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.

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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.

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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. 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.

Tomorrow, Sunday, 2nd of August, is the Day of the Republic in my country and its most important national holiday, Ilinden.

I have chosen it as the one day when The Method goes on sale. For 24 hours, the guide will be available at a 40% discount.

The link is the same, just wait for tomorrow for the price to be changed.

For today, think about the part of your chess you already know you need to face. That is what you need to do, and you know it.

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P.S. Today’s video is a game I analysed with The Method. It’s a famous game from the less famous ones, as I call these gems that for some reason haven’t been as widely known as some others. Game 5 in Baguio between Korchnoi and Karpov was an epic battle and I went over it 4 times in order to understand it properly. After these 4 revisions I could understand every single move made by the players. You can see the results of that understanding in the video.