Chess, they say, is no game. It’s war. Something like your everyday life out there. You need to make strategic decisions, outwit your opponent and move in for the kill. What Viswanathan Anand does at the chess board, you can do in the boardroom or in any other field of life. Make winning moves by harnessing the power of your mind., World Chess Champion and India’s first Grandmaster, gives you his tips on making your mind razorsharp.
Focussing & Memory Training
Constantly challenging your mind is the key. Even in chess, if you keep playing the same position, you see your concentration flagging or mistakes happening. Boredom is what makes the mind go to sleep. I try to play positions which require me take risks. To challenge your mind, solve problems, calculate mentally and, more than anything else - play chess.
Outside chess, I try to have a lot of interests. Learning languages is one thing that keeps your grey cells working hard. I also like astronomy, so I try to learn about that. Somehow, you have to keep making your brain do new things. The mind only gets better with use.
Improving Decision-Making Skills
There is no failsafe formula, no one method that is always right. Making a decision involves some intuition and some risk. At times, you gamble and it works. When it doesn’t, you sometimes get conservative. And that is terrible, because it’s mentally crippling: you suddenly stop playing your normal game and start making forecasts of how much risk you should take.
In chess, we do a lot of strategy. For instance, if someone is having a bad tournament or is a bit shaky, you know you have to keep pushing him slowly until he makes a mistake or cracks. But in doing so, you should never lose control of your own position. It is like staying on terra firma and then being able to push your rival slowly off a cliff or tricking them into going over the edge of their own accord. Novelty has a lot of value in chess. So, to get the better of your adversary, catch him unawares. If you can strike a move the rival isn’t expecting, it’s Advantage You.
Reading a Rival’s Body Language
All of us know when someone is comfortable or otherwise. Watch out for those tell-tale signs. For example, I know players whose faces turn red the moment they commit a blunder; someone else will start unbuttoning their shirt when they feel they’re in trouble; some people even make noises, or betray their agitation with barely restrained gestures, like turning their tea cup violently.
I am generally the poker-faced yogi. I can keep a straight face even when my insides are churning. Trust me, I’ve got away with a lot thanks to that—both at home and on the board!—and you can, too. Composure can make or break your game.
Improving Concentration
I go to the gym for about two hours daily, doing cardio, stretching and weights. These exercises help you a lot in focusing. Sometimes, I do deep breathing, especially during games, or when I feel I have to make a very critical move. Try this before an important meeting—more oxygen inside you will help your brain focus more.
Identifying & Attaining Goals
Finding a goal is sometimes the toughest battle, especially if you have already attained a long-term goal that you’ve been working towards for a year or so.
When I became a Grandmaster in 1987, I had a string of indifferent results. Somehow, from the time I was a boy of 12, I would keep repeating the mantra: “I want to become India’s first Grandmaster.” When that actually happens, your brain kind of switches off and tells you that it has served its time. That’s when you need to pull yourself up.
Nowadays, when I get that kind of a result or win some major championship, I try not to look at chess for a few days. And then I write down all the things I could have done better, or I just choose something totally different to work on. That way, you start focusing on something else, and make that your goal—at the very least, it leads to an improved performance the next time. But one tip: try not to set your goals too far in the future, or you lose momentum. Winning the next round is the farthest goal you should set.
Staying Motivated At All Times
You need to motivate yourself, no matter what—definitely when things are bad, but also when things are good. Or else, you risk becoming complacent. When you are on a run, you will have great results—unless you start feeling too smug about your luck. A little tension is good: it gives you a feeling in your gut that something might just spoil the party, and that feeling makes you concentrate harder on not letting things slide once the going has got so good.
When you are going through a bad patch, the important thing is to forget about taking the top spot and then deciding how to salvage the situation, what to deal with first. It’s the chess player’s equivalent of making sure that you win at least one game out of the next four. Put your foot on firm ground with the first step, and then think about the next one, and then the one after that. You can look for glory once survival is taken care of.
In chess, triumph and defeat are sometimes separated by just one move—losing in such a situation can make it very difficult to take the loss out of your head. But you must. Sometimes, you just have to be philosophical and ride the good waves and the bad.
Respecting The Competition
This is something that always comes back to haunt you. There are rivals you sometimes take lightly and they are the ones who will beat you. But having said that, don’t have too much respect for your rivals either. If you are awed by your opponent, you cannot move confidently. You will start doubting yourself, second-guessing your own moves. Nowadays, since most of us use a computer to check our moves, the difference between two players comes out in practical play and the ability to take calculated risks. Heard that one about an iron stomach? You need it to make all the bold moves.
Handling Celebrity Status
Distraction by success and fame happens at a subconscious level. There is a saying that my wife, Aruna, once mentioned. In public relations, apparently, they say, “Never believe your own press release.” Similarly, if you start thinking of yourself as the person everyone makes you out to be, it is easy to lose focus. In today’s wired world, you have people airing their opinion in blogs and forums. If one starts reading all that, it is quite difficult to enjoy what you have.
For a very long time, I’ve stopped reading too much about myself; unless, okay, I am in the mood for some TLC! But as a rule, I stop reading chess articles or media reports before or during an event. When preparing for anything big, detach yourself from your past successes and get down to the job at hand.
Partnership In Marriage
To have a stable family life is one of the most precious things for a sportsperson. I’ve been very lucky to have parents who never really forced me into chess nor put any pressure on me to excel. I just enjoyed the chess and kept getting better at it.
Similarly, in marriage, I’ve been able to share my passion for chess with Aruna. Since we travel together, a lot of the tension gets halved.
When you sit facing an opponent across the table and find yourself in a tough situation, it helps to know that there’s someone with you. Also, when you want a break from what you always do, it’s nice to just have fun with the family.
Being a Role Model To The Young
When some kid comes up to you and says he or she follows you, it gives you a new high. At times, someone has quoted verbatim something I said in an interview years ago. It shows what effect you have, especially on younger minds. I just try to be a normal guy who wants to do his best in something he truly loves doing.
On the best advice you can get
Enjoy what you do, and keep finding new ways to better what you do.
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