David's Chess Journey - Installment 28

Dojo Progress

Here is my progress from this week. A bit lighter than usual because of my annual golf pilgrimage, but still got in some chess this week.

Yearly Golf Pilgrimage and Reflections on the Commonality Between Golf and Chess

This past week was my yearly golf pilgrimage. I played 205 holes in 5 days (not evenly divided by 18 holes because we played extra holes until it was dark or time for a late dinner several days), so not a ton of time for chess. It was mainly 10 Polgar puzzles a day and some Winning Chess Strategies study.

Here is a picture of a sunset on the 52nd hole during the 4th day of the pilgrimage, closing out 12 hours of golf that day:

These days I only play golf once a year during this pilgrimage, but golf was how I spent most my time from 5th grade through college. I didn't know about chess during those years, but I can't help but think about chess now when I play. During this year's pilgrimage, I saw the following similarities between the games:

• Both games are merciless. There is very little room for error and no one to blame for a bad shot/move/game.
• Both games require a high degree of mental strength and resilience.
• Both games are heavily influenced by chance.
• There are countless positions/moves/shots in both games and you rarely have the exact same position in both.
• Knowledge of the game does not necessarily translate into skill.
• Both games are high maintenance. If you fail to work on your game consistently, your chances of success are quite low.
• Both games are divided into three phases. In golf, there is the tee shot, the approach (except for par 3s) and the short game (pitching/putting). The tee shot correlates to the opening. How you hit the tee shot dictates the balance of the hole. The approach correlates to the middle game. Strategy is most present in this stage of the game. The short game correlates to the endgame. There is not a 1:1 correlation, but the similarities are pretty nuanced and it would be very interesting to reflect on them further.
• Both games have the potential to bring people together that ordinarily would not spend time together. Other than my dad and uncle, I wouldn't spend time with anyone on this past trip. But, as it was, I spent all day for 5 days with this group of people and it is definitely a bonding experience. At the last dinner, we laughed and told stories for 2 hours. Like fishing tales, not all of them were 100% grounded in truth:)
• Both games are demanding from a time perspective.
• Like tactical patterns in chess, there are certain shots that every serious golfer has to be able to make.
• Having a coach to show you the right way to think/play instead of trying to figure it out for yourself is most often the best path. Otherwise, most people have to try to unlearn bad habits before they can move forward and improve. Watching some of the people on this trip who took up the game later in life when they are less willing to learn from others drove this lesson home for me.

There is much more to explore here, but I enjoyed reflecting on the commonality between the two games that have played a big role in my life (golf historically and chess presently).

Winning Chess Strategies

I have been enjoying Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Strategies. He is an entertaining writer and helpfully communicates basic strategic concepts. That said, I have found the tests to be quite challenging with the answers coughed in a way that makes me feel a bit stupid when I get it wrong. I'm somewhat sympathetic as it would be very hard for Yassar to truly understand someone at my level.

Here are some great quotes so far:

• "At the root of chess is a battle of minds. Chess is a reflection of life, requiring determination to compete and a desire to win. To succeed, you must become clever. Will power alone is not enough. You have to use your brain. You must think. And you must train yourself to think in different ways."
• "Players beat other players because they are outthinking his opponent. The secret weapon behind those victories is strategy."
• "Max Euwe put it best when he said, 'Strategy requires thought; tactics requires observation.' He meant that a strategic plan is created by combining positional features involving material, space, piece mobility and pawn structure over a long span of moves, whereas a tactic is not so much a creation as an observation that can be implemented to take advantage of a short-term opportunity."
• "Strategy is the purposeful pursuit of a simple goal: to gain an advantage of some sort over your opponent."
• "Real skill in chess comes when you can determine whose advantages are more real-which positive features will eventually rise up in triumph."
• "It is the complex, intricate battle between players who are constantly trading their existing advantages for new ones that makes chess such a rewarding game."
• "It stands to reason that a group of ten well-training warriors will defeat an equally skilled group of nine. This fact is so obvious that I have to wonder why more players don’t make better use of their material. Instead, less-experienced players often win a piece in the opening and then attack madly with only two or three men, leaving the rest of their army to meditate on its fate back at home. The usual result of such folly? In a high-level tournament, any plyer who charged ahead in this way would be eaten alive! How can you expect to succeed by crossing the center of the board into enemy territory and attacking a force of seven or eight pieces and countless pawns with only three pieces?"
• "After winning material, don’t immediately attack your opponent. Instead, quietly consolidate your position by developing all your forces and getting your King to safety. Only when everything is protected and your army is fully mobilized should you start marching up the board. At that point, you can afford to trade pieces because if you go into an endgame with extra wood, you will usually win. And if your opponent doesn’t want to trade, your superior forces will wipe him out in different ways. In summary: Be patient and get your stuff out!"
• "One of the advantages of a material advantage is that it gives you great defensive diversity; you can sacrifice some wood defensively and still come out ahead in the end. Remember this:
  A material advantage is a bit like ballast in a hot air balloon. If you start sinking, you can throw some of it over the side to stop your descent."
• "One of the clearest advantages you can have in chess is to win the opponent’s pawns or pieces. But there is a risk! As you’re grabbing material, you’re not developing. Winning material is fine, if you can catch up to your opponent’s level of mobilization."
• "Having seen the Black threat, if all White thinks about is defense, he will lose the game. Instead, after noting the threat, he should look at his own advantages and try to combine an aggressive plan of action that makes use of his pluses with a defensive scheme."
• "Avoid overconfidence and never play quick moves. Remember: The game is not over until your opponent either resigns or achieves a checkmate."
• "At times you may think you have a clear advantage, and then the sudden appearance of a tactic will force you to reassess the situation. When these nasty situations arise, you must keep your head clear and go into damage-control mode."
• "Don’t try to make it exciting. Try to make it safe and easy."

This Week's Lichess4545 Game

Another tough loss in my first Lichess4545 season against a stronger player. I'm 0-2 at this point. Bleeding points at this point, but really enjoying the team aspect. As I highlight in the notes, my team helped me find a nice line in the Vienna Gambit that had me a bit better out of the opening. The game started 10 moves in theory that I had prepared, which is a first for me. Being able to prepare for opponents and having a team of stronger players has been a great experience.

Until the next update!