Your questions answered by Natalia Pogonina-27 |
| Written by Administrator | ||||||||||||||||
| Saturday, 13 November 2010 | ||||||||||||||||
 The rules are simple - send us your questions and see them featured in the weekly Q&A column! Q1: I have noticed that after that I work hard on training, studying, playing and an "upgrade"...comes a season of weakness. I start to play very bad, and the "bad season" lasts 2 months approx. This happens to me once a year (Nov.-Dec.) for 4 years straight. What do you think? Advice? A1: First of all, few people improve smoothly. Most of us find ourselves in a situation when we have abandoned certain playing features since now we know that "you shouldn't play like that". However, at that stage we have the knowledge, but not the skills. You can't play like you used to anymore, neither can you jump to the next level right away. That leads to a temporary decline in a player's performances. Secondly, you may simply be tired from chess. The way you mention it (training, studying, playing, etc.) may suit some people, but others just might become fed up with chess, chess, chess all the time. No wonder that you are playing badly after that. Overtraining may be as dangerous as training too little, or even worse. Q2: I've read in many interviews that GMs (such as Malakhov in his recent interview) say that they use database of games for analysis/studies? I wonder how do they prepare with such a database of plain games? Do they particularly value "commented" games? Do they look for new moves in opening, or do they look for new ideas in middlegame(strategy). Perhaps they try to guess the moves (as well as candidate move) themselves after some thinking, and then check with the engine in infinite analysis mode? Do they write down all the ideas from the game before moving on to the next game? A2: I can't speak for all the grandmasters since habits differ. Generally speaking, you filter the latest games to find the ones that correspond to your opening repertoire. Then you start reviewing it like reading a detective novel: - Ok, this is a bad reaction, he must have not known about a game by X - Yes, right. Just like in my analysis. Wow, we have been preparing the same lines! - Hmm. Can one play like that? Really? Maybe I should take a closer look at this variation. - Omg! It looks like a refutation of the line I have been preparing. I need to patch it up asap! Commented games by top GMs are instructive, of course. Nowadays the opening and middlegame are so strongly connected that it's hard to imagine preparing an opening without reviewing the middlegame ideas and plans. "Guess the move" takes too much time. It can be part of the general chess training, but not of studying openings. And yes, people do add new lines and commentary to the database (if they find something useful) before proceeding to the next one. Q3: Hello I have been playing chess for a couple of years as a hobby. I have become bored because I am beating everyone I play. I have made a lot of money due to bets and stuff, but I was wondering do you think I should start entering tournaments now? By the way, I think you are very pretty. A3: If you want to improve in chess and are not of losing, you may try competing in tournaments. On the contrary, if you prefer playing with your friends only and treasure your "invincible" image, then you probably shouldn't. Thanks. Q4: Best wishes for the upcoming Women`s World Championship! What do you think are your chances in this 64 player tournament ? And do you think it is an adequate system in contrast to the men`s candidate system (which is troublesome, see the boycott of Magnus Carlsen ), as for the Women World Championship there is not such a long traditional history? A4: Knock-out events are well-known for their relatively random results. That is, if 64 players of similar strength are competing, each has a chance of 1/64 to win. Naturally, some are stronger than the others, so bookmakers assign odds like 100 to 1, 50 to 1, 20 to 1, etc. to the participants. You can probably check out one of such websites to find out the coefficient for me.  Regarding the format: Grand Prix (for top players, with decent financial conditions, regulations, no organizer's nominees), World Cup (more democratic event). Then a semi-final match between the winner of the Grand Prix and World Cup for the right to face the Women's World Champion in the final. Q5: I would like to know who or what was your inspiration that convinced you to play chess and when you were an amateur, how did you study? A5: Love for the game. In fact, I have always liked playing chess more than studying. At 14 I used to solve a lot of tactics, study new ideas and plans in the middlegame with a coach, play training games, both study endgames and play them out (including basic ones, e.g. mating with a bishop + knight in 30 seconds), try to find and learn openings that suit my style. Also, I used to participate in rather many tournaments. Q6: Will you please play a vote chess game vs our club/website? A6: I am in the middle of a second match vs the World. While I find this activity to be very important in terms of promoting chess and helping people improve their understanding of the game, there are also some obstacles. I feel responsible for playing well (acting otherwise would be disrespectful towards my opponents), and that puts me under constant pressure. The need to analyse, not to forget to make a move. Even when you are at a serious tournament. While members the World team may take breaks from the game (play a few moves, then skip the next few, then return again), I can't afford that luxury. Therefore, each time I start a game I realize that I will have to sacrifice some of my personal chess ambitions for the sake of letting others improve. That's always a hard step to take, so I can't be playing vote chess games all the time. Q7: What do you think about Magnus Carlsen's withdrawal from the Candidates Cycle?
Write Comment |
||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated ( Saturday, 13 November 2010 ) | ||||||||||||||||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|