GM Yasser Seirawan speaks ......

There is an interview with GM Yasser Seirawan conducted by Spanish journalist IM Anna Matnadze which is published by various chess media outlets (see here, here, here and here - take your pick).

GM Yasser Seirawan was once No 9 on the ratings list and a serious contender for the World Championships. He also became embroiled in chess politics in the 80s-90s. He retired from competitive chess and in the last few years became a very popular chess author with his Chess Duels book as well as his best games DVD for Chessbase. However, prior to this he co-authored a series of beginning to intermediate chess books for Microsoft Corp which are actually really really good. I used it with my son. Highly recommended. My favourite book(s) is his collaboration with FM Bruce Harper (main author) from Canada on the annotated games collection of GM Duncan Suttles. Wonderful, wonderful books (3 vols).

It is very interesting interview to read especially his views on the World Championship cycle as well as on the time controls. Makes a lot of sense too.

Some excerpts for juniors:

9. And your secret as to how to recover from a bitter loss?

One can never overcome a ‘bitter loss.’ The way to deal with a loss is before the tournament. I think most professional players simply have to accept that when they play in a tournament, to win it, they will have to take risks. So if before a tournament a player mentally girds themselves and say, “Okay, I’m going to lose a game, two or three, but I’m going to play hard for a victory,” then ‘accepting’ a loss is easier. Although the bitterness is long-lasting. Secondly, losing is part and parcel of the game. Get used to it. It will happen! Instead, we have to learn to take our losses in stride and learn from them. What did we do wrong? Why did we make the mistake we did? And so on. Losses will help us learn if we make the correct deductions.

17. What would be your advice to young people who are just starting to play chess and take it seriously?

Have fun. Enjoy what you are doing. Take your work seriously. If you get too stressed, take a break. If you apply yourself, you will get mentally tougher, much more disciplined, feel a greater sense of personal empowerment and learn to succeed in anything you want to do. Believe in yourself.

A Chess Parent Speaks ......

Over at USCF ChessLife Online, there is an article by a chess parent, Andrea Rosen, mother of junior Eric Rosen, who won this year's National High School Championship in April. I suggest you head over read the article in full: see here.

Andrea cites Amy Chua and her (in)famous book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother at the beginning of the article. She goes on to say she felt some doubt, which quickly turned to relief on some minutes of reflection, whether she was right as a parent not to insist on academic grades and allowing her son to "indulge" in chess. The article is in a sense a reply to Amy Chua on the benefits of extra-curricular activities.

However, I feel she missed the point. Surely a Tiger Mom would also have insisted on chess as potentially beneficial to pure academic subjects (Amy's daughter played the piano (?)). If so, then sure the Tiger Mom attitude takes over and there is a focus on improvement in chess, training, working hard etc. All of us have experienced this first hand or observed such behaviour in others. (Even the quintessential US chess movie, Searching for Bobby Fischer has a good segment on this very issue.) The question goes a begging: What is healthy? How much of a push is healthy? Or should there be any push at all? But Andrea Rosen does not discuss this ...... Or did she? She did include these bits of advice from her son, Eric:

After years of playing high-level events, he’s got some advice for parents. He said he thinks it helps that Brad and I never told him we expected him to win or made him feel bad afterwards if he didn’t. “I think I did that to myself,” he said, “but that’s another story.”

Eric advises parents to give their kids space after a tough loss. “Just leave them alone.” Berating a player for losing, or showing them how they missed an easy win, he says, “can be psychologically devastating and make it very hard to play the next round.”

Telling someone they need to win the next round isn’t helpful either. “If anything, it will make it worse. They should just have an open, relaxed mind, and try to forget about any pressure or the result.” Parents can also make sure their kids eat well and stay healthy, he said.

Some excerpts:

I think my son Eric’s clear first-place win at this year’s National High School Championship, held April 28-May 1, 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, offers some vindication to me and all other parents who believe that children, when encouraged to connect with passions of their own choosing, are inclined to work hard and can achieve success at the highest levels through their own intrinsic motivation. As an added bonus, whether or not they win a national championship, chances are their therapy bills as adults will be less.

To me, competing in anything is less about the results and more about what you learn on route. Nine years after he began to play, he’s learned plenty, and how to end a game with checkmate might be the least of it. He’s empathetic, he learns from his mistakes, he helps others learn from theirs, he loses with grace, and he handles himself like a pro in high-pressure, high- stakes situations.

Parts of the article is also Eric Rosen sharing his thoughts on chess and the tournament in particular:

First, he says, it’s easier to play well if you don’t think you’re going to win. [Do you agree? Read on in the article to see what he is saying.]

Second, he says, study the games of great players. [......] he focused on the U.S. Championship that was taking place during the 10 days prior to the high school championship in Nashville. “Every day I looked online at those games, and that really helped. I could see how good players played, and get inspiration. I also went over my own openings, because really that’s the most important thing to prepare before a tournament.”

During the tournament, his focus carried him through sticky situations in games. "[......]A big factor in my success had to do with being mentally determined to stay in the game and recover after my mistakes,” he said.

The High School Chess Coach (or Parent or Chess Fanatic) ......

Thanks to GM Kevin Spraggett, please enjoy this Saturday Night Live skit (parody) of the life of a high school chess coach. (the last scene: dinner at home — ask yourself whether you are a chess tragic if you have a black and white chess board table cloth and the salt and pepper shakers must be on certain squares ......)