Psychological View of Chess

PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEW OF CHESS

CHESS PSYCHOLOGY

Strategic and tactical preparations necessary for success in chess. In addition to these, psychological preparations are just as important. The psychological preparations, studies and support to be made before the tournament or match should be continued during and after the match and presented to the player as a whole.

Kids, juniors, adults and senior players can achieve significant increases in their success levels if they are informed and guided correctly.

As the game shifted from being a friendly pastime to a competitive one, psychological elements became increasingly important.

FIRST EXPERIENCES

Among the many masters who have worked on the psychological aspects of chess, we will highlight two of the most important ones: Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941) and Reuben Fine (1914-1993). Lasker's long and successful 27-year reign as world champion was, we believe, due to the importance he attached to the psychology of the game. Fine, on the other hand, was a very valuable grandmaster who came close to this title, managed to become a world champion candidate, played head-to-head with many champions, and became an academician and wrote books on psychology.

On the other hand, over time, both in the western world and in the Soviet school, this issue has become so prominent that it has been the subject of movies from time to time and has become an important part of the struggle.

LASKER'S WORK

Emanuel Lasker, World Champion for 27 years between 1894 and 1921, is known for his psychological approach to chess and his deep analysis of the subject. The champion, who was also an important mathematician and developed the Lasker-Noether theorem, interpreted chess as a psychological struggle between "two brains".

Lasker practiced a "psychological" method of play in which he took into account the characteristics of his opponent in addition to the position on the board. Reti concluded that he deliberately played moves of lower strength to confuse and disturb his opponent. Despite what his contemporaries said, it is also said that he was ahead of his time and used a more flexible approach than his contemporaries.

Years later, Kramnik, one of our contemporary champions, took a different view, explaining that Lasker demonstrated a deep positional understanding rather than psychology.

REUBEN FINE'S ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION

Reuben Fine's biography, like that of many celebrities, has its tragic side. In addition to being a champion player, he was also a psychologist, university professor and chess writer. Especially his book "The Psychology of The Chess Player" is one of the most important works on this subject. When his world championship title match was interrupted due to the Second World War, he returned to chess writing and included the psychological aspect of chess in his works. His books have become classics and are still among the best works on the subject. After Alekhine's death, he cited his doctorate in psychology as the reason for declining an invitation to compete for the World Championship in 1948. However, the reality was somewhat different: three of the six contenders for the title were Soviet citizens, and he had doubts that one of them would be able to win the championship. After completing his doctorate, Fine took up chess again, but he was no longer in the running for the world championship.

In his book, Fine, who belonged to the school of the famous neurologist Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, tried to find out what exactly was the special talent that distinguished great chess players from others. He lamented the paucity of scientific studies. He wrote that the psychologists who have studied the subject do not have a full understanding of the mental processes involved in chess because they are not world-class chess players. On the other hand, chess players were generally not world-class psychologists. An important exception to this was Reuben Fine. Dr. Reuben Fine played on an equal footing with the greatest chess players of the century - Botvinnik, Reshevsky, Smyslov and others. He used his own chess processes, understanding and unique relationships in the chess world in his book. He knew great players like Lasker, Capablanca and Botvinnik both as chess players and as personalities. He discussed other great players of the past such as Staunton, Andersen and Morphy as their personalities emerged in books and articles. In the end, he came to a valuable synthesis of what they did and did not do. Fine has organized his research and analysis into a book that is brilliantly written, able to discuss the subject from different perspectives, and motivating.

CHESS PSYCHOLOGY IN TURKIYE

In Turkiye, there is a special study on the subject. "Chess Psychology 1 & 2" published as a series of two books in 2017 and 2018 by Dimes Hak Alerli, an Azerbaijani-Turkish chess master, instructor and writer who came from Azerbaijan many years ago and settled in Turkiye, are the most important sources we have. These two works, to which we have contributed as proofreaders or editors, have become the center of attention for adults in our chess community as well as young and junior chess players and their parents. The books include many stories, sayings, expressions and opinions about the essence of chess, as well as the connections of chess with different disciplines, the advice of champions, psychological situations experienced by players in important positions, many illustrative examples and tournament preparation tips.

Alerli's works have been meticulously and intensively translated into English, combined and reorganized. In 2025, it was released on the European market. This work, which I frequently exchanged information with Alerli during the preparation phase and contributed to as translator and editor, increased our appetite for research on chess psychology and gave us the opportunity to convey again why and how important psychology is in chess. Thus, we pioneered the publication of a Turkish chess book translated into English for the first time.

NOTES FROM HISTORY

In the history of chess there are so many memories and stories about the psychological side of the game that these alone could be a book in themselves. On the other hand, there are many factors that can distract the players and disturb their comfort. There are many factors related to the environment such as difficulty of transportation, excessive controls, heat, crowd, breeze or stuffiness, light, smoke, sound (music or noise), closeness and gaze of the audience, cameras, photographers, etc.

Let's talk about some very interesting examples. Sitting in front of an opponent who hates cats with a cat-patterned sweater, disturbing the opponent with cigarettes, chewing gum, certain sounds, odors, claiming that the opponent kicked under the table and asking for a wall to be built under the table...

The most striking issue regarding the countries is that the Russians used chess as an ideological tool during the USSR. A significant part of the scientific research on chess in this period was related to the psychological aspect of the game. The KGB, the secret service that played an active role in Soviet chess, added an administrative and psychological dimension to its activities. Although the influence of these factors ensured that the championship remained in the Soviet school for a long time, we know that the careers of many grandmasters such as Necmettinov, Tal and Korchnoy were negatively affected by this approach. During the Cold War years, Korchnoy and many other chess grandmasters preferred to pursue their careers in Western countries. On the other hand, sources show that many champions such as Botvinnik, Spassky and Karpov received state support.

The Fischer-Spassky match in 1972, which was a psychological struggle from the beginning to the end, still remains in our memories half a century later. The Soviets put all their resources at Spassky's disposal, while Fischer was almost in seclusion and on his own. The Soviets' only goal was to prevent Fischer from becoming world champion. Fischer fought as hard psychologically as he did in terms of his game, and even risked forfeiting the second game and the match in order to have his objections to the cameras corrected to his liking. Fortunately, the issue was resolved between the organization and Fischer in the following games and the world had the chance to watch this great match. Fischer won the psychological battle, then the match, and more than that, he made many people love chess.

In Karpov's world championship match against Korchnoy, his team included Vladimir Zuhar, a professor of psychology. During the match, Korchnoy felt negatively affected by Zuhar's gaze and asked him to move away from the front row. After this incident, Korchnoy brought in a parapsychologist. The match turned into a psychological war.

The same Zuhar was later the subject of a complaint, this time by Kasparov, Karpov's opponent in the historic title match in 1984-1985, which lasted five months and was stopped before it ended.

The Russian grandmaster Nikolai Krogius, who we lost in 2022, who rose to 18th in the world rankings in 1967, also had a PhD in sports psychology. An international referee, coach to Spassky and Karpov in title matches, president of the Soviet Chess Federation, and the 1993 World Seniors co-scoring champion, Krogius was also a top spy.

The activities carried out during the "Cold War" years continued in recent history and have continued to the present day. The migration to the Western world has always continued, and it is no prophecy to say that it will continue. We have witnessed the latest examples of elite level player migration with Alireza Firouzja competing under the flag of France instead of Iran and Levon Aronian competing for the US Chess Federation instead of Armenia.

On the other hand, Kasparov's involvement in politics in his country as a dissident after the championship and his support for Carlsen in the Carlsen-Nepo title match instead of the Russian player can be interpreted as an indicator of the changing world.

In today's chess, elements of psychological warfare are highly restricted by rules and regulations, and many things that used to be compromised are no longer allowed. We can now say that psychological elements have become part of the preparation for the tournament.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ADVICE

The psychological advice, which we witnessed in many different sources in our literature review, is basically taken from Benko and Hochberg's recommendations. It is important that these valuable suggestions are known by all competitive chess players. We have summarized the recommendations as follows:

• Know yourself and your opponent, know your and your opponent's strengths and weaknesses.
• Be patient, avoid overconfidence.
• Be ready to fight, keep your mind only on the game. Give yourself to the game, concentrate.
• Respect your opponent but don't avoid attacking him or her, but be realistic, don't attack if it is not appropriate.
• What is good for you is bad for your opponent.
• Create your natural style.
• Analyze, not speculate.
• Don't play defense based on illusions.
• Force your opponent out of his natural style.
• If you face an unfamiliar opening, respond with solid moves instead of trying to refute it.
• You cannot win by retreating and playing for a draw.
• Wrong moves don't lose immediately, push your opponent as hard as you can.
• Surprising and aggressive moves will alarm your opponent and put them in a difficult situation.
• Put your opponent under pressure. Repeated threats will cause your opponent to get overwhelmed and make mistakes.
• When making your striking move, act as if you are making an ordinary and usual move. Your opponent may think that you are playing carelessly and may not realize the importance of your move.
• Try not to be pressed for time and confused positions in the game at the same time.
• Arrive at the table on time and don't create problems for yourself by trying to take advantage of your opponent's absence.
• Maintain your fitness.

ANALYSIS OF CHESS PSYCHOLOGY

WHY IS CHESS PSYCHOLOGY NECESSARY?

Why is psychology necessary in chess? Many players invest in themselves just by practicing, believing that their success is related to their practice time. This is necessary, but if the expected performance is not achieved despite practicing, we should also look for the reason outside of chess practice. Understanding the psychology of chess allows you to

• Winning positions allow you to win. The superior side in the game can change several times or the situation can be equalized. It is up to you to take advantage of them.
• It helps you to defend difficult situations. It allows you not to be afraid of your opponent's strength. It helps you play more comfortably against less powerful players.
• It takes the pressure off you in matches against your most important opponents or in the last rounds, which will determine your ranking, and prevents your performance from being negatively affected.
• It allows you to suppress your emotions and keep your cool during the game. Supports you in focusing, motivation and concentration problems.
• If you can improve your knowledge and experience one step further, it allows you to feel the emotions of your opponent.
• It supports you to make a better preparation not only for the game but also for the opponent and increases your success.
• It supports you to react more accurately when you encounter surprise situations. It allows you to better understand whether the sacrifice is correct, bluff, trap, your opponent's moves and body language. You can achieve better results if you know your opponent.

Is chess psychology only useful when playing at the table? Does it have an effect in computer-based games or in games played directly against the computer? The impact of psychology is fully realized in face-to-face games with your opponent, but it has a limited impact in computer games with human players. In these cases, players lack the ability to interpret the body language of their opponents.

In games against computers, the influence of psychology is very limited, but it is not completely eliminated when we consider factors such as our own morale and desire to play.

HOW CAN WE USE PSYCHOLOGY TO WIN?

We know that psychological factors come to the fore in face-to-face chess. Not only your knowledge, but also unnecessary fears, overconfidence, focus problems can affect the outcome of the game. You can use these factors, which also apply to your opponent, to your advantage by learning and understanding the psychology of chess.

The best threat is the hidden threat, when you can avoid your opponent's threat. When you know the threat, you take precautions, but if you can do this without the opponent noticing, it gives you a huge advantage. Back-to-back threats overwhelm the opponent and cause them to struggle under pressure, make mistakes, and often their defenses collapse. Sometimes it is more effective to make your threats after a few distracting and distracting moves rather than taking the shortest route. But you must be sure that these moves are safe and will not cause you problems.

Sometimes unsound sacrifices that surprise your opponent can come as a shock. Remember the famous champion Tal. Overly aggressive players often win by intimidating their opponents, by putting them in unsound defenses. When trying to do this, try to create positions that are contrary to their style of play. You should be aware that your opponent may engage in artificial, fake behavior in order to gain an advantage, and you should be prepared when your opponent resorts to these methods.

Experienced players usually rely on their positional knowledge, while young players rely more on tactics and calculation. Experienced players choose closed positions, young players choose open positions and tend to favor hard-to-calculate positions with tactical chances. You should try to force your opponent to make mistakes by choosing positions that are favorable to you but unfavorable to your opponent.

Finally, we can suggest to very young players that if you are not prepared enough to rely on your endgame knowledge, try to turn the party into a mid-game advantage, taking risks if necessary. Experienced players usually have better chances in the endgame. In the opening, development is important, in the middle of the game effective moves are important, and at the end of the game a solid style of play is important instead of rushing to conclusions.

CHESS IS A GAME OF THE MIND

Chess is a game of the mind, when you sit down to play, you are only left with your own thoughts and emotions. Therefore, having the right psychology is extremely important for tournament players. You can improve your technical knowledge, but if you are not in the right frame of mind, it is very difficult to improve in the game. The advice and tips given are very valuable for players, easy to understand, but difficult to implement.

According to Napoleon Hill, "Our only limit is what we set in our minds." We all want to play better chess, but what do we do to achieve our goal? We read chess books, study games, solve puzzles, in short, we study chess. Is this enough? Do we manage our thoughts and emotions correctly? This difference in quality is the difference between professional players and amateur players.

Joel Osteen said: " When negative thoughts come, which happen to all of us, it's not enough not to dwell on them, you have to replace them with positive thoughts."

Negative thoughts affect us badly, like a disease. We must learn how to deal with them. Oscar Wilde said, "I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions, I want to use them, enjoy them and dominate them."

STAGES OF THE GAME IN TERMS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL PREPARATION

Positive emotions give you energy, enthusiasm, good feelings, while negative emotions make you feel bad, prevent you from concentrating, succeeding and getting your best results. If you can control your emotions, you can use your full potential. For this, you need to feed three thoughts in your mind:

• · Before the game: We need to improve the quality and quantity of our training and education. We need to make it more and better. Before the game we should focus only on our preparation and not on other thoughts.
• · During the game: We should focus on finding the best move. We may be facing a high or low strength opponent, a tactical or strategic player, a titled player. We may be under pressure of expectations and in a must-win situation. Regardless, we must focus on finding the best move in every game and at every step.
• · After the game: Only players who identify and correct their mistakes will progress. To identify our mistakes we need to analyze our games honestly and objectively. We should question what our mistakes are. We need to identify this pattern and our weaknesses and work on strengthening them. Preventing our mistakes from recurring allows us to become a better and better chess player.

Strategies and tactics can only take you so far. To truly master chess, you need to understand the psychology behind it.

SCIENTIFIC STUDIES

Pattern recognition plays an important role in chess skill. I researched this topic many years ago with my scientific study, "Pattern-Based Chess Learning System" project, which won the first prize in the TÜBİTAK Engineering Project competition, which you can find among the resources. Master players learn hundreds of thousands of perceptual chess patterns over a long period of time. We call these "Patterns". When confronted with one of them, the master player is guided towards a possible continuation, thus utilizing their extraordinary memory to intuitively find good moves.

Dr. Fernand Gobet, IM, a master of cognitive psychology and former Swiss Champion, has written many books and articles on chess and psychology. He has studied many aspects of chess psychology, including mental imagery, pattern recognition, and studying and playing the patterns of chess players. In his research, he found a strong correlation between time devoted to chess and success. He found that stronger players tended to acquire and read more chess books individually, while in groups, coaching and training games were the most important determinants. These effects were more pronounced at an early age. The age at which the most time could be devoted to chess was usually around 18 years of age. He found that group training and tournament play contributed more to performance than individual training.

According to Gobet, the first three years of serious chess practice at an early age were much more advantageous than the first three years of serious practice at an older age. He concluded that for most masters, this age range is most productive between the ages of 10 and 14. Another possible determinant of chess skill proved to be the age of onset. The average age at which players began to play chess seriously was 14 to 18 years for unranked or unrated players, 12 years for FMs, and as low as 10 to 11 years at IM and GM level.

Becoming a master requires different training activities. Chess theory and computer technology have changed the way chess players prepare for their games. Masters try to learn and memorize opening variants with the help of chess databases, take notes and keep notebooks, which we call home preparation, research different opening positions to find innovations to surprise their opponents, and play tournaments or training games against other players or against powerful chess computer programs on the Internet or in chess tournaments.

Research on chess players' personalities has found that adult chess players are more introverted and intuitive than the general population. However, children, who are more likely to play chess, are more energetic and outgoing. Chess players were also better on measures of regularity and unconventional thinking.

In 1894, Alfred Binet conducted the first research on the mental abilities of chess masters. In 1903 he was the first psychologist to develop an intelligence test. He designed the "Intelligence Quotient" (IQ) tests, where the intelligence score is mental age divided by physical age.

In 1927, three Russian psychologists, Djakow, Petrowski and Rudik, studied the best grandmasters of the time. Lasker, Reti, Tartakower, Torre, Romanovsky, Grünfeld and Spielmann were among the players studied. They found no difference with the control sample on general intelligence or visuospatial memory, except in cases where the material to be remembered was closely related to chess.

After a century of research, not a single study of adult chess players has been able to establish a link between chess skill and intelligence. Among strong chess players, intelligence had little predictive power.

CONCLUSION

In closing, we can give the following message to chess players: "Psychology" is a powerful weapon, but it does not replace knowledge, thinking and technique, it complements them and makes you stronger.
Hoping that it will shed light on chess players and chess lovers...

REFERENCES

Alerli, Dimes Hak, " Chess Psychology 1 and 2", 2017-2018
Alerli, Dimes Hak, "Chess Psychology", 2025
Benko, Pal and Hochberg, Burt, "Winning with Chess Psychology", 1991
Fine, Reuben, "The Psychology of The Chess Player"
Gobet, Fernand, "The Cognitive Psychology of Chess"
Joshi, Shrirang, "Psychological Tips for Chess Players"
Köftecioğlu, Gürcan, "Pattern Based Chess Learning System", Hacettepe University Computer Science Engineering Department Publication, 1983
Neimer, Vitaly, "Use Psychology to Win Chess Games"

Websites

chess-site.com/articles
en.wikipedia.org
satrancokulu.com
thechessworld.com