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| The Stubborn Legend - Sammy Reshevsky |
This is one of the most overlooked principles in chess. It’s easy to stress the importance of aggressive chess psychology,
however the world is not a perfect place and never will be. No human
chess player in the history of the game has been able to play a
perfectly 100% of the time, which means even the greatest chess players
have been forced to defend difficult positions. And the strength of your
chess psychology will dictate how you perform in these critical
moments. If you are mentally unprepared and weak, there is a very good
chance you will fall apart and lose as soon as things start looking bad.
Chess tournaments should not be played according to grandiose goals or
expectations – they should be broken down into the smallest individual
segments possible, basing your decisions on a game-game and then more
specifically on a move-move basis. If the big picture tournament
scenario is pessimistic, this should have no bearing on your play in one
individual game. Breaking down a chess tournament into a single game,
and then into a single move will enable you to focus exclusively on the
only thing that actually matters – the position directly in front of
you. 7-time US Chess Champion GM Samuel Reshevsky described his own
style as:
My strength consists of a
fighting spirit, a great desire to win, and a stubborn defense whenever
in trouble. I rarely become discouraged in an inferior situation, and I
fear no one”
It’s Not Over Until You Shake On It!
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| GM Pal Benko Played Fighting Chess |
The sheer power of the stubborn defense in chess never ceases to amaze
me. I’ve witnessed countless games where a player had worked extremely
hard in the opening and middlegame
to achieve a very big advantage, only to see the game equalized in a
very short sequence of moves thanks to his opponent’s hard-headed and
attentive defense. Being able to keep your cool under pressure is a key
ingredient to becoming a better chess player, as even the world’s
greatest chess players find themselves in worse positions. Past mistakes
mean nothing, the only thing to focus on is the position in front of
you and how you are going to push your opponent back to achieve some
counterplay. The moment you give up on a position and condemn yourself,
you might as well shake hands and leave because the game is over.
Maintaining an impenetrable mental resistance in a tough position is the
mark of the veteran chess player, impervious to previous mistakes and
only focused on minimizing the damage.
When you defend, try not to worry or become upset. Keep your cool and trust your position – it’s all you’ve got” – Pal Benko
A Half Point is A Lot Better Than NO Point!
This seems like common sense, although this very basic piece of
wisdom is easy to forget when you’ve been playing a 4-hour game and
you’re facing another hour or two of difficult defense. The easy way out
of this situation is to give up in your head, make a few bad moves,
lose the game, and tell all your friends how lucky your opponent got.
That you had him on the ropes, and he is the luckiest guy to ever touch
the pieces. But let’s keep it real. If you had dug deep in that critical
time – if you had looked your opponent in the eye and thought “I’m
going to make you earn every inch” you know deep down that you could
very well have drawn that game. Difficult positions are never fun to
play, but they do happen a lot. So get used to it, and try to make the
most of a bad situation. And in any round, a half point is a lot better
than nothing.
However hopeless the situation appears
to be there yet always exists the possibility of putting up a stubborn
resistance” – GM Paul Keres
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