DOES SOLVING QUIZZES MAKES YOU GREAT PLAYER ?
LET’S FIND OUT!
Some of you just focus on getting a way too much practical and not much into theoretical things. But to go to advance things you should first start from the basic. Don’t forget to conquer the base in which ever field you have chosen. If you haven’t known anything then how you would do that practically instead? Keep in mind a half knowledge is always a lot dangerous than the complete one! Practical implementation should be done by keeping the theories handy.
Some of you don’t focus on solving the chess related quizzes and just aim on playing directly which is good but not awesome. You don’t get anything new so you should be a bit theoretically active whether it is chess or any other game.
Let’s get you into an example:
Genrikh Kasparian (1910-1995) was a very accomplished chess player. A 10-time Armenian champion, Kasparian was a strong IM and permanent fixture on the Soviet chess scene.
However, Kasparian is remembered not as a great chess player- which he most certainly was- but as a legendary composer of chess studies. Many years ago his coach introduced him to his titan of composing by showing him to one of the most famous creations. On that day, his passion for studies was born. Looking back, he can proudly say that all of the hours he spent poring over study collection were not in vain.
By regularly solving studies, he considerably enhanced three crucial aspects of his tactical ability.
Visualization
Awareness
Imagination
To be sure, composers have their primary intent to pursuit of aesthetic excellence. However, as we are about to see, aesthetics and instructional value are directly proportional!
1. Studies to improve visualization
As beautifully quoted by GM Bent Larsen
“Long variation, wrong variation”
Despite GM Larsen’s famous admonition, we cannot go along with long variations altogether. Pawn endgames are particularly notorious in this regard. To stay on the correct path, you must frequently assess the consequences of a pawn race that metamorphoses into a complex queen endgame!
Consequently, players often find themselves swimming in the complications, unable to visualize the board past a certain point.
Study-solving is a fantastic method to hone your visualization and develop the ability to accurately evaluate long variations.
2. Studies to improve awareness
Recently, IM Mark Dvoretsky’s excellent two-volume work REMEMBER YOUR OPPONENT launched in English version. As the title suggests, it is a compendium of exercises that test your ability to recognize your opponent’s counter play and resources.
Well-composed studies often fulfill the same purpose. Indeed, you must not only discover an idea hidden within the complexities of the position, but- more important- MODIFY and OPTIMIZE this idea based on the defensive resources that you uncover.
Study solving is an excellent way to develop a foolproof counter play detector.
3. Studies to improve imagination
Reading an informative volume on tactics (such as FM Martin Weteschnik's UNDERSTANDING CHESS TACTICS) is an important activity, but not all tactical motifs that occur in real games are to be found in chess literature. To succeed at a high level, you must continually discover your own ideas; unearth tactical and positional motifs that are always based on primitive concepts.
Make no mistakes; like or make the mistakes but take care not to repeat those same mistakes again. Because everybody deserves a second chance but not for the same mistake. The position does not always call for creativity, but the ability to think outside the box. Why to stand in when you are born to stand out! – To create, as the Russians say- is an indispensable component of a grandmaster’s arsenal. Unsurprisingly, studies offer an environment in which this kind of trailblazing is not only possible, but necessary.
Of course, my point of view is not shared by everyone; some players contend that studies- while aesthetically beautiful- do not actually contain any instructional value. I categorically disagree, and I believe that regular study –solving allows you too gradually and considerably improve several critical facets of your tactical perception.
Thanks for reading!