Grandmaster and author of The Method: my GM-title training regime. Better chess decisions, not more content. https://nitter.cf/t.co/FSKfxQC1Mn
Joined February 2014
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THE WORK WE KEEP AVOIDING
There is usually one part of our chess that we know needs work, but we just cannot find it in ourselves to do it.
For me, it was calculation.
By 2012 I had my 3 GMs norm for 5 (!) years already, but I still had not crossed 2500. I knew what the core of the problem was, but I was lazy to admit it to myself, because I knew the amount of hard work it would require. It was simple, really: my calculation was not good enough. I was not seeing variations with the clarity required at GM level.
After a good, hard look at myself, I realised that if I don’t do the work I needed to do, I may as well never become a Grandmaster, a recurring nightmare in those 5 years after my final norm.
I resolved to do something about it and I started solving endgame studies for one hour every day. I used Kasparian’s Domination in 2,545 Endgame Studies, which I carried on a Kindle so I could work wherever I was. I did it during tournaments, as part of my pre-game preparation, on bad days, on tired days, even on days when I was hungover after partying all night.
I always liked the theme of domination, so the material mattered, but the standard to which I decided to hold myself, mattered more.
To speed up my progress, I resolved to solve the studies blindfold. In the beginning, the work was miserable. I couldn’t visualise the positions and was frustrated to the maximum.
The mind hates to calculate when it has become used to something easier. And I was taking it easy in my games, if I am being honest. In my work, after a while, concentration would fade away. The position would get blurred. I would become overwhelmingly sleepy.
It was truly awful. Often I would spend the full hour without solving a single study. However, I discovered that it did not make the work useless.
I discovered that the effort was doing something. I noticed small incremental improvements. The next week, the position was a bit clearer. The variations became slightly more precise. Gradually (very gradually!), calculation became faster, visualisation improved and I started feeling better.
Less than a year and a half later of this work, I became a Grandmaster.
The main lesson is not that everybody should solve Kasparian studies. They worked for me, but any material can work. The important part is the start - the moment you stop avoiding the truth of your main shortcoming.
It may be calculation. In fact, very often it is. It may also be analysing games without immediately switching on the engine. It may be theoretical or practical endgames, addictive online play or discipline of one’s thinking.
The next important part is what we do after acknowledging it.
If you really want to be tough with yourself, try writing it down. One sentence is enough.
“My calculation is vague after 2 moves,” or “I cannot see the position clearly in my head,” are examples.
And then the third important thing, do something about it.
You can do one hour of proper calculation as I did. You can do something else that works for you. What matters is that discipline removes the “negotiation” you do with yourself. You no longer need to decide whether you feel like doing the work. You just do it. (They recommend this for people who have hard time going to the gym. This is the same.)
This is the idea behind The Method (alexcolovic.com/TheMethod). It came into existence from three problems I had to solve in my own chess: stagnation in my chess understanding, weakness in my calculation and loss of control in online play. The common thread was learning to work honestly.
Yes, it is hard, but it's the only way to do it.
After training with Howell and Abdusattorov (in order of importance), I think Carlsen will dominate the Total Championship.
Do you know how to prepare an opening?
In my latest post I discuss how to use opening books to prepare an opening in the modern engine era.
gmalexcolovic.substack.com/p…
It's Halloween, so some scary stuff to share:
at some point in November ALL (!) my @chessable courses will be on sale.
I agree. Win and retire is a winning combination. Kasparov won in Linares 2005 and retired.
That's why even today everybody still compares to Fischer and Kasparov.
Is it better for a World Chess Champion's aura to retire like Fischer than to keep playing?
@FabianoCaruana on the new "Total World Championship" and the Magnus paradox:
"If Magnus wins, we'll say the classical World Championship is obsolete. If Magnus doesn't win, we'll say the winner is an accident... Bobby Fischer won the title and disappeared. Paradoxically, it's better to win and disappear from the face of the earth than to keep playing and not have good results."
Do you agree with Fabi on the Magnus/Fischer paradox? 👇
You can finish a hundred puzzles and still avoid serious calculation, just as you can "study" fifty games without making a single independent decision.
The Method teaches a proper way of working. If you recognise these habits, the guide is for you.
Will AI replace chess course creators?
If yes, when? And would you buy those AI-created courses, if one day they come to exist?
One of the most valuable things a coach can teach you is how to work independently.
Once you know how to analyse properly, every game and every chess book becomes useful.
The Method teaches that skill. If you want to take greater control of your improvement, the guide is for you.
Everybody tells you what to do. In my latest post, I write about what NOT to do.
gmalexcolovic.substack.com/p…
With kids becoming Grandmasters before being teenagers, I think the records of Tal (3 years) and Karpov and Kasparov (5 years) of time spent from earning the title to becoming a World Champion will be very hard to break.
"I have often been asked the question of what made me a good player and I still don't know the right answer. Probably my brain was just made for chess."
Probably all World Champions could have said this.
