Sunday 3 April 2016

Day2 / 363 to go

Wu Wei - have you ever heardt about it?  Maybe you came across Yin + Yang and maybe you can relate it to chess. Well, then it is time for Wu Wei!  I read about it just today in Rowson´s book "Chess for Zebras".

During the Grenke Chess Open (formerly known as the Deizisau Open) I had one match were I reached a position where (i) I controlled the kingside, (ii) the centre was blocked and (iii) counterplay on the queenside was yet not possible.
It was NOT a kingside attack (unfortunetally) and I put all my energy into making it a kingside attack, but there was none.  In this situation my coach (as well as Komodo 9.3) advised to gain some space on the queenside and BLOCK it! This would have resulted in a position where my opponent would have been left with hardly a decent move (which would not worsen his position)!

That´s Wu Wei! That´s what I have to keep in mind from now on: don´t overdo it, don´t try to force things (unless really necessary), keep the whole board in mind and allow your opponent to make mistakes!

In addition, I had a deeper look at the opening I am playing with white already "my whole life": I identified a possibility to get more often into the position I like most by simply fiddling around with the move-order! It is actually a very simply thing, I just have to "un-learn" what I used to do so many times and so many years in an inappropriate automated fashion. But it is a pretty obvious move and I am confident...

(After a break - I will apply my PAT to some middle game positions for about one hour; and call it a day!)


Achievements of the day:
  • Wu Wei
  • Move-order in my opening (there is especially one thing I will change from now on)

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