Grandmaster principles
The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix sparked a real interest in chess for me, as I’m sure it has for many others. Wanting to understand how great chess players plan, I picked up Play Winning Chess by former Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan (I also picked up Garry Kasparov’s Deep Thinking, which I discussed in a previous post).
Play Winning Chess is an accessible introduction to chess. It focuses more so on guiding principles and less so on complex combinations. I also found the book to share some commonalities with other books in business, investing and geopolitical strategy! But I won’t make those comparisons too explicit here. This post will summarise the lessons that I took from Yasser Seirawan’s work.
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Grandmaster Seirawan’s four principles
Yasser Seirawan’s method in chess comprises of four principles: force, time, space and pawn structure. When applied successfully, these principles should interact together to establish a relative advantage for the player. For Seirawan, these principles offer a guide to mobilisation and positioning in the early game, long-term strategic planning in the middle game, and (3) manoeuvres in the endgame.
First principle: Force
In chess, force refers to the strength of pieces. The goal is to seek an advantage in force in two ways: (1) having more pieces than your opponent overall; and (2) having more pieces than your opponent in a particular territory of the board.
To gain a force advantage over one territory, you simply need to move your pieces into that area. Note that an improvement in force in one territory might create a weakness in another. Players after all must allocate pieces (resources) from one area to another to produce an advantage or response.
Pins and forks
On the topic of force, Seirawan introduces readers to two popular tactics in chess: pins and forks. The pin is a move that prevents the opponent from moving their piece without losing a more valuable piece behind it. And the fork is a move that attacks two or more enemy pieces simultaneously. The idea behind pins and forks is to impose costly choices on your opponent without compromising one’s own position.
Second principle: Time
A player enjoys an advantage in time if the player can bring his/her pieces to some territory of the board faster than the opponent can. For this reason, Seirawan doesn’t like to move the same piece twice during the opening phase. His wants to develop his pieces efficiently to maintain an advantage in tempo. There should be no wasted moves.
A timing advantage can help the player to establish an advantage in force or material in one territory or another. Seirawan says that this was the style of former chess champion Paul Morphy (1837-84), who popularised positional chess by overwhelming his opponents with superior development and piece utilisation.
Third principle: Space
An advantage in space is about controlling more territory, or more squares to attack and move, than your opponent. The classic example here is the use of the Rook on open files, and the Bishops on open diagonals. While the Knight isn’t a long-range piece, Seirawan likes to use them as ‘advance scouts’ to apply pressure on several squares simultaneously.
Spacing is also about restricting the choices and movement of your competitor. Pawn structure is important in this context, as it may enable or inhibit the spacing of pieces, both yours and your opponents. And if you find yourself at a space disadvantage, Seirawan says it worth considering a trade of pieces.
Fourth principle: Pawn structure
“Les pions sont l’ame de jeu (Pawns are the soul of the game)”.
Philidor
While weak by their lonesome, pawns are the foundations in which good players build their strategies in chess. As Seirawan puts it, “they clear the road for the heavy artillery”.
To develop a strong pawn structure, you must also know what constitutes a weak formation. For example, pawn islands, doubled pawns and tripled pawns can put the player in a weak or exploitable position. Isolated pawns may force the player to dedicate more resources to its protection. By contrast, passed pawns might force the opponent to dedicate resources to prevent its advance.
Trappings and berserkers
“The moral: Never make a move with the thought, “I hope he doesn’t see it”.”
Yasser Seirawan, Play Winning Chess, 1990
Seirawan advises beginners to focus on overall positioning and development, and not on simplistic ploys or cheap tricks. We shouldn’t commit to a risky position in the hopes they do not see it, especially if the move is easy to spot and counter. When the skill gap is narrow, discipline, process and principles is of grave importance. Sound advice I think, not only in chess, but in all forms of competition.
“Everyone likes the idea of trapping his opponent… Doesn’t that victory taste sweet? Of course it does! However, I must burst your bubble with a dire warning. Don’t play for traps! Always make moves that deploy your men in a way that helps your position generally”.
Yasser Seirawan, Play Winning Chess, 1990
The berserk and the meek
Seirawan doesn’t think about how to checkmate his opponent from the outset. Rather, he looks for moves to strengthen his position against each of the four principles. His goal is to build a relative positional advantage over time until the road to victory is clear.
Many beginner chess players will rush their pieces in an attempt to checkmate their opponent. But it takes more than a few pieces and tricks to win consistently. Some patience for and attention to overall positional development can go a long way.
However, an advantage in development (time) is only temporary. Good players must also know when to strike. Wait too long and your opponent might close the gap. In this way, chess strategy is a game of balance.
Principle and calculation
Similarly, many beginners find calculations in chess daunting. There are so many possibilities! Here, Seirawan offers some advice: “don’t worry about it!” Calculation is a skill that comes with practice. And understanding the principles, in Seirawan’s view, remains the priority for beginners.
Some grandmasters rely on principles-based assessment of moves too. Seirawan recalls the 1960 World Championship match between Mikhail Botvinnik and Mikhail Tal as an example:
“Tal was on the attack, Botvinnik, thinking for a long time, decided on the correct defensive strategy and drew the game. Afterwards, Tal listed a huge series of move variations, thinking that Botvinnik had arrived at the correct strategy by calculating the same possibilities. The younger challenger was dumbfounded when the champion stated that he had decided on an overall strategy by weighing his position in the light of the principles – he had made very few calculations. The two different approaches had, however, led to the same solution!”
Yasser Seirawan, Play Winning Chess, 1990
Winning chess: Principled understanding
A standard way to assess force is to assign a value to each piece. For example, people often attribute 1 point to the Pawns, 3 to the Knight and Bishop, 5 to the Rook, 9 to the Queen, and infinity to the King. These valuations help players to decide which trade-offs are most advantageous to them.
However, a common mistake that beginners make is in assuming that these valuations are fixed in time. Piece value varies with the ebb and flow of the game. For example, the relative strength and value of pawns tends to improve as the game drags on. While principles are useful, good players must know when to abandon them.
Preference and principle
Seirawan describes how easy it is to obsess over one strategy or principle to the point of detriment. He cites, for example, Grandmaster David Janowski’s “weakness for the two Bishops”. This became Janowski’s weakness as opponents learned to exploit his stubborness.
“You must keep your mind open enough to recognise situations in which you should bend these principles… Generalities are useful in chess. However, the specifics of a position determine whether a particular principle applies”.
Yasser Seirawan, Play Winning Chess, 1990
Memorization and understanding
Seirawan recalls a game in his youth against a young boy who had memorised and repeated the opening moves of a Grandmaster. After surviving his opponent’s “minefield” in the opening, his opponent resigned just ten moves later.
While the boy’s memory and early game was impressive, he had a poor understanding of chess’ principles. The strength of such players shrinks the moment they exhaust their memory or opening books; or when their opponent introduces a novelty that they haven’t prepared for.
For beginner players, Seirawan recommends they spend less time memorizing openings and more time thinking about the principles and tactical goals in chess. With every turn, players should think about how they might obtain an advantage in force, development, space and/or pawn structure.
“So many players start out by thinking that memorization is the key to success. Take my word for it: A good memory is useful, but without a firm knowledge of chess fundamentals, you are doomed to constant defeat”.
Yasser Seirawan, Play Winning Chess, 1990
Postal training
“People who play chess are inexorably changed. Their powers of concentration, reasoning and perception are all heightened. Because planning and purposefulness go hand in hand, people who play chess become more responsible and disciplined.”
Yasser Seirawan, Play Winning Chess, 1990
Chess excellence, as in any field, requires practice, learning and relearning. To sharpen his game, grandmaster Paul Keres (1916-75) played postal chess with many people – sending postcards with written moves to one another, turn by turn. He would have as many as 150 games happening at once, some taking years to finish!
Stress and confidence
Finally, Seirawan says there are two psychological dangers in chess: stress and confidence. Stress can short-circuit one’s judgement. So, players must find their own ways to stay calm during the game. Grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric ate chocolate during games, while Grandmaster Bobby Fischer drank apple juice.
Likewise, confidence is fickle. Emotions are often tied to the last victory or loss. Multiple losses can trigger a crisis of confidence, while a series of wins may generate hubris. While there’s no easy solution to the problem of confidence, I’d like to end this post with one more quote from Seirawan:
“Be prepared to lose and to win. In mastering anything, you’re bound to have setbacks. Learn from your losses… Don’t change your approach to the game out of fear! Play aggressively to win against anyone, even the World Champion”.
Yasser Seirawan, Play Winning Chess, 1990
References
- Seirawan, Yasser. (1990). Play Winning Chess.
- Kasparov, Garry. (2017). Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins.