A 2700+ GM once mentioned to me that he often loses interest in the tournament after 5 or 6 rounds. This phenomenon is well-known to many of us. What are the reasons, and how do we make sure we perform well in the last few rounds of the tournament? 

As you probably know already, after five draws, Game 6 became pivotal in the recent World Chess Championship match in Dubai. Magnus Carlsen won a breathtaking marathon battle spanning a record 136 moves, after which Ian Nepomniachtchi collapsed and scored only one point in the following five rounds. 

After adding the fifth World Chess Champion title to his collection, Magnus is smiling like a boss. Image by Niki Riga from the official site of the match.

For a more detailed report about the World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, please check out the Magnus Trainer app. 

First of all, during a tournament, you should always be feeling “hungry” for chess. This is typically ensured by taking a proper break between your studies and the following competition or between two events. In other words, if you get fed up with chess due to overworking or playing too much, your performance is likely to drop. This topic has been briefly touched upon in our last week’s blog post. 

In contrast to this tip, Nepo played two exhausting training matches against former Challenger Sergey Karjakin before this year’s WCC. Unsurprisingly, at the very start of the match, Ian already looked tired and weary. 

Secondly, monitor your health and wellbeing. While non-chess-playing individuals often ridicule the concept of chess being a sport, any competitive player will tell you how demanding the game is in the physical sense. The effects of having to sit and keep concentration for a few hours a day are often multiplied by the necessity to travel to the venue, to sleep and eat in an unfamiliar environment, by falling ill, etc. Summarizing, one should be fit and healthy to play well.

Comparing Ian and Magnus in this department, Magnus has a distinct advantage overall. 

Even though Magnus has had some hiccups in his career, his nervous system seems to be much stronger than Ian’s. 

Ian lost a lot of weight and worked on his physical shape a lot before the match. However, Magnus has been doing this for years and is generally believed to be fitter than his ex-Challenger. 

I don’t know for sure what the sleep schedule of the players is like. From what I have heard and read, Magnus occasionally broke the schedule and stayed up very late in his childhood, but in general, his parents have explained to him the benefits of following a sleep routine. Meanwhile, Nepo makes the impression of someone who can easily stay well past midnight playing computer games and such. Once again, don’t take it for a fact; this is just an assumption. 

Magnus has been known to take nutrition seriously, eat healthily and to bring his own cook to WCC matches. As far as I know, Ian is less “professional” in this sense and lives the life of an average person. 

Thirdly, your psychological state often becomes the main culprit of your chess failure.  

For example, suppose you decide to set yourself certain rating or point goals before the tournament, which is not recommended in most cases. In that case, it is remarkably easy to lose motivation once you understand that the aim is not achievable any longer. 

Generally speaking, few of us can handle a rapid change in the narrative we created for ourselves before the event. Let’s stay you act like a typical action movie hero by visualizing your path to success which involves shredding all your opponents’ pieces to pieces. Well, how do you adjust if you lose the very first game terribly? Or if you shake off the defeat and lose again for some reason? This is a sophisticated subject, and it is hard to give universal advice. I am just saying that for some people having no plan for the event (“just play and enjoy every game!”) could be better than a rigid narrative (“I will win 5 games and draw 4, finishing at 7/9”). 

Speaking for myself, I have had those tournaments where I had high expectations for my performance, planning to harvest a lot of rating points there. If things didn’t go according to plan, I would stubbornly try to force the issue and come back without analyzing what exactly went wrong and why. Quite often, such drastic measures backfire and cause even more painful defeats. Then you realize that meeting your goal is already unrealistic, and your mental shape goes from bad to worse! 

Or, another common situation, something unpleasant might happen in your life and overshadow the importance of playing well. Top GMs have been going through lawsuits, divorces, political campaigns, and other distracting activities while competing in strong events. Obviously, their resulting performances tended to be abysmal. Of course, one can’t be insured against all sorts of hazards, but the rule of thumb is to try to adopt prophylactic thinking in life and chess. It will help you prevent some nuisances or abstain from entering a tournament at the wrong moment. 

Ian’s face says it all during the awards ceremony. Image by Eric Rosen from the official site of the match. 

Only Nepo knows what went wrong with his mindset after the catastrophe suffered in Game 6.

Did he start blaming himself for not winning with Black even though he had decent chances at some point? 

Did he lose confidence in his chess abilities? 

Did fear kick in? Everyone knows how tough it is to beat Magnus, and the challenge is almost insurmountable if you are trailing behind. 

Did he fail to readjust his narrative of how the match will unfold? Maybe he hasn’t worked out in advance what he will do should Magnus take the lead. Or, quite possibly, he and his team did consider this scenario briefly, but in real life, everything turned out to be harder than on paper. 

I guess that Ian should take a good rest and then analyze meticulously what went wrong in his head. This is the only way to fix the issue and to decrease the chance of it haunting him in the future. 

Even though it is next to impossible to provide exact solutions to all the issues mentioned above within one article, I hope that the post gave you some tasty food for thought. Before playing your next tournament, make sure to go through the items mentioned in this article and see if you can improve in some areas. 

Last but not least, we wish you a fantastic Christmas! Stay healthy, have fun with your family and friends, and don’t forget about chess should you be looking for some special gifts! 

How does one ensure a top-notch performance from the first round to the very last? Let’s explore this topic and use the Carlsen – Nepomniachtchi WCC match as a reference point! 

How to Avoid Getting Burned Out During a Chess Event

Many of us enjoy reading books or listening to lectures & motivational speeches given by eminent individuals who have attained international recognition in their fields of expertise. This process of fishing for the right "secrets of success" is an inherent part of human nature. Chess players are no exception to this rule.

My soft spot in this regard is not unique: I like to pay special attention to interesting anecdotes and facts from the life of the top chess players and subconsciously make comparisons between myself and them. This might not be a bad idea if you want to become a chess journalist or occasionally win a trivia by answering correctly who came first in Zurich 1953 and other tricky chess questions. However, I have met a few chess experts who played chess very poorly, while many modern GMs sometimes amaze me with their illiteracy in chess history. Playing and studying the games is usually more productive for someone who wants to improve than reading amusing stories about how one master called a fellow guy a moron.  

Notably, GM Simen Agdestein mentions in his book "Wonderboy Magnus Carlsen" that as a kid, Magnus was much more interested in the games of the world champions than in the opportunity to have a conversation with them. Maybe it was due to his age at that time and to his introverted personality, yet it is still another sign that paying more attention to the players' games is a good idea if you are concerned about improving your chess.  

Moreover, one must keep in mind that all of us are unique. The circumstances are different, and it takes quite some effort to determine which rules of thumb from the past to follow and which to disregard. For instance, let's consider Ian Nepomniachtchi's recent interview and see what he has to say about losing the World Chess Championship match to Magnus Carlsen in a rather dramatic fashion (7.5-3.5). 

Mike: Yeah, we've already asked about that at the post-game press conference, the actual chess. Getting back to your team, you obviously had [GM] Sergey Karjakin on your team; please correct me if I'm wrong if you had [GM] Peter Leko on your team, but both of those players have played for world championships, and I'm sure they tried to describe to you what it was going to be like to be in the tank. Not chess moves, but just that experience. Was there preparation for what it was like to play in the tank? Was it what you expected, or was it somehow different?

Ian: Well, I would say that Sergey joined somewhat last minute, so basically for the last month and it was mainly about some training, which probably, as it seems right now, were too intense and maybe not too well-timed because normally you'd probably have some break so you can play some blitz or bullet online. But if you try to play some serious or semi-serious games, not like blitz, just for training purposes, there's also a limit. You shouldn't be swallowed into this whole topic.

Indeed, it was quite instructive to speak with Peter and speak with Sergey about their world championship match experiences, but I understood after the match had started, that every match is unique. You can even imagine yourself in someone's shoes but at the same time the opponent can be different, and even if it's the same person, that person can play completely different chess with a completely different attitude.

Some general advice is not to pay too much attention to what people say, don't get too busy with some social media, and so on, but these are just general words. I asked a few questions, I asked [GM] Vladimir Kramnik [for] his thoughts. Sadly, we couldn't work together this time, but maybe sometime in the future. Of course, a lot of guys gave me a lot of advice, some of them had world championship match experience, some of them not. Perhaps today I would say that maybe it was a little bit too much, you know, trying to do your thing correctly according to all of this information you get because once again, every tournament is more or less unique and especially every match is unique and you have to prepare for your own situation. It was a bit of an unfortunate decision to try to build your preparation onto the experience of other people...

As you can see, Ian did his homework by talking to some people who have had experience playing World Chess Championship matches, hoping to discover some secrets that would help him perform better against Carlsen. However, according to Nepo, the decision to follow into the footsteps of others was not particularly beneficial for him. The "every match is unique" reminds me of a recent monologue by Vladimir Kramnik that he gave on the Levitov Chess YouTube channel. He lamented that, despite being experienced already, everything that could go wrong went wrong for him during the match against Anand in 2008, while in his very first match against Garry Kasparov in 2000 everything proceeded smoothly. In other words, if our own experience sometimes doesn't prove to be useful, then how can we expect someone else's experience to carry us through?

The one and only official chess game between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Shipov took place in 2006. 

For objectivity's sake, I don't want to create an impression that you should totally disregard the collective chess wisdom. For comparison, here is what GM Sergey Shipov, a well-known chess commentator and ex-coach of Ian Nepomniachtchi & Carlsen's second Daniil Dubov, posted in the Crestbook VK group:

Yesterday during the press conference, Ian pointed out that he might have over-trained before the match when commenting on the possible reasons for his loss.

Well, it happens. Grandpa [Mikhail] Botvinnik was not wrong on everything 😊

For instance, he recommended not to touch the chessboard for two weeks before an important tournament to which you are preparing in advance. Sleep, food, walks, physical workouts, and as little chess as possible! As a result, you preserve your passion for chess and are able to play with pleasure and at full force. Also, this way, it is easier to maintain focus and not blunder like Ian did. 

I believe that in our days the two weeks distance is excessive. One may as well shorten the chess "quarantine" to one week. And to throw some simple chess tactics into the mix – both for entertainment and for feeling better. 

Magnus seems to follow this routine, adding light-spirited blitz matches against relatively weak opponents to it. Sometimes he whitewashes an opponent and sleeps well afterward! 😉 Well, for all the future rivals of the World Chess Champion, the failure of the Challenger is going to become an instructive case study. Maybe for Ian himself as well…

Here we can see Shipov fall back on a classical tip dating back to the days of the hegemony of Soviet chess and adapt it slightly to meet the challenges of the modern age.  

Frankly speaking, I was shocked when I heard how many training games Nepo and Karjakin have played right before the match. Even before I discovered that, I looked at Nepo during the opening ceremony and told my friends that he conveys an impression of an exhausted person who has already played a match or two. My prediction was that his relatively poor physical form would haunt him in the second half of the match, as it often happens to Nepo, and will result in a loss in 14 games or sooner. 

It turns out I was spot on; Nepo did conduct two rigorous sparring matches against Karjakin and eventually lost the match against Carlsen. Admittedly, having said what I said earlier, I didn't expect it to go THAT badly for him! As an outsider, one can only wonder why a Challenger would commit 
 "every Russian schoolboy knows" mistakes and later comment on them as if he has learned something new for himself. Still, it is probably not that straightforward if Ian and his experienced team of GM coaches chose the path that they did.

Summarizing, for mere mortals resorting to analogies and walking in the footsteps of others is a useful strategy. Still, it must be applied with caution and tweaked depending on the circumstances. When talking about breakthrough moments, you often have to be an innovator to excel; simply following well-known recipes won't cut it. I guess this is one of the explanations why Ian failed: he tried to take on the role of a trendsetter but collapsed under the superhuman pressure of the match in general and Magnus "the alien" Carlsen in particular. 

Wondering how tough it was for Nepo to face Magnus over the board? Download Play Magnus and get a feel of how unforgiving the reigning World Chess Champion is!

Is reading the biographies of top chess players a must-do for a chess improver or an entertaining way to waste your time?

Is Reading the Biographies of Top Players a Waste of Time?

Anyone who has been part of the chess community for long enough knows that quite a few chess players are superstitious. How large is the number, however?

Here are the results of a poll conducted at Pogonina.com regarding mascots:

As you can see, almost half of the respondents have a mascot, and about 6% used to have one in the past. Please note that this only concerns mascots, whereas many other superstitions are popular among chess aficionados! Let's review some of the most prevalent ones.

Quite a few chess players use the same "lucky" pen for every round. 

Another widespread approach is to wear the same clothes as long as things go well and change the outfit once you lose. Therefore, when you see a chess player in a greasy sweater, it may be due to this superstition! Alternatively, some players sport chess-themed clothes, probably also hoping that it will boost their results. Former Women's Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk is one of the fashion icons in this sense. 

Here is another remarkable outfit, this time by GM David Navara:

Also, a lot of players bring special mascots to the tournament. For instance, in her junior years, Judit Polgar (whose Zodiac sign is Leo) used to carry a statue of a lion with her wherever she went. If you ever got a chance to play against Judit Polgar, Age 9, in the Play Magnus app, you would surely know this interesting fact!

Or, another related example, Teimour Radjabov revealed during his room tour in Moscow that he carries a statue of Napoleon with him when traveling. 

Similar to wearing the same clothes, many chess players choose not to shave their beards/mustache until they lose. For instance, in the World Cup in 2021, Sam Shankland progressed to the ¼-finals, where he was eliminated by former Candidate Sergey Karjakin, without shaving. 

There are plenty of examples of this type; it is one of the most popular superstitions among male chess players. 

A prime example in this category is the legendary Garry Kasparov. Born on April 13, he became the 13th World Chess Champion in 1985 (8+5=13). Throughout his entire chess career, he believed 13 to be his lucky magic number. 

Also, he was notoriously serious about thinking that the age gap between him and Karpov (12 years) and him and Kramnik (also 12 years) was a sign from above. According to this theory, the next World Chess Champion was supposed to be born in 1987. When Teimour Radjabov, who was born in that exact year, defeated Garry Kasparov in Linares with Black in 2003 and received the best game award, Garry was mad about the judges' decision. At that time, the prospects of Radja becoming the next WC were widely discussed in the chess community. However, as you probably know, the next Challenger will be Ian Nepomniachtchi, while the hottest guy on the block is 18-year old Firouzja Alireza, who recently became #2 on the live ratings, crossing the 2800 mark. Still, Radjabov is expected to compete in the following Candidates, so we shouldn't write him off yet. 

In this video, Magnus Carlsen addressed another popular chess superstition – the birthday curse. Since many pros have to play tournament games on their birthdays, there is a certain notion that more often than not, it results in suffering losses. Quite often, the players feel low when they approach their birthday eve, and their thoughts wander elsewhere, so it is hard to focus on chess. However, when on his birthday Magnus Carlsen convincingly won the playoff against Sergey Karjakin in New York in 2016, he waived this superstition off:

In chess, it is said that you should not play chess on your birthday; that it's bad luck. So far, I have yet to experience that.

Let's hope that these words won't become prophetic and bite him since on November 30, 2021 Carlsen will be playing Game 4 of the World Chess Championship match. Unless you are rooting for Ian Nepomniachtchi, of course! 

This item stands out from the line a bit. Let's consider Viktor Kortschnoj, who played two World Chess Championship matches against Anatoly Karpov. Viktor was highly superstitious and genuinely believed that Anatoly Karpov's assistant, a parapsychologist, could hypnotize the former by staring at him from the playing hall. Later Kortschnoj half-seriously lamented that Carlsen must possess hypnotic powers to defeat other Grandmasters so easily in drawn positions. 

Also, Kortschnoj played a correspondence match against the late Geza Maroczy, earnestly believing that such a feat is possible to achieve. 

Numerous articles and even books have been written on this topic. One of the most recent and interesting ones, in my opinion, is this column by GM Genna Sosonko who knew Viktor The Terrible quite well. By the way, it opens with a mention of the fact that Viktor considered 19 to be his unlucky number.

During tournaments, the routine of most chess players reminds the Groundhog Day movie. They eat at the same places, take the same walks, prepare the same way and at the same time, etc. In part, this is similar to having a wardrobe full of identical black t-shirts: you save time and mental energy by not having to make a choice. However, some players stick to their rituals since it is their way to get into the right state of mind for the game and to convince themselves that they will do well, especially if the ritual has worked well in the past. 

Let me share one of my personal secrets. I try to show up for the round earlier than my opponent. Then I take my pen and pretend to fill in the result on the scoresheet. 1-0 if I am playing White or 0-1 if I am Black. From what I have seen, if I manage not to be late and perform this feat without my opponent catching me red-handed, I do win. Just kidding, of course. This is more of a way to shake off the tension for me than something I genuinely believe in. 

Finally, since the Carlsen – Nepo match is about to begin in Dubai, it is quite relevant to hear what Ian Nepomniachtchi has to say on this matter. Let me quote his recent interview for Chess.com:

Are you superstitious? Do you have any lucky items?

I used to be like this, and one of my first coaches told me "ok, it's very normal that you get to play wearing the same shirt if the tournament is going alright, don't change anything in your daily routine." But in general, I have found a lot of arguments for both takes on superstition.

If a tournament is ok, if it's going great, I would say you can do whatever you want. Just don't try to harm the way you work, the way you play, the way you prepare. But if the tournament is bad, it's very likely nothing will help you [laughs]. You can change your clothes 10 times, and change your pants or something, but it would hardly ever have any serious effect. So, in general, you have to be more realistic. Yeah, it's easy to talk like this when you're not involved in any tournament, but during the tournament, it can be very different. Well, let's see what happens.

What is my take on chess superstitions? The fewer things your mood is dependent upon, the better. I've seen people make quite a fuss about forgetting a favorite teddy bear at home or losing a beloved pen. You don't want your confidence level to depend on such things. Better trust in yourself rather than in the magic items or circumstances. 

Are you superstitious when it comes to chess? Let's talk about the most popular chess superstitions and use world-class Grandmasters, such as Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, as role models! 

In the first episode of the series, we touched upon some of the most typical fears that chess players face before and during the game. Also, we discussed how to boost one’s fighting spirit and gain confidence using the guardian method.

Let’s continue delving deeper into the topic and explore other tips that could help you become a fearless chess gladiator!

When I was much younger, I used to check out men’s magazines and websites occasionally. One of the popular subjects there that were brought over and over again was something like “the top-10 best ideas for a first date”. The womanizer columnist would typically recommend going for something creative to impress the potential girlfriend — horse-riding, attending a dance class together, swimming, and so on. In my opinion, the cons of this lifehack may easily outweigh the pros.

For example, let’s consider shy people who have low self-esteem and regard themselves to be “boring” and “not attractive enough.” They may shoot themselves in the foot by adopting the role of macho and trying to act like someone else. They may end up finding horse-riding tedious, a dance class – embarrassing, and if they swim like a rock and are not happy about the way their bodies look, the process could also turn into torture for them. I don’t mind stepping out of one’s comfort zone now and then, but the first date is probably not the right place to do it unless you are specifically banking on this comic effect by making yourself look vulnerable. 

What would my recommendation be then? Remain yourself and act naturally. This tip is especially efficient if you are interested in a long-term relationship because it would be tough for you to keep pretending and playing a role for a long time. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure! That is, it is usually easier to find someone who appreciates your true self than to try to reinvent yourself each time whenever you have a crush on someone. 

When choosing a place for a date, a good idea could be to head to your “domain of power.” That is, a place where you feel like a king; where you perform better than others. Where your eyes shine, and you are genuinely happy and relaxed. When people do what they love and enjoy, they usually look attractive to others. That is, if the former are not self-obsessed and arrogant, of course. 

I dislike generalizations, but chess players, on average, are more of the nerdy/shy type. I remember discussing this subject with one of my friends. Our conversation went along the following lines:

He (smiling self-skeptically): So, you are saying I should take her to a place where I enjoy myself? Let’s say I like playing blitz in the park and trash-talking my opponents. If I take her there, she will probably shake her head and leave, thinking that I am some jerk…

I: Well, the truth is that you probably don’t need ten girlfriends. Let’s say 6 out of 10 won’t go on a date if you suggest this scenario. Three more will consider you a freak and won’t like their boyfriend to be a chess player. However, the 10th one will admire the way you play and appreciate your wicked sense of humor! She will stay with you for hours…and maybe even years! So, if you are a good blitz player, it could definitely be a trump in the sleeve. And this way, you won’t have to quit chess or pretend that this side of your life doesn’t exist!

Oh, wait. This is the Play Magnus blog; I am not writing for a men’s magazine today! So, how are all these dating nuances related to a chess game? The point is, when you lack confidence and feel down, a good idea is to recall your moments of glory when you were on top of the world. Now, if you are one of those people who downplay their achievements and say, “I’ve done nothing special so far,” then I have to point out that everything in life is relative. Maybe you didn’t win the Nobel prize or an Olympic medal, but I am sure there were situations when you got your chance to shine. It could be at school, at the university, at work – anywhere! Just learn to accept compliments and praise and add those blocks to your self-esteem, making it grow. 

Most of us are not professional chess players, so we have to look for these moments of glory elsewhere. For example, I am a world-class public speaker and award-winning debate expert. When I feel drained and weak, I imagine myself walking out on the stage in front of a crowd of people. This is where I am at the pinnacle of power. I can take on any opponent in the world in this state without having any fear. Energy flows throughout my entire body as I close my eyes and visualize this scene. Even though I am not nearly as good at chess as at debate, the inner confidence transfers over and helps me prepare mentally for tough games. If you think about it, you will come up with similar experiences that suit you best. If you were able to achieve all those feats in the past, you might as well perform well in your upcoming chess match! That being said, confidence alone won’t guarantee victory; you still have to play chess well to succeed! 

Speaking of the domain where you feel like a king, I believe one of Magnus Carlsen’s key strengths is that he knows that he is the best chess player in the world. Basically, he doesn’t need to imagine anything. He sits at the board, and that’s where he is most dominant! A similar thing could be said about Kasparov until he caught that mystical, psychological virus about Kramnik being 12 years younger (the age difference between Karpov and Kasparov) and his potential successor. Generally speaking, quite often, legendary champions are first defeated in their own minds, and only then in reality. The “moment of glory” technique is useful for preventing that mental breakdown from happening. 

Later in my career, I started having more success in pivotal games. Maybe this is due to realizing a simple thing: fear was besetting not only me but my opponents as well.

If you have never heard the abovementioned quote, you will probably be surprised since Mikhail Tal has the image of a reckless and fearless berserk who used to go all out at the opponents in every game, taking huge risks. While he was young, he did play that way indeed, but you can see that at a later stage of his life, he had the courage to admit that even back then, he was still haunted by fear when the stakes were high. Therefore, you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself if you lose confidence at the board now and then. 

Remember that famous line from “The Predator” (1987)? “If it bleeds, we can kill it.” The truth is, your opponents are also going through all sorts of troubles and fears. Maybe they are even more exhausted, sick, demotivated, anxious, and afraid than you are! Instead of making a mental list of why you are not in your best shape (basically, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of why exactly you are going to fail), make a similar list for your opponent. Maybe he had a cough? Did he look weary? Did he lose a terrible game, showing that he is in bad form? Did his last game continue for 60+ moves, making him spend a lot of energy and not allowing you to prepare for your match? Maybe he feels uncomfortable in this city due to not being accustomed to such temperature and food? Is he worried about missing out on a GM norm? Perhaps he has helicopter parents who keep pushing him for more, destroying his will to play. The list could go on forever. Obviously, I am not suggesting you spend the whole evening gloating over someone else’s problems. No. Just make a brief check and realize that your opponent probably has at least as many hurdles in front of him as you do. If you are not sure, you can imagine what you need! There are always more things going on behind the scenes than you ever know. 

Are you interested in becoming as confident and fearless over the board as Magnus Carlsen? Let his magic rub off on you by downloading the Magnus Trainer and learning from the reigning World Chess Champion himself! 

What is the connection between planning a perfect first date and preparing for a crucial chess game? You are about to find out soon! 

How To Overcome Your Chess Fears – Part II

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

Even though few people admit it openly, most chess players are haunted by all sorts of fears before and during the game. 

Let's go through a list of the most common issues together. Are any of them familiar to you?

·       Fear of the opponent. "He is much higher-rated than me." "He is much stronger than his rating suggests." "He is a titled player, while I am not." "He is much more experienced." "He is way better prepared and has a great coach." "He has always crushed me before and will probably do it again." 

·       Fear that something will go wrong during the game. "What if I blunder a piece for no apparent reason like I did in the previous round?". "What am I going to do if I forget my preparation?". "What if I run right into his opening trap?". "I've had these heart attacks lately. What if they strike again?". "What if I get into time trouble and self-destruct?"

·       Fear of not achieving the desired result. "What if I miss out on my GM norm?". "My rating is going to suffer if I lose." "If I don't win, I might not earn a prize." "This game could cost me a place on the podium." 

Such gloomy expectations often become self-fulfilling prophecies. I recall an old man telling me after the game: "I am such a blunderer! Today in the morning, I was afraid of blundering at some moment of the game, and there it goes..." Needless to be said, he did blunder rather terribly at some point. Of course, one might claim that he was not a particularly strong player, so mistakes were the norm for him rather than something exceptional. Still, such negative self-programming should definitely be avoided since it increases the chances of failure. 

If you have never encountered such problems in your life, then you may as well shake your head, forget all this gibberish, and move on. However, for most of us, it makes sense to employ specific techniques that could help us let go of our fears before and during the game. 

Having a strong fighting spirit is quite helpful when it comes to competitive chess. For example, my friend and former colleague GM Arkadij Naiditsch is a true fighter – a berserk who goes all out regardless of who he is facing. I believe that one of the factors behind his mindset was his experience in karate. He has the 5th kyū (blue belt) in it. 

To give you a sense of how calm and confident he is, I recall discussing complicated business matters with him. Then at some point, he casually remarks: "Sorry, Peter, I have to leave for my game against Vladimir Kramnik. Will talk to you later in the evening". Then he beats one of the greatest chess players of all time with Black and gets back to work, even though he has an upcoming game against another legend the next day.  

In the 2015 edition of the Grenke Chess Classic, Magnus Carlsen and Arkadij Naiditsch shared first after the classical portion and had to compete in a playoff to determine the winner. This is one of the most nail-biting tie-breaks that I have ever witnessed. You are in for a treat if you have never watched it before! 

Wondering how strong Carlsen was back then? You can always challenge 24-year old Magnus in the Play Magnus app. Spoiler alert: he was rated 2862, so don't be too hard on yourself if you lose! 

Non-martial art experts can also try the "guardian" method. You can either imagine yourself as some sort of hero or pretend that a certain guardian is standing next to you during the game. 

I like picturing myself as a samurai who follows the Hagakure philosophy in the sense of considering bushido to be a "Way of Dying" and being prepared to die at any moment. When you have that sort of cold-bloodedness, fear lets go of you. Miyamoto Musashi's "The Book of Five Rings" has also contributed largely to my development as a chess warrior. 

IM Willy Hendriks recalls a funny story in his excellent book "Move first, think later". An opponent of his found a strong move and admitted after the game that it was due to asking himself what move Kasparov would play in the position. However, Willy has later checked the database and found out that Kasparov had made a different move in that exact situation! Still, this is an interesting example of someone improving his play based on envisioning himself as Garry Kasparov. 

Another famous anecdote that comes to mind is a story told by Mikhail Tal. He played against an amateur who was hypnotized to believe that he was Paul Morphy. According to Tal, the guy was quite confident and played very well for his level in "Morphy form", whereas when they played a normal game (no hypnosis), the amateur quickly fell apart. 

The second approach is also quite simple. If you don't want to turn into a different character for some time, you can instead imagine an imaginary guardian standing next to you and offering support. Just make sure not to start talking to him, or the people around you will be shocked! 

There is no need for mascots and psychoanalysts when the likes of Yoda or Gandalf can come to the rescue when you desperately need aid! It's all in your head. 

Overcoming one's chess fears is a rich subject. We will discuss it in more detail in the episodes to come. 

We featured one of the games from the tie-break mentioned above in the Magnus Trainer lesson called "Trapping a Piece 3 - Naiditsch Traps Carlsen's Knight?".  Now guess what? We have 600+ more lessons there, as well as a few entertaining minigames! Make sure to try the app out if you haven't done so before.  

To begin with, let go of the fear of admitting you have chess fears! 

How to Overcome Your Chess Fears - Part I

Have you checked the first part of the series about why we miss good moves in chess? I do hope that it has helped you somewhat reduce the number of blunders in your games. Still, to err is only human, so you will never be able to eliminate all the mistakes from your play. Anyway, let me share with you a few more tips on what you could do to take your game to the next level. 

Some years ago, I asked GM Arkadij Naiditsch whether it would be better for me to develop my style by studying the games of attacking players or to eliminate my shortcomings by reviewing strategic masterpieces. Being a rather categorical person, he replied: “You are too weak to have a style. Study everything!” That being said, you should take his comment with a grain of salt since, at that time, he seemed to consider all players rated below 2700 to be more or less patzers. Anyway, I would like to point out that our chess weaknesses do lead to poor decisions over the board. 

In a perfect world, we should all be striving to become universal players. However, perfection knows no limits. How do you start? A serious topic that has been hotly debated for years: should you rather focus on developing your strengths or prioritize getting rid of weaknesses? My opinion is that usually, it’s easier and more sensible to improve where you are naturally gifted. However, you will have great returns initially by focusing on what you do poorly. It’s just important not to get overzealous. Let’s say you have no clue about endgames. Spending about 50 hours to familiarize yourself with the most popular 100 theoretical endgames would boost your strength considerably. However, if you are not a fan of the endgame and have no natural feel for it, you may end up spending hundreds of hours going over endgames played by masters without really improving much in that department. And, in contrast, if you are a natural-born attacker who spends the same amount of time on tactics and typical middlegame attacking plans, your rating will grow much faster. 

Speaking about poor decisions caused by stylistic preferences, I have been loyal to the perception of myself as a tactical and witty player for quite a long time, so I used to run like the plague from exchanging queens. I wasn’t confident in my ability to convert a better endgame; didn’t evaluate well enough positions without queens on the board; felt like I would get more chances to win material or checkmate my opponents if the queens stayed. This is a typical chess deficiency, especially at the club level. I have to admit that I still haven’t solved the problem entirely, but having gone through many endings, endgame studies, and typical positions has improved my understanding and knowledge of the final stage of the game. As a result, nowadays, I am more willing to trade queens if it offers me certain benefits.  Amusingly, this has even led to a few situations where I have talked myself into trading queens in positions where it was more lucrative to keep them on the board! 

Feeling sick, being hungry or drowsy, losing concentration, and other similar reasons dramatically influence our tournament performances. Sometimes your mind starts wandering elsewhere and thinking about the next round game, your family relationships, how to spend the evening – anything but chess! Even for chess pros, it is quite tough to maintain a high concentration level throughout the game, especially when not being in the best physical and psychological shapes. Some of the World Chess Championship contenders bring up such reasons for losing the matches as strained family relationships, lawsuits, conflicts within the team, health issues, hypnotizers working for the other guy, etc. Of course, you can waive some of the arguments off as not serious enough or as made-up excuses, but the Grandmasters would probably not agree! 

As you can see, even at the very top level, the outcome of the game is often determined not purely by who is the better player here and now but by many other factors. The more of them are in your favor compared to your opponent, the higher the chance to succeed. Of course, this sounds a bit like the “it’s better to be healthy and rich than sick and poor” tip of advice, but your performance could indeed improve if you honestly assess yourself in non-chess departments and make notes on what can be done better. 

If the twist of events in the game is unfavorable for us, sometimes it is tough to admit it and to adapt to the changes. Many encounters have been lost due to stubbornness and unwillingness to acknowledge the obvious. For example, a person who had a considerable advantage might blunder and keep playing on as if he is still way ahead. Trying to break the laws of chess leads to painful defeats. 

Another common chess sin is losing patience. There are an amazing number of players who can’t handle the tension of playing long games, especially if the position is not to their liking. For example, most amateur players, especially young and impatient ones, have no clue what to do in “boring” endgames or positional struggles. They always try to get something going as soon as possible, even if it comes at the cost of damaging their positions. Older people have another problem: they typically get tired and start feeling like they should finish the game as soon as possible regardless of the result since otherwise they will lose focus at some point and self-destruct. Chess is a cruel sport for them: quite often, elderly players can be seen begging for draws or blundering terribly when ahead on the board. 

Finally, there is that typical case of getting punished for being impatient to convert a winning advantage asap. A good illustration of this scenario is Viktor Korchnoi’s performance in Linares Anibal Open’1998. Viktor (2625) managed to trap the opponent’s queen early on in the game and to win material. His lower-rated opponent Julian Estrada (2395) didn’t give him any credit and continued playing as usual. The two times runner-up of the World Chess Championship became infuriated and started blitzing out the moves only to blunder a queen in return and lose! However, when a similar situation occurred in one of the following rounds, the veteran showed that he has learned the lesson and managed to convert the game in style.    

Here it is Korchnoi’s turn. He is White and has a queen for a rook and a pawn, which should be an easy win. Typically, you indeed don’t play on in such positions against a former World Chess Championship challenger.

A few moves later, we can see that White made life more difficult for himself. But what followed next is “inexplicable”. Korchnoi hastily played 41.hxg6 and resigned after the obvious 41…Rh2+, picking up the queen with a skewer. As usual for such cases, his opponent got to hear what Viktor the Terrible thought about his manners and chess skills! 

Summarizing, if you do a careful performance review based on the six areas of improvement mentioned in the first and second parts of the series about missing good moves and follow at least some of the recommendations, you should definitely improve as a chess player. 

However important general chess tips are, they are no replacement for studying eye-opening chess lessons and doing tricky training exercises. Check out Magnus Trainer for a course recommended by the reigning World Chess Champion himself!

What are the main reasons behind our chess blunders? Let’s look at a few more nuisances and learn how to do better!

Have you ever dreamed about mastering chess while having fun along the way? One does not simply have Magnus Carlsen sit next to you and help study chess, but the Play Magnus Plus Membership may be the best alternative available! 

Please look at the FAQ below to learn more about the potential benefits for yourself:

Q: What is inside the Play Magnus Plus Membership?

A: The Play Magnus Plus Membership proudly includes all four of our chess apps. Here is a quick overview. Magnus Trainer is your primary source of chess lessons and captivating mini-games. Play Magnus is a playground where you can test your skills against world-class Grandmaster characters such as the reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen and the strongest female chess player of all time Judit Polgar. Tactics Frenzy is a paradise for fans of chess puzzles. Knight Runner is an exciting arcade platformer centered around chess.

Q: How much value am I saving by buying the Play Magnus Plus Membership?

A: We have regional pricing in place, so let’s use the figures for the USA as an example. 

If you were to subscribe for the apps individually, you would pay $7.99/month for Magnus Trainer, $4.99/month for Play Magnus, $2.99/month for Tactics Frenzy, and $2.99/month for Knight Runner. That is a total of $18.96/month. 

The price of the Play Magnus Plus Membership is only $14.17/month. 

As of this writing, there is an additional Halloween sale going on, so you can expect yet another 25% off the regular price of the Plus Membership. This makes it just $10.62/month for the whole package, so you are essentially getting four Play Magnus apps for the price of two! 

Q: What is the recommended age for using the apps?

A: According to the user surveys, Play Magnus has a surprisingly diverse customer base. All the age groups have a reasonably strong representation, so please don’t hesitate to recommend our apps to kids, teenagers, and adults alike. 

Q: How good do I have to be at chess to take advantage of the Play Magnus Plus Membership?

A: One of the bonuses of having four unique apps in one package is that they cater to chess players of any skill level. The target audience of our products ranges from complete beginners who want to learn the rules to the reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, who enjoys doing Tactics Frenzy runs. 

Q: On what platforms can I use the Play Magnus Plus Membership?

A: Our ultimate goal is to provide you with a comfortable experience regardless of your preferred devices. As of now, the apps featured in the Play Magnus Plus Membership have the following availability:

Magnus Trainer (iOS, Android, web browser)

Tactics Frenzy (iOS, Android, web browser)

Q: I am already subscribed to one or more apps released by Play Magnus. How do I switch to the Play Magnus Plus Membership? 

A: The Play Magnus Plus Membership is a standalone offer. When purchasing it, please make sure to use the same email you have provided when downloading the other Play Magnus apps to ensure that your progress gets saved. Also, please read the cancellation policy in advance regarding refunds should you decide to unsubscribe from the individual apps after migrating to the Plus Membership. 

Q: I like browsing the apps from different locations and devices. Will my progress be saved?

A: Yes. For example, you can use the apps both on your smartphone and on your laptop without worrying about losing your progress.  

Subscribe for the Play Magnus Plus Membership at a special price

The Play Magnus Plus Membership brings you four cutting-edge chess apps in one package.

The Play Magnus Plus Membership - Scary Good!

In a nutshell, chess is about making good moves. However, when it comes to finding them, it is easier said than done. Unsurprisingly, many chess players don’t reflect on why they have missed out on a certain promising opportunity and blame it on “bad luck.” 

In this blog post, we will analyze a few popular reasons why people oversee great chess moves that could have potentially changed the course of the game. Also, importantly, we will discuss what to do to minimize the chances of this happening to you. 

Generally speaking, we tend to miss good moves that seem unconventional to us. For example, if a novice has just been taught the value of each chess piece, he is unlikely even to consider a move that gives up a queen for a knight. A more experienced player may realize that this move is in fact a winning sacrifice that leads to mate. 

“Positional” players should solve more studies and tactical problems, analyze the games of the best attacking players, and pay more attention to the forcing moves in each position instead of positional factors. Also, having a more versatile style helps a lot, even though becoming a more universal player typically requires much work. GM Nigel Short used to say that pawn weaknesses don’t matter much if the game ends in a checkmate. However, I still know quite a few strategy-oriented players who won’t even consider making an “ugly” yet efficient move if it doesn’t look right from the positional point of view. Knowing the rules of thumb is very important, but a master should be able to work out the exceptions too.

Wrong evaluation of the position and/or failing to reevaluate it correctly 

In the Carlsen-Anand World Chess Championship match in 2014, Game 6 was quite critical. In the diagram position, Magnus has just played 26.Kd2??, to which Vishy quickly replied 26…a4?? instead of the pretty obvious move 26…Nxe5, collecting the e-pawn for free and putting further pressure on the c-pawn. Anand lost that game and later the entire match, while the intermediate capture 26…Nxe5 would have given him excellent winning chances in at least that particular encounter and could have been a strong psychological blow as well. 

Please check out the Magnus Trainer app if you are interested in a recap of Magnus Carlsen’s World Chess Championship matches, including an analysis of the endgame mentioned above. 

Many amateur kibitzers enjoy making fun of the world’s greats and nurturing their self-esteem by saying that they would have found the right move in a second if they had such an opportunity. By saying so, they ignore the over-the-board psychology. At that point, the position was relatively quiet. Magnus had an edge and felt like he could play for two results: a win or a draw. Vishy was psychologically in the mindset of trying to hold and prevent the active play of his opponent. After a natural move such as Kd2, it is quite natural for Black to keep believing that you are worse and not even try to readjust and search for a way to win. This is a very important phenomenon in general. Many games are lost due to misjudging the position. For example, let’s say you are considerably better (or at least you believe so). Then you make a few moves that you like while the opponent replies somewhat awkwardly. Such a development of events might make you lead you into thinking that you must be winning (“I had a good position and was doing sensible things, while he came up with some rubbish moves”). However, often your initial assessment might turn out to be wrong, or you might have made some poor moves and not noticed it, thus ending in an equal or worse position. The stronger the player is, the better he can evaluate each position and quickly readjust if he feels like the last move has changed the assessment. 

Needless to say, both Magnus and Vishy would have found 26..Ne5 in the blink of an eye if you had shown them a diagram with the position and asked to propose the best move for Black. However, in the psychological context of the over-the-board play they have both missed it.

Chess illiteracy and being a slave of chess stereotypes

Masters know many standard positions and typical plans and reactions. This is usually acquired by going over other players’ games and through personal experience, as well as profoundly analyzing the positions of interest. A newbie will often spend a lot of time on a move and still fail to find the right idea just due to not having seen such a situation before. As compared to pros, amateurs spend tremendous amounts of time and mental energy on reinventing the wheel, not to mention that sometimes they fail to make such an important discovery. 

The other side of the coin is religiously following the plans you have seen earlier; adhering to stereotypes about certain positions prevalent among players of your skill level. For example, if you ask one of the chess students why he believes that f5 should be played for Black in a position, he might reply that it is a standard breakthrough in such structures aimed at starting an attack on the kingside. However, it may well turn out that either the break is inappropriate in this specific case, or there is a much better “non-standard” move. Once again, please don’t fall under the illusion that chess is just a set of guidelines that can be followed automatically to reach success. The game is more sophisticated than that.

These three reasons are quite popular and make up for a large percentage of all the mistakes associated with not finding the optimal move. However, there are many more of them to come. Stay tuned for the next blog post in our series! 

Let’s explore some of the most popular reasons why people choose bad moves in chess over good ones!

As GM Jonathan Rowson points out in his brilliant book "Chess for zebras", for adult players unlearning is often more important than learning. Indeed, throughout our lives, we acquire many stereotypes and limitations that might hinder our decision-making process during the game. For instance, let's list some of the shortcomings that are common among novice chess players:

• Making too many moves with the same piece in the opening and forgetting to develop your pieces harmoniously.
• Trying to develop major pieces way too early and exposing them to attacks. For instance, playing a4 and h4 followed up by Ra3 and Rh3.
• Giving up two minor pieces for a rook and the f7-pawn, thinking this is a great way to attack the opponent's king.
• Pushing pawns randomly and never looking back, thus creating terrible weaknesses in one's camp.
• Underestimating the importance of castling.
• Initiating trades for the sake of doing so. Basically, being happy about capturing something and never considering the positional implications of the exchange.
• Grabbing irrelevant pawns and neglecting development.

The list could go on forever. Hopefully, you are smiling and shaking your head now since you realize pretty well why the activities mentioned above are faulty. However, for quite a few chess players, it takes some effort to unlearn these things and replace the bad habits with the new, good ones. Or, even worse, some club players end up making the same mistakes throughout their entire career and failing to improve since they never reflect on their play.

I won't dwell much on this subject, because you can always consult the original book in case you are interested. Instead, I will try to offer you an antidote in the form of tips on minimizing the harmful effects of this plague.

Rule #1: make sure your sources of information are credible and qualified. Simply put, deal with reputable coaches and authors instead of self-proclaimed gurus.

Nowadays, the situation is much more beneficial for an aspiring chess fan because there are plenty of opportunities for studying online. Previously, a common occurrence was that the head of a chess club would often single-handedly shape his students' perception of chess. Since most local coaches were amateurs who had somewhat limited knowledge of the game, this typically led to the development of all sorts of chess biases. Common examples of this type are: exclusively playing offbeat openings, favoring tactics and ignoring strategy or vice versa, promoting the "if you play for checkmate, there is no need to study endgames" approach, etc. If you have been taught to do something the wrong way at an early age, it is rather challenging to get rid of the habit later on. Therefore, some potential chess careers have been cut at the very start by an unfortunate choice of the first coach for the child.

Rule #2: try to play reasonably strong opposition and study masters' games instead of repeatedly beating weaker players and subconsciously absorbing their mistakes. Chess is a game of patterns.

The principle of communicating vessels works here. If you keep facing inferior opponents, you are basically giving them a free lesson and helping them close the gap between you. Semi-pro Grandmasters who make a living by playing open tournaments are financially incentivized to ignore this principle, but they typically get stuck in a rut and fail to progress to the super events. To rise higher, you have to be prepared to invest time, effort, and money in your chess development.

Rule #3: eliminate the shortcomings in your thinking process using the "list of mistakes" technique and the "diagram method". Let's discuss the second concept in more detail since we haven't touched upon it yet in the Play Magnus blogs.

IM Mark Dvoretzky and GM Artur Yusupov introduce this extremely instructive method in the first volume of the "School of future chess champions" series. We encounter a lot of exciting and worth remembering positions when analyzing games or studying chess. The idea is to make a diagram with the position and to add notes to it. This can be especially useful when combined with the "list of mistakes" method, i.e., each notable mistake gets a diagram and a comment on what went wrong and how you should treat such a position in the future.

Such an approach allows a powerful way of memorizing one's findings and of refreshing the ideas once in a while. Of course, there is another valuable bonus: such a technique is indispensable for coaches or authors because the diagrams and notes lay a sound foundation for a future book or exercise kit.

The "hardcore" method involves drawing these diagrams with a pencil in a special notepad. One of my friends pointed out that it's exactly how it should be done because you invest a significant effort into the process and thus understand and memorize the case better. However, I am too lazy and talentless as an artist to follow this advice, so I just press the "copy position" button in ChessBase and then paste the diagram into a Word document. This way, it takes just a few seconds to add an example to the collection. Also, if you back up the data on your computer's hard drive regularly enough, such a means of storage is safer than paper notebooks that are easily lost, crumpled, or used for drawing by kids. Finally, you can always print the diagrams out if you want to have a hard copy handy.

The more high-quality chess information you acquire at the early stages of your chess learning, the fewer bad habits you will form and the easier it will be to get rid of the hurdles blocking your chess progress. One of the best ways of ensuring that what you study will benefit you for years to come is to learn from the World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen by following a training course devised by him and his expert team. Download Magnus Trainer for free and give it a try if you are not already using the app!

One of the best ways to improve in chess is to unlearn what you are doing wrong!

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

In the modern chess age defined by engines and extensive databases, it is more menacing than ever to fall into a trap right out of the opening. What can one do to minimize the chance of this happening?

Check your own and the opponent’s dossiers. Sun Tzu made a good point, after all. Modern chess databases allow one to quickly scan all the publicly available games you and your opponent played. Try to foresee where the opponent will try to trap you based on the weaknesses evident from your player profile.

If you have a decent alternative to one of the moves you have always been employing in a certain position, sometimes it makes sense to try it out. This is especially productive if your opponent has never faced that continuation in his life and is not likely to be aware of the intricacies of the arising positions.

Keep adding more openings to your repertoire. To familiarize yourself with new pawn structures and associated plans, it makes sense to keep enhancing your repertoire as time goes by and you gain more experience and improve as a player. However, it is important not to overextend since it is hard to master a few openings at a time. Also, this “it’s better to be rich and healthy than poor and ill” advice is tough to follow for amateur chess players who can allocate only a minimal amount of time to chess studies.

Play “opening schemes”. There are quite a few openings that can be played on “understanding” as opposed to relying on concrete knowledge and exact move orders. The nature of play there is not forced, so it is hard to prepare a refutation. Basically, by playing them, you don’t pay much attention to what your opponent is doing and just develop your pieces in a more or less predefined way.

For instance, in the London System, which is employed even at the top level, White typically goes for d4, Bf4, Nf3, e3, c3, Bd3, Nbd2, erecting a pawn triangle in the middle of the board. Of course, one should not play these moves in a braindead way, but it is still a setup that one can often accomplish with minimal care.

This method is particularly popular with casual players who don’t have much time to spend on openings and people who dislike studying chess in general or have a poor memory and can’t memorize long lines no matter how hard they try.

However, the obvious drawback of this approach is that such setups are usually not ambitious enough and typically lead to equal or (slightly) inferior positions. Also, if you keep repeating the same setup over and over again, it shouldn’t be a problem for the opponent to find a plan against it that suits his style well.

Play a “one-time” opening. You might be familiar with the advice of having some tricky one-game openings prepared for specific tournament situations. For example, sometimes you need to win at all costs; your opponent is a booked-up theoretician, so you want to avoid his preparation; the opponent has a strong coach who can pinpoint weaknesses in your main repertoire, etc. The trick here is that one still needs to put in a lot of effort to get a sense of what is going on in those offbeat lines; you shouldn’t just improvise and hope that everything works out somehow.

Of course, it takes a lot of courage and self-confidence to employ in a crucial tournament game an opening that you haven’t played much. However, there is an even more dangerous aspect: after trying such a line with success, a chess student may be tempted to think there is no need to build a solid and sound chess repertoire. Why do it when you can merely unleash your surprise weapons one after another on the unsuspecting victims? The problem with such an approach is that an essential part of becoming a strong chess master is gaining experience with particular pawn structures. To do so, one has to play many games with the same opening, study the main plans and ideas, and keep working on one’s positional and tactical mistakes. The chess muscles develop gradually but steadily this way.

Meanwhile, someone who knows a bit of everything is usually mediocre because there is not enough time to study everything in chess till perfection. I have seen some people, especially coaches who have a relatively broad knowledge of chess openings, get away with using the “new game, new opening” method. However, even those usually remain on the same level or start slowly losing rating points. After all, getting the opponent out of book at all costs is usually something that can be recommended against partners of much lower chess skills. If you keep playing weaker opposition, your chess level will start to deteriorate. Also, if you try doing that against players who are better at chess than you, there is a high chance that the surprise weapon will surprise you more than the opponent.

Summarizing, one-time openings are a valuable tool of a competitive player, but they shouldn’t be a replacement for serious work on the main lines of one’s opening repertoire.

Prepare a counter-surprise. Instead of being the hunted, you can become the hunter! That is, if you are a good analyst who remembers the content of your opening files, you might as well accept the challenge. I recall a funny story about Peter Svidler arriving at an exciting position, coming up with some conclusions on it and producing a move only to meet Garry Kasparov off-stage and hear from him something condescending like: “I hope you do realize that for normal people this position is only the starting point of home preparation?”

Anti-computer strategy. Suppose you know that your opponent loves working with a chess engine and has extensive opening files. In that case, you might want to choose an opening that the computers still don’t grasp well enough, where the nature of play is not concrete and requires sophisticated understanding and maneuvering. For example, in the Ruy Lopez or the Berlin the engines typically give a -0.1/0.2 score and can’t advise you on what plans to opt for. Of course, this approach might be less efficient against someone who has a strong human coach and can guide his protégé through the jungle of opening ideas.

I hope these simple yet efficient tips will make your life easier when preparing for your next game!

Be it mainstream openings, opening schemes, anti-computer lines, or surprise weapons, you will find a fine selection of them in the Magnus Trainer app. Please make sure to check it out if you are interested in learning from the World Champion and taking your opening repertoire to the next level.

Tired of having opponents prey on you in the opening? Here is our quick-fix guide on how to make life difficult for them over the board! »

How to Avoid Getting Burned Out During a Chess Event

Is Reading the Biographies of Top Players a Waste of Time?

Chess Superstitions

How To Overcome Your Chess Fears – Part II

How to Overcome Your Chess Fears - Part I

Why Do We Miss Good Moves? – Part II

The Play Magnus Plus Membership - Scary Good!

Why Do We Miss Good Moves? – Part I

The Power of Unlearning

How to Avoid Getting Caught by Your Opponent’s Opening Preparation