Awareness of Personality in Chess
September 20, 2010
Tags: Learning Chess Articles
Written by guest author Greg Delaney for Wholesale Chess.
It’s really not enough to simply know that a problem of any sort exists in any aspect of our lives. Awareness by itself will not solve a problem. This being said, a problem cannot be solved without it. Because of our “blind areas” as chess players, we may lack awareness of personality traits that cause our skills at chess to be less than they might otherwise be. Everyone has denial mechanisms – psychological methods by which we avoid painful thoughts and feelings – and this denial plays a role in being “unaware” of personality factors that hinder our chess development. Chess at any level is a very personal game. We place ourselves “on the line” during each game. Our knowledge, skills, stamina, intellect, and even our self-esteem are there for our opponents to see. Think about it: how many times have you made a weak move and then had your opponent look at you with a pitying smile before capturing an unprotected piece or setting up an unavoidable mate? How does that feel?
In order to preserve some dignity, we normally will find some reason “why” a mistake was made and “why” we lost the game. Of course, it wasn’t our “fault.” We didn’t sleep well the night before or we got frustrated by our opponent’s slow moves or there was a distracting noise in the club room or tournament hall. Most chess players I have met possess an arsenal of rationalizations for errors, blunders, and losses. We might have a hard time identifying the true source of the problem because it is hard to admit our weaknesses to ourselves, let alone to our opponents, other players, and chess coaches. This denial and rationalizing might provide us with some psychological and/or emotional comfort, but they constitute to a large extent the “blind areas” in our chess-playing.
I hope that I have made a strong case for how our own denial process and our “blind areas” serve to keep us “stuck” in our chess development. If we lack awareness of our problems at the chess board, it is doubtful that we will change them. After all, it is only after we find out there is a problem in our non-chess lives that we may be motivated to make some sort of change. I believe that honesty is truly the only real solution in these circumstances. We need to be able to acknowledge and accept the flaws, traits, and tendencies that recur in our games. And recur they do. As mentioned in previous articles, our unique personality traits emerge as we play a game of chess. If these traits are part of us, I think it’s reasonable to suggest that patterns of play – how we each individually play chess – can be recognized, examined, and changed. The resulting awareness becomes the first step to this change.
One of the themes I want to communicate is that how we approach the game of chess is likely quite similar to how we approach life in general. After all, the same personality traits, defense mechanisms, and problem-solving templates exist within us, whether we are playing chess or trying to decide on a financial plan for our retirement. If this is the case, and I believe it is, then closely examining our personality traits and tendencies whether we are playing chess or living life will be helpful in both areas. We can work to change these traits while studying chess, but we can also work on them in everyday life and expect some carry over to our chess playing as well. In the next article I will try to provide specific examples and to share change steps beyond our initial efforts at gaining awareness.
Greg Delaney is Life Member of USCF who returned to chess in 2005 after a three decade hiatus from the game he loves. He is an educator, club player, and student of IM Yelena Dembo. For fun, he blogs about chess and his work to improve as a player.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Wholesale Chess. We welcome open discussion on all aspects of chess on the Wholesale Chess Blog. If you would like to be a guest author on our blog, please contact us at marketing@wholesalechess.com.
