It will be entirely impossible to divorce psychology from chess as long as the game lingers. Oftentimes, in tense positions, when playing against an evenly matched opponent, the pressure from one’s opponent is palpable over the board, almost in a curious spiritual way. This is usually more pronounced against a player with whom you share a history (positive or negative); the confidence or fear generated, as the case may be, will definitely sway the game. This also holds true for players whom you have never played but have heard a lot about or observed. It is difficult, probably impossible, to get this completely off one’s mind. All tournament chess players will agree with me that when pairings are put up for the next round during a tournament, there is uncontrollable excitement, which will only be heightened when you see your opponent’s name and/or rating.
Psychology is the most important factor in chess.
---Alexander Alekhine
The 13th World Chess
Champion, who most believed to be the best ever player of the game before the
annoying interference of Magnus Carlsen (there was Fischer on the side too, but
I doubt that’ll hold much water), Garry Kasparov, once said, “You
cannot overestimate the importance of psychology in chess, and as much as some
players try to downplay it, I believe that winning requires a constant and
strong psychology not just at the board, but in every aspect of your life”.
Judit Polgar, the undisputed best female ever to play the game, for now at
least (till Hou Yifan proves this fact wrong), said, “Chess is 30% 0r 40% psychology.
You don’t have this when you play a computer. I can’t confuse it.”
Your reputation is bound to win
or lose some games for you. You are also bound to underrate or overate opponents,
at least occasionally. As if the above stated fact isn’t enough to worry about,
there is the added distraction of having to contend with scary positions and
overestimated ones. I even have a position where I was overconfident and scared
at the same time. Yeah, some of you will doubt that that is a possibility, so I
will give the game here so you can judge.
[Event "Lagos
Classics"][Site "Lagos"][Date "2014.10.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Degondo Simplice
Armel"]
[Black "Eluekezi Phoenix
Chukwuikeh"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2191"]
[EventDate
"2014.10.21"][SourceDate
"2014.10.21"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "NGR"]
(I was Black in the game and played my usual French Defence)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5.
a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 O-O 8. Bd3 c4 9. Bg5 (9.Bg5, effectively
sacrificing his d3 Bishop, is probably dubious. I was genuinely spooked because
I saw the intended threat: he was going for a mating attack. However, I had
played this position numerous times and even gone through some literature
without ever seeing this move. So I applied my ‘guilty until proven innocent’
slogan and captured it. Though I did so only after spending close to 25minutes
analysing the possibilities and convincing myself I had enough resources to
hold the position.) The game continued 9…cxd3
10. Bf6 g6 11. Qg5 (I spent about 20minutes at this point too [the time
control was 90mins for the first 40moves + 30mins for the rest of the game
+30secs after each move from move 1] I had used up almost 60minutes of my
90 and was still at move 12!)
Black to play
11…Qc7 12. g4 (to
prepare Qh6 by eliminating the option of…Nf5) Qxc3+
13. Kf1 Qxa1+ 14. Kg2 Qxd4 (at this point, I was confident I would coast to
victory. I was a full Rook and Bishop to the good. I would appeal to the reader
to subject this game to computer engine analysis and see how inconsistently it evaluates
this game. The mix of material imbalance coupled with White’s mate threat
makes it very challenging to evaluate, so you can only imagine what I was going
through)
White to play
15. h3??(the idea
behind 15.h3 makes perfect sense, but Nf3!! would do so and more. 15.h3 is
aimed at preventing Qxg4+ which would free up the f5 square for my knight. At
this point, I was only a couple of minutes to the time control with 25moves to
go!) …Nd7 16. Nf3 Qc3 (with the
intention of 17…Nxf6 18.exf6 Qxf6 in the event of my opponent playing 17.Qh6) 17. cxd3? (My nerves were wracked, but
with the benefit of hindsight my opponent wasn’t faring any better. 17.cxd3
completely let me off the hook, but I couldn’t seize the moment to play 17…Nxf6
18.exf6 followed by 18…Nc6 or 18…h6!) 17…Nc6
18. Rc1
Black to play
Qxc1 (Sacrificing
my queen for some respite. I just couldn’t take anymore. I was still winning,
but the will wasn’t there as much as it was just a few moves earlier. The siege
laid on my king was unbearable) 19. Qxc1
Ncxe5 20. Bxe5 Nxe5 21. Nxe5 f6 22. Nf3 Bd7 23. Qc7 Bc6. 24. d4 g5 25. h4 h6
26. hxg5 hxg5 27. Nh2 Rf7 28. Qd6 Re8 29. Nf1 Rd7 30. Qc5 e5 31. Ng3 exd4 32.
Qxd4 Kf7 33. Nh5 Rd6 34.f3 a6 35. Ng3 Rde6 36. Nf5 Rh8 37. Qb6 Rc8 38. Kg3 Kg8
39. Qc5 Rd8 40. Qb6 Rd7 41. Qa7 Rd8 (the game eventually fizzled out into a
tame draw) 1/2-1/2
Aron Nimzowitsch aptly said, “The threat is greater than it’s
execution.” Despite doing my best to live by and teach the principle of
‘play the position, not the man’, I have to admit that understanding and
applying chess psychology will win you many games. There are many instances where
one side keeps attacking and the other defending, going on and on, till the
attacker makes a heinous blunder that loses the game due to the defender’s
stubborn defence. A lot of players also make horrible concessions that lose
offhand because of a perceived threat.
Subject every move to objective analysis. Try not to get
spooked by the opponent’s reputation or that of the position. Be objective!
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