Shut down your chess engine and think for yourself

Switch off your computer once in a while and think for yourself: Viswanathan Anand
BENGALURU, December 24, 2014

Viswanathan Anand believes that serious followers of chess will be better served by switching off their computers once in a while in order to understand the flavourful ‘human elements’ of the match. Anand was speaking on the sidelines of a promotional event here on Tuesday.

Advanced technology in chess: What I would emphasise is that if you don’t switch off your computer once in a while and think for yourself, you will never experience what the players experience.

You’re missing a lot of the excitement if you think the next move is easy because the computer found it out. The player might have seen 99% of what the computer saw, but if he is unsure about whether to make the move or not, you miss the human elements of the struggle — the indecision, the hesitation, the nerves.

However, if you’re a casual fan, it would be unfair to expect you to start analysing a great deal. It is, however, annoying when a journalist or a spectator dismisses your efforts. But, it comes with the territory.

Psychological warfare: Psychological warfare should exist in all walks of life. It manifests itself in different ways. Invariably, the way you perform in any profession will be coloured by how you relate to people around you, as well as handling the tension.

That’s just as fundamental as how good you are in what you do. People will perform better when they are in a good mood, rather than when they’re under pressure.

In chess, psychological warfare is a major aspect. The old technique of this used to be to trash each other during interviews. Some of it is good, when you look energetic, and you have the confidence to take bold risks.

On the bad side, you could needle someone and his team. The (Anatoly) Karpov-(Viktor) Korchnoi matches, Karpov-(Garry) Kasparov matches gives us a good idea of psychological warfare.

Rating young players Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura: They are not the same age; I would then have to club Nakamura and (Levon) Aronian together. Based on this year, Caruana is clearly ahead, but they are both very strong players. If you skip the past few months where Caruana was a bit wobbly, he was the man of the year.

The World Chess Championship final loss to Magnus Carlsen recently: In many ways, it was a much better match from my side. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. But, I would say that the rest of the year was very positive, with three big wins (Candidates Tournament, Bilbao Masters and London Classic).

Source: http://www.thehindu.com