As we go through life, we are constantly reassessing and analysing things – could we do that better? Where did we go wrong? When we find the answer, we can then either reject it, or assimilate the new idea with the aim of improving things. With chess it’s no different, and in order to increase our success rate, it’s important to reassess and re-examine our gameplay.
If you’ve been playing the same way for numerous games, following an identical pattern every time or duplicating your way of examining the board, it’s easy to stagnate. You become familiar with the same method of analysis, and gradually complacency will set in.
You stop seeing the game clearly, risk missing moves and generally experiencing cognitive laziness.
So, if you find yourself feeling stuck, what can you do?
Every chess player has experienced the need to reassess their game, even the top level players – in fact, that’s one of the reasons they reached those exalted highs. Carlsen, Fischer, Kasparov and all the greats knew exactly how to beat the stagnation and improve their game . . .
Get a personalised chess coach
Even if you don’t plan to take the route to chess stardom, and consider yourself a ‘regular’ player, a personal coach can bring huge benefits to both your game and, even your life beyond the board. But a good coach can come into their own when it comes to reassessing your game.
By providing honest and unbiased feedback based on their years of experience, coaches can offer the new perspective your gameplay needs. Friends and family, however well-intentioned, can never match the objectivity and knowledge of a professional chess coach. Studying your game with fresh eyes, analysing why you chose a particular move or what your opponent will do, allows your intuition to flow, and your self-confidence to increase, resulting in a dynamic match.
A coach’s knowledge and experience allow them to spot the tiniest mistake or the smallest weakness on the part of your opponent. Every player can become complacent and miss errors in their gameplay, and even self-reassessment can be blind to these mistakes. A good coach will notice them immediately, pushing you to up your game every time.
⭐️ At RetiOpening our expert coaches possess the experience to analyse every mistake, encouraging you to grow and expand your gameplay as a result ⭐️
By focusing completely on you, a personal coach allows the smoothing out of any imbalance in your game that may have gone unnoticed. A coach can also help you to design the right training schedule for your needs, ensuring you work on those parts of your game that will improve your results the most. One of the specially useful aspects of working with a coach is that they can hold you accountable and make sure you stay on the right path! For children, this is a particularly useful lesson. Most kids will try their hardest to avoid less pleasant things, such as going to school or an early bedtime. By gently encouraging them to persist in the face of challenges, coaches can impart valuable lessons on children and young players that cross over into all areas of life.
Every player’s game requires frequent reassessment if they want to improve and remain dynamic, and the focused, analytical attention of a coach can make all the difference.
