Beginner Chess Psychology: Playing To Win

Posted on January 25, 2012 by William in Beginner's Corner

Many beginners are nervous about their lack of experience on the chess board, leading to a lack of confidence and anxiety during tournament play. The worst part is – many beginners just accept that they are not playing at a high level and continue on their same path to minimal improvement. For many of my students, our first chess lesson is more like a psychology session than a chess class. We play a few blitz games and I immediately start asking questions “Why not play a more active move here?” or “Why are you defending a threat before it even appears?” with the student timidly responding “I just don’t want to get crushed in the first 7 moves so I am trying to defend everything.” I used to become furiously confused at this answer until I realized there is an easy solution to this problem. First you have to recognize that you are playing too passively and need to be much more aggressive.

Passive Chess Can Really Mess You Up!

The following symptoms indicate that you may be suffering from Passive Chess Syndrome (PCS)

*Natural Tendency to Defend
*Nervous About Playing a Higher-Rated Opponent
*Mechanical Opening Play With Repetitive, Routine Development
*Indecisiveness at Critical Moments
*Inability to Attack in a Favorable Environment

The Solution Comes From Within

So first the good news: You won’t have to order your meds from Canada to get a discount. The bad news: you will actually have to invest meaningful time and energy to comprehensively change your approach and attitude to the game. When you approach the board to play a game, your first instinct should be to attack and put pressure on your opponent. From the very first move, you must angle to create threats and play forcing moves that your opponent will have to respond to. Don’t treat the opening as the unimportant pre-season before the real chess starts in the middlegame, instead strive to give your opponent difficulty with the most attentive plan that puts maximum pressure on your opponent’s game. Playing directly for the win from the first move will have a resounding impact on your overall chess game, with this pressure tangibly carrying over into the middlegame and endgame. And if you push too hard and lose, at least you go down swinging.

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National Master Will Stewart specializes in Online Chess Coaching and maintains a daily updated Chess Blog with Free Chess Videos.