I believe that one of the factors behind his mindset was his experience in karate. 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. Having a strong fighting spirit is quite helpful when it comes to competitive chess. 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. 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. Still, such negative self-programming should definitely be avoided since it increases the chances of failure. Of course, one might claim that he was not a particularly strong player, so mistakes were the norm for him rather than something exceptional. 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. Such gloomy expectations often become self-fulfilling prophecies. "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."
Fear of not achieving the desired result.
"What if I get into time trouble and self-destruct?" "What if I run right into his opening trap?". "What am I going to do if I forget my preparation?". "What if I blunder a piece for no apparent reason like I did in the previous round?".
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."Įven though few people admit it openly, most chess players are haunted by all sorts of fears before and during the game. Sidebars, tips, and short essays also provide a broader view of the match in terms of the history of artificial intelligence, computers’ creative abilities, and whether or not human intervention was the ultimate cause of Kasparov’s defeat, as the defeated champion claims."I learned that courage was not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. With numerous diagrams and easy-to-follow explanations of the key moves of every game, Paldolfini reenacts the drama of this intense week. Pandolfini follows the tournament in a game-by-game, play-by-play analysis that reveals the significance of this important match. The games themselves were dramatic events, filled with fascinating strategic moments, but their impact reverberated for beyond the chess world and the world would never look at computers the same way again. In six games that riveted chess enthusiasts and laypeople alike, world chess champion Garry Kasparov and IBM’s chess program Deep Blue fought for the title of best chess player in the world. From America’s foremost chess coach and game strategist for Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit comes the classic confrontation of Man versus Machine-the match between Kasparov and IBM's chess program.