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David's Chess Journey - Installment 43

Update on Study Plan, Chances of Becoming a GM, Simple Chess Insights, Learning to Enjoy Losing and Thoughts on Being Cancelled by Chess Dojo

Update on Study Plan

I have not been able to check every item off the plan every day, but I have been able to play, do Chess Tempo and the Aim Chess daily workout every day this week. I really like the Aim Chess workout and am getting more and more of a fan of tactics on Chess Tempo. Great tools. I'm still losing most of my games, even with reducing the range to 0-+250, with a great degree of variance. Some games I play quite well, other games it is like I've never played chess before. What baffles me the most is when I know I shouldn't make a move and I still make it. There are some deep seeded issues that haunt me at the board.

But, I keep moving forward with a long-term perspective and try not to get discouraged with my current (and now long lasting) losing streak. Why do I love this game so much?

Chances of Becoming a GM

I told ChatGPT all my characteristics and chess story and then asked it what my chances were for becoming a Grandmaster. It's response is not going to be a surprise to anyone who knows anything about chess. ChatGPT gave me a 0.01%-0.05% chance of becoming a Grandmaster. I think that is pretty charitable:)

Speaking of charitable, ChatGPT have me a 15-25% chance of becoming a National Master. That was surprising and I think significantly off. It did give me a 50%-70% chance of reaching 2000 Lichess Rapid or Lichess Classical, which are my actual long-term goals. ChatGPT said I could potentially get there in 2 years. So, we will see if the LLM is right:) An interesting exercise for sure, and a bit of humor if nothing else:)

Simple Chess Insights

The world of what I don't understand about chess is vast. This means I have the great opportunity of learning more than most. Here are some helpful insights from working through Stean this week:

This one really struck me:

"The most important single feature of a chess position is the activity of the pieces. . . . .The primary constraint on a piece's activity is the pawn structure. Just as a building is constructed around a framework of iron girders, a chess game is built around an underlying structure of pawns. The difference lies in the fact that the iron framework is fixed, whereas a chess player has a certain amount of flexibility with his Pawns. The job of the chess player must therefore be to use his skill to create a Pawn set-up which will allow his own pieces the optimum freedom and stability, while denying his opponent's similar scope. This is the problem of structure, . . ."

This is very different than the way I have thought about chess to this point, so excited to see where this insight leads me.

"Just as the outcome of a real battle may depend on control of a high point or mountain dominating the surrounding terrain, a chess game can hinge around the struggle for control of one key square."

I have heard this concept before, but I just thought that Stean put it so well here. I definitely don't think about my games like this. I still struggle with thinking about chess as a game of pieces, rather than a game of squares. But, this quote is a good recalibration.

"The moral . . . should be clear: Look after your Pawns and your pieces will look after themselves. To 'look after' one's Pawns is not the most difficult thing in the world, and the next few chapters illustrate how this can be done and how the pieces can be made to cooperate with their Pawns."

I have heard that Pawns are the soul of chess, but this way of viewing their strategic importance is striking to me.

Learning to Enjoy Losing Games

This heading is both counterintuitive and intuitive to me at the same time. Given that I lose more games than I win, if I don't enjoy losing games then I will not enjoy a good amount of time that I spend playing chess. I want to enjoy all the time I spend playing chess. So, the logic follows, that I need to somehow learn to enjoy losing games. So, the heading rings true on this level.

At the same time, the heading is counterintuitive. How I can ever enjoy losing at something? And, if I enjoy losing at something, do I have what is necessary to fight for wins and improvement? After all, it seems that you can enjoy playing chess games that you lose without enjoying the actual losing. But, then again, not enjoying that aspect of my chess is still not enjoying an aspect of my chess, and I want to enjoy my entire chess journey.

At this point, it seems that I am just being semantical. But, I think the semantics are important for me. I want to learn to enjoy losing games and much as I enjoy winning games. I'm not sure if it is possible, but for me to enjoy my entire chess journey, I'm going to work on the skill (?).

When engaging AI on this topic and how I can grow in this area, I really liked the following insight that was explored:

  • See Your Opponent as a Teacher: Instead of seeing the person across the board as an adversary to conquer, see them as a teacher. They expose your weaknesses, show you ideas you hadn’t considered, and bring out new elements of your game. When you lose, thank your opponent (even silently in your mind) for showing you a new perspective.
  • Learn to Admire Your Opponent's Strength: Allow yourself to feel genuine admiration for the way your opponent plays. If they surprise you with a strong move or execute a brilliant tactic, appreciate it for its beauty. This makes the process of losing more about witnessing someone else’s skill than about your own perceived failures.

I Was Cancelled by Chess Dojo

For folks who have been following along the fun, you know that Chess Dojo has been a huge part of my journey. I firmly believe it is the best study program out there by miles. Given my advocacy, I was somewhat surprised to receive this email below cancelling my training program. I have nothing but love for the Dojo, but I thought given the cancel culture discussions, me being cancelled from the Dojo would be a good and humorous way to end this week's installment:) I knew my play has been on a bad trajectory, but I didn't know it was this bad!