Playing to My Advantages

Repair Shop, Farmersville TX. I think James knows what he's all about. Since returning to chess as a time-killer to help deal with insomnia (mixed success), I've become a much better player. Partly I think it was just taking a break. Maybe you've experienced that: you step away from something you're good at (or at least competent at), and when you come back fresh, you kill it, at least for a little while. I think the real impact, though, came from playing to my advantages. This is a concept that's been drilled into me at work, and I'm finding it to be a good mental cleanser. In chess, it means warming up with puzzles and only playing 30-minute games, not 15-minute rapid, 5-minute blitz, or 1-minute bullet. Puzzles prime pattern recognition, which is where experience pays off. And I've seen this over and over in chess videos on YouTube: the main difference between an older master and a younger one is speed. Reduce the clock pressure, and the older player is still competitive. Choose…

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