The 116th annual U.S. Open, for me was filled with excitement, anticipation, shortcomings, bad luck, disappointment, and ultimately glorious conquest. What can I say, a lot can happen in 9 days. From this array of emotions I gleaned several important lessons I hope I (and others) can build on, in the future.
1. Decide & Define – Are you going on vacation or are you going to play chess? If you’re a Class D player or below, you can do both, but as you ascend up the echelons of chess you have to make a choice. Are you going to see the sights and stay up till 4 in the morning carousing with people in the pool, or are you going to prepare during the day and be well rested and mentally focused for game time?
So if you’re a Class D player or below why can you do both? You can because you’re opponents generally don’t take chess that seriously, so they’ll be at the pool and vacationing most of the day. Which is an excellent opportunity for you to gain a lot of points if you do decide to take a more serious approach to a tournament.
In this past tournament, I failed to make this distinction. Up until Friday (the day of round 7), I had an all-day activity planned and I looked at zero chess during the day. That coupled with the fact I took full advantage of the resorts 12 pools that were open 24/7, probably didn’t benefit my performance. I went there for a chess tournament, but I was more focused being on vacation and having a good time and my performance suffered greatly. If you’re going for a good time and you don’t care how you do, by all means live it up.
Define what means success or failure for a particular event. If you’re going for a good time, how many points are you willing to lose? What kinds of things do you want to do while you’re on vacation? If you’re going for glory and victory, how many points do you hope to gain, and/or what experiences do you hope to have (i.e. do you want to play a B player, A, Expert, Master, FM, IM, or GM)? What side events do you want to play in, who do you hope to meet? Your goals and expectation are ones you’ll need to come up with for yourself, these are just examples to illustrate the difference between the two experiences.
Of course, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, even if you go to a tournament with serious ambitions it doesn’t mean you still can’t have fun and see some of the sights, but you probably shouldn’t be focused solely on non-chess activities before and after the games while not treating your body properly.
2. Plan, Prepare & Execute – In Texas we have an old saying, “If you make a plan, work your plan, you can make your plan work.” Chess is a very methodical game, comprised of logic, planning and decision making. So your preparation for any tournament should mirror the same type of thinking.
After you have defined your personal goals for an event both chess and non-chess wise, determine how you are going to achieve your goals. How and what will you study, for how long, when will you pack, what errands do you complete before you leave? All important things to consider if you want to have a successful event.
I did pretty well in preparing for the event, accomplished all of my errands, tied up all loose ends at work, and studied a respectable amount. I even played a mini match against my main competition in this state two weeks before the start of the tournament. Where I failed in my preparation is I stopped studying the Wednesday before the tournament, and I ran around town like a mad man trying to get everything done before I left; not to mention working 10-12 hour days in the weeks leading up to the event.
Since I had been so busy before I left to Phoenix, I decided I needed to spend an hour a day doing tactics before each game, well that idea lost out to off-roading in a hummer, wakeboarding, indoor skydiving, kicking it in a cabana at the pool, and visiting the Musical instrument Museum among a few other things.
3. Carefully consider your environment – I knew it was going to be hot in Phoenix, I did some research and during August 1st -10th of each year, for the past 5 years, Phoenix on average is about 16.7 degrees hotter than Albuquerque. I tried to prepare myself for the change in temperature, I played golf in the middle of the day, did hours of yard work on the hottest days, and spent hours in the sauna at the gym. With all that said, nothing could prepare me for the heat of southern Arizona, which I seemed to find myself in every day.
While at the Biltmore, I became an acquaintance of one GM in particular, and he told me (to paraphrase), you’re playing poorly because I am in the sun too much and I have no energy left for the game. He said, “I wake up at 11, order room services, look at chess for 2-4 hours, then I go to the pool for 30 minutes to freshen up, eat a small snack and play then play like my life depends on it.”
4. Play to your ability – Once I made Expert, I stayed right around 2000 for a long time, never really improving. Until it was brought to my attention, that I was eating the cheese. I believed because I was an Expert I should be able to beat lower rated player without trying, matter of fact without even showing up to the game. This of course bit me on the backside quite a few times. Confidence is one of your greatest allies in chess, but if you’re not careful, it can also be your undoing.
I once had a GM tell me, “Andrew, you’re just as likely to lose to player rated 500 points lower rated than you, as you are to a player rated 500 points above your level.” This of course was a bit of an exaggeration, but somewhat true. Too often I play to my opponent’s ability instead of my own. Which partially explains how I can lose to some rated 300 points below me, and crush someone rated 300 points above me in the same tournament!
I have mostly cured myself of this problem, but like Tim Tebow, when I am tired and unable to focus mentally I revert to my old habits.
You must find a way to play every game like it is your super bowl, and you’re facing the 1992 Cowboys!
5. Draw is infinitely better than a loss – Part of my ascension to 2100 was learning this lesson, until this past week I hadn’t lost a game since December of last year, and the sad part is I could’ve continued my streak. I was playing an A player in the second round, looked past him, was trying to get done quickly and I blundered a pawn early on, worst part is, I was hoping to make the game a lot more interesting than it was, so I left a few key weak squares in my position. Well I outplayed him in the middle game, because the game went from him completely winning to a dead draw. Then being overly hopeful I thought I had some really strong practical chances of winning, and I may have, but I was short on time and I ended up flagging for the first time in my life. I should’ve just taken an easy draw, because drawing to a lower rated player will always be better than losing to one.
6. Document & Reflect - I know a couple of chess players whose results vary from truly awesome to quite miserable. I ask them what they did differently in their victories than their pitfalls. They always say, I’m not sure, or I think I did this or that differently, but I can’t really remember. If you can’t recall what was different about tournaments you had successes in from your less than desirable days; then you need to write down and catalog what you did and how you prepped for every event.
Once you have done that, you have to be honest with yourself, is what you’re doing really working or do you have to rethink somethings.
7. Adapt – What I was doing in Phoenix clearly wasn’t working, so on Friday (the day of round 7), I decided, I needed to sleep in until 11. I went to lunch, saw a movie at a dine-in theater (reclining so far back I was basically laying down), then went back to the hotel and did tactics for 2 hours before the game and ate my dinner while practicing at the board. Guess what, it worked, I faced my highest rated opponent ever in a regular rated game, and I was successful. What was different? I was well rested, relaxed, I studied chess before the game getting me in the right frame of mind, and I was triumphant. Of course, that confidence thing played a large part in it as well. My opponent, was much higher rated than me, and he offered me a draw several times, even before I was clearly wining, but I had the confidence that I would prevail even after all of my short comings earlier in the week! Confidence really is a double sided blade, which one must learn to wield before attaining true success.
8. Don’t listen to Guy – There is a show on the food network called Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, where the host Guy Fieri travels the U.S. and finds some of the “best” food in all of the land. Well, I have been to over 15 restaurants he has featured on his show, across 7 different states and every single one of them the food is, well, meh. It’s never bad, just not very good. Which is rather disappointing because I really like/d his show. You used to be my homie Guy, but now, I just don’t know….
These rules are meant primarily for playing in tournaments out of town, but they of course hold quite a bit of merit for all competitions.
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