Anyone who has been part of the chess community for long enough knows that quite a few chess players are superstitious. How large is the number, however?

Here are the results of a poll conducted at Pogonina.com regarding mascots:

As you can see, almost half of the respondents have a mascot, and about 6% used to have one in the past. Please note that this only concerns mascots, whereas many other superstitions are popular among chess aficionados! Let's review some of the most prevalent ones.

Quite a few chess players use the same "lucky" pen for every round. 

Another widespread approach is to wear the same clothes as long as things go well and change the outfit once you lose. Therefore, when you see a chess player in a greasy sweater, it may be due to this superstition! Alternatively, some players sport chess-themed clothes, probably also hoping that it will boost their results. Former Women's Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk is one of the fashion icons in this sense. 

Here is another remarkable outfit, this time by GM David Navara:

Also, a lot of players bring special mascots to the tournament. For instance, in her junior years, Judit Polgar (whose Zodiac sign is Leo) used to carry a statue of a lion with her wherever she went. If you ever got a chance to play against Judit Polgar, Age 9, in the Play Magnus app, you would surely know this interesting fact!

Or, another related example, Teimour Radjabov revealed during his room tour in Moscow that he carries a statue of Napoleon with him when traveling. 

Similar to wearing the same clothes, many chess players choose not to shave their beards/mustache until they lose. For instance, in the World Cup in 2021, Sam Shankland progressed to the ¼-finals, where he was eliminated by former Candidate Sergey Karjakin, without shaving. 

There are plenty of examples of this type; it is one of the most popular superstitions among male chess players. 

A prime example in this category is the legendary Garry Kasparov. Born on April 13, he became the 13th World Chess Champion in 1985 (8+5=13). Throughout his entire chess career, he believed 13 to be his lucky magic number. 

Also, he was notoriously serious about thinking that the age gap between him and Karpov (12 years) and him and Kramnik (also 12 years) was a sign from above. According to this theory, the next World Chess Champion was supposed to be born in 1987. When Teimour Radjabov, who was born in that exact year, defeated Garry Kasparov in Linares with Black in 2003 and received the best game award, Garry was mad about the judges' decision. At that time, the prospects of Radja becoming the next WC were widely discussed in the chess community. However, as you probably know, the next Challenger will be Ian Nepomniachtchi, while the hottest guy on the block is 18-year old Firouzja Alireza, who recently became #2 on the live ratings, crossing the 2800 mark. Still, Radjabov is expected to compete in the following Candidates, so we shouldn't write him off yet. 

In this video, Magnus Carlsen addressed another popular chess superstition – the birthday curse. Since many pros have to play tournament games on their birthdays, there is a certain notion that more often than not, it results in suffering losses. Quite often, the players feel low when they approach their birthday eve, and their thoughts wander elsewhere, so it is hard to focus on chess. However, when on his birthday Magnus Carlsen convincingly won the playoff against Sergey Karjakin in New York in 2016, he waived this superstition off:

In chess, it is said that you should not play chess on your birthday; that it's bad luck. So far, I have yet to experience that.

Let's hope that these words won't become prophetic and bite him since on November 30, 2021 Carlsen will be playing Game 4 of the World Chess Championship match. Unless you are rooting for Ian Nepomniachtchi, of course! 

This item stands out from the line a bit. Let's consider Viktor Kortschnoj, who played two World Chess Championship matches against Anatoly Karpov. Viktor was highly superstitious and genuinely believed that Anatoly Karpov's assistant, a parapsychologist, could hypnotize the former by staring at him from the playing hall. Later Kortschnoj half-seriously lamented that Carlsen must possess hypnotic powers to defeat other Grandmasters so easily in drawn positions. 

Also, Kortschnoj played a correspondence match against the late Geza Maroczy, earnestly believing that such a feat is possible to achieve. 

Numerous articles and even books have been written on this topic. One of the most recent and interesting ones, in my opinion, is this column by GM Genna Sosonko who knew Viktor The Terrible quite well. By the way, it opens with a mention of the fact that Viktor considered 19 to be his unlucky number.

During tournaments, the routine of most chess players reminds the Groundhog Day movie. They eat at the same places, take the same walks, prepare the same way and at the same time, etc. In part, this is similar to having a wardrobe full of identical black t-shirts: you save time and mental energy by not having to make a choice. However, some players stick to their rituals since it is their way to get into the right state of mind for the game and to convince themselves that they will do well, especially if the ritual has worked well in the past. 

Let me share one of my personal secrets. I try to show up for the round earlier than my opponent. Then I take my pen and pretend to fill in the result on the scoresheet. 1-0 if I am playing White or 0-1 if I am Black. From what I have seen, if I manage not to be late and perform this feat without my opponent catching me red-handed, I do win. Just kidding, of course. This is more of a way to shake off the tension for me than something I genuinely believe in. 

Finally, since the Carlsen – Nepo match is about to begin in Dubai, it is quite relevant to hear what Ian Nepomniachtchi has to say on this matter. Let me quote his recent interview for Chess.com:

Are you superstitious? Do you have any lucky items?

I used to be like this, and one of my first coaches told me "ok, it's very normal that you get to play wearing the same shirt if the tournament is going alright, don't change anything in your daily routine." But in general, I have found a lot of arguments for both takes on superstition.

If a tournament is ok, if it's going great, I would say you can do whatever you want. Just don't try to harm the way you work, the way you play, the way you prepare. But if the tournament is bad, it's very likely nothing will help you [laughs]. You can change your clothes 10 times, and change your pants or something, but it would hardly ever have any serious effect. So, in general, you have to be more realistic. Yeah, it's easy to talk like this when you're not involved in any tournament, but during the tournament, it can be very different. Well, let's see what happens.

What is my take on chess superstitions? The fewer things your mood is dependent upon, the better. I've seen people make quite a fuss about forgetting a favorite teddy bear at home or losing a beloved pen. You don't want your confidence level to depend on such things. Better trust in yourself rather than in the magic items or circumstances. 

Are you superstitious when it comes to chess? Let's talk about the most popular chess superstitions and use world-class Grandmasters, such as Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, as role models! 

In the first episode of the series, we touched upon some of the most typical fears that chess players face before and during the game. Also, we discussed how to boost one’s fighting spirit and gain confidence using the guardian method.

Let’s continue delving deeper into the topic and explore other tips that could help you become a fearless chess gladiator!

When I was much younger, I used to check out men’s magazines and websites occasionally. One of the popular subjects there that were brought over and over again was something like “the top-10 best ideas for a first date”. The womanizer columnist would typically recommend going for something creative to impress the potential girlfriend — horse-riding, attending a dance class together, swimming, and so on. In my opinion, the cons of this lifehack may easily outweigh the pros.

For example, let’s consider shy people who have low self-esteem and regard themselves to be “boring” and “not attractive enough.” They may shoot themselves in the foot by adopting the role of macho and trying to act like someone else. They may end up finding horse-riding tedious, a dance class – embarrassing, and if they swim like a rock and are not happy about the way their bodies look, the process could also turn into torture for them. I don’t mind stepping out of one’s comfort zone now and then, but the first date is probably not the right place to do it unless you are specifically banking on this comic effect by making yourself look vulnerable. 

What would my recommendation be then? Remain yourself and act naturally. This tip is especially efficient if you are interested in a long-term relationship because it would be tough for you to keep pretending and playing a role for a long time. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure! That is, it is usually easier to find someone who appreciates your true self than to try to reinvent yourself each time whenever you have a crush on someone. 

When choosing a place for a date, a good idea could be to head to your “domain of power.” That is, a place where you feel like a king; where you perform better than others. Where your eyes shine, and you are genuinely happy and relaxed. When people do what they love and enjoy, they usually look attractive to others. That is, if the former are not self-obsessed and arrogant, of course. 

I dislike generalizations, but chess players, on average, are more of the nerdy/shy type. I remember discussing this subject with one of my friends. Our conversation went along the following lines:

He (smiling self-skeptically): So, you are saying I should take her to a place where I enjoy myself? Let’s say I like playing blitz in the park and trash-talking my opponents. If I take her there, she will probably shake her head and leave, thinking that I am some jerk…

I: Well, the truth is that you probably don’t need ten girlfriends. Let’s say 6 out of 10 won’t go on a date if you suggest this scenario. Three more will consider you a freak and won’t like their boyfriend to be a chess player. However, the 10th one will admire the way you play and appreciate your wicked sense of humor! She will stay with you for hours…and maybe even years! So, if you are a good blitz player, it could definitely be a trump in the sleeve. And this way, you won’t have to quit chess or pretend that this side of your life doesn’t exist!

Oh, wait. This is the Play Magnus blog; I am not writing for a men’s magazine today! So, how are all these dating nuances related to a chess game? The point is, when you lack confidence and feel down, a good idea is to recall your moments of glory when you were on top of the world. Now, if you are one of those people who downplay their achievements and say, “I’ve done nothing special so far,” then I have to point out that everything in life is relative. Maybe you didn’t win the Nobel prize or an Olympic medal, but I am sure there were situations when you got your chance to shine. It could be at school, at the university, at work – anywhere! Just learn to accept compliments and praise and add those blocks to your self-esteem, making it grow. 

Most of us are not professional chess players, so we have to look for these moments of glory elsewhere. For example, I am a world-class public speaker and award-winning debate expert. When I feel drained and weak, I imagine myself walking out on the stage in front of a crowd of people. This is where I am at the pinnacle of power. I can take on any opponent in the world in this state without having any fear. Energy flows throughout my entire body as I close my eyes and visualize this scene. Even though I am not nearly as good at chess as at debate, the inner confidence transfers over and helps me prepare mentally for tough games. If you think about it, you will come up with similar experiences that suit you best. If you were able to achieve all those feats in the past, you might as well perform well in your upcoming chess match! That being said, confidence alone won’t guarantee victory; you still have to play chess well to succeed! 

Speaking of the domain where you feel like a king, I believe one of Magnus Carlsen’s key strengths is that he knows that he is the best chess player in the world. Basically, he doesn’t need to imagine anything. He sits at the board, and that’s where he is most dominant! A similar thing could be said about Kasparov until he caught that mystical, psychological virus about Kramnik being 12 years younger (the age difference between Karpov and Kasparov) and his potential successor. Generally speaking, quite often, legendary champions are first defeated in their own minds, and only then in reality. The “moment of glory” technique is useful for preventing that mental breakdown from happening. 

Later in my career, I started having more success in pivotal games. Maybe this is due to realizing a simple thing: fear was besetting not only me but my opponents as well.

If you have never heard the abovementioned quote, you will probably be surprised since Mikhail Tal has the image of a reckless and fearless berserk who used to go all out at the opponents in every game, taking huge risks. While he was young, he did play that way indeed, but you can see that at a later stage of his life, he had the courage to admit that even back then, he was still haunted by fear when the stakes were high. Therefore, you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself if you lose confidence at the board now and then. 

Remember that famous line from “The Predator” (1987)? “If it bleeds, we can kill it.” The truth is, your opponents are also going through all sorts of troubles and fears. Maybe they are even more exhausted, sick, demotivated, anxious, and afraid than you are! Instead of making a mental list of why you are not in your best shape (basically, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of why exactly you are going to fail), make a similar list for your opponent. Maybe he had a cough? Did he look weary? Did he lose a terrible game, showing that he is in bad form? Did his last game continue for 60+ moves, making him spend a lot of energy and not allowing you to prepare for your match? Maybe he feels uncomfortable in this city due to not being accustomed to such temperature and food? Is he worried about missing out on a GM norm? Perhaps he has helicopter parents who keep pushing him for more, destroying his will to play. The list could go on forever. Obviously, I am not suggesting you spend the whole evening gloating over someone else’s problems. No. Just make a brief check and realize that your opponent probably has at least as many hurdles in front of him as you do. If you are not sure, you can imagine what you need! There are always more things going on behind the scenes than you ever know. 

Are you interested in becoming as confident and fearless over the board as Magnus Carlsen? Let his magic rub off on you by downloading the Magnus Trainer and learning from the reigning World Chess Champion himself! 

What is the connection between planning a perfect first date and preparing for a crucial chess game? You are about to find out soon! 

How To Overcome Your Chess Fears – Part II

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

Even though few people admit it openly, most chess players are haunted by all sorts of fears before and during the game. 

Let's go through a list of the most common issues together. Are any of them familiar to you?

·       Fear of the opponent. "He is much higher-rated than me." "He is much stronger than his rating suggests." "He is a titled player, while I am not." "He is much more experienced." "He is way better prepared and has a great coach." "He has always crushed me before and will probably do it again." 

·       Fear that something will go wrong during the game. "What if I blunder a piece for no apparent reason like I did in the previous round?". "What am I going to do if I forget my preparation?". "What if I run right into his opening trap?". "I've had these heart attacks lately. What if they strike again?". "What if I get into time trouble and self-destruct?"

·       Fear of not achieving the desired result. "What if I miss out on my GM norm?". "My rating is going to suffer if I lose." "If I don't win, I might not earn a prize." "This game could cost me a place on the podium." 

Such gloomy expectations often become self-fulfilling prophecies. I recall an old man telling me after the game: "I am such a blunderer! Today in the morning, I was afraid of blundering at some moment of the game, and there it goes..." Needless to be said, he did blunder rather terribly at some point. Of course, one might claim that he was not a particularly strong player, so mistakes were the norm for him rather than something exceptional. Still, such negative self-programming should definitely be avoided since it increases the chances of failure. 

If you have never encountered such problems in your life, then you may as well shake your head, forget all this gibberish, and move on. However, for most of us, it makes sense to employ specific techniques that could help us let go of our fears before and during the game. 

Having a strong fighting spirit is quite helpful when it comes to competitive chess. For example, my friend and former colleague GM Arkadij Naiditsch is a true fighter – a berserk who goes all out regardless of who he is facing. I believe that one of the factors behind his mindset was his experience in karate. He has the 5th kyū (blue belt) in it. 

To give you a sense of how calm and confident he is, I recall discussing complicated business matters with him. Then at some point, he casually remarks: "Sorry, Peter, I have to leave for my game against Vladimir Kramnik. Will talk to you later in the evening". Then he beats one of the greatest chess players of all time with Black and gets back to work, even though he has an upcoming game against another legend the next day.  

In the 2015 edition of the Grenke Chess Classic, Magnus Carlsen and Arkadij Naiditsch shared first after the classical portion and had to compete in a playoff to determine the winner. This is one of the most nail-biting tie-breaks that I have ever witnessed. You are in for a treat if you have never watched it before! 

Wondering how strong Carlsen was back then? You can always challenge 24-year old Magnus in the Play Magnus app. Spoiler alert: he was rated 2862, so don't be too hard on yourself if you lose! 

Non-martial art experts can also try the "guardian" method. You can either imagine yourself as some sort of hero or pretend that a certain guardian is standing next to you during the game. 

I like picturing myself as a samurai who follows the Hagakure philosophy in the sense of considering bushido to be a "Way of Dying" and being prepared to die at any moment. When you have that sort of cold-bloodedness, fear lets go of you. Miyamoto Musashi's "The Book of Five Rings" has also contributed largely to my development as a chess warrior. 

IM Willy Hendriks recalls a funny story in his excellent book "Move first, think later". An opponent of his found a strong move and admitted after the game that it was due to asking himself what move Kasparov would play in the position. However, Willy has later checked the database and found out that Kasparov had made a different move in that exact situation! Still, this is an interesting example of someone improving his play based on envisioning himself as Garry Kasparov. 

Another famous anecdote that comes to mind is a story told by Mikhail Tal. He played against an amateur who was hypnotized to believe that he was Paul Morphy. According to Tal, the guy was quite confident and played very well for his level in "Morphy form", whereas when they played a normal game (no hypnosis), the amateur quickly fell apart. 

The second approach is also quite simple. If you don't want to turn into a different character for some time, you can instead imagine an imaginary guardian standing next to you and offering support. Just make sure not to start talking to him, or the people around you will be shocked! 

There is no need for mascots and psychoanalysts when the likes of Yoda or Gandalf can come to the rescue when you desperately need aid! It's all in your head. 

Overcoming one's chess fears is a rich subject. We will discuss it in more detail in the episodes to come. 

We featured one of the games from the tie-break mentioned above in the Magnus Trainer lesson called "Trapping a Piece 3 - Naiditsch Traps Carlsen's Knight?".  Now guess what? We have 600+ more lessons there, as well as a few entertaining minigames! Make sure to try the app out if you haven't done so before.  

To begin with, let go of the fear of admitting you have chess fears! 

How to Overcome Your Chess Fears - Part I

Have you checked the first part of the series about why we miss good moves in chess? I do hope that it has helped you somewhat reduce the number of blunders in your games. Still, to err is only human, so you will never be able to eliminate all the mistakes from your play. Anyway, let me share with you a few more tips on what you could do to take your game to the next level. 

Some years ago, I asked GM Arkadij Naiditsch whether it would be better for me to develop my style by studying the games of attacking players or to eliminate my shortcomings by reviewing strategic masterpieces. Being a rather categorical person, he replied: “You are too weak to have a style. Study everything!” That being said, you should take his comment with a grain of salt since, at that time, he seemed to consider all players rated below 2700 to be more or less patzers. Anyway, I would like to point out that our chess weaknesses do lead to poor decisions over the board. 

In a perfect world, we should all be striving to become universal players. However, perfection knows no limits. How do you start? A serious topic that has been hotly debated for years: should you rather focus on developing your strengths or prioritize getting rid of weaknesses? My opinion is that usually, it’s easier and more sensible to improve where you are naturally gifted. However, you will have great returns initially by focusing on what you do poorly. It’s just important not to get overzealous. Let’s say you have no clue about endgames. Spending about 50 hours to familiarize yourself with the most popular 100 theoretical endgames would boost your strength considerably. However, if you are not a fan of the endgame and have no natural feel for it, you may end up spending hundreds of hours going over endgames played by masters without really improving much in that department. And, in contrast, if you are a natural-born attacker who spends the same amount of time on tactics and typical middlegame attacking plans, your rating will grow much faster. 

Speaking about poor decisions caused by stylistic preferences, I have been loyal to the perception of myself as a tactical and witty player for quite a long time, so I used to run like the plague from exchanging queens. I wasn’t confident in my ability to convert a better endgame; didn’t evaluate well enough positions without queens on the board; felt like I would get more chances to win material or checkmate my opponents if the queens stayed. This is a typical chess deficiency, especially at the club level. I have to admit that I still haven’t solved the problem entirely, but having gone through many endings, endgame studies, and typical positions has improved my understanding and knowledge of the final stage of the game. As a result, nowadays, I am more willing to trade queens if it offers me certain benefits.  Amusingly, this has even led to a few situations where I have talked myself into trading queens in positions where it was more lucrative to keep them on the board! 

Feeling sick, being hungry or drowsy, losing concentration, and other similar reasons dramatically influence our tournament performances. Sometimes your mind starts wandering elsewhere and thinking about the next round game, your family relationships, how to spend the evening – anything but chess! Even for chess pros, it is quite tough to maintain a high concentration level throughout the game, especially when not being in the best physical and psychological shapes. Some of the World Chess Championship contenders bring up such reasons for losing the matches as strained family relationships, lawsuits, conflicts within the team, health issues, hypnotizers working for the other guy, etc. Of course, you can waive some of the arguments off as not serious enough or as made-up excuses, but the Grandmasters would probably not agree! 

As you can see, even at the very top level, the outcome of the game is often determined not purely by who is the better player here and now but by many other factors. The more of them are in your favor compared to your opponent, the higher the chance to succeed. Of course, this sounds a bit like the “it’s better to be healthy and rich than sick and poor” tip of advice, but your performance could indeed improve if you honestly assess yourself in non-chess departments and make notes on what can be done better. 

If the twist of events in the game is unfavorable for us, sometimes it is tough to admit it and to adapt to the changes. Many encounters have been lost due to stubbornness and unwillingness to acknowledge the obvious. For example, a person who had a considerable advantage might blunder and keep playing on as if he is still way ahead. Trying to break the laws of chess leads to painful defeats. 

Another common chess sin is losing patience. There are an amazing number of players who can’t handle the tension of playing long games, especially if the position is not to their liking. For example, most amateur players, especially young and impatient ones, have no clue what to do in “boring” endgames or positional struggles. They always try to get something going as soon as possible, even if it comes at the cost of damaging their positions. Older people have another problem: they typically get tired and start feeling like they should finish the game as soon as possible regardless of the result since otherwise they will lose focus at some point and self-destruct. Chess is a cruel sport for them: quite often, elderly players can be seen begging for draws or blundering terribly when ahead on the board. 

Finally, there is that typical case of getting punished for being impatient to convert a winning advantage asap. A good illustration of this scenario is Viktor Korchnoi’s performance in Linares Anibal Open’1998. Viktor (2625) managed to trap the opponent’s queen early on in the game and to win material. His lower-rated opponent Julian Estrada (2395) didn’t give him any credit and continued playing as usual. The two times runner-up of the World Chess Championship became infuriated and started blitzing out the moves only to blunder a queen in return and lose! However, when a similar situation occurred in one of the following rounds, the veteran showed that he has learned the lesson and managed to convert the game in style.    

Here it is Korchnoi’s turn. He is White and has a queen for a rook and a pawn, which should be an easy win. Typically, you indeed don’t play on in such positions against a former World Chess Championship challenger.

A few moves later, we can see that White made life more difficult for himself. But what followed next is “inexplicable”. Korchnoi hastily played 41.hxg6 and resigned after the obvious 41…Rh2+, picking up the queen with a skewer. As usual for such cases, his opponent got to hear what Viktor the Terrible thought about his manners and chess skills! 

Summarizing, if you do a careful performance review based on the six areas of improvement mentioned in the first and second parts of the series about missing good moves and follow at least some of the recommendations, you should definitely improve as a chess player. 

However important general chess tips are, they are no replacement for studying eye-opening chess lessons and doing tricky training exercises. Check out Magnus Trainer for a course recommended by the reigning World Chess Champion himself!

What are the main reasons behind our chess blunders? Let’s look at a few more nuisances and learn how to do better!

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The Play Magnus Plus Membership - Scary Good!

In a nutshell, chess is about making good moves. However, when it comes to finding them, it is easier said than done. Unsurprisingly, many chess players don’t reflect on why they have missed out on a certain promising opportunity and blame it on “bad luck.” 

In this blog post, we will analyze a few popular reasons why people oversee great chess moves that could have potentially changed the course of the game. Also, importantly, we will discuss what to do to minimize the chances of this happening to you. 

Generally speaking, we tend to miss good moves that seem unconventional to us. For example, if a novice has just been taught the value of each chess piece, he is unlikely even to consider a move that gives up a queen for a knight. A more experienced player may realize that this move is in fact a winning sacrifice that leads to mate. 

“Positional” players should solve more studies and tactical problems, analyze the games of the best attacking players, and pay more attention to the forcing moves in each position instead of positional factors. Also, having a more versatile style helps a lot, even though becoming a more universal player typically requires much work. GM Nigel Short used to say that pawn weaknesses don’t matter much if the game ends in a checkmate. However, I still know quite a few strategy-oriented players who won’t even consider making an “ugly” yet efficient move if it doesn’t look right from the positional point of view. Knowing the rules of thumb is very important, but a master should be able to work out the exceptions too.

Wrong evaluation of the position and/or failing to reevaluate it correctly 

In the Carlsen-Anand World Chess Championship match in 2014, Game 6 was quite critical. In the diagram position, Magnus has just played 26.Kd2??, to which Vishy quickly replied 26…a4?? instead of the pretty obvious move 26…Nxe5, collecting the e-pawn for free and putting further pressure on the c-pawn. Anand lost that game and later the entire match, while the intermediate capture 26…Nxe5 would have given him excellent winning chances in at least that particular encounter and could have been a strong psychological blow as well. 

Please check out the Magnus Trainer app if you are interested in a recap of Magnus Carlsen’s World Chess Championship matches, including an analysis of the endgame mentioned above. 

Many amateur kibitzers enjoy making fun of the world’s greats and nurturing their self-esteem by saying that they would have found the right move in a second if they had such an opportunity. By saying so, they ignore the over-the-board psychology. At that point, the position was relatively quiet. Magnus had an edge and felt like he could play for two results: a win or a draw. Vishy was psychologically in the mindset of trying to hold and prevent the active play of his opponent. After a natural move such as Kd2, it is quite natural for Black to keep believing that you are worse and not even try to readjust and search for a way to win. This is a very important phenomenon in general. Many games are lost due to misjudging the position. For example, let’s say you are considerably better (or at least you believe so). Then you make a few moves that you like while the opponent replies somewhat awkwardly. Such a development of events might make you lead you into thinking that you must be winning (“I had a good position and was doing sensible things, while he came up with some rubbish moves”). However, often your initial assessment might turn out to be wrong, or you might have made some poor moves and not noticed it, thus ending in an equal or worse position. The stronger the player is, the better he can evaluate each position and quickly readjust if he feels like the last move has changed the assessment. 

Needless to say, both Magnus and Vishy would have found 26..Ne5 in the blink of an eye if you had shown them a diagram with the position and asked to propose the best move for Black. However, in the psychological context of the over-the-board play they have both missed it.

Chess illiteracy and being a slave of chess stereotypes

Masters know many standard positions and typical plans and reactions. This is usually acquired by going over other players’ games and through personal experience, as well as profoundly analyzing the positions of interest. A newbie will often spend a lot of time on a move and still fail to find the right idea just due to not having seen such a situation before. As compared to pros, amateurs spend tremendous amounts of time and mental energy on reinventing the wheel, not to mention that sometimes they fail to make such an important discovery. 

The other side of the coin is religiously following the plans you have seen earlier; adhering to stereotypes about certain positions prevalent among players of your skill level. For example, if you ask one of the chess students why he believes that f5 should be played for Black in a position, he might reply that it is a standard breakthrough in such structures aimed at starting an attack on the kingside. However, it may well turn out that either the break is inappropriate in this specific case, or there is a much better “non-standard” move. Once again, please don’t fall under the illusion that chess is just a set of guidelines that can be followed automatically to reach success. The game is more sophisticated than that.

These three reasons are quite popular and make up for a large percentage of all the mistakes associated with not finding the optimal move. However, there are many more of them to come. Stay tuned for the next blog post in our series! 

Let’s explore some of the most popular reasons why people choose bad moves in chess over good ones!

The beauty of a move lies not in its appearance but in the thought behind it.

Most chess players enjoy being in control and remaining active. Therefore, when it is their move, they are happy, and having to stay idle during the opponent's move is a necessary evil. However, being the one to move can actually be more of a curse for a human than a blessing!

In every position, if you make the best move, the evaluation will remain the same. Speaking in chess engine terms, when you choose an inferior continuation, the evaluation will go down. If you frequent chess sites that feature broadcasts of chess tournaments, you see this all the time. Even though chess engines don't play chess perfectly just yet, in most cases choosing the top suggestion of the computer is a guarantee that the evaluation of the position will remain unaffected. And you can't "improve" it; it can only stay unchanged or decrease.

Hence, you can view approach the game from a slightly different perspective than usually: how does one "pass" in an efficient way, i.e., makes moves that don't affect the evaluation much while forcing the opponent to ponder difficult variations. In this sense, having the right to move is a liability in a certain sense because, after your choice, the position will either remain as good as it was or worsen.

Back in the day, computer scientist Dr., IM Ken Regan introduced the term "nettlesome" with respect to World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen after analyzing his games. It implies that Magnus knows how to play "consistently accurate moves that maximize the chances of inaccuracies from an opponent" (Dr., GM Jonathan Rowson, The Herald, Scotland, 2013). The ability to put pressure on the opponents and set well-disguised traps is one factor that separates him from other great chess champions.

According to the statistics of the Play Magnus app, most of its users can't beat Magnus age 10+. Even his character in the game is sly enough to know how to trick the unsuspecting victim, forcing him to walk a tightrope during the game, where a single misstep might turn fatal!

An experienced and cunning player always knows how to put pressure on the opponent. The more choices the latter has to face, the better for you. Here are some of the benefits of this approach:

Each challenging situation offers a chance to go wrong.

The more complicated it is to make a choice, the more time he will spend, potentially exposing him to time trouble.

One's mental and physical resources are limited. The longer and the more complicated the game, the more exhausted a person becomes. Hence, the more challenges your opponent faces during the game, the more likely he is to crack up under pressure eventually.

Even though chess is a concrete game, let me offer you two typical examples of when this tip could prove quite handy. Naturally, there are way more of them than that, but we have to start with something.

Let's say you are on the attacking side. Your position is a tad better, but there are no knockout tactical blows just yet. Inexperienced attackers typically waste a lot of time in such situations and then end up making the most direct continuations, creating obvious one or two-move threats, such as taking a piece or giving checkmate. Usually, in such cases, the opponent's reply is more or less forced, so they shrug and defend against the threat, making the attacker ponder his next step once again. Quite often, it leads to time trouble and self-destruction, such as going for an incorrect tactical sequence. In this sense, wanting to win too much can be detrimental.

A more sophisticated player, however, calmly makes common sense moves, building up the position and putting the burden of choice on the sweating opponent, for whom it could be pretty difficult to decide how to try to improve his inferior position. It is not unheard-of people to make weakening moves in such cases, changing their position from bad to worse.

Another notable example is the famous "do not rush" principle that is widely used in converting better endgames. I won't be going over the concept itself since it deserves a separate article and will instead focus on the part directly related to the art of passing the move to the opponent in the best possible way.

Defending is usually more complex and less pleasant than attacking. When playing an endgame position "for two results" (a win or a draw) it often makes sense not to force matters. In such situations, experienced players start maneuvering and seemingly shuffling the pieces back and forth, trying out different ideas on the board. It serves several goals:

• The longer the game lasts, the more tired and demoralized the opponent usually gets, especially if he is on the defensive.
• If your moves convey an impression of doing nothing, the opponent might lose his vigilance and underestimate one of your maneuvers when you finally initiate them.
• There is a chance that your opponent will lose patience and try to force matters himself, ruining his position. This is what they refer to as "the fruit will ripen and fall by itself."
• Using such an approach, you have the opportunity to try out all the offensive setups one by one and see whether the opponent will be able to respond to them correctly.

Summarizing, if you have a choice between moves that seem to lead to positions of roughly the same evaluation, ask yourself the following questions before making a final choice:

• For whom will the arising position be easier to play: for my opponent or for me?
• How would I reply if I were him?
• Is his reply a no-brainer move, or is there room for making a mistake?

Keep in mind that chess is a GAME played by two people, so errors are waiting to be made. Using this fact to your advantage can significantly boost your performance. Good luck!

Are you not convinced yet? Does this blog post sound too vague to you? Please make sure to check out our trademark Magnus Trainer app to learn from Magnus himself how to pose as many challenges to your opponent as possible!

Why can having the right to move be more of a curse than a blessing in chess? And no, we are not talking about zugzwang today! »

"I've always done things a little differently. That is what inspired me. Chess has always been fun, but this takes learning and training chess to a new level. Knight Runner is chess training for everyone!"
— Magnus Carlsen

Please welcome our new addition to the proud family of Play Magnus chess apps – Knight Runner!

Knight Runner is a free-to-play and ad-free platform game based on chess mechanics. You take the role of a chess knight and merrily jump in L-shape across exotic locations presented as game levels. For example, in India, the story's starting point, you get to witness such iconic venues as the Taj Mahal, Harmandir Sahib, Mahabodhi, and many more. Your goal is to visit all the featured locations via special time portals and rescue all the fellow pieces held captive by villains. Get hyped to travel through India, the USA, Iceland, Norway…and even the Future! The starting number of levels is 50. Naturally, you can expect new worlds and levels to be added in the upcoming updates.

While on your quest, don't forget to admire the scenery around you and collect treasures. Stay alert, though, and make sure not to fall prey to the hostile black pieces that will be doing their best to hinder your progress by capturing you and forcing you to restart the level! Also, make sure to learn how to use exclusive tools to your advantage, such as:
• KNIGHT VISION – See all dangers with this unique ability.
• BOMBS – Explode all surrounding pieces.
• TELEPORTS – Jump between squares instantly.
• PAUSE SQUARES – Stop time and calculate your path.

The gameplay looks deceptively simple at first sight. Nevertheless, mastering Knight Runner requires tactical planning, namely, calculating what path to pursue, and a swift reaction. For newcomers to chess, this game offers a great way to familiarize oneself with the basic rules of chess. And if you are an advanced player, the thrill will probably be in keeping up the pace and navigating the landscape well enough, even if you have to restart the level sometimes to do better.

As you will see in our upcoming promotional video, the reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen has had quite rough moments while attempting to beat the game. Hence please don't underestimate the complexity of the journey and prepare for a wild and exciting ride! Once you finally complete the run successfully, you can always restart and aim for a better game score.

Good luck beating Knight Runner, and may other players' jaws drop when they get to see what high scores you were able to achieve!

"Knight Runner is chess training for everyone!" - Magnus Carlsen.

It is no secret that most of the best-selling products released in the chess industry are dedicated to openings.Magnus Traineris no exception when it comes to user preferences. Today, we have the following categories of lessons in the app: Foundation, Tactics, Strategy, Calculation, Opening, Endgame, Highlights. Still, even though the legendary World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca and many other chess titans argued that one should study chess from the endgame, very few people follow that advice. In fact, I don't recall a single message from our users requesting to cover some instructive endgame topic. What we do get in bulk numbers, though, are suggestions to add new openings to the mix or to expand on the already existing series. Don't get me wrong: there is nothing shameful about wanting to know more about the opening stage! Still, I wish the other categories were duly appreciated and respected as well.

"In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else, for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame."


Let's try to ponder this situation and come up with some ideas on why chess players are obsessed with opening knowledge.

First of all, some of them are mimicking the world's best. However, the top players have walked a long road before arriving at where they are. In their games, there are few mistakes, so obtaining an edge from the beginning of the game is important. On the contrary, in amateur confrontations, both opponents tend to blunder a few times per game. Having half a pawn advantage (+0.5) out of the opening is a significant achievement for a Grandmaster, but amateur's duels are typically decided by blundering pieces or even checkmate. Therefore, why not focus on middlegame/endgame instead of going all-out on the opening? And, of course, never forget about tactics!

Being booked up goes in and out of fashion. For instance, for my generation, the ultimate role model in chess was Garry Kasparov. At his prime, he, being an excellent analyst himself and aided by a strong team of seconds and a computer lab that his competitors simply couldn't afford, was often able to achieve winning positions right out of the opening. Some of the lines that later happened on the board were analyzed in his home lab till mate. Some colleagues were so envious/pissed about it that they started claiming that Garry's main strengths were preparation and memorization!

In the 2010s, however, chess opening fashion has somewhat changed. Chess players picked up the narrative of Magnus Carlsen being a fantastic positional player and an endgame virtuous who could dispatch super GMs left and right without getting any opening advantage whatsoever. Back in the day, opening knowledge was indeed probably not his strongest suit. However, nowadays, in my opinion, most people don't give enough credit to how well-prepared, versatile and skilled at picking the right weapon against a particular opponent Magnus is, even though the revolution in computer chess has largely changed the way people prepare and the positions that are considered promising. It is more about the surprise factor nowadays than getting a position with a high engine evaluation.

Secondly, we associate our openings with ourselves. No one says "my middlegame", "my endgame", but you can hear about "my Slav" or "my King's Gambit". Also, building upon the idea of mimicking the world's best, some players feel happy about copying the repertoire of their chess heroes. Even if the skill level is vastly different, they still feel like openings form a connection between the role model and themselves. In fact, when you ask someone why he started playing a certain opening, you often hear something like: "My coach, whom I deeply respect, taught me that" or "The best player from my country, whom I admire a lot, used to play it, so I decided to pick it up as well".

Thirdly, many novice chess players search for a magic pill in chess that will help them achieve great results with minimal effort. This has already been mentioned in the column about studying the main lines. It is tempting to think that you can quickly master an obscure line and bamboozle a much stronger opponent due to the surprise factor. In reality, this approach does not work particularly well, but one can always hope!

I recall a funny story that goes back to the time when I was attending a chess club in London, Canada, back in 1999. One of the guys, a cheerful lad with long hair, was sipping one soft drink after another and loudly advertising that he was ready to challenge anyone for a small stake since he knows a chess opening that can't be countered. I smiled and asked if he would play me. Knowing that I, despite my young age, was the chess champion of the college, he laughed and shook his head, saying, "No, anyone but you!". In case you are wondering what his weapon of choice was, he was a big fan of Scholar's Mate and actually managed to beat some fellow rookies using it! Ah, the joys of discovering the game of chess…We have all been there.

Fourthly, quite a few chess players approach the game as science and, quoting Sir Francis Bacon, live by the "knowledge is power" motto. Being diligent, responsible, and striving for perfection, they feel more comfortable if they "do their homework" and play a more or less model game for at least a dozen opening moves. Even when things go downhill for them in the middlegame, they claim that next time they will prepare better and know what to do.

Fifthly, there is a "gotta catch them all" approach. It is common for some chess players to be interested in experimenting with openings to get new exciting chess positions and feel like they have become more well-rounded in the game. These guys usually like to think of themselves as "opening experts" and take pride in maintaining huge opening files full of analysis borrowed from external sources and obtained by doing some intense research on their own.

Sixthly, studying openings seems to be a leisurely pastime if you do it the wrong way. Chess players opt for the path of least resistance: they grab a book and keep flipping pages, mechanically going through the lines and not giving the variations much thought. This study method is less demanding than, for example, working on one's technique of converting winning positions or learning how to avoid time trouble. How should one study the opening? That is a different question of paramount importance that deserves its own blog post.

Why are many amateurs dedicating the lion's share of their chess time to studying openings? 

Why are Chess Players Obsessed with Openings?

What do you think about get-rich schemes? You know: “Sign up here, spin the wheel, win a prize and become a millionaire…after you pay a small commission for processing the payment!” Obviously, most of such schemes are organized by fraudsters with the intent of milking money from gullible people. The same can be said of quite a few chess products that target casual players and promise great returns with minimal effort. The next time you hear about a “new great risky opening line that can be mastered in 15 minutes and that will help you catch your opponent off guard and win quickly”, ask yourself: What is the catch? If the opening is so incredible, why are not everyone and his grandmother playing it already? Do a quick search on the Internet and check whether the line is sound or not. If possible, ask an expert whom you trust. Find out whether strong Grandmasters employ this line nowadays. Use your chess engine or some online tool to see how the computer evaluates the starting position and the main lines of the variation.

Also, if you are still in doubt after the steps suggested above, make sure to check a few credible sources instead of relying on a single opinion. After all, there are plenty of ways to make terrible openings look smooth and shiny, including:

• Providing flawed or biased analysis. First of all, some authors, intentionally or not, fail to mention the most critical lines that pretty much refute their weapon of choice or at least take the sting out of it. Instead, they showcase lines where the opponent “cooperates” by taking all that’s on offer in the style of amateurs from the 19th century and goes on to suffer a humiliating and swift defeat. Unfortunately, when you try to replicate this scenario over the board, your opponents turn out to be less obliging and start making different moves as compared to the ones you have been served by the author, posing problems for you. Secondly, some of the authors offer faulty lines that have probably not been checked with a chess engine. For instance, according to the opening guru, White should be winning there, but a reality check with Stockfish reveals that Black has a witty resource that completely turns the tables! Thirdly, sometimes when the editor asks a highly-qualified and responsible author to create a course about a dubious opening, the latter’s conscience doesn’t allow him to advertise the lines too much, so he has to resort to such vague statements as “the position is unclear”, “with mutual chances”, “you get a playable position of your liking”, etc., in order to conceal the fact that you are outright worse at the end of the line.
• Hand-picking model games to make a favorable impression. A common trick is to neglect all the painful losses that the author and other fans of this variation have suffered in this line and demonstrate a few magnificent victories, especially if those were achieved against eminent players. This ploy creates an illusion that all you need to do to beat a tough opponent is to employ this fantastic opening. However, if you check out the author’s overall performance in this line, it turns out to be quite modest.
• Argument from authority. Another typical gimmick is to pick games by top players who at some point deliberately used inferior openings for trolling, due to being under the weather, for friendly fun, for giving odds to a lesser opponent, and so on. Basically, the author shows you a game played by a super Grandmaster and goes on to claim that if he can get away with employing such an opening, then you definitely can. The truth is, if Magnus Carlsen, who is known for such merry experiments, plays something atrocious such as the Grob (1.g4) in bullet to assert his dominance and tilt the opponent, it doesn’t make the opening good enough for a competitive club player who wants to improve in classical chess.

The problem with playing offbeat openings is that they are primarily based on exceptions from the rules, while an improving player needs to learn the rules and principles of chess. Indeed, there are masters who keep playing the same dubious systems all life long and even recommend doing so to others. However, the truth is that one of the reasons why they got stuck at master level is probably directly connected to the fact that they failed to familiarize themselves with other important types of positions and pawn structures. Instead, they had to resort to mending their semi-broken opening weapons year after year, wasting time and hindering their progress.

Why keep beating a dead horse and playing so-so lines when you can go for the main lines and study the games of the very top GMs, thus enriching your knowledge of the game? Moreover, you will be getting better positions this way. The “play mainline openings” approach is being advocated by the prevailing majority of the opening experts, from GM Gennady Timoschenko (“An Opening Repertoire of an Upcoming Master”) to the slogan of Quality Chess’s “Grandmaster Repertoire” series – “Tired of bad positions? Try the main lines!”

Of course, what I have been preaching above doesn’t mean that you should be as strict on yourself as not to employ any crazy lines at all under any circumstances. Just imagine that you are on a diet: an occasional ice cream from time to time is probably OK for most of us, but eating it every day in large quantities is not recommended for anyone.

P.S. Needless to be said, this blog post is written from the perspective of a person who views chess as a competitive activity and wishes to improve in it. I fully understand that some people take immense joy and pride in achieving an upset win now and then by using their trademark offbeat opening weapon, even if they have to suffer a long streak of losses to get there one day.

The Magnus Trainer app has a series of lessons specifically dedicated to the topic of creating a comprehensive opening repertoire for White and for Black based on sound openings. From adventurous gambits to solid, maneuvering lines, all the openings in the app were hand-picked to help you master only those lines that would serve you well for a lifetime regardless of your playing strength. After all, quite a few of the model games featured in the lessons come from Magnus Carlsen’s tournament games, up to the World Chess Championship level.

Remember: when it comes to studying openings, there is no magic pill! 

Chess Superstitions

How To Overcome Your Chess Fears – Part II

How to Overcome Your Chess Fears - Part I

Why Do We Miss Good Moves? – Part II

The Play Magnus Plus Membership - Scary Good!

Why Do We Miss Good Moves? – Part I

How Having to Make a Move Can Be a Curse

Have You Tried Out Knight Runner?

Why are Chess Players Obsessed with Openings?

Play Sound Openings