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Practical Chess Psychology: Understanding the Human Factor Reviewed by Rick Kennedy
Avni’s Practical Chess Psychology reminds me a lot of my “Introduction to Psychology” textbook of years gone by -- introducing, discussing and explaining many topics competently, without the kind of mind-numbing detail that would send the reader running for a straight jacket. It is broader, but more general, in its coverage than the author’s later book, The Grandmaster's Mind; which, to continue the analogy, would be akin to Avni’s master’s thesis. It is no surprise that Avni moves through his subject easily and knowledgeably. He is a psychologist as well as an FIDE master. (He is also a master of chess composition and an international judge of chess studies.) His writings in the area of chess psychology include Creative Chess (1991, 1997); Danger in Chess: How to Avoid Making Blunders (1994, 2003); Surprise in Chess (1998); and The Grandmaster's Mind (2004). The Introduction notes “This book deals exclusively with the human factors in chess. It relies on research findings, strong players’ candid descriptions and the writer’s own views.” The contents show the width of investigation: Setting Goals; Determination; Concentration; Learning to Learn; Drawing the Right Lessons; Thinking Tools; Decision Making; Style; Encounters with Failure; Handling Spectators; Psychological Ploys; Miscellaneous [Memory, Emotions, Motivation, Self-Confidence, Self-Criticism, Flexibility]; and Further Reading. My first impression was a positive one: the book is laid out well, with good use of bolding, bullets, italics, diagrams and white space. In 8 ½ by 5 ½ inch format, Practical Chess Psychology is well-organized and easy on the eye. Each chapter starts with a humorous line drawing that relates in some way to the information that follows. Each is peppered with games or partial games, wry and telling quotes, and instruction. Every chapter ends with a Summary and a list of Bibliographic References. A note on that last – when Avni refers to someone else’s work, or gives a quote from another source, the superscripted number attached to the text refers you to the end of the chapter. This gives the book a bit of an “academic” feel, at first, but I like it immensely better than the system used by some chess writers, who make a reference like “Kennedy & Sheffield (1988)” and never footnote or explain just what they’re referring to. After I bumped into the references a few times, I decided that Avni also wanted to share with the readers some additional material they could look up, to expand their understanding of the topic at hand. By the end of the last footnote, I figured Avni had helped me assemble my own list of books-and-articles-to-read. Working my way through Practical Chess Psychology, I found I was enjoying myself, as well as picking up all sorts of odds and ends. In the Setting Goals chapter, as I was reading how to think about goals, I appreciated the notion that “Planning goes backwards” – first you decide what you want to do, then you figure out what you have to do to get there – applies especially to chess, e.g. there is a weakness in the king position, what do I need to do to exploit it? I also ran into a quote by Brad Darrach, author of Bobby Fischer vs the Rest of the World (1974), which seemed to reinforce the old adage: Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it:
I hadn’t given it much thought until the Determination chapter, but it seems reasonable that its three aspects are persistence, resolution, and toughness. Avni illustrates with examples. Except for not mentioning the use of methylzanthines (tested for by current FIDE drug doping), there is a good discussion in the chapter on Concentration. (Is it really true that Csikszentmihalyi wrote about chess players in Beyond Boredom and Anxiety? Wow.) The transfer of knowledge from one situation to another is addressed in Learning to Learn. The wisdom of Drawing the Right Lessons can be subsumed under its first sub-title, “The futility of universal panaceas,” but the cause-effect analysis is interesting, and for many readers, the chart on time-trouble would alone be worth the whole price of the book. The chapter on Thinking Tools is very interesting, although I have to admit I thought about cutting the class when the professor, er, I mean the author, started right off with “Meta-Cognition” and “Meta-Knowledge” and later bounced on into “the ‘PO’ method of De-Bono.” Avni’s looks at logical, intuitive, creative and psychological thinking, again with examples, redeem the lecture. (Was it Krogius or Kotov who pooh-poohed the very idea of “intuition,” stalwart Soviet that he was, only to turn around and write gloriously of chess “instinct”? Ah, how the mighty have fallen.) Kotovian and Post-Kotovian Decision Making – hey, only kidding, I just made up those labels – are covered deeply enough to explain, and lightly enough to lead the reader to the Bibliographical references. (Note To Self: check out Avni, Bar-Eli & Tenenbaum “Assessment and Calculation in Top Chess Players’ Decision Making During Competition: A Theoretical Model” Psychological Reports 1990, no.67, pp.899-906.) You get a quickie test to check your Style. There is a sympathetic chapter on Encounters with Failure. The chapter on Handling Spectators brought a wrinkled smile to my face, as I remembered my first game against a master (or maybe an Expert; the older I get, the better he was). We were locked in a tense, balanced, and intriguing middle game (or so I thought), and a crowd suddenly gathered around us. The top players looked on and analyzed, silently. I reached out and made my move – the Biggies sighed, others winced, even the beginners rolled their eyes; and the entire multitude melted away. The various Psychological Ploys are amusing, but useful. “Pretend you know what you’re doing,” however, has always been my main strategy – I never though of it as a ploy. And I don’t “Fake dead,” I often achieve it. Don’t even get me started on the time I played someone who looked like a 280 pound lineman for the Cleveland Browns – obviously his ploy was to “Intimidate” me! (Like in my Immortal Fratricide Game, however, I was able hang on for a draw. I think that might have been covered in Avni’s Miscellaneous chapter.)
Practical Chess Psychology: Understanding the Human Factor, is a good
read, a fun read, a handbook (or syllabus) for the club player (up to and
including Expert) who wants to maximize his results – not by studying up on
15th move choices in the Najdorf, but by studying up on himself.
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