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Subject: Re: Do you play on the 3-D boards or the flat 2-D

Author: Russell Reagan

Date: 15:17:23 06/07/03

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On June 07, 2003 at 14:46:17, Alan Grotier wrote:

> I have tried playing on the 3-D boards in F8 but still prefer the flat 2-D.
>
> I while ago I dragged-out my Miphisto Vancouver 12hz and for a while had a
> hard time playing on a real board.Question of perspectives.Nothing to do
> to do with the great program that has always thrashed me.

I had the same problem. I played most of my games online for a long time, and my
OTB play suffered. Online the basic tactics came easily, as well as most simple
combinations, and I did pretty well online. OTB, I was horrible. I felt very
uneasy. I felt like I couldn't "see" the board very well. I hung pieces
frequently and lost to 600-900 players :( A few things that I recommend to get
your OTB vision back are:

1. Play OTB chess (obviously)

2. Setup tactical problems on a board and try to solve them. Take your time,
because a main goal of yours is to get your "chess vision" back for OTB play, so
spending time focused in that mindset will help you feel better about what you
can see easily OTB. I particularly found doing mate in 3 problems on a board,
from Polgar's "big book", to be very helpful (I guess since it was almost all
calculation).

3. Try playing over games blindfold. It isn't as hard as it might sound. In
fact, it's not hard at all. Anyone can do it. The hard part is having the
patience to carry it out. It can take a long time to play over a single game in
your head at first. I was able to do it on my first try, but it took me over an
hour, and it was pretty boring, but it helped a lot. One book I highly recommend
if you find this interesting is The Inner Game of Chess by Soltis. He discusses
how to calculate, and teaches you how to be able to play over games blindfold.

4. Play chess at very long time controls, even against your computer. I played
some games against the computer at long time controls. Maybe the computer gets 5
seconds to move, and I get all weekend :) The basic idea is to take all the time
you need and try to work out all of the tactics and make the best move. I would
setup the game on a board in the kitchen, and I would think about my move in
there, then I would play my move, walk into the office and play my move on the
computer, get its response, and go back to thinking about my move at the board.
This is one way that is low pressure. You don't have to worry if you miss
something important, because the game doens't matter, just start another one. It
is also nice because you can do it whenever you'd like, and you don't have to
bother another human to play. You can take a month for your move, and the
computer doesn't care.

There might be better ways, but when I had your problem, I tried these things
and it helped me. I still prefer playing online, on a 2D board...with automatic
clocks and move recording :)



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