Questions tagged [psychology]
Questions related to cognitive, motivational and other psychological aspects of chess, both during and before/after games.
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Does having played the actual game make it easier to spot a tactic?
So, I looked at a tactic quiz for my kiddies. I needed whopping five seconds to see that a fork (yes, that was given too!) could be applied on a square that wasn't really protected due to a pin. (I'm ...
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What explains self destructive behaviour?
I was recently playing chess and lost a few games back to back. I don't know why but I played several games after that and lost all of them deliberately. Making it extremely easy for the opponent to ...
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Ultra-beginners mostly moving their pawns
I always wondered why ultra-beginners make so many pawn moves. (I don't have any recollection on my first steps, but I daresay after the first Scholar's mate I immediately added 1 and 1.) After all, e....
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How to convert better positions and not to get swindled OTB?
For context I am new to OTB chess with 30 games under my belt and a rating of around 1930 fide. I have a very definite problem. Last tournament I dropped 3 pieces in 3 consecutive games in either ...
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Mental block on a tactics challenge
We do a lot of tactics training with our kiddies in the chess club. This one was a real migraine maker for them, none found the solution. (I'm not 100% sure if I remember each piece correctly, but it ...
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Why after 1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 is so common but after 1. c4 Nf6, 2. d4 is so rare?
I am using Lichess's master database and after 1. d4 Nf6, 71.63% of the game continues with 2. c4. However, after 1. c4 Nf6, only 5.22% of the game continues with 2. d4. Are they not essentially the ...
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What real world benefits are there to playing chess?
What are possible real world benefits to be gained by playing chess? Has this been studied?
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How do super-GMs, with the white pieces, avoid drawish positions?
I'm an amateur, so I don't have too much knowledge of contemporary opening theory, especially now that engine analysis allows frequent innovation.
But I would like to ask the following:
If two super-...
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How do you encourage juniors to play slower?
Question to chess coaches: the common problem with beginning juniors (ages 5-8 years old) is very fast playing. What are your methods to convince/encourage your pupils to play slower chess?
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Adapt play style when playing against stronger / weaker opponents? [duplicate]
Is it a good idea to change one's style of play when facing stronger opponents?
If so, what would be the better approach:
Play very solidly / dull (e.g. Exchange French / Caro-Kann as White), ...
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Does learning chess make you smarter?
I noticed that a lot of chess experts state or imply that teaching kids to play chess is good for them. I wonder if there have been any reliable studies of this (As in, randomized controlled trials)? ...
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Why did I improve quickly after stopping resignation?
About a week ago, I decided to never resign unless I am in a completely losing endgame and to always play to checkmate unless it would be a complete waste of time(say in a queen vs lone king endgame). ...
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Tempting bad moves
The following is, unfortunately, a very common experience'o'mine:
Chess book. Grandmaster game. Diagram.
I (after 1 microsecond): Play Nxe6, willya?
scrolldown, author: "Nxe6 was the decisive ...
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Hard anxiety playing chess
There are many similar questions to this, like Problems with chess anxiety, or How to relax when playing chess, but though they seem to be tackling the same question, I feel like my situation is still ...
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Chess health benefits [closed]
I recently read an interesting article, and was surprised to see that there are actually mental health benefits to playing chess. How often does this happen, and in what instances?
user27888
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Openings that tempt opponents to overextend?
What are examples of provocative openings where the opponent can be baited into playing more aggressively than they normally would, ie. pushing a lot of pawns or sacrificing material to keep an ...
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Why do children move so quickly?
I played a game against a 6 years old child where I launched a strong attack against the poor child:
[fen ""]
[white "Me"]
[Black "6 years old child"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 ...
user27142
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Why do women have a lower Elo requirement to obtaining (women) FIDE titles?
As well as FIDE norms, you need a certain Elo to obtain a certain title. Women need around 200 points lower Elo to obtain the analogous women's only title:
Grandmaster (GM) 2500+
International master ...
user27142
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What is the physical response to a high level chess game?
Chess is used as an example of how the body can be influenced purely by brain activity:
In the middle of a chess Grand Master tournament these people are maintaining blood pressure for 6 hours' ...
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Is chess a good game for recovering addicts?
In this interview to FIDE Master and psychologist Maria Rodrigo the interviewer asked her about chess and addictions:
XL. There are those who are not able to prioritize and get hooked.
M.R. Yes, ...
user27142
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How has chess managed to remain a competitive sport despite engine dominance?
As much as people fear losing their jobs to machines that can do them better, Chess has seen the exact opposite take shape. There have been extremely strong chess bots since Kasparov's time, and more ...
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Overcoming severe time troubles
I started playing chess 2 years ago and ever since I started, I have experienced consistent time troubles. Recently, I gathered some data from my 40 most recent rapid 10+0 games, and concluded that I ...
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Why are retreating moves unintuitive?
I've heard IM and GM commentators on chess tournaments, from the Opera Euro Rapid to PogChamps 3, suggest that retreating moves, such as backwards knight and bishop moves, are unintuitive. I've felt ...
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Do grandmasters think on every move?
While watching Hikaru's Streams/YouTube (GM Chess Twitch Streamer), he's no doubt extremely impressive when it comes to recognizing patterns that win him material and forced mates in like 7+ moves. ...
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Is playing slow necessarily bad?
I play online chess on under 5+0 and 10+0(predominantly) time controls. I end up in time problems way too often (especially in 5 minutes TC). I contemplated a lot on certain positions, and somehow ...
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How does competitive chess affect players' mental health?
I suppose that participation in international open tournaments has a positive mental effect on most amateur players. As for the professionals involved, if they have other sources of income and also ...
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Chess training to get to 2000 rating [closed]
I have been playing chess (sometimes a lot, sometimes none) for a very long time.
I want to become an international master in 4 years, or have a rating of 2000.
I am 15 right now and have a rating of ...
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Equalizing ratings across rapid, blitz and bullet?
I've been noticing that whenever I play rapid games at my current 2050 Lichess Elo my opponents are also between 1900-2100 blitz and sometimes their bullet rating is also sufficiently equal to their ...
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Being an Anti-Sicilian vs. Sicilian player
So I have been developing my opening repertoire on ChessBase recently and established that, as a 1.e4 player, I have to properly memorize Open Sicilian main line, Dragon, Hyper Dragon, Taimanov, ...
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As a beginner, how do I learn to win in "won" positions?
I'm fairly new to chess (~3 months) and I have almost entirely been playing on chess.com where my rating sits somewhere between 1000 and 1100. Recently, I decided to sign up for lichess.org, where I ...
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How can I improve after 10+ years of chess?
I've played chess for almost 13 years now (I'm 23), and I don't know how to improve my game level. I'm rated ~1400 FIDE, and have never been higher. I'm also ~1300 on chess.com after 700 games, and ...
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What do we know about how to get better at chess? [closed]
When players here ask about getting better, there are frequent suggestions like "solve more puzzles", "study endgames", "read books", etc. But what do we know from a ...
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Balancing chess and work
I started chess 2 years ago at 500 ELO and have climbed up to 1900 ELO (chess.co) recently. I have fallen deeply in love with the game and have made it a life goal to achieve eventually a mastery ...
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Famous grandmaster games of "torturous" winning or flaunting out of arrogance?
I was originally wondering why we don't see more torturous type of games among masters. For example, instead of proceeding to checkmate, the player in control methodically takes all pieces of his ...
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Does the design of chess pieces affect professional chess players at all?
There are some unique designs of chess pieces such as the following:
(For the one above, I am not even sure if the setting up of pieces is correct.)
I will not feel comfortable playing with any of ...
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Brain fog when playing chess
I've been playing chess from many years but started playing more from past few month. I only play 3 minute blitz games, have rating around 1350 in chess.com and 1700 in lichess, have played few ...
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What sets chess players apart?
I want to improve at chess, like everyone does. I am trying to structure my study to get the most out of if. But this plan needed a fundamental question to be answered, what sets masters apart from ...
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How can I deal with frustration in not being able to solve puzzles in time?
I've been doing 1700-2000 puzzles for some days now. My problem is that when I cannot find a solution within 10 minutes, it literally kills me inside. I just get so frustrated and angry. Theh I just ...
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Relation between checkers and chess
After watching GM Vasyl Ivanchuk's victory against GM Baadur Jobava in checkers, I have a question in my mind:
Is it possible to relate checkers with the tactical knowledge of chess? If so, how?
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How to master 1.e4 repertoire from scratch
I was a hardcore 1.c4 player. But, for quite some time, the popularity of Nakhmanson Gambit, Jerome Gambit etc. has encouraged me to experiment with 1.e4.
I have read 1.e4 with backup plan before. Now ...
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Why do high level players memorize specific games?
Inspite of having such a large number of possible positions and games why do high level players bother about some specific game from some million years ago ? It may be helpful in understanding ...
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Can playing too much chess make you see everything as chess moves?
According to this answer, some schizophrenics who compulsively play chess a whole lot see everything as chess moves. I looked for an alternate source of that information through a Google search and ...
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Blundering phase
I have played more online Blitz recently and it was quite some fun, until I encountered what I would call the "blundering phase". Every once in a while, my chess ability takes quite a hit when I ...
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Is chess a zero sum game?
"Chess is a zero sum game" is a claim you see often, even on this forum.
Game theorists will tell you that it is just obvious. Either the game is a draw, nobody wins or loses, or one side wins and ...
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How to minimise your opponent's fun in a game?
I play numerous online chess games and in this question I am self-centred: I play for two purposes:
to win the game, or when winning is unlikely, to draw the game.
to improve my chess skills, which ...
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Getting better at OTB chess
I live in a small town where there had been a total of 2 tournaments during last 5 years and 0 chess clubs, hence I have almost nil experience playing OTB chess. But sometimes I set up a board and ...
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Is chess a good game to fight against gambling addiction?
I read a couple of poker books and I thought I could win, which was not the case.
Fortunately for me I have a decent chess level, 1930 in rapid, and I simply changed poker books for chess books and ...
user18196
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How to exploit an opponent must-win situation
I am 1.5 points clear of the field, and my last-round opponent is in a must-win situation for a prize. Is there a mathematically/statistically proven way for me to take advantage of this state of ...
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Are there studies showing that descriptive notation is easier to use for blindfold than algebraic notation?
What studies have compared effectiveness for thinking by chess players using descriptive vs algebraic notation?
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How do GMs “play the man, not the board”?
How do GMs "play the man, not the board" as some books say? Would that work for club level players or could they use other methods? Prepared variations? Trash talk?
What are the ways one can ...
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