Director's Cut
DIRECTIONS: Before reading this article, please complete the following:
- 1. Do your homework.
- 2. Finish your chores.
- 3. Eat a nutritious meal.
- 4. Brush your teeth.
Okay, I know some of the steps above are the last things any of us wants to do, but we probably all know that creating good habits is the key to success in life (and chess).
What would happen if nobody did their homework? Students would drop out of school and never receive an education. If we didn’t do the things around the house that needed to get done, we would never have a clean place to live. If you always ate unhealthy meals, your body would become unhealthy. If you didn’t brush your teeth, you would get cavities and have to go to the dentist. The list goes on and on.
Good habits are great to have, but they’re hard to establish because they’re often not the easiest and the most fun things to do. The same can be said about creating and sustaining good habits on the chess board.
All of my students love to play chess, but sometimes they don’t enjoy practicing good habits. After a few losses, however, they often begin to understand the importance of creating good habits and having discipline.
Discipline is what makes a person work hard and achieve their goals. It can be the same as putting extra thought in to find the best move on a chess board, or taking time to double check your answers after completing a math quiz. Discipline requires you to learn from your mistakes and regularly practice the things that you hope to improve on.
Cont'd....
In a game of chess; it’s good discipline NOT to move any of your pieces more than once during the opening. It’s also a good habit to get your minor pieces developed as fast as possible (with an emphasis on moving the Knights out before the Bishops).
Always be careful not to trap your pieces inside your structure, and grab a share of the center with your d and e pawns. Move your King to safety by castling King-side, and try not to deploy the King’s bodyguards too early (the f, g, and h pawns, also known as Frank, Gary, and Harry).
Centralize your Queen and move your Rooks to the middle of the board (or open files and semi-open files). ALWAYS take your time with the opening moves to ensure that you aren’t hanging pieces (giving them away for nothing), missing opportunities to exploit your opponent’s weaknesses, or ignoring compromises in your own position.
When you have your pieces developed and it comes time to exchange pieces, always weigh the exchanges for equality and analyze the resulting position BEFORE you make the exchange. You wouldn’t walk across the street without looking both ways, would you? Why would you send your poor chess pieces out there on a hostile board without considering their safety and their overall effectiveness first?
During a tournament game, each player is allotted so many hours or minutes to make their moves. Similarly in life, we only have so much time to work, play, relax, spend time with friends and family, and accomplish our goals. Prioritization is the key. What good would a checkmate be if it was at the expense of an ‘A’ that might have been achieved in science class had we done our homework? Always weigh the candidate moves and envision the outcomes for each move BEFORE you make them, and then manage your clock accordingly!
Most important; be a good winner and loser in chess AND in life. There will never be a chess player so great he or she won’t lose a game, and there will never be a person who won’t have to deal with adversity, so what matters most is how you face each challenge and what you learn from your victories and your defeats.
These may seem like daunting things for a novice or intermediate chess player to know, but they’re vital habits to have and they DO become easier over time. Creating good habits will lead you to a happier, more productive, and less stressful life─ and also a lot more checkmates, so start developing them today!
-Coach Rick Romero