Month: May 2022

Chess and Feelings

Published by Dawn on May 29, 2022

Early on I wrote enthusiastically in this blog about the many chess podcasts that are available. Chess podcasts perform multiple functions. They give you a way to be in contact with chess when you don’t feel like playing. Or when you want to play, but can’t because you’re driving or exercising, which are excellent times to listen to a podcast. Most important, studying chess can be lonely, especially during this pandemic, and listening to a podcast can ease that loneliness.

Recently I discovered a new chess podcast called Chessfeels, which quickly made it to the top of my list. There are so many reasons to love this one. The insightful way in which the co-hosts–clinical psychologist Julia Rios and chess teacher JJ Lang–identify themselves during the opening gives you a good idea of what they are trying to do and what makes this pod unique. JJ calls himself “a chess teacher and amateur feelings-haver,” while Julia is “a clinical psychologist and amateur checkmate finder.” The opening tells you more when Julia calls chess “the game we know and love,” and JJ pipes up, “and hate.” That really caught my attention, because I sometimes feel that the flip side of my love for chess is a kind of hate–hate that it is so hard and that terrible things can happen while I am playing, like blundering. But of course it is I rather than the game that has blundered, so hatred of the game readily metamorphoses into self-hate. Few chess books or podcasts delve into such feelings, however, misleading one to conclude that no one else shares them. Thanks to Chessfeels, we learn that someone clearly does. JJ and Julia are always trying to gain a deeper understanding of something related to the psychology of chess, and they lighten the difficult aspects of their discussions with lots of clever repartee, which is always amusing and often laugh-out-loud funny.

Take, for example, the podcast’s second episode, in which they tackle the subject of JJ’s “addiction to Blitz.” Blitz is a very fast form of chess in which each player is given three to five minutes to play. As in the case of its cousin, Bullet, in which each player is given less than three minutes to play, the popularity of Blitz increased a lot during the pandemic as online chess playing grew. Watching these rapid-fire versions of chess has also become a popular pastime: on Twitch, many famous and not-famous players who broadcast themselves playing Blitz and Bullet for hours have garnered thousands of followers and a great deal of money in subscription fees.

JJ’s addiction is to playing, not watching, Blitz. Julia is careful to preface her remarks by saying that they are not a substitute for professional advice (as she is legally required to do), but we and JJ benefit greatly from the psychological information she imparts. In this episode, she walks JJ through the entire inventory of questions used to help diagnose addiction, and we learn that addiction grows as the stimulus and reward grow closer together in time. That is why Blitz and Bullet can be addicting in a way that classical chess (which has time controls exceeding 30 minutes per person) cannot. Other issues that the pair tackles include obsession with ratings (episode 6), burnout (episode 7), and practical techniques that you can use to counter anxiety during a game (episode 3). All are worth a listen or even two.

This is not to say that other chess podcasts don’t discuss feelings. Some do, but such discussions aren’t their reason for being. On Perpetual Chess, Ben Johnson and Han Schut interviewed a person who said he did not want to be a chess improver, just a “sustainer,” which led to a fascinating discussion about whether that was really true, and if so, why. Podcaster Dr. Keven Scull (Chess Journeys) endeared himself to me from the beginning with frequent references to his frustration and bewilderment about his difficulty in improving. Fittingly, it was his interview of Julia that brought Chessfeels to my attention.

Recommendation of the Week: It is all too easy for the novice chess player to be attracted to and bewildered by the huge number of books about chess, a great many of which, because they are above her level, are not a good use of her time. Recently I found one that is just right, A Guide to Chess Improvement: The Best of Novice Nook, by Dan Heisman. The contents originated as chess newsletter columns, but they have been edited to work seamlessly in book form, and the chapters cover all of the topics crucial for beginners, such as “Thought Process,” “Time Management,” “Skills and Psychology,” and “Tactics and Safety.”

Playing Chess with Strangers

Playing Chess with Strangers

Published by Dawn on May 22, 2022

Previously I wrote about the importance of having a training partner. But what if you don’t have one, or yours is not available when you feel like playing chess? The two major online platforms, lichess and chess.com, provide ways for you to find someone to play with. Not just anyone, but someone who meets parameters that you are able to specify. Both also allow for “quick pairings,” without parameters, as well.

Lichess has a “Lobby” on its home page. At any given moment, it displays a list of available players, by Piece Color Preference, User Name, Rating, Time, and Mode (Casual or Rated). This list occupies the top part of the Lobby. (The lower part is dedicated to variant forms of chess, such as Bughouse, which I won’t be discussing.) The players listed have used the Create a Game function to specify their parameters. As the person seeking a game, you can use the Settings function to customize your Lobby’s display to show only potential games that meet your parameters. I set mine for a time control of 10 minutes or more and an opponent whose rating is in the three-digit range. My customized Lobby lists no available games much of the time, which is not surprising for a number of reasons, including that the lichess user base numbers only around 150,000. But when I have found suitable opponents, the games have been satisfying.

This has not always been the case for me on chess.com, where I have nevertheless played a lot more games. I play more games there because I never fail to find an opponent that meets my specifications. Why? Chess.com has more than 3 million active users, many times more than does lichess. But I have had a number of negative experiences there, both in terms of the way the games are played and in terms of the communication that takes place during the games via the chat function. Many of the chess.com users that I have been paired with try to use opening traps that result in a quick checkmate. If I successfully parry those, the players often resign the minute their going gets rough. Of course, to resign is their prerogative, but my teacher has urged me to play out every game I start, and I agree with her that that is the best way to learn. The problems in the chat dwarf premature resignations, however. I have been addressed as “Bro” and “Bru” (clearly a female couldn’t be playing chess and definitely not online). Other problems have to do with the speed of play. I have my time control on chess.com set at 30 minutes, which in today’s chess world signals that this will be a somewhat leisurely game. But recently, when I took nearly a minute to make a move, the chat read, “Hurry up.” I am not a fast player, so that soon escalated to “Are you even playing?!” and less nice urgings. This led to my discovery that you can easily disable chat during a game (or for all games) and permanently block a user from contacting you. It’s tempting to conclude that my trouble finding opponents in chess.com are attributable to the low rating range in which I am playing, and that may be a factor, but a more accomplished player recently tweeted that he had a similar problem—and his time control was 45 minutes, so the opponent had to know going into the game that the play would not be fast.

What to do if you can’t find a suitable opponent on either platform? Well, both venues offer the option of playing with the computer, and you can set a host of parameters for the game, just as you can when seeking human opponents. I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of play another time.

I am particularly excited about this Recommendation of the Week: The Chess Journeys podcast recently interviewed Julia Rios. What a revelation! She is a chess lover on the verge of receiving a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan, and she co-hosts a podcast, Chessfeels, with a charming chess teacher named JJ Lang. In each episode, Julia brings her professional training to bear on the issues faced by adult chess improvers and even high-level players, thus filling a huge hole in the chess podcast universe.

Get a Training Partner–Why and How

Get a Training Partner–Why and How

Published by Dawn on May 15, 2022

Earlier I wrote of the importance of getting a chess teacher, but finding a peer with whom you can play regularly is also crucial. I say “training partner,” because that is the language I have seen online, but whether you are training for a tournament or not, it will really help your game–and probably your morale–if you are able to have a regular chess date with someone as close to your own skill level as possible.

How to find such a person? It could be easy if you have a local chess club that is meeting regularly in person, but because we are still living in the shadow of the pandemic, I will assume that that is not an option. Sadly, my former local club, numbering more than 350 members, was recently deleted from Meetup after its organizer resigned and no one stepped forward to assume the reins.

Online, there are several chess communities that have subgroups dedicated to finding training partners. You will find them on Discord, a free platform consisting of servers where communities of like-minded people gather to message one another and even hold Zoom-like meetings. Its interface can be a little forbidding at first, but it is worth the learning curve. The servers with subgroups for seeking training partners include Chess Punks, Chess Dojo, and Chess Goals (search for the name plus Discord; it’s hard to find permalinks for Discord servers). While you’re there, check out their other subgroups, which are great places to congregate and discuss all things chess.

There is a downside to these rich resources, though. In my experience, the people seeking training partners have ratings far out of my range (currently the mid-hundreds). But even if you are like me, sub-1000, I have some suggestions. If you are in a chess class with players near your level, consider whether one of them might make a suitable training partner. If you take private lessons, ask your teacher. She may know someone and/or be willing to ask around for you.

I had the great good fortune of finding the perfect training partner through an online class I take. She and I play weekly, despite a five-hour time difference. After every game we open the lichess analyzer and cheerfully examine our many blunders. Recently I realized that I feel much more relaxed playing with her than with anyone else, and I wondered why. The feeling is understandable–she has become a friend, and we are close in level and take group classes and private lessons from the same teacher. But it is more than that, I thought. I finally realized that these are the only chess games that I play without a time control, except for some at home. Class and lesson games must have a tight time control, of course, but that adds a huge extra pressure, which for the beginner can be the final straw. I recently heard on a podcast that you can learn chess best in games with classical time controls (defined variously, but usually meaning at least 60 minutes per player). I agree. If you are going to learn to exercise the analytic skills chess requires–assessing your position for dangers and possibilities both after your opponent moves and before you make the move you are contemplating–you need as much time as possible, especially as a chess newbie.

If you can’t find a regular partner, or even if you have one but want to play more games, you will have to brave the Wild West of chess and play with strangers on chess.com, lichess, and elsewhere. I have had plenty of adventures out there, which I will relate next time.

Recommendation of the Week: When you’ve had your fill of chess books but still want to read something that will help your game, take a look at the five non-chess books recommended by Chess Goals, a great site that helps you attain them.

Chess and the Mind

Chess and the Mind

Published by Dawn on May 8, 2022

I wrote jauntily in my last post about losing all the games I played in my first tournament. But the fact is that absorbing day-to-day chess losses with good humor can be more of a challenge. Getting better about losing is as important a goal for me as getting better at winning.

When I began investigating the topic, I soon found that I was not alone in having difficulty coping with chess losses. Exploring the forums of chess.com and lichess.org, I found many novices who shared my distress when they lost and were plaintively appealing for help. Someone, somewhere, recommended that such people read the last chapter of Jeremy Silman’s The Amateur’s Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery. This is one of the many books I had acquired in my beginner’s enthusiasm. But I had set it aside without reading when I saw it on Ben Johnson’s list of recommended chess books. He helpfully specifies what rating ranges will get the most out of which books, and he suggests The Amateur’s Mind for people with ratings of 1000-1300. I am firmly situated in the three-digit range and expect to remain there for the foreseeable future. But that chapter was cited in the course of my informal research, and it had the spot-on title of “Developing Mental Toughness,” so I took a look.

I don’t know exactly what I expected. But what I discovered were descriptions that, if you removed the chessboard diagrams and accompanying strings of move notation, could have come directly from a book describing the kind of negative thoughts that accompany depression. All too familiar phrases, including “the unfortunate spiral into the abyss,” “a negative, defeatist attitude,” and “a deep sense of hopelessness,” jumped off the page at this reader. Analyzing one game, Silman writes of a player: “All his thoughts smacked of defeatism because Black only concentrated on the negative qualities of his position,” a sentence that could easily have come from a case study of a despondent person surnamed Black.

While Silman’s diagnoses match descriptions of depression and its attendant distorted thoughts, his prescriptions (“tips”) are, for the most part, chess-specific. However, many correlate easily with cognitive therapy strategies such as identifying inaccurate or negative thinking and reframing it. His admonition not to give up by resigning is easily translatable to life as well.

These correlations between depression and thoughts about one’s chess performance are both alarming and inspiring. Alarming because one wonders whether depressed people or people with depressive tendencies should even play chess given these psychological dangers, and inspiring because it is yet one more way that chess can be a vehicle for improving one’s play in the game of life. I will explore both ideas in a future post.

My First Tournament

My First Tournament

Published by Dawn on May 1, 2022

In the short time that I have been playing chess, I have been wanting to play in a tournament. I don’t really know why, except that I like to go all the way when I do things. I have also wanted a rating, and tournaments can be a way to get one.

It’s pretty silly for a beginner to want a rating, of course, because any rating at this stage will be very low and thus likely discouraging. Still, a rating can be a way to measure your progress.

Besides, given my interest in women and chess, I couldn’t resist when I saw that the Chesskid USA Girls and Women’s Chess Championship 2022 was being held online on April 16. I didn’t expect to win any games, but the early bird registration fee was low, and so I signed up. I was happy to learn that there would be a “warmup” one week before the tournament. Perfect, I thought. The tournament itself might be brutal–my teacher did not contradict me when I said that I had no expectation of winning and said that she had lost all her games in her first tournament –but a warmup seemed unintimidating. Until I signed in and found out that it consisted of six games timed at five minutes each!

I will set aside the topic of speed chess vs. classical (slow) chess as one that could occupy several blog posts, but suffice it to say that the fastest game I had played up to that point was ten minutes. I played those six five-minute games and lost them all. One thing I learned from them is that five minutes is not zero minutes, even though it sounds like that to the inexperienced. Some kind of chess could be played; checkmates could result. Thus I went into the tournament proper with a feeling of relief that the games would be a leisurely fifteen minutes.

As the tournament was about to begin, I saw that the women’s division had only 12 participants; (happily, there were ten times as many playing in the girls’ divisions). I was very nervous during the first game, partly because my opponent made her moves quickly, but I calmed down after that and had one or two moments when I thought I was playing well, until I was checkmated from an unexpected direction. As expected, I lost all of my games. But when the tournament ended, I didn’t feel too bad, even when I saw the screen with rankings and ratings showing me in 12th place with a rating of 100, the lowest possible. I had played six chess games in a row, something that I hadn’t thought my brain was even capable of doing. The tournament was streamed, which gave me a kind of rock star feeling, and even though the girls’ games received most of the coverage, my poor husband watched all three hours and twenty-two minutes. He said that when one of my games showed up, the 12-year-old commentator, Alice Lee (a FIDE Master and Woman International Master), observed that my position was weak. Afterward, I reviewed a computer analysis of the games and found that all six games were not one continuous blunder, as it had seemed in my memory. Like Tolstoy’s unhappy families, each of my games had been lost in its own way.

Recommendation of the Week: For the second week in a row, I want to cite an episode of Daniel Lona’s Chess Experience podcast. This time it is his interview of FIDE Master and founder of the Charlotte Chess Center Peter Giannatos, on the topic of “The Common Mistakes Made by Adult Improvers (and How to Fix Them).” Several times I felt that Peter was talking directly to me. Check it out; maybe you will feel that way, too.