David's Chess Journey - Installment 21

Huge Chess Milestone

For those of you who have been reading the blog or heard the episode of Perpetual Chess where I had the great opportunity to co-host, you have heard of my friend Dan who got me into chess. He is a much stronger player than I am and even won the Colorado state chess championship in his rating band. We have played countless games over these past two years I have been playing and I have never beat him. Well, that changed this week.

He just bought an amazing DGT chess board and I was playing the Black pieces. As you can see from the game below, he didn't play his strongest game and blundered a piece. But, I was able to convert the advantage, which I have not been able to do at this point. He fought hard to the end, but I was able to pull out a win with Black. This is my most significant chess milestone to date. Like the classy guy he is, Dan took the loss with class and then crushed me with Black the next game:)

How to Deal with Significant Point Losses

This week I was posed to cross 1500 Lichess rapid again. I was 1491 and feeling good about my game. Then it happened. loss after loss after loss. I suddenly found my myself at around 1420 wondering where in the world those 70 points went! While discouraging, a significant loss trend can serve as a good time to pivot and reboot.

The pull of a results oriented mindset is strong, particularly in the context of chess where a number tempts to define you at every moment. But, pushing against that pull and swimming against the stream is worth it. Results are outside of all of our control. But, effort and mindset are not. For example, I won two games on the train ride to work this morning. But, both my opponents in those games blundered their Queen. I was playing fine, but nothing to write home about. On the contrary, I've lost classical time control games where I played as well as a could with a 94% accuracy. Objectively, I should feel better about a 94% accuracy loss than a win where my opponent blundered their Queen. The reality is though, that is not how things naturally work out. It takes real effort to reframe chess into a growth journey rather than a results-driven pursuit. The effort is worth it.

Beginner Tips

For those of you who missed it, my "Beginner Tips" segment started with Installment 19, where I talked about 6 Beginner Tips:

• Fun Should Be Your First Priority
• Get a Coach
• Don't Buy Opening Courses
• Play a Lot of Rapid Games and Use the "Learn From Your Mistakes" Function After Each Game
• Find/Create a Community
• Work on Tactics.

In Installment 20 I covered 6 more Beginner Tips

• Don't Play OTB Tournaments (Yet)
• Take a Long View
• Establish a Pre-Move Routine and Stick to It
• Work on Your Mental Game
• Check Out Chess Dojo
• Play Every Day.

Here are some new Beginner Tips for this week:

1. Enjoy Chess Culture and History.

One of the things that drew me into chess and has fueled my love for the game is Ben Johnson's great podcast Perpetual Chess. By listening to hours and hours of Ben interviewing some of the best players and adult improvers, working through classic chess books and covering some of the most significant tournaments, I realized that chess is more than moving pieces on a board. It is an entire world, traversing culture, language and time. That world captivated me. More than learning a game, I was losing myself into a story that has been unfolding for hundreds of years.

I still listen to every Perpetual Chess podcast. It is a highlight of my commute and continues to draw me into the larger chess narrative and culture. I think this is something unique about chess and is very important for a beginner to understand and experience. So, if you haven't checked out Perpetual Chess and the many other amazing chess podcasts out there, give it a try!

2. Don't Take Principles Too Far.

If you are an adult improver, you will likely be tempted to apply the general principles in chess beyond their intended scope. The funny example of this tendency is blundering a Queen to avoid doubled pawns. General principles are just that - general principles. They are only true or good based on the position. Of course, we beginners don't know intuitively if the position calls for the application of the general principle or the application of some other general principle, or no general principle at all. That sort of intuition is built over years of playing, studying and growing. But, be warned. Don't take general principles more than generally.

3. Fight Passivity.

If you are an adult improver, chances are you will tend towards passivity in your game. You will want to play slow moves, keep things safe and not take risks. This is something that has to be fought against with all vigor. With every move, look for forcing moves first. Is there a check? Is there a capture? Is there a threat? Only then consider slow/passive moves. Not only is that better chess, it is more enjoyable once you get into the practice!

4. Work Through Some Beginner Books.

I would again point you to the Chess Dojo as they have targeted training programs for every level, including books for each level. Here are my favorite four books for beginners:

1. Logical Chess Move By Move (https://www.amazon.com/Logical-Chess-Every-Explained-Algebraic/dp/0713484640)

Chernev is absolutely fantastic at explaining chess in a way that beginners can understand. This book was a huge help to me and is fun to read. If you have a goal of doing a game a day, you can make some real progress as a beginner and make it through the book in a reasonable amount of time.

2. Everyone's First Chess Workbook (https://www.amazon.com/Everyones-First-Chess-Workbook-Fundamental/dp/9056919881)

Giannatos does a fantastic job with this book. He covers concepts that every beginner needs to know in ways that really help drive the concepts and ideas home.

3. A First Book of Morphy (https://www.amazon.com/First-Book-Morphy-Frisco-Rosario/dp/1412039061)

While some people may disagree with me on this one, I think this book is fantastic because it explains and illustrates Fine's 30 principles, which I think every beginner should know. Of course, a beginner will not follow all the variations in the book, but the games are fun to follow and the principles (with the caveat of general principles are just general principles) are really helpful to think about and try to apply in your games.

There are countless other great books for beginners, but if you make it through these three as a beginner in a thoughtful manner, you will definitely improve.

Until the next installment!