Going back to the Tournament Preparation: Chess Skills and Mental Toughness posts, your skills practice over time should boost your strength (and it's good to put extra focus on some things pre-tournament). However, it's your ability to maximize your chances in each individual game that determines your actual performance. "Cramming" for a chess tournament like it's an exam is not helpful, since there's simply too much information to deal with; an exam has a finite boundary (even if it seems like a lot), while chess does not. That's why optimizing your own mental and physical state - being as relaxed, energetic and confident as possible - will do more for you in the short term when going into a tournament. Because chess is also a creative and engaging activity, I think this is even more important, since purely rote memorization and application of ideas generally leads to failure.
A recent post over at the Chess Improver ("Tournament Prep for Older Players") contains some similar themes. The author (Hugh Patterson) has some more specific suggestions for pre-tournament activities, which you may or may not follow - IM Josh Waitzkin and others have also focused on Tai Chi practice as a blend of mental and physical training - but the main point is that getting your mind and body in a good place is the best way to set yourself up for success in both the long and short term.
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| IM Josh Waitzkin |
My performance in chss is close related to my physical condition. When my bloodpreassure is high or if i slept bad, then my performance in chess is about 50+ points lower than usual.
ReplyDeleteTo reach the top performance you should look for your boddy too, good food , moderate physical activity, good sleep, ...
I think for me it's much more of a swing. I'm an average 1700 player over time, but when I'm closer to 100% mentally/physically I'm at least Class A strength (1800+). Conversely, I'm at least 100 points lower when lacking energy, due to an increased number of missed opportunities for myself and overlooked threats from my opponent.
DeleteI agree! The day of a game I don't do any calculation or whatever before the game. I might just play through some cool annotated chess games. And health is vital.
ReplyDeleteI think trying to "prepare" or cram before a game only gets a person into a bad and harried mental state.
The caveat to that is if they think better in that state (which some people do!)
even in an College exam- the "cram" rarely (and usually didn't) help me.
ReplyDeleteI think I, even more than most people, do really poorly under stress. Topolov's recent attitude "i'm not studying THAT much- I don't fret about finding the BEST move" makes some sense to me.
Other people are more driven and have a different reaction - "An intense will to win". IMHO, its a personality thing- at least to a point.