Habits
Good chess comes from good habits. Making the jump to master requires taking something that you know is a good trait and turning it into a habit. You already have several good habits . You might not appreciate them but you do. For example, when you were a beginner you were told that as soon as your opponent makes a move you should look to see whether he made a threat. At first you had to make a conscious effort to do this. But after a while you did it automatically. It had become a habit. You already know some, if not most, of the traits that masters have made their habits. But you probably don 't take them as serious ly as a master does perhaps because they sound too simple. For in stance: A master always looks for targets. The easiest way to find the best move in a typical position is to take note of the pieces and pawns that you can attack. You might be able to attack them on the next move or on the move after that or even at some distant future point.Targets = Initiative
Chess can be a simple game if we forget about positional subtleties and just look for targets. A few pages ago we saw how a plan was just a matter of figuring out how White could get his pieces to attack g7. In the same way, an initiative can be nothing more than a series of threats to different targets.
Targets in Defense
Both attacks and initiatives are fueled by targets. But for the defender, a target means something else: It's a source of counterplay. A target is the difference between active and passive resistance. How do you acquire the habits of a master? Some master traits may be unattainable. Many masters simply concentrate better than non-masters . Bobby Fischer was not the only GM who boasted of how "beautiful" he thought. But most good habits of masters can be learned. For example, you can train yourself to 'always look for targets' by clicking through games slowly and making a note, mental or written, every time a newly visible target appears. Positional, rather than tactical, games are more suitable for this. And master games tend to be better study material because too often in amateur games, play becomes chaotic and there are simply too many targets. When you click through a game, or play it over on a board, look at it from White's point of view. When you're done, replay it from Black 's perspective . Regardless of who won, you should be able to make target searching part of your chess routine.
Lazy Pieces
Looking for targets is the most important of the good habits of masters. The second most important is: A master makes his pieces work harder. Books and teachers are always telling novices: Put your pieces on good squares and good things will happen to them. Even in a position that seems quite equal, getting a bishop, knight or rook to the right square can make a big difference.
Moving the Furniture
Because there are so few unoccupied and safe squares in a typical middlegame, it stands to reason that the right square for one piece may be unavailable because it belongs to another. To make his pieces work harder, a master rearranges them . He 'moves the furniture around ', often with surprisingly strong effect.
Work it or Trade it
When you hear someone say that master chess is 'm ore concrete ', what they mean is that variations trump appearances. Another illustration of that : If a piece - even a good-looking one - isn't pulling its weight, a master looks for a way to get rid of it.
Low-Calc Thinking
Masters are more efficient with their pieces - and with their calculations . They trained themselves to be that way. A third good habit to acquire: A master doesn't calculate more than he has to. Let 's be honest. The best players can calculate very, very long variations. They can see much farther ahead than you . But masters are also more practical .
They know that the longer the variation a person tri es to calculate, the more likely he will miss something. The likelihood escalates if he 's tired from calculating other long variations earl ier in the game.
Must-Calc
There are, naturally, bound to be times in a game, particularly a complex game, when you absolutely must calcu late . High on the list are situations when you are def ending. Defense tends to require more exact and thorough calculation than attack. On the other hand, when you have the initiative or are simply better developed, you can sometimes rely on a calculating minimum .
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