Learning Chess: Through Personal Development Training Pt 1

By Mason Bolton III

Introduction

Learning chess is considered to be mostly a cerebral sport. This notion is very true - but it is not the entire truth. Chess is a body building sport too. The key difference is that it is not the physical body that one needs to develop to master chess, but the body's mental facilities.

Given strong legs by the work of such men as Binet, DeGroot, Gobet and a larger host of others than you might readily suspect, the concept of chess cognitive psychology is now an established and respected field of study. It is now well established that one's facility with the chessboard is influenced heavily by psychological factors.

Obviously, this means that if we improve our own psychology - we will improve our chess play - but the question then becomes - how to make such an improvement? Certainly, it is possible to understand that we need to improve our chess psychology without necessarily knowing how to do so.

This series of four articles will attempt to take you on a logical journey toward utilizing the tools of personal development to build a strong chess game. The foundation for this article lies in my understanding of the work conducted by the men who pioneered this field and also in my own exploration of the kinds of products available - and my experience in the proper use of such products.

Fixing your chess game is like fixing a car, a fax machine, or even an airplane. You need to understand the nature of the problem before you can undertake to resolve it. You have to make some preliminary tests first. Then you will analyze the data and formulate a plan. Finally, you will decide on a course of action and resolve to undertake that action.

Hopefully, by the time you reach the end of these articles - you will have formulated a program for building your own chess mastery. Follow through and do the work - and your old pals at the chess club won't know what hit them.

Phase 1 - Self-Honesty

OK. Nobody should be too surprised that an appraisal of his or her chess game begins with self-honesty. Self-honesty is the flip-side of self-deception. You cannot expect to succeed at chess - or anything else, really - if you entered into the process without a proper assessment of your capabilities. You need to know yourself as you really are - and NOT as the person that you imagine yourself to be. Therefore - a strict program of self-honesty must be put in place to maximize inner potential as a chess player.

Unfortunately this is also the hardest step. Humans just seem to be designed such that it is VERY difficult for them to admit where they are wrong - or flawed. That's why self-honesty has to be learned.

At first it might be difficult to develop this skill - but as you grow - you will find that you can create a long list of your faults without any trouble. Erasing these flaws will leave you the person that you want to be. For example:

Do you procrastinate?
Do you pout?
Do you hate to lose? Nobody likes to lose - but are you pathological about the matter?
Do you lack confidence?
Do you lack passion?
Do you lack compassion?
Are you generally happy?
Are you generally sad?

There are a million possibilities. Nobody knows what troubles you - except you. There may be many things you need to work on. But bear in mind that the things that go into your self profile are not good or bad. They are simply YOU. They must be corrected because YOU have decided that these things are bad for YOU - or in this case - for your chess game.

Use the Human Personality Traits Table below to help guide you.

Try hard to face the person who you really are - especially during game play. Review how you play chess, cards, even a great game on the X-Box and size yourself up as a competitor. If you are easily frustrated when you lose a rook, admit it. If you kick the dog every time you blunder a move, that's okay - for everybody that is - except the dog.

Record your shortcomings - as they bother YOU. Don't try to catalog every flaw you possess - because that can become ridiculous. But DO list every flaw that you would like to change in order to improve your chess game.

Your eye twitch might sound out of scope for this list - but it isn't. If for some reason it is between you and your goal, then by all means resolve to be rid of it - and toss it in your list of things to go.

OK, then, you will presume nothing. Know your weaknesses AND your biases. Understand your assumptions, ask yourself the difficult questions. You can get help with this step. You can probably find resources for self-analysis on the net and CERTAINLY some of the tools at www.chessmemoryaids.com will assist you with this process.
Put the resulting list in a safe place.
At this point - you will know pretty much the person that you are - AND you will have grown sufficiently from the exercise to be ready to take a closer look at yourself. Yes, that's right - closer. Changing the habits of several decades takes a bit of work - but you CAN do it - IF you really believe it's worth the effort.

Table 1 - Human Personality Traits

Angry Dejected Fascinated Impatient Rambling Towering
Annoyed Contemptuous Expanstve Indifferent Pressured Timid
Anxious Damned Expectant Inspired Proud Tired
Apprehensive Delighted Fearful Intimidated Rejected Transcendent
Ashamed Delightful Forlorn Isolated Relaxed Unbounded
Assured Depressed Free Jealous Relieved Uncomfortable
Balanced Demonized Frustrated Judged Remorseful Undeserving
Beautiful Desolate Gloomy Jumpy Sad Uneasy
Bewildered Destructive Glorious Left-Out Safe Unimportant
Bleak Detached Glum Lofty Satisfied Uninspired
Blue Determined Good Lazy Scared Uplifting
Bold Disgraced Graceful Lonely Shocked Useless
Bored Disgusted Grand Low Shy Villainous
Boundless Dismal Great Low Self-Worth Sorrowful Wary
Brave Distant Grounded Mad Stable Weary
Burdened Distracted Guilty Magnificent Sublime Withdrawn
Calm Devoid Happy Manipulated Superior Worried
Capable Doubtful Harassed Melancholy Sure Worthless
Cautious Down Helpful Miserable Cheerful Nervous
Certain Dumb-Founded Hesitant Elated Elegance Obnoxious
Charming Eager Energetic Courageous Empty Overwhelmed