better due to computer influence.

6. There are definitely - ves too. Change is usually for better most part and for worse in some aspects just as in other aspects of life with technology

7. Humans are unwilling to try creative, risky continuations in openings bcoz they fear that opponent will defend and it will backfire. Exceptions are there. They are just that, exceptions

8. Players are letting SM reactions influence decisions on their playing approach, opening choice etc. Playing to the gallery is considerably more and it has its impact for sure, raising important questions

9. Should players mind their own business and play as they want to play?

10. In SM, majority of audience are amateurs, beginners, chess for hobby or those who don't know to play chess at all and have strong opinions. But they are in huge numbers. Should their opinions affect professional players approach, style?

11. I feel, professionals should simply stick to being professionals and do things as they seem fit. They are more competent to take correct decisions. There should be a group which will cater to needs of majority non-professionals. Provide entertainment, play to the gallery etc

12. There will be conflicting situations when the majority want things, which are plainly bad from a professional’s view point. At those moments, professionals probably should keep quiet and do what they feel is correct but not react which will invite huge backlash

13. As a coach, I have seen that parent’s needs, expectations are different than what is good for their child in the long run. Tough to explain. Should the coach do what he feels is good for the student or play to the gallery? I feel, do what is required despite criticisms.

14. Should a scientist invent only products which will have gr8 demand in market or should he also work for the sake of knowing, invention and just be curious? There is space for both versions. Each to his own.

15. As more players are becoming successful at young age, it puts tremendous pressure on other kids and parents. It has become perform or perish. For most players, growth happens gradually and in phases which takes time.

16. Due to social media, the feedback mechanism from non-professionals (huge number) and media to professionals is instant. Most of this feedback does not make any sense to the professional. I have my views on every topic on planet. Which is valid and makes sense only to me

17. Effect of instant feedback from parents, Social, & traditional media: results of games are known to others instantly and there is instant reactionary feedback from Parents, SM, Media. If result is negative, feedback is negative (bcoz they are from non- professionals)

18. Children as young as 7/8 yrs. r scared of -ve feedback from parents, SM/media. Most of such criticism has no validity nor justified, they r simply instant emotional reactions to an event. -ve criticism to young children should be measured, deserved, delivered in proper manner.

19. we are busily producing a generation which do not have strength to face objective criticism. Because, they face too much scrutiny when they are still too young and in growing up stage of life. Children need space to make mistakes and learn.

20. Different issues going thru my head over a period of time. Mixed everything up and put it down in a long thread :). Ignore/ block if it’s too much of blabbering.

Opening Preparation

Some of the common issues related to opening preparation, below GM level:

1. to play main lines or side lines

2. to understand or memorize

3. to play what we know well or to surprise opponent

4. how important opening preparation is at my current level?

5. to play openings closer to our style or play openings not in our natural style for general improvement

6. play same openings over period of time or expand and learn new ones

7. If expand, how to plan/time it well

8. to check each move with engines or believe in strong players and learn as such (accuracy or understanding)

9. how to memorize lines without getting confused

10. how often we should revise, especially when so many lines are there to learn/revise

11. how to choose which lines to revise first and which later

12. when to learn a new opening/variation, after few painful losses or when in good form/bad form?

13.should opening choices be made according to areas we are working at that moment?

14. after preparing an opening at home, not having the courage to play it in tournament

15. If we lost to a player in a particular opening can we try the same against the same opponent in next battle?

16. If we lose few games in a particular opening how to approach such losses?

17. If we lost to a player in a particular opening, can we try the same against the same opponent in next battle?

18. If a player is known to be strong in a particular opening does it make sense to play the same opening with that opponent?

Changing Openings

Earlier, even experienced players would hesitate to add/ change openings. With technology, it has become easier to add, change opening choices at a shorter time span. Without practical playing strength of course it makes not much sense with adding openings continuously.

One down side with evolving technology, hardware and software becoming incredibly advanced every few months, need to constantly check older analysis and add new ideas all the time. At times we become like keyboard operator.

Ideally upcoming strong players should have a team where some do keyboard operators work with engines and few focusing on creative ideas with human touch. Nicely complement each other. Challenge is more if one works with more students.

Without improving one’s analytical skills, and understanding of the game, merely adding variety to openings won’t give desired results.

Talent alone can take one ahead only so much. A tremendous amount of hard work, determination, mental toughness, commitment, sincerity in the effort, etc play a much larger role in how high a player goes. Just seeing @rpragchess prepare can make one tired. So much effort involved

Common amateur issues

Some common issues many amateur players have goes like this:

Q1). I don't have time for chess so how to become a GM soon?

Me: gif below

Q2). Can u pls suggest a good book to learn openings?

Me: XYZ.

Q2a) Can you please send me a link to buy?

Me sent link

Q2b) How do I buy this?

Ideally, young players should pay more attention to improving one's analytical skills rather than accumulating opening theoretical knowledge. But we don't live in an ideal world!

How higher and lower rated players approach chess

Some differences that come out very often when working with higher rated players(A) & others (B) are:

1. A takes more care to avoid mistakes in their analysis, deliberate - conscious thinking. B does this little casually, more of an automatic, uncontrolled process

2. Difficult situations motivate A to delve deeper into the position, energises them to raise their effort and bring out their best. B gets overwhelmed, depressed, upset, scared when a difficult situation arises, reacts instinctively & out of desperation. Can't collect themselves

3. A does not outsource their learning to coaches instead use coaches, books, databases etc as tools to improve their skills. B outsources learning to coaches and books, less involved in the process of learning

4. A realises that they should excel in all spheres of the game and can set aside their likes and dislikes to do what is required to be done. B focus more on their strengths, avoid/ignore/hide their weak areas and let their likes - dislikes dictate their actions.

All the A qualities can be cultivated with dedication and determination by B. Choice is ours!

Information management and learning

Young children are exposed to too much information throughout the day, on different topics. It’s extremely tough to sort the useful, important ones from huge data. One reason why some children find it tough 2 remember & apply fundamentally important principles in their games.

Learning challenges: Learning to overcome certain technical shortcoming in chess is easier to achieve, to fulfil an immediate requirement. For example, learning an opening for the upcoming important tournament.

But learning to overcome shortcomings in our nature, changing our habitual response pattern, which require much more mental effort, requires a true passion for the game and a higher level of commitment to our long-term ambitions.

Waiting for the right time

An approach involving waiting for best book, by best author or to be trained by best coach to become a strong player will never succeed. Our best, intense effort, starting yesterday, is the key. External things don’t have to be ideal, internally we be aligned properly for success

The trick is to learn to do difficult, at times, uncomfortable/unfamiliar things, till it becomes our part of our nature e.g.: learning to play quiet endgames for an attacking player, early on in one's career, along with working on our strength areas.

Perspectives

I gave a simple looking endgame position in chess to a group of 10 young students, after some thought, they came up with 15 different possible continuations. Everyone way amazed that there are so many ways look at the same position!

Pros and cons of a decision

In chess, if you castle king in opening, I can say you are ignoring development. If you develop instead, I will say you are compromising on king safety! Everything & every decision can be justified & argued against.

Internalizing what is Learnt

1. Have observed that many times, when we read/hear/taught chess concepts/principles, it is not easy to internalise them. We understand them at the intellectual level and can relate to them, but we hesitate or avoid them when it comes to implementation. Why does this happen?

2. When a piece of information comes from outside, (read/hear/see) it is borrowed wisdom. It is helpful in pointing us in the right direction. It is like a doctor telling us to eat a particular medicine. The second step is gaining an understanding of the received information.

3. We need to analyse rationally, & objectively the received information & if sounds logical, beneficial, or practical it is easier to accept it. Most of our learning stops at this superficial level. We accept certain concepts & believe we can implement them when the need arises

4. The first stage gives us information - knowledge. In the second stage, we gain an intellectual understanding. It is like a doctor explaining about disease and why a particular medicine needs to be taken. We still don't get relief at this point.

5. The next stage is to transform the received knowledge and intellectual understanding into experiential wisdom. We need to implement what we have learnt in practice and analyse the consequences and only then does it become a practical skill. Medicine has been taken

6. Our personal likes, dislikes, fears, doubts, past bad experiences etc will come to the surface & discourage us from implementing what we know to be correct. We need to show faith in what we believe to be correct & do what needs to be done. This is when learning takes place

On Learning

Learning occurs when both pros & cons of an argument are made. This followed by a sincere effort to understand the issues involved, to question our biases & prejudices. Finally, we change ourselves & evolve due to the whole experience. Learning is an intensely personal experience.

Young/upcoming/anyone who wants to make progress in their chess, should learn to objectively check their own analysis carefully before making a decision. Usually, we permit ourselves to be convinced by our likes/brief analysis/first impressions.

Many times, the moves which we failed to consider/did not like/did not believe in, could turn out to be the best move in the position. Objectively analysing moves irrespective of our personal bias is important but too difficult for many.

Chess improvement depends on our ability to overcome our personal biases/prejudices/opinions on many issues. Not easy for many, therein lies the crux of the issue. We should force ourselves to do the right things (eg: sacrifice a pawn for activity) even if it's against our nature

Schools have benchmarks of what a student has to know/master at different ages. It's time to have such benchmarks on what/how should be taught to players from formative years. It's possible to learn plenty of stuff, progress very quickly than is widely believed.

If the right things are not learnt at appropriate stages of a players career, our learning does not stagnate, we will simply learn incorrect things to fill the void which will be tough to change later. A life full of misconceptions and clouded perceptions will be the outcome.

On Attitude

Fear is just an expression of a possibility not reality. What u r worried about has not yet happened, may never happen. It's important young players don’t worry about losing the game & resultant loss in rating points before or during the game. Play to learn, enjoy the experience.

Learning from Losses

1. Was discussing with a chess player/coach today. A student, 12 years old, thinks he makes mistakes once game goes for > 3 hours, won't play well when an opponent plays openings which he didn't expect, doesn't know how to patiently calculate variations so plays intuitively,

2. 2. worried about the rating going down in tournaments etc. A small child, instead of looking forward to the future with hope and confidence instead is carrying the burden of guilt and inadequacy in the present.

3. It is essential that a child grows with a feeling of good self-image and adequacy. It is harmful to the child to be judged on a game to game basis, they will lose creativity, aptitude to take risks, and not learn to handle disappointments among many other good qualities.

Studying Chess

It makes more sense for upcoming players to study games of stronger players from pre-computer era than modern stronger players. Earlier, humans thought in human way. But now human thought is heavily influenced by technology. Modern players defend better, calculate better.

But at the lower level, upcoming players still make many classical/typical/instructive mistakes like players from pre-computer era. Most of the instructive moments in modern games are hidden behind the scenes ( in analysis). We don’t get to see them on the board.

When I was young, minimum rating was 2200 fide. I used to study Alekhine games when I was unrated. Currently, we seem to be overly underestimating human capacities with advances in technology and comforts.

Till they reach 1800 or so fide focus could be more on understanding & applying opening principles rather than learning openings. A decent repertoire by seeing few instructive games in openings they play should be sufficient. Won’t need in depth study of openings at this stage

Wholesome Improvement

Upcoming players should realise that their current chess understanding, experience, and skill level are insufficient to meet their higher aspirations. So, their focus should be on learning the game well, understanding chess principles and concepts, becoming tactically alert, improve calculation abilities, endgame skills, positional understanding, a better grasp of opening principles, gain experience playing in tournaments, etc. Basically become more deserving of good results rather than blindly go after good results with lesser skill sets.

Outsourcing Learning

Suggestion to upcoming players: don't outsource ur learning to coaches. Take responsibility. Just wishing to be a good player is not enough. Have to put in required effort. Be open to learning things you don't like currently. Adding strength in new areas is crucial for progress.

Work Ethic and Confidence

Lack of proper work ethic, results in poor self-esteem. One of defining features of strong chess players is that they r usually very sure of themselves. They believe that they are good players & are on the right path to getting there. For most, self-doubt is a constant companion.

Source material vs Effort

More than the source of the material we are working on/planning to work on, it is OUR EFFORT we invest in the learning process that is the key to effective learning. With every move by white & black, we should try to learn some small valuable thing on how to think better.

Moving Out of you Comfort Zone

Most players like to play in positions that they like & are familiar with. They don’t like unknown/unfamiliar/against-their-nature positions. In training, we should consistently put ourselves in unfamiliar, difficult, challenging situations, & observe how we handle them.

Training should equip us to handle all types of situations. We should not train merely to be on known territory all the time. How much ever we prepare we will always have to face unfamiliar situations in our games, so we better be ready for them with better analytical skills.

Miscellaneous Tweets

Heart vs Brain

For all the Aura around chess players being "intelligent", have seen strong chess players take stupid decisions outside of chess board- that includes myself. With decent analytical skills such decisions could be avoided. But overruling heart/ideology for facts not easy for anyone

On life in general

Important components in a human’s life (personal view):

1. Physical Health

2. Mental health

3. Good Character

4. Sufficient wealth

5. Success in profession 6. Close Friendships

7. Relationship with others

8. Power, control & ability to get things done

9. Being well known (popular)

At young age, health is taken for granted. Pursuit of success, wealth and meeting our needs, fulfilling fantasies take priority over everything else. Means does not matter over ends.

For good health: healthy food - adequate sleep and regular exercise is mandatory. Compromises are made at youth in the process of getting ourselves established and successful.

As one inevitably grows older and having tasted success in material pursuits, one begins to wonder about the price paid and compromises made along the way. Does compromising on health, relationships, character, mental peace worth being successful?

Prevention of Cheating I

Immense respect for the world champion for taking a principled stand on an important issue, forcing the world to pay attention to it at a huge personal cost. Ideally, the chess world and FIDE should have devised a good practical solution to the cheating problem years ago.

Hopefully, a full enquiry will be conducted by FIDE & steps taken to avoid a similar scenario in future. A reasonably strong player does not need external help throughout the game, indication at a few (even 1) critical moment(s) is sufficient to tilt the game in his favour

I don't believe that % of moves matching with an engine is the only way to prove a player has taken external help. By default, all major chess events should have basic protocols in place: a) physically PREVENT gadgets (plastics/electrical/...)from entering the venue

jamming signals into the playing hall. c) delay live relay d) spectators should not carry gadgets into the venue etc. In India, there was a similar instance more than 10-15 years ago. Punitive action was taken much delayed despite players raising concerns.

Of course, it is very easy to cast apprehensions on a player's integrity by throwing unsubstantiated allegations. It has happened in the past. Innocent players were accused unfairly. So the accuser should be very responsible before making the accusation.

The best solution is PREVENTION, as obtaining proof is almost next to impossible if the help was taken only once or twice in a game. A strong player can judge opponents' analytical capabilities. At the lower level, it is most difficult.

I trust the World Champions' instinct in this instance. Even if the cheating has happened in the past, that is sufficient ground to avoid playing against that particular player. The best proof will be the players' results in the next year, under public scrutiny. END.

Prevention of Cheating II

Want to completely delink this thread away from the ongoing scandal. Purely approaching it from lessons learnt, preventive & punitive measures in the future angle. Private entities should have space to formulate their own rules n regulations. Players can avoid or abide by them

Guidelines/regulations/rules on what can be considered acceptable proof for a) online and b) OTB cheating should be drawn. Without a clear yardstick, it is up to everyone's interpretation to reflect their bias.

Experts from the industry should be consulted and all possible means/methods of cheating OTB should be identified (sensors, Bluetooth, plastic devices etc) and preventive measures implemented, to begin with in all major events.

We have to understand those possible cheaters will not advertise it or leave blatant trails to be caught easily. The policing mechanism should be advanced and must evolve with technological advancements cheaters may employ.

A strong player/cheater will not use tech help extensively leaving trails all along the path. Help obtained once or twice in a game is sufficient and won't leave any trail for statisticians.

It is not a player's duty but the event organisers to ensure no high-tech cheating is possible in their events. Prevention is the key.

A player caught cheating in online prize money events should have clear consequences offline too. Exemplary punishment for online cheating should be the deterrent for OTB cheating. Age exemption from punitive measures for 1 time online cheating should be agreed upon.

A mechanism to receive complaints in confidence should be introduced. How to handle such complaints, evidence gathering mechanism, investigation methods, yardsticks to be compared to, and clearly laid out punishments should be introduced.

This is an opportunity to lay down clearly defined rules and regulations which will be just for all. Currently, if a player(s) suspects another of cheating, the player is expected to do the police work of gathering evidence.

Confidentiality of players' identities involved in the complaint (both parties) should be maintained till the investigation is complete. END

On materialism

We probably have become too materialistic in our approach to life over centuries. We are forced to compromise on many things in our race to earn a living. The education system probably should add value and facilitate a child's passion rather than teaching the same facts to all.

On goodness

Being a good human with compassion towards others, self-belief in yourself, good physical health, inner peace, enough means to take care of your needs, close relationship with people that really matter, and a passion that keeps you going - good life!

Filling the void?!

Most of things we aspire for - success, fame, wealth, health, power, relationships, acknowledgement, etc. many before us have already got most of them right, many among us, many after us will get them right. Still the void will remain, the urge to fill in more blanks...

Chess Books

Chess books increasingly are written with saleability in mind rather than deep exploration of concepts. Opening books are exceptions where engine assisted excellence is sought and achieved. Ideally books should make reader to question, wonder and ponder. Happening?

Arjuna Awards for chess

The last 3 Arjuna Award recipients in chess are: 2009 Tania Sachdev (Delhi), 2010 Parimarjan Negi (Delhi) and 2013 Abhijeet Gupta. No Arjuna awards to chess players since then even though India has produced so many strong players since then who were simply ignored.

I hope Sports Ministry will consider non-Delhi centric Chess players/coaches as well for awards like Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award etc. Hope various cash incentive schemes which support sportsmen are not restricted to Delhi centric circles & are distributed to players pan India

16 Grand Masters from Tamil Nadu in the period 2010 -2020. Number of Arjuna Awardees = 0

Sports Ministry should circulate a questionnaire among top 50 Indian players and get direct information from them about who are deserving for Arjuna and Dronacharya awards and take them into consideration as well to undo injustice done in the past.

National Sports Development Fund is a scheme which needs reforms. With help of Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, @rpragchess & @chessvaishali got funds to train under reputed GMs, after Pragg became World's second youngest GM. It should be designed in a way, deserving will always get it

Why Indian youngsters avoid local tournaments

In my view, the reasons for aspiring youngsters/strong players avoiding Indian open tournaments are as follows: 1. Poor treatment of players due to the high-handed approach of organisers/officials towards players. Every player will have their own stories to tell.

Things are changing for the better gradually. 2. Poor infrastructure (toilets, crowded playing halls, venue accessibility, accommodation etc) 3. Super high special entry fees to attract lower-rated players to play in norm tournaments. This gives good income for organisers.

But it is a nightmare for norm seekers. Within first 2 rounds, all norm chances go to dust. In most European norm tournaments, they have above & below 2100/2000/2200 events. This ensures norm seekers can actually make norms without worrying about meeting very low rated players.

This has led to a situation where aspiring professionals, ambitious players are forced to travel abroad to grow. Economically challenged talented players are the worst affected.

On Technology

Technology and Science is largely the outcome of human curiosity to realise the possibilities of inanimate matter to do things human and beyond. In other words, the potential of that which exists outside and around us. But it rarely is about us.

The more we become dependent on technology, the price we pay could be the potential loss of our ability to emotionally connect with other life forms, our physical capabilities & senses, lack of contentment in anything substantial as yearning for next version is the driving force

The challenge is to embrace tech without losing what makes us human in the first place.

The advances we make externally (through science) can increase our comfort and convenience. Progress needs to be made internally as well for our well-being (mental, emotional).

Stress is simply our inability to manage our thoughts- emotions- energy - body, well. Our own mind is not taking instructions from us. - Sadhguru

RAMESH ON JUNIOR CHESS

Some interesting statistics in the Chess world rankings among young children (future stars). Find below contribution from 3 countries (India, USA, Russia) among TOP 83 players in world:

Boys

a) Among 2007 born players, India 9, USA 11, Russia 8 players in TOP 83 in World.

b) 2008 born players: India 5, USA 10, Russia 10

c)2009 born players: India 6, USA 10, Russia 11

d)2010 born players: India 2, USA 8, Russia 18

e)2011 born players: India 2, USA 7, Russia 7

f)2012 born players: India 0, Russia 8, USA 6

g)2013 born: India 1, USA 4, Russia 14

Summary: Among the top 83 boys in the World ranking for players born 2007 to 2013 (age 8 to 14 years of age) out of 581 players, India 28, USA 56, 74 players.

One main reason is FIDE rated tournaments have started happening in USA & Russia. In India, it hasn't.

Girls

Among Girls, the situation is even worse from India's viewpoint. We have only 20 players among the top 581 players in the World aged between 8 to 14 years. The USA has 31, Russia is way ahead with 112 players.

B) Girls:

a)2007 born India 6, USA 6, Russia 9

b)2008 born India 3, USA 4, Russia has 13

c)2009 born India 1, USA 7, Russia 20

d)2010 born India 2, USA 8, Russia 11

e)2011 born India 4, USA 1, Russia 16

f)2012 born India1, USA 5, Russia 22

g)2013 born India 3, USA 0, Russia 21

Currently, India's bench strength below 14 years old is looking bleak and particularly worrying is the absence of young girls in the world top 80. Lots of work needs to be done for Girls chess in India. Ours is probably one of the oldest national teams in the world among women.

The current crop of 15 to 18-year-old players above 2600 in India were all among the top players in the World since their formative years. We don't have such a bench strength now to continue the success of the 2003 to 2005 generation.

India badly needs good coaches who can push the young children quickly up the ladder. There are only a few who fit this bill now. Don't want to get into names here. Once over the board tournaments start happening again, this will hopefully change for the better.

It is usually the children who are fortunate enough to afford good coaches, from within India & abroad, who keep growing faster than other children who cannot afford professional training. Identifying talent at a young age, grooming them with institutional support is necessary.

Russia is far ahead of other countries in nurturing young talents in chess. The USA is doing very well in the last 5 years or so.

Under the circumstances, it is very important for young ambitious players to stay away from all this and focus on getting better in their game. Nothing will help you than your own hard work and commitment.

Currently, India is relying too much on a handful of players in international arena. We need young talented players coming up every couple of years. The supply line should be actively taken care of with lots of attention to detail. Many countries have suffered by ignoring this.

Pointing Fingers at Others

Tagging celebrities, passing judgments, criticizing without any understanding of the issue - the norm in social media these days. Better to do good oneself, if that is too much to ask, let us watch others do what they are doing by leaving them alone.

If we can show even 1% of the criticism we are willing to liberally shower on others, towards ourselves, the whole world will be a better place to live.

Kramnikstudentc24

Friday, 16 December 2022

Opening Clinic No 16 by Nikos Ntirlis : Chebanenko for Black

Wednesday, 7 December 2022

Opening Clinic No 15 by Nikos Ntirlis : A trendy and simple Queen's Indian Defense for Black

Monday, 28 November 2022

Opening Clinic No 14 by Nikos Ntirlis : An aggressive gambit in the Slav

Thursday, 17 November 2022

Opening Clinic No 13 by Nikos Ntirlis : The Berlin CAN be challenged!

Monday, 31 October 2022

Opening Clinic No 12 by Nikos Ntirlis : Petroff

Wednesday, 26 October 2022

Opening Clinic No 11 by Nikos Ntirlis : Reti

Friday, 21 October 2022

Tweets of a Chess Coach

My thoughts on the Kramnik vs Daniel Naroditsky Saga

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