NATIONAL SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIP TIPS AND ADVICE
Copyright 2003, Dr. David Leo Stefurak
I. The Will to Prepare to Win is More Important than the
Will to Win.
II. Specific Orientation for the National Elementary
Championships.
III. Coach Leo's List of Suggested Tournament Do Not's.
IV. Preparing for Nationals.
V. The Use of Long Time Controls.
:: Tournament Preparation and the Use of Long Time Controls in Five Parts
I. The will to prepare to win is more important than the will
to win.
II. Specific orientation for the National Elementary
Championships.
0. The USCF maintains a website at http://uschess.org that provides current
information regarding Nationals, USCF ratings, etc. The web section
concerning Nationals may be consulted to familiarize players with schedules,
playing conditions, registration procedures and other technical details
concerning Nationals participation.
1. The 2004 National Elementary Championships will be played April 2nd,
3rd, and 4th in Pittsburgh, PA.
2. Students will play within their own section and only competitively face
players registered in their same section.
3. The time control at Nationals is 25/1 followed by SD/1 which translates
to "Game in 2 hours." In other words, players must make all their moves in
2 hours of their thinking time with the first 25 moves required to be played
within the first hour of their thinking time. This means that a single game
can (and sometimes will) last 4 hours (in real-time).
4. This time control is 4 times, four times ... 1, 2, 3, 4 times as slow as
the time control typically used in Washington State scholastic events (i.e.,
G/30 SD). [Please note that only the Kindergarten (K) section will use a
simple G/90 SD time control. In other words, Kindergarteners must make all
their moves in 1.5 hours of their thinking time. This means that a single
game can (and sometimes will) last up to 3 hours for Kindergarteners (in
real-time).]
5. The main disadvantage WA students will experience at Nationals is their
inexperience with this very slow, massively slow, excruciatingly slow time
control. Washington students need (for good, better and best results) to be
prepared to increase their attention span, watchfulness and vigilance.
6. Therefore students should start practicing now at playing at slower and
slower time controls. First G/60 (all your moves in one hour of your
thinking time -- game to last no more than 2 hours in real-time). Then G/90,
then G/120 (i.e., Game in 2 hours -- the Nationals time control).
7. Seven (7) games will be played in seven rounds starting at 1 pm Friday,
April 26th and ending with Game 7 (Round 7) starting at 2 pm Sunday, April
28th.
8. All players will play all games in this Swiss-paired tournament. No
player will be eliminated.
9. Team size is 4 players per section from the same school. That is, only
the top 4 finishers in a section from the same school will contribute their
scores to the overall concatenated team score in that section alone.
10. There are two main side-events: Siamese (i.e., 'Bughouse') and Blitz
(i.e., G/5) which will be played on Thursday, April 25th, the day before
the main tournament begins.
11. First-time players at Nationals should not feel that they need to or
have to play in these two side-events the day before the seven round main
competition begins.
12. Students (especially first time participants) need to conserve energy at
the event.
13. Students (with their parents) should vacate the playing site whenever
possible between rounds: go for a walk, get something to eat, go swimming at
your hotel, read, visit a museum, take a nap, etc.
14. This seven round, three day, four-hour per game tournament is a
full-immersion event. This event is a marathon. Students need to save
energy for the third and final day when their competition can be the most
difficult (i.e., if they are playing their strongest opponents). Also the
evening/night round on the three-round Saturday (i.e., Round 5) starts at 7
pm!
15. Students play a 2-3-2 schedule on Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Students
should plan to have the energy, rest and strength of mind to play that late
starting third round at 7 pm on Saturday. This is often a make-or-break
round!!
16. Parents from a given school are well served in noting and keeping
up-to-date on their school's standings. Organizers and Tournament Directors
do make mistakes. Any apparent errors should be reported Immediately!
17. Students should, of course and as always(!), ignore their opponent's
rating and play the game as best they can. Every point and half point is
crucial!
18. Students should bring clocks to the tournament site (clocks are
required) for tournament play, and boards and sets for analysis to their
rooms (tournament boards and sets will be provided at the site).
19. In general, I recommend that first-time participants play in the lowest
section for which they are eligible. This can be modified should a school
team need a player to "play-up." All of these decisions need to be made
well in advance of the event. There are no day-of-event registrations or
changes allowed.
20. Prepare to win, rest up, prepare your openings, solve tactics problems
as practice, play what "got you there" to Nationals, and have fun! Students
need to be prepared to make a great effort in each game. Every move should
be deliberate, thoughtful and carefully prepared.
*** Parents and students should consider 'taking' one half-point 'bye'
during the 7 round event. This will serve to shorten the tournament to a
more manageable 6 game tournament and allow students to rest the evening and
night of Saturday (should the bye be taken in lieu of playing the 5th round
at 7 pm Saturday - the 3rd game scheduled that day!).
III. Coach Leo's List of Suggested Tournament Do Not's:
1. Do not bring Gameboys or other hand-held video/game devices.
2. Do not stay up late.
3. Do not exhaust yourself with Blitz or Siamese between rounds.
4. Do not remain in the playing halls in between rounds.
5. Do not waste your energy.
6. Do not miss a meal.
7. Do not be distraught if you lose a game.
8. Do not engage in negative self-talk.
9. Do not be impressed by your opponent's rating.
10. Do not rush your moves.
11. Do not think . UNTIL you see every check, capture and threat.
12. Do not move without a plan.
13. Do not move unless you have predicted your opponent's reply.
14. Do not hesitate to call the T.D. if you are bothered during play.
15. Do not assume your opponent's moves are correct -- be skeptical.
16. Do not play what you do not understand.
17. Do not give up! Be as tricky as a dancing bear if you are losing.
18. Do not go down to defeat without having offered a draw.
19. Do not just think in words -- see the moves in your mind's eye.
20. Do not just see and think -- also feel, imagine, and have fun!
IV. Preparing for Nationals.
Advice for scholastic chess players:
· Think of Nationals as a marathon · Conserve your energy
· Leave the playing site between rounds · Rest · Take a nap
· Get fresh air · Swim · Eat between rounds · Go to bed early.
Advice for parents:
· Have a plan on where to meet after games
· Maybe have parents on shifts · Take lawn chairs to sit on
· Stake out territory · Bring something to read
· There are chess-related lectures and events going on
· Keep track of your children's standings i.e., wins/losses:
Sometimes mistakes in scoring/standings/reporting happen.
Players should (and in some sections must):
· NOTATE your game;
· Understand CLOCK HIERARCHY, i.e., digital beats analog, and
a Digital Game Timer is preferred to all others.
· You CAN'T CLAIM "insufficient losing chances" if you are using a
Digital Game Timer (DGT) clock (i.e., using the 'time delay' function);
· ALWAYS call a judge over - if anything seems out of line;
· NEVER talk to your opponent during the game, except to adjust or
accept/offer a draw.
Understand the time structure and 'time control':
* First 25 moves in 60 minutes: a Regular time control :: You should
record. Be REALLY patient; Pace yourself to make 20 moves in about an
hour; You SHOULD slow down relative to typical Washington tournaments;
Keep your hands away from the board; Spend a lot of time LOOKING at the
board; VISUALIZE your move (Don't substitute words for visualization);
PREDICT your opponent's next move.
* Sudden Death: Stop recording when you or your opponent is below 5 min.
in the second time control (i.e., after 115 minutes of thinking time is
elapsed for a player).
Sudden Death Time Pressure: you can claim "Insufficient Losing Chances" if
you would otherwise lose on time a clearly and simply drawn (or won)
position (assuming you are not using time delay) when a sudden death time
forfeit is being approached.
V. The Use of Long Time Controls.
1. Students need to significantly reduce their rate of making unforced
errors during play. The student should develop the habit of writing the
move down which they plan to make and then take the time to ask, "Does this
move lose?" as well as ask, "What undefended pieces do I have after I make
this move and what checks, captures and threats might defeat this move?"
2. The student should take the time to thoroughly check and double check
their planned move for possible surprise responses and alternative
variations, in addition to the perceived "obvious" response, expected from
their opponent.
3. The student should play their opponent's game: the student is well
advised to walk a mental mile in their opponent's strategic and tactical
moccasins. In effect, the student should play two games in one.
4. Students should take the time, all the time, to work at seeing, seeking,
searching and finding checks, captures and threats. The student needs to
take significant time just to see, look around the board, and use their
visual intelligence both prior to calculating variations and while
calculating variations.
5. The effective use of ample time requires the student to practice
significant mental discipline. Chess games at long time controls reflect
the amount of mental work the student can put into their game. The student
should expect a tremendous effort from themself in each and every game.
6. The student should not 'settle' for a good move. Rather better and best
moves should be diligently and patiently sought that most effectively
implement the student's operational plan(s).
7. Students need to practice delaying the gratification and relief that
come with making a move. Rather, the student needs to suspend judgment, not
leap to conclusions, and calmly and deliberately (step-by-step) work out
variations of play that fuse their moves with their opponent's best and
possible replies.
8. In particular, students need to calculate the consequences of forced and
forcing moves. Often times a student can see that a given move makes
"something" happen. That is good, but it is only the beginning of deeper
and more elaborated thinking. The student needs to use plenty of time to
follow the logical consequences of such 'activating' moves and determine
whether the outcomes are (all) good or (some) possibly ill for the student's
position and game.
9. Students need to calmly and consistently construct and play variations
which they understand. Student's should play "what got them there."
Students should work to guide the position from understandable position to
understandable position.
10. The student (along with their parents) needs to develop, in advance, a
feeling for the amount of mental work that the student can generate over the
entire 7 round National Championship event. Students then need to conserve
their energy, pace themselves, budget their energy output, and prepare to
expend the maximum mental energy in each round they can without overtaxing
themselves and without negatively affecting their performance in the next
and remaining games.
11. Students need to increase the length of their constructed and imagined
variations. Students, in effect, should plan to visualize 3, 4, or 5 moves
ahead instead of the usual 1 or 2 moves ahead in typical WA State events (at
G/30 SD).
12. Students also need to increase the depth of their strategic insight
and planning. The student needs to ask and answer questions diligently and
deliberately about the position in their own mind, apart from move
calculation. For example, students should take the time to consider
transitioning from the opening to the middlegame and from the middlegame
into the endgame. Issues of time, space, pawn structure, King safety,
material, good and bad exchanges, and line opening and closing should be on
the student's mind.
13. Students should take the time to mentally 'witness' themselves during
play. The student should observe and monitor their mental (and physical)
activity during the game. The student should ask themself if they are
moving too fast; if they have penetrated to a sufficient level of
understanding of the position; and ask if they are (for example) being too
offensive or defensive in their thinking and play.
14. Students should also ask themself if they are sitting up with good
vision of the board; ask if their body is too stiff or rigid; and ask if
they are physically, as well as mentally, relaxed enough to do their best.
15. Students should primarily use the entire 4 hour time control by seeing
and calculating tactics when their clock is ticking (i.e., they are 'on
move') and by thinking big thoughts and engaging in strategic planning
when it is their opponent's turn to move.
16. Students are not advised to walk around after every move they make.
Rather the student should stand up, stretch, and take a small walk around
the tournament area as needed to relax (perhaps every 5th move or so; or
every 30 minutes or so).
17. Also, students are advised to take a small walk (in the playing area)
should they be negatively surprised either by their own move (e.g., making a
move that drops a piece) or by their opponent's strong move (e.g., an
unanticipated tactic that upsets the balance of the game and plan of the
student).
18. Students must never, never, never give up or give in mentally. The
student should know that mistakes are made and that their making the first
mistake does not mean that their opponent will be error free from then on.
19. The student should realize that a bad position is not the same as a
lost position. In all such adverse cases the student should coolly strive
to make the position complicated, difficult (sometimes for themself as well
as their opponent), unclear, and uncertain. Students in disadvantageous
positions should take significant time to seek and find counter-play and
endeavor to set ongoing problems for their opponent.
20. Students should remember to play their opponent and not just the
position (a part of meta-thinking). Students should strive to take their
opponents out of the opponent's comfort zone and strive to make the opponent
play positions they do not like, are not familiar with, or do not
understand.
21. The student is well-advised to construct a detailed mental checklist to
review during the formulation and calculation of each move.
22. When in serious positional trouble (i.e., when facing probable loss)
the student should have the presence of mind to offer a draw at the
appropriate moment to maximize the chance of acceptance. Such moments often
occur after a threat is made (by the player in trouble), a strategic
problem set, or the opponent becomes short of time on the clock. No student
should lose a game (by checkmate, flag or resignation) before a draw offer
is made.
23. The student should also have the presence of mind to realize that the
alternative to winning is not losing. Rather the student should be prepared
to expend great energy, time and resourcefulness to salvage a draw from a
worse or lost position. The student should keep their drawing tools in
mind: stalemate, 3X repetition of position, the 50 move rule, the
Insufficient Losing Chances rule, the insufficient checkmating material
rule, perpetual check, the fortress, draw by agreement, and the both flags
down rule.
24. Students should take the time to record their moves carefully and keep
their score sheet up-to-date until sudden death time pressure (SDTP) is
reached. SDTP (for both players) is reached when either student drops below
5 min left on their clock (i.e., after they pass the 115 minute mark). The
student is well advised to cease recording once SDTP is entered unless they
have significantly more time than their opponent and their (accurate)
score sheet might be useful in claiming a draw (by 3x repetition of position
or the 50 move rule).
25. Students need to realize that their imagination is more important than
their (or their opponent's) knowledge. Chess is a game of figuring things
out anew on each and every move. The student should use significant time
(i.e., minutes not seconds) to see, visualize and imagine moves and
positions on each and every turn.
26. Students should make regular use of the access tools to their
imagination: a) the student should visualize a model or optimum position
using the material left on the board (or some reduced variant thereof); b)
the student should imagine where they could just (re)place, not move, a
piece (each piece) on the board to maximize its effect; c) the student
should seek to identify and improve their worst placed piece; d) the student
should visualize and follow the "yellow brick road" of forced moves beyond
the apparent point of loss; e) students should not self-censor their
imagination by rejecting moves just because they seem to lose at first; f)
students should ask, "Can I make this (otherwise desirable) move work?"
despite its initial evident flaws.
27. The student should have a keen sense of King-safety and make an effort
to perceive their opponent's attacking chances and plan. In particular, the
student needs to anticipate and acknowledge the critical moment in each
game. A point is often reached in play where one's threats reach a maximum
level of force and complexity. Often a game's outcome will hang in the
balance of a few moves diligently, completely, and accurately visualized and
thought through (in advance) to their logical conclusion.
28. It is particularly important to accurately calculate the consequences
of capture-recapture sequences while taking into account 'in-between moves'
and the possibility of a trapped man (men) after the capturing sequence
appears to be completed (in one's mind's-eye). Students should take
considerable time to calculate the tactical consequences of capturing moves
and also take the time to evaluate the strategic nature of the positions
which will follow any planned captures or exchanges.
29. Often chess outcomes are a test of character traits rather than logical
skill alone. Useful character traits to cultivate and refine in support of
chess excellence include tenacity, persistence, patience, meticulousness,
tolerance, empathy, insight, completeness, resilience, stamina, endurance,
personal discipline, flexibility, presence of mind, calmness in the face of
adversity, emotional intelligence, visual intelligence, competitive
intelligence, consistency, curiosity, skepticism, an appreciation of beauty
and harmony, good sportspersonship, a sense of fairness, and a generosity of
spirit and cooperative teamwork.
30. Students would do well to take the time to appreciate and savor the
excellence of their craft while enjoying the exercise of their mind and
emotions. The well-prepared student will come to a tournament fresh and
well rested: ready, willing and able to play effortful chess. Players are
not requested to do more than their best: these tips and suggestions are
meant to illustrate successful mental efforts which players might aspire
toward. Please enjoy the practice of your craft: chess is fun and
challenging. Please show up and play the game to the best of your ability:
that is always good, better and best enough!
Copyright Dr. David Leo Stefurak, 2003
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