“NEVER LET YOUR FEAR DECIDE YOUR FATE AND LET IT
CONQUER AND DESTROY YOU, BE LIMITLESS AND FACE IT”
Every individual has some of the biggest fears
which he has buried in his mind. Some are afraid of height, cockroaches (that’s
me), water, etc.
What about the chess players? Are they afraid of
something that most other people just aren’t?
Here is the list of the biggest chess players’
fears:
1. Losing to a weaker opponent
This is probably one of the biggest fears every
chess player has. Losing to a weaker opponent seems like the end of the world
for many players. You maybe 400 points higher rated, and the odds of losing is
only 8%, but how bad is to be in that 8%?
Why is it the case? Well, there are many reasons
for that including self-confidence, ego, peer
pressure, etc.
What to do: you should train yourself to look at
chess not only from the win/lose perspective, but also from educational point
of view. If you lose, even to a weaker player, you have learned something and
became stronger yourself.
Remember:
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
2. Losing in a winning position
Another big fear common to chess players of all
levels from 1000 to 2900 ELO is to lose in a previously ‘winning’ position.
That has happened to everyone who knows how the pieces move.
Why is that the case? Many players think of that
as of lost opportunity to win the game. They think that the game is already in
their pocket, get excited, less focused and then lose. That hurts.
What to do: technically, to avoid losing a ‘won’ position you need to stay focused until your opponent resigns, gets mated or runs out of time. In many other cases it’s still possible to screw up the game.
It’s not over, until it’s over.
If you want to avoid losing in a ‘winning’ position, I suggest checking out our guide how to play in a won position.
3. Blundering in an important
game
What can be more stressful than playing an
important game, which would decide an outcome of the whole tournament? What if
some prize is involved? More responsibility means the decision making process
becomes more difficult, leading to that fear of making a mistake.
How many times have you played a game and were
so afraid of making a mistake that you had to double-check or even triple-check
the variations? That additional stress surely does not help you while playing a
game nor when trying not to blunder. Unfortunately, if you are afraid to make a
mistake, you probably will make one.
What to do: in order to fight that problem you
need to build self-confidence and believe in your own calculating ability. That
only comes through practice. If you have solved enough tactics and are in a
good chess ‘form’, you won’t blunder (most likely).
Stop fearing ghosts and start winning more games!
4. Dropping rating points
This fear is actually the one I do not get. I
can understand the top 100 FIDE rating list players be afraid to lose points.
But, if you just play online chess and lose 20 points? Should you be stressed
out about that?
What to do: most players’ attitude about rating points needs to change. They think of chess rating points as of their playing strength. If rating goes down, their game immediately degrades as well. That’s a clearly psychological phenomena, which should be ditched even faster than 7 most useless chess training techniques I described recently.
5. Not improving fast enough
That is another fear that many chess players
encounter. They read chess books, study openings, play games and just don’t see
their rating going along with all the training efforts. Then players start
getting some kind of phobia that they won’t improve at chess whatever they do,
etc.
What to do: It’s like going to the gym and
checking the mirror (if the muscles grow or not) after each set or even rep.
That doesn’t happen like that. Muscles grow in your sleep after the workout. To
see any real progress you need to spend months training. The same goes to
chess. You won’t see an instant rating boost after solving 10 or 20 tactics
problems. However, if you solve 10-20 problems per day, 5 days per week for a
month, you will notice some positive changes!
Learn to face your fear … one day if you
think something is behind your back that is your fear don’t run and hide
LOOK BACK and let the illusion know that you are limitless and there is no
boundary which can limit your dreams and your ambition.
Let us know what fear is to you and how you
overcomeit...