My Chess Blog

" Ordinarily, a man gets excited or becomes despondent, not because of the happenings in the outer world, but because his individual contact with them. If anyone dies in the city, it is not a tragedy to me, but when my father dies, it is my calamity. This proves that the death of a man, in itself, cannot bring any disturbance to my mind, unless my mind had already ... projected itself on its relationship to the individual who has died…. The man of perfection can no more feel any joy on receiving what is pleasant nor grieve on receiving what is unpleasant !" - Chinmayananda - while explaining an aspect from "The Gita".  " Barriers are often more psychological than physical. There is a reason for trying to find perfection points: defining them enhances the likelihood that we're going to get better, faster. And knowing how far we are from perfection will make them drop even faster. Because the perfection point is not a measure of where we end….just where w...

" Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference " This is rather going to be a very lo ... ooong post and I wish to look at the play, especially from the losers perspective: as in most cases the ‘doors of perception’ into play reveals itself well from this angle! What are the variables that can be tended to, from the perspective of this match? - People may talk about the opening choices… - The "Why….?" on various aspects! I would rather prefer to investigate the cause for… prefer rather to work on the backstage: ‘the making of the thinking': please do not mistake this for "thought" - which is always in the past. I wish to stay put in the present, but would pick out those aspects that impacted the "present". For, as Vishy himself said, " I had a feeling that this match would be more about execution …"; it is always about execution - n...

Game - 8: "Game, Set, Championship point" " There are places where the mind dies so that a truth which is its very denial may be born ", said Albert Camus.  I would like to substitute "places" with "times" and extrapolate Camus words to the match situation. The truth is probably hours away from being born! The much awaited storm brew and looked promising, but was weakened before nearing the coa st by an anti-storm phenomenon called "Magnus Carlsen". This was a match where one side made certain critical unforced errors and the other capitalised on it, on every occasion. Perhaps, the match of the wits amongst these two players were seriously equal and therefore, when one side tried side-stepping to tilt the scale…it failed! Was it not that a world championship match like this expected to strive and showcase serious dissertation - which if not radically redefining certain aspects, at least show a few new ...

Rest day: 4  - "Peace time over" The Norwegian "White throated Dipper" is flapping its wings for a take-off; whilst the Indian Peacock is still self-denying itself of the traditional clouds, on the eastern skies, for spreading its  wings and showing colours. Generally, during the world championship matches, the competitors would have prepared - apart from their lines of liking and strength - a "secret weapon" that would be detonated at the time of crisis. If Vishy has one in store, game-9 is still not too late for the explosion! From hereon, nothing short of a massive explosion would ensure a revival. Chess, more than any other game, is first of all a psychological battle. While the mind seeks for a solution for a problem, it should also be prepared to pay a price for the solution! And the price in the context of this match, at this juncture is, infusing wildness in the position - at all cost!! One cannot hope to take a plunge or div...

Game no: 7 - "The Act of creation" Sometimes, it is a good strategy to take time off to lick the wounds and regroup reserve energies, before the next combat! Probably we might take this insipid draw as a time off and hope…! What we will see today is not only related to game no - 7; but I wish to delve upon an issue that is inherent in every game - "the act of creation". The title for this piece  was picked from Arthur Koestler's great book and I start my delineation of the subject by quoting a piece from the foreword of the book: "Creativity is by no means a peculiarly human gift; it is merely the highest manifestation of a phenomenon which is discernible at each successive level of the evolutionary hierarchy, from the simplest one-celled organism and the fertilised egg to the adult man and the highest human genius. It is, to adopt his (Koestler's) phraseology, an 'actualisation of surplus potentials' - of capacities, that is to s...

Rest day 3: "Making of the moves" Victories happen, loses are made! Traditionally, in a chess game - why even any other sport, the cause for the loss is searched, in the 'moves', and the 'shots' that are executed and the betterment is so ught within that sphere. Often, the cause for a loss or a mishit lies in the making of the moves or the making of the shots! At times, a solitary mistake can trigger an avalanche, if it is not tended to, soon, before the downslide starts. We shall continue from what we saw yesterday in the article "Loss - a perspective" and I wish to drive through a point through an example. It will be too early to deal with a live example from this match and hence I go nearly a century back, to simulate a similar instance, for the stakes were some what similar: a) The styles between the champion and challenger were different: the champion was a fresh water fish and the challenger a deep sea fish (in the present condition though, th...

Today, we shall discuss something significant, something urgent. The game perspective can wait until tomorrow.   Somebody wanted Vishy to elaborate on what he meant by "doing your best" - an annoying question. How can one explain what is meant by 'doing the best'? Doing your best is letting go everything else; and if one explains to this question, then he does not know what  he meant by saying 'doing the best'! When an artist who is painting on his canvas, fails to paint a satisfying picture through his brush and colours, he would tear his canvas and throw it aside and start painting on a new one. But this time around, he would paint with the pure knowledge of what did not work and what needs to be done! There is absolutely no pain of the first attempt, rather it is non existent. Painting on a new canvas is a new experience. This is precisely "doing the best" - you start as if it is the beginning and start with a clean slate. Past is p...

Game - 5: "The Sun has started rising "  'h4' and the clock was stopped by Vishy, marking the first decisive result of this historic match. Don't get cynical, don't rush back to your drawing boards. It is only one wrong stroke on the canv as. The picture has started emerging, today it was one colour, tomorrow it may be another, probably the one that you would love to see! It is all about hope, hope not of a favourable result, but hope of playing a fighting and aggressive game by both sides, which would be aesthetically satisfying. Wait and behold the breath, my friend;' the sun has started rising' and beating down upon the flower, to break its slumber. After all, it is said, that, greatness is all about raising after every fall! Let us hope, Vishy will rise, strong and colourful. At times the first jolt may liberate the mind and open the river of ideas from confinement. Coming to the game, let us rewind and move backwards to see, not what went wrong, ...