A Zillion Chess and Life Hacks

Maria Manakova
A Zillion Chess and Life Hacks
Author: Maria Manakova
Translated by Alexei Zakharov
Typesetting by Andrei Elkov
Photos in this book are provided by Yulia Manakova, Lev Makarshin, and
Boris Dolmatovsky, as well as taken from the author’s personal archive
Artwork, including front cover, by Maria Manakova using Midjourney
© Elk and Ruby, 2024
Follow us on Twitter/X: @ilan_ruby
www.elkandruby.com
ISBN 978-1-916839-11-3 (black and white paperback); 978-1-916839-12-0
(black and white hardback); 978-1-916839-37-3 (color hardback)
 3

Contents

Index of Games............................................................................................ 8
How it All Began.......................................................................................... 9
Psychology..................................................................................................11
Chess..........................................................................................................12
A Zillion Hacks...........................................................................................14
Vanya..........................................................................................................17
This Book in a Nutshell................................................................................19
Acknowledgements......................................................................................22
Before the Game.........................................................................................24
Go to the game with a fresh mind and in a good mood............................24
Be positive, and you’ll attract success.....................................................29
Prepare for battle...................................................................................30
Psychological Preparation for the Game.......................................................33
We really have to win? At any price?.......................................................34
How pros get in the mood......................................................................36
The Goal.....................................................................................................39
Sit at the board to win, not “to avoid losing”..........................................39
Get ready to create problems for your opponent, not to solve yours.........40
Crush your opponent.............................................................................41
Dominate..............................................................................................42
Distance yourself from your opponent’s behavior,
maintain your own rhythm and mood................................................44
Remember!............................................................................................45
Learn to be a champion.........................................................................46
Give your 100%.....................................................................................48
The “Forty Good Moves” formula.........................................................50
Manage your luck..................................................................................50
Don’t create a system of excuses............................................................52
Demons......................................................................................................54
The fear demon.....................................................................................54
The worry demon...................................................................................55
The computer demon.............................................................................58
The superstition demon.........................................................................59
Chess players have their own religion......................................................62
Analytical Preparation.................................................................................65
Preparing for your opponent..................................................................65
Opening choice......................................................................................66
Nobody ever “plays against the pieces”...................................................67
4

Avoid too much preparation...................................................................69

Who is your opponent, anyway?.............................................................69
Women’s chess.......................................................................................72
So, how should you play against a woman?.............................................75
On Your Marks...........................................................................................79
Allow 5–10 minutes to pump yourself up before the game......................79
During the Game. Alertness.........................................................................81
Cooper’s Color Code.............................................................................81
Do not slip into unconsciousness...........................................................85
Work on mindfulness.............................................................................87
Control.......................................................................................................89
Control the time, yourself and the game.................................................89
Controlling Time.........................................................................................90
Time trouble is the absolute evil.............................................................91
Play rapidly............................................................................................94
Give yourself permission to play rapidly..................................................95
Some lifehacks for time control..............................................................98
Spend time wisely................................................................................101
Save time in the opening......................................................................103
Train the “player” in you......................................................................103
Brilliancies require time.......................................................................104
Chess perfectionism.............................................................................105
If you are out of practice......................................................................107
If you spend more than 15 minutes on your move. Remember!..............108
Whatever you choose, it will be a mistake.............................................109
Time-trouble moves shall be erased from history...................................110
If you have an advantage but little time on the clock, don’t take risks....111
If you have gotten into time trouble grab these tips................................112
When your opponent is in time trouble.................................................113
The magic 40th move............................................................................115
After the 40th move, don’t rush, chillax!................................................119
Moves 41 to 43: don’t snooze, you’ll freeze to death!!!...........................120
Control of Your Inner State. Concentration................................................121
Maintain concentration.......................................................................121
The root cause of blunders is loss of concentration...............................123
What should you do if you blunder?......................................................124
Emotions..................................................................................................126
When an emotional burst happens........................................................127
Catching excessive emotions in yourself is half the battle......................129
Don’t make decisions in a state of panic...............................................130
If you can’t calm down.........................................................................131
 5

Energy......................................................................................................133
How to conserve energy.......................................................................135
Study yourself: when does your energy double?.....................................141
Resigning in a drawn position...............................................................141
Learn to reset your mind and body during the game..............................144
Freeing the Unconscious............................................................................145
Creative trance.....................................................................................145
Intuition..............................................................................................148
Psychological Problems.............................................................................150
Think only about the game or don’t think at all....................................150
The game only ends after the clock is stopped.......................................152
Get ready for a marathon game............................................................154
Be able to readjust psychologically........................................................155
Be flexible............................................................................................155
Be persistent........................................................................................157
Control of the Game..................................................................................160
A look from the “outside”....................................................................160
Nobody can teach you correct positional evaluation –
you have to learn it yourself.............................................................161
The seventh sense................................................................................168
Choosing a Move......................................................................................170
Chess practicality: rather than searching for the “best” move,
choose a move that leads to victory..................................................171
Forget about brilliancies!!!....................................................................173
When you have too many options, make the most useful move..............176
Before thinking deeply, find a “reserve continuation”...........................177
To risk or not to risk.............................................................................177
Don’t fear ghosts.................................................................................179
No passivity!!!......................................................................................182
Pose your opponent problems with your every move.............................182
Every move must have a point..............................................................183
Make natural moves, avoid flashy ones.................................................184
Play tough...........................................................................................185
Calculate 2–3 moves ahead, not more..................................................187
Do not abandon the line......................................................................187
You should always be ready to make a crucial decision..........................188
The position in your head
and the position on the board are two very different things...............190
Don’t hurry.........................................................................................191
There are no plans...............................................................................194
Trust yourself.......................................................................................195
6

Draws.......................................................................................................197
Never play for a draw!..........................................................................197
Draw offer as a psychological trick.......................................................198
Famous players only offer draws in lost positions..................................202
Never agree to draws at all!...................................................................206
Your Opponent..........................................................................................208
Prophylaxis..........................................................................................209
Be respectful towards your opponent....................................................211
Underestimating a low-rated opponent................................................215
Overestimating your opponent.............................................................215
Don’t trust titled players.......................................................................219
Use your advantages when you play against someone titled...................221
Ignore your opponent’s antics – they may be suffering..........................222
Cheating suspicions shouldn’t make you paranoid................................223
Lifehacks During the Game.......................................................................225
Don’t be bored when it’s your opponent’s turn to move, do something!......225
When your head is tired, play with your hand........................................226
After the time scramble, finish off your opponent with your confidence......226
Record the game neatly –
this will help you better control your internal state...........................228
Don’t forget to snack during the game..................................................231
Should you run to the toilet in time trouble?.........................................233
During the game, light neck exercises are useful
because your neck can easily become a bottleneck for energy...........234
Play in your most comfortable clothes..................................................236
Clothing style......................................................................................237
Acting Tricks Deployed by Chess Players....................................................239
Acting ruses against a weak opponent...................................................240
The theatrical nature of pretty woman players.......................................241
Various acting tricks.............................................................................242
The Rules of Chess....................................................................................243
Demand that your opponent adhere to the rules of the game.................243
Examples of correct and incorrect reaction...........................................244
In controversial situations, stop the clock
and simultaneously raise your hand to call the arbiter.......................248
As a tournament participant, you have the right….................................249
Losing......................................................................................................251
You simply need to survive this evening................................................252
If you can’t come up with an excuse for losing you’re not a real man.....255
List of excuses for losing. Choose any that you like!..............................256
If your friend lost.................................................................................258
 7

The Tournament........................................................................................259
Professional deformation.....................................................................259
The right tournament regimen.............................................................260
Eating before games.............................................................................262
Catch the wave!....................................................................................262
If you don’t play well at a tournament, give yourself a shock..................264
Use your rest day wisely.......................................................................265
Don’t neglect your body during the tournament...................................266
Ingenious exercises for life...................................................................268
Two useful formulas.............................................................................271
Stress relief after the game....................................................................272
How to fall asleep when it’s impossible?...............................................273
Do not seriously analyze games during tournaments.............................275
Journalists, photo reporters, interviewers, fans…...................................276
Communication and social media........................................................278
Harmful Lifehacks....................................................................................281
Harmful tournament conditions...........................................................281
Buying a point or a title? My pleasure (in other people’s leisure)...........282
Other funny things that happen in chess:
prearranged games, thrown games, score manipulations..................284
Cheating in chess.................................................................................286
8

Index of Games

Game White Black Opening Year

1 Vujcic Manakova Fragment 2022
2 Manakova Goletiani Fragment 1999
3 Manakova Pein Petroff Defense 2023
4 Z. Mamedjarova Manakova Fragment 2018
5 Caruana Giri Fragment 2022
6 Rapport Deac Fragment 2022
7 Manakova M.Muzychuk Fragment 2014
8 Rapport Caruana Fragment 2021
9 Khademalsharieh Zhukova Fragment 2016
10 Manakova Parvanov Fragment 2023
11 Manakova Hapala Fragment 2018
12 Nguyen Manakova Grunfeld Defense 2013
13 Carlsen So Fragment 2018
14 Jovanovic Manakova Sicilian Defense 2023
15 Szily Bronstein Fragment 1949
16 Manakova Pap Fragment 2021
17 Kramnik Deep Fritz Fragment 2002
18 Khakpoor Dolmatov Fragment 1978
19 Goering Anderssen Fragment 1877
20 Manakova Buervenich Fragment 1992
21 Svidler Anand Fragment 1999
22 Moradiabadi Manakova Slav Defense 2010
23 Brankov Manakova Sicilian Defense 2021
24 Bosiocic Manakova Fragment 2015
 How it All Began

God knows why, but I somehow wound up as a chess player in my childhood.

I learned the game at the age of four, and I did it by myself, just like Capablanca.
I carefully watched my dad play with his friends, and then asked to play a game
against him. He said, “But you don’t even know the rules!” “I saw you play and
figured it all out.”
At the age of eight, I enrolled in a chess club, and I got a little bit crazy: I saw
the whole world as a chess game, people and events looked to me like pieces and
combinations played out between these pieces.
The smell of chess sets in the old Pioneers Palace on Stopani in Moscow, the
pieces (varnished, known as “Grandmaster chess sets”), the ticking of the clock
in the silence, the glare of mirrors in the playing halls – all this mesmerized me
with its atmosphere, and I got stuck in this magical virtual world.
Back then, I didn’t know that it would be for life.
In my childhood, I was a classical Wunderkind. One of those who go “wide”
instead of “deep”. Those who easily master anything we set our sights on,
but after achieving a bit of success we drop it and search for something new.
Nevertheless, after being touched by chess, I got seriously stuck on it for some
reason. Perhaps because back then, there was not much competition in girls’
tournaments, so I quickly started winning cups and medals. Besides, I was
constantly surrounded by boys, traveled everywhere without my parents, played
in endless tournaments and won… isn’t that the perfect recipe for happiness?
Interestingly, despite having tons of talent, the fate of the Wunderkinds
(i.e. us) is usually hard: only a few achieve real success in life. One reason, as I
already mentioned, is a constant change of interests. But there’s another, bigger
reason – pathological laziness, a conviction that anything can be achieved
without much work, simply by doing it. But completing projects – no, that’s
totally uninteresting. And while the Wunderkinds simply enjoy life for years,
their peers work very hard and overtake them in all spheres where they shone
brightly not so long ago.
The years go by, but I still “sing the summer away”. If you are… actually…
reading this book now, this means that, for the first time in my life, I did the
impossible – I finally pulled myself together and followed through with my
10,000th project to the very end. And this is a true achievement, an even greater
one than gaining the WGM title, which essentially happened by itself, without
any special effort by me.
10 A Zillion Chess and Life Hacks

Maria Manakova in childhood.

Photo by L. Makarshin
 Psychology

I have a researcher’s mind – according to socionics (i.e. in Jungian terms),

my psychotype is ENFP (bonus points if you know what that means). One of
the characteristic features of that psychotype is an interest in psychology: the
passion for studying people and social groups, physiognomy, gestalt and similar
sorcery.
I’ve been reading psychology and neuroscience books since I was ten. At the
age of 14, I attended the Young Psychologist School of Moscow State University
(MSU); at 15, I made contact with certain people to obtain a pass to the Brain
Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences; and at 17, I lied about my age
in a questionnaire to take part in a psychological training program for adults
named “Prologue” (of course, they immediately saw through my ploy, but still
allowed me to participate because they were charmed by my determination!).
I finished school by writing a paper on biology – a paper on the human brain
– and the subject of my thesis in the journalism school was manipulation and
ways to combat it.
My mom wanted me to enroll in the MSU School of Psychology, but
I always did what I, not others, wanted (“That’s all because your dad and I
never spanked you, but we should have!”). As I finished school, I got so deeply
sucked into the chess world that psychology, among most other interests, played
a distant second fiddle to it. Every day, my mom pestered me about higher
education, and I once asked her, “Will you finally get off my back if I become a
grandmaster?” She promised that she would. And so, I had to win the title. Still,
my fascination with psychology stayed with me for my whole life. (I did obtain
a higher education, too, but a bit later.)
 Chess

Hosting a chess festival in 2011 at Luzhniki stadium. I’m playing against a chess
computer with a robotic arm designed by Konstantin Kosteniuk, the father of Alexandra
Kosteniuk. Photo by Y. Manakova

If I, as a grandmaster, was only interested in chess matters (such as, what’s

the strongest reply to Gc8 on the 23rd move of the Cambridge Springs Variation
of the Queen’s Gambit), I would have become the world champion a long time
ago. Among both sexes, you know. But I was always fascinated by something
else – non-chess matters surrounding the game – while the moves themselves
were rather secondary to me.

I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.

– Bobby Fischer

And recently, I got thinking: why did this talented chess player face such
trouble, why were my priorities so skewed? And then I realized. In addition
to my fascination with psychology (and esoteric passions which I haven’t yet
mentioned), simple laziness was to blame. Yes, the same desire to enjoy myself
that has played a defining role in my life.
 Chess 13

I grew up on fairy tales and always wanted to find the genie in the lamp, the
fairy godmother, or, at the very least, the golden fish, and have these friends
grant all my wishes… or at least three… or one. Per week. I wanted to dig and dig,
and then dig up a treasure – a magic key that could help me win tournaments
without much effort, simply because I wanted to. A key which would work like
this: I get into a proper mood before the game, and then I win easily.
Funnily enough, this happy-go-lucky approach did actually work while I
was young: my energy supply was boundless, I felt like I could take on the whole
world and win. I wouldn’t touch chess at all for three months, then show up
at some tournament completely unprepared and still score brilliantly because
I was in the right frame of mind. I could eschew the tedious study of pawn
endgames, which I hated; I didn’t know them, but I instinctively avoided them
in play because I was “in sync with my intuition”.
However, when I got to forty, I realized that neither “self-improvement”, nor
the secrets of “psychological battles”, nor the fiercest attitude at the board works
without painstaking, well-structured chess prep. I am sure that the material I
have put together for this book will be very useful in your chess journey, and not
only, but it’s still ancillary to the main ingredients – a passionate love for chess
and serious, regular study.
 A Zillion Hacks
My biggest advantage over Nepomniachtchi is
that I am better at chess
– Magnus Carlsen

Lately, my students and others have been asking me a lot: “How to eat
properly before the game?”, “How to get rid of unnecessary tension before the
game?”, “How to calm down after a loss?”, “How to prepare, how to get into
a proper mood, can you exert psychological influence on your opponent and
how to ‘repulse’ their influence on you, is it normal to roam around during the
game, or do you need to sit there without moving at all?” etc. etc. I answered all
those questions individually, but then I felt that a book answering all of them at
once would be highly useful! And recently, one “chess mom” told me, “I read
that it’s useful to eat protein before the game, do you agree?”
Really, I can’t stand it anymore! So someone once scribbled or mumbled
something about eating protein before the game, and now this phrase is passed
from parent to parent like a precious diamond! But what about me?! Me?!!! I’ve
been asking my coaches and grandmaster friends questions on these matters for
years. And I didn’t just write down their advice and learn it by heart, I actually
applied it in my practice, and also “did my own research”.
Therefore, I thought, the time has come to gather a collection of useful tips
(lifehacks), where not only my students and their family, but all chess fans at
large will find answers to these questions.
When I started to conduct my research for this book, I studied a huge
number of tomes and online articles and saw that nobody else had thought of
writing such a book. There were some individual tips in books, in social media,
in magazines, on chess sites. I even found a book of short recommendations
by an American chess journalist. But there was no fundamental work that
encompassed all non-chess aspects of the struggle.
Furthermore, I don’t just talk the talk, I walked the walk, too – from zero to
the highest title there is, Grandmaster. Well, OK, I’m not the best GM there is,
I’m actually “only” a WGM, but I honestly strived to reach the greatest heights
of mastery! I’m still striving ☺. I know how the life of a professional player
looks from the inside, not only from the tales of my chess-playing colleagues,
but from my own career, too.
I have played at Olympiads, at both team and individual world and European
championships, and I’m still an active player. I was a European champion
and vice-champion in team tournaments. As an individual player, I won the
 A Zillion Hacks 15

With Veselin Topalov at the 2016 candidates tournament, where I worked as a journalist

Moscow and Serbian women’s championships, and also played in the Russian
Women’s Championship Superfinal.
I didn’t reach the greatest heights in chess because my head was always
full of thoughts about love, art, esoterica, some “research” and other things
entirely unrelated to sport (I also always had trouble – catastrophic trouble
– with self-discipline). I can’t give you any deep analysis of an opening
variation or complicated endgames – that would be desecration. But I can
share some information on what happens beyond the board, which will help
you both to achieve success in chess and develop as a person. I’ll do the best
I can.
I borrowed a lot of quotes and tips from various celebrities, chess players
included. First of all, I simply like quotes – not all, of course, but non-standard,
witty stuff – and, secondly, I simply won’t be able to express an idea better than
them.
But I would like you to know that there’s nothing in the book that I haven’t
encountered personally, based on my own experience. Like a true scientist, I
have studied every lifehack presented here, and I guarantee that they work (in
some isolated cases, where the lifehacks haven’t been properly tested, I warn
the reader, in which case further research is necessary).
The book doesn’t purport to be an academic work, because all the issues
are covered in a popular format, without getting too deep. It’s more like a
16 A Zillion Chess and Life Hacks

compilation of tips and reminders that guide the readers, and they are welcome
to study a particular subject academically should they have the desire.
This book is also intended for those people who are interested not so much
in chess moves, but in the chess world and its inhabitants, because I discuss the
latter’s problems a lot, describe them and their life, and consider some real-life
cases.
There are a few chess games and fragments in the book. In rare cases, I used
them as examples. On the other hand, there’s a lot of chess jargon in it. Don’t
be afraid, I’m sure it’ll come in handy in case you ever find yourself in chess-
playing company. Chess professionals speak that jargon exclusively, and you’ll
be able to pass as “one of the guys” rather than resembling a fish out of water.
I’ll explain the meaning of especially weird-looking terms.
 Demons

The fear demon

You’re not the center of the universe. No, actually: every person
is a center of the universe. Everyone has the same feelings as you,
everyone has their own fate, concerns, anxieties, fears, joys and
sorrows. When a person says something, the sentence is born inside
of them and is absolutely determined by their life up to then, and
even genetics. It’s the same with actions. But all people, without
exception, want to be happy. Deep acceptance of other people
with all their quirks helps develop an important quality – wisdom.

There is no surer method to encourage your enemy than to seem to fear him.
– James Fenimore Cooper
 Demons 55

Named must your fear be before banish it you can.

– Yoda

Do you fear your opponent? Sure that you will lose to them? Here’s a magic
formula that will help you get rid of this feeling:

Everyone fears everyone

And a bonus one:
RELAX YOUR BOOTY!

Alas, I learned these magic formulas too late. Like many others, I thought
that the whole world revolved around me, that I was the sole center of the
universe, that I was the only one who experienced good and bad feelings. But
then I suddenly learned that other players can be anxious too, that they also fear
me (oh, such a sweet feeling!).
Your opponent is as human as you are: they can pretend to be calm, but
there’s actually a storm brewing inside them. An upset stomach, an entire
collection of lucky charms, point counting, long preparation, consultation with
the coach… If they are 300 points above you, don’t believe your eyes if they
seem calm to you. They are simply more experienced and skilled in faking their
emotions. They may even feel worse than you: a draw is not a satisfactory result
for them, therefore, their task is much harder.
So, memorize this magic phrase and remember it every time you feel fear.
Let’s repeat again: everyone fears everyone.

The worry demon

Being worried before an important task isn’t simply normal – it’s

even positive. It shows that you actually care, and that you will
be really invested in the task. This is adrenaline, it’s your friend.
If there’s too much adrenaline, and it paralyzes you or pushes
you in the wrong direction, burn it with exercise. If this doesn’t
help, study yourself closely: you may have ascribed too great an
importance to the task.

Everyone is nervous before a performance, not only you. And this is good:
it means that you do care, that you’re not a vegetable. But sometimes chess
players get so nervous that their arms and legs tremble, and their heads are
totally empty. In such cases, they can even play 1.d4 instead of 1.e4, despite the
56 A Zillion Chess and Life Hacks

latter being what they prepared at home. Or push the clock on the neighboring
board instead of their own. They can’t do anything right, their brain is turned
off. Sometimes, to hide their worry, these poor souls play lightning-fast in the
opening, and when they finally come to their senses, they look at the work of
their hands with horror.
Something like that happened to me at an Olympiad, together with my
opponent. By the way, there are two kinds of people when it comes to worrying:
the first kind become catatonic when they worry, they are completely paralyzed,
they can’t think straight. People of the second kind begin to scramble for
something to do, rush purposelessly and can’t think straight either. My
opponent, like me, belonged to the second kind: we hid our worry with erratic
actions. In our case – with chess moves. When we finally came to our senses
after this “nervous attack”, we had already made about 12 moves, the position
was completely incomprehensible, but only then did we start to play properly.
One of my students, a grown man, described his problem rather vividly. He
asked what to do with adrenaline during the game, and complained that he had
a similar problem with ducks. Yes, the actual ducks that fly and quack.
He’s a hunter, and he often draws parallels between chess and hunting. He
says, “Here I see the ducks, I hide and wait for them to take off, and I start
shaking so much that… it’s just impossible to hit a flying bird in such a state!
And if your hands are shaking at the board, it’s not that much of a problem (you
can still grab the correct piece and somehow put it onto the correct square), but
if you try to shoot in such a state, you will certainly miss. And my student often
misses his quarry because he cannot control himself.
Of course, it’s much better to watch your opponent shake nervously rather
than be driven mad by your own worries. But the thing is, nobody can avoid
worry, even you. Almost all chess players have experienced this. You simply
need to understand what to do, how to work with it.
Let’s see what Boris Postovsky says on the topic. His advice is directed less
to players and more to their coaches:

You need to calm the pupil down, so that they go to the game in a good mood,
understanding that they are being treated well, and they are off to do their
favorite thing, and there’s a hard, serious struggle ahead… First of all, walks are
important, and certain conversations during those walks, too. It’s often important
to remind the anxious player of a brilliant win of theirs: “See how you crushed
him?” This will reduce their worry. I also think that it would be good to sit with
them half an hour before the game and drink some tea with lemon. The most
important thing is to calm them down, make them less worried. And it’s important
for the player to understand that the result is not a tragedy, that they have to enjoy
the game. What are we playing for, anyway? Perhaps none of them will become
 Demons 57

a professional chess player, and thank God – the fate of a chess professional is
very difficult. As well as in any other sport. This is a really tough job, and a tough
career. But, as Botvinnik used to say, if you can’t live without it (like Ivanchuk
or Shirov), then it’s normal.

But what should you do if you come to the tournament without a coach?
Who can help you? Who can share that cuppa with you and hold heart-to-
heart talks? Moreover, it’s all, all rather simple and obvious: “playing for your
enjoyment”, “not a tragedy”, “hard work”… But how to calm down?!
Here’s how.
1. Repeat all these platitudes about enjoyment and not caring about the
result. Process is everything!
If this didn’t work, go to 2.
2. A cuppa with cookies, your favorite music, meditation (if you know how
to meditate. If you don’t, learn how), a pleasant walk, and life is great!
If this didn’t work either, go to 3.
3. Burn the adrenaline with exercise. You are so worried because there’s
too much adrenaline in your system. Too much adrenaline blocks the
thinking process. And I’m sorry to say, but it’s hard to win a game without
thinking.
In the old days, dudes usually worked off stress by chopping wood, now they
usually hit the gym. Actors do some push-ups or squats, walk in circles around
the theater or squabble with their colleagues before going on stage. Actors
and entertainers also have another lifehack: if you’re in public, and it’s too
embarrassing to do squats and too late to pick a fight with somebody, then you
can rub your earlobes or squeeze one of your hands hard with the other – this
also seems to help.
It’s tough for chess players to overcome anxiety before a classical game: of
course, you’ll come around eventually, but there’ll be more than enough time
to commit so many mistakes that your position will be unsalvageable. It’s a bit
simpler with blitz and rapid: this is a kind of “exercise” in and of itself. Your
hand is in constant motion, your body is in constant motion, and this burns
adrenaline. You get back to your senses after a few moves.
My body discovered its own way of burning adrenaline – turning up late. I
chronically arrive late everywhere – for planes, for trains, let alone for chess
games! Disheveled, tousled, I run to the board (or onto the plane), and I fear
nothing afterwards. I got there just in time for take-off.
But you should not follow my lead. The body is late, but the mind fights
against that. Because being late is rude and unprofessional. I am sincerely
ashamed. But I repeat this conduct again and again.
If doing all of the above does not work, go to 4.
 During the Game. Alertness 85

state, to fully relax. They freeze for a bit, and then the second control suddenly
approaches. Yes, your body needs rest from the intense bursts of Orange or even
Red activity between the 30th and 40th moves, but you can’t give it more than
five minutes of rest (time control at big official competitions is 30 minutes until
the end of the game with a 30-second increment). And to return the body into a
working state quickly, you need fitness, a well-trained mind and the competitive
ability to force yourself.

Do not slip into unconsciousness

Nature has allocated a special time for the “unconscious” state

– sleep time. Do not “sleep” while you’re awake. First of all, you
are wasting your time, and, secondly, this is simply dangerous.
(There’s only one exception – when your energy batteries are
exhausted. In this case, you need a short rest in a safe place.)

Here are the symptoms that show that you played a game (or a part of the
game) in an unconscious, “White” state:
1. You cannot recall the game properly and mix up the moves.
2. You say, “I don’t understand what I spent all my time on.”
86 A Zillion Chess and Life Hacks

How can you catch yourself in such a state during the game? Of course,
it’s not easy: the brain is so relaxed that it’s ready to do anything to prevent
anyone from waking it up. It will deceive you in various ways: for instance, it will
pretend to calculate lines. Or it will suggest to you that it would be “important
to meditate” over the position, so that the solution “comes up by itself”. Or it
will attempt to convince you of the importance of calculating a concrete line
and all its variations for 20 moves.
All you need to do in such a situation is to catch yourself lying. White state
is forbidden in chess! (As I implied already, you can afford five minutes or so in
this state after the time scramble, to help your body restore itself more quickly,
but only when your opponent has the move.) Wallowing long in line calculations
should serve as an alarm signal to you.
If you don’t see the position clearly when you calculate, stop your analysis.
It’s a waste of your time and freshness. Moreover, your variations will be full of
holes, because you are not mobilized. Pull yourself together, turn away from
the board, eat a chocolate, then go back to the position, look at it clearly and
tell yourself, “I will now identify three candidate moves!” Determine them and
give yourself no more than 10 minutes to choose between them (5 minutes will
probably be better, because you have already wasted enough time). After those
5–10 minutes, make a firm decision, without cutting corners.
Here’s another useful thing. When your mind is numb after a necessary but
long calculation of complicated variations, you could do the following. First,
pause for a short time and distract yourself (as I described above), and then get
back to the variations, but, instead of simply calculating, silently verbalize them.
Yes, you can even actually whisper, moving your lips. Why do that? There’s a
fog in your head, your view is distorted, and verbalizing the moves allows you to
perceive better and structure the lines.
Let’s say it again. This is important: full distraction from chess for 20–30
seconds after long calculation provides the brain with a quick energy recharge.

The eighth world champion Mikhail Tal once recounted a strange story. You
probably know it, so I’ll mention it only briefly: in a game with Evgeny Vasiukov,
in a complex position with countless variations, he needed to calculate whether
to sacrifice a knight for the attack. At that moment, Tal’s unconscious apparently
served him a fantastic way to distract himself. It reminded him of a line from
a children’s poem by Kornei Chukovsky (Telephone, 1926) about how hard it
is to pull a hippo out of a swamp. Indeed, it didn’t just remind him, but also
challenged him to find the solution. He then spent forty minutes thinking about
how to achieve it – with ropes?, or perhaps with a motor vehicle jack? Would
they need a helicopter or was a truck sufficient? That’s what Tal claimed anyway,
explaining why he spent forty minutes over one move. After thinking for the full
 During the Game. Alertness 87

forty minutes, Tal claimed, he failed to come up with a satisfactory solution and
decided “OK, let it drown.” And at that moment, he decided to go for the sac even
though the variations seemed inconclusive.

Work on mindfulness

Life as meditation is the ideal state for the Seeker

The ability to enter a mindful state is a very important skill, which can be
developed. In fact, it develops on its own as you age and accumulate experience.
Driving a car, practicing any sports (especially extreme ones), yoga, martial arts,
fishing, cross-stitching, dance – all this helps a person to control themselves
and their consciousness. It’s as though you jump out of the pile of junk of your
own thoughts and the chaos of random events around you into a “here-and-
now” state (welcome to reality!)
88 A Zillion Chess and Life Hacks

Chess is also good for developing this skill, but the reverse is true as well:
you’ll be able to play chess much better if you play in a mindful state, not by
fumbling your way around.
Some people are rather impatient: they don’t want to wait for years of
experience to grant them the desired mindfulness, and they work on it at an
accelerated pace (or at least they think they do). These people are fans of the
esoteric. They choose a path of mindfulness training with meditation (or even
prayer). We’ll discuss that some other time.

With Andor Lilienthal, also at the match between the USSR

and Yugoslavia, 2007
 Controlling Time

Magic shouldn’t be sought in the absolute quality of your game these days,
but in the speed of making very difficult decisions.
– Mikhail Golubev

At first I wanted to win without using black magic. When my position became
untenable, I got into such severe time trouble that there was no time for black
magic.
– Aleister Crowley on his 1897 game as the first board for Cambridge
University in the annual varsity match. He lost as black, playing the Petroff.

There’s a state called the “infinite time

mode” (I first heard about it from my teacher,
theater director Boris Yukhananov). It’s ideal
for any creative process. Even more importantly,
a true creative process is impossible if it’s limited
by time. Any thought of “there’s too little time”
pulls the creator away from the creative process,
and it’s very hard to get back into it afterwards.
The person immerses themselves so deeply
in their art that time, space and their inner state
simply cease to exist for them. Only pure art
remains.
That’s why actors and directors rehearse all
night, until the morning, and their “normal”
spouses can’t stand such a schedule and divorce
them. That’s why artists, as they create their
paintings, stop eating, drinking, washing and
sleeping, and their friends have to “revive” them
afterwards, helping them eat and wash after creating another masterpiece.
That’s how to create works of art. For an outsider, this looks suspiciously
like insanity, but this successfully ends when the “baby”, borne with so many
difficulties, finally enters the world. Some say that chess is art, but it’s not. There
are some elements of art in it indeed, and elements of science too, but it remains
a game, a fight. And this game is strictly limited by time. And, since the game is
limited by time, creative masterpieces at the board will be a random occurrence,
a “pleasant surprise”. If we want a non-random chess masterpiece, it should be
created in conditions when you are not bound by time – in home analysis.
 Controlling Time 91

In a chess game, Time is one of three most important factors, together with
Moves and Energy. Loss of control over time most often leads to defeat.
Almost every chess player (exceptions are rare) is inflicted by “time-trouble
disease” from time to time. And everyone fights it as well as they can. Some fight
it successfully, while others don’t and suffer from time trouble until old age.
I have studied this topic extensively because I’ve been suffering from time
trouble for my whole life. I don’t want to jinx myself by saying that I am totally
cured from that disease, but the situation has certainly improved. I can tell you
what helped me and share the tips of my coaches and friends.

Time trouble is the absolute evil

You shouldn’t get to the point where you risk having insufficient
time. Because then it will happen.

Time trouble is a sign of lack of chess culture, and if you can’t eradicate
this altogether for some reason, at least try to reduce its frequency to some
reasonable minimum.
– Lev Psakhis

I heard the following commandment from the same Lev Psakhis: “Time
trouble is the absolute evil.” This phrase has a strong aura of mysticism, and
that’s why I remembered it so well.
And, of course, lack of culture, yes.
Once upon a time, as any school kid knows, Wilhelm Steinitz came up with
the criteria for evaluating chess positions: the position of the king, control of
the center and space, pawn structure, piece activity, etc. Ever since that time,
chess players haven’t managed to come up with anything new – the first world
champion’s conclusions were so correct and complete. Coaches passed this
knowledge onto their pupils, and it has been printed and reprinted in textbook
after textbook.
However, another evaluation criterion has become important in the last
few decades: time. No wonder – time is one of the greatest treasures in
the life of any modern human. A clever chess coach will tell their pupil:
the center, the king, the pieces, space… and time. And when the pupil
enthusiastically tells them that they had a position “won twenty times over”
(which they lost for some reason), an experienced coach will curb their
enthusiasm with a single question, “How much time did you have left on
the clock?”
The results of most games are decided in time trouble.
92 A Zillion Chess and Life Hacks

Your advert could be here, as they say. Or maybe anti-advert. I wanted to show
some time-trouble blunders made by famous grandmasters here. But then I felt so
bad for them! Let’s omit the examples. Just take me on my word: even you wouldn’t
have blundered so badly, bwahahah!

Is it so hard to understand that time scrambles are pernicious? Why do

people so insistently and voluntarily walk into this slaughter?
Because the reasons for “time-trouble disease” lie in the deep layers of the
human psyche: their complexes, fears, illnesses, specific character traits… However,
whereas normal, non-chess playing people eliminate their inner troubles with all
possible seriousness – they consult with therapists, read books, do exercises – chess
players prefer to turn a blind eye to their gluttony for time trouble.
Let’s take chronic procrastinators, for instance. They get rid of this flaw
with the help of psychologists and long, persistent self-improvement. But
the “craving” for time trouble is often caused by the very same reasons as
procrastination! You see? Common people get treatment, but chess players
prefer for some reason to treat their problem as something that “will resolve
itself”. It won’t! It never does. So, if you do suffer from “time-trouble disease”,
treat it with the utmost seriousness.

Do not confuse procrastination with simple laziness. A lazy person never regrets
something they fail or neglect to do, that they wasted time, but a procrastinator
feels incredibly guilty and always promises that this will be the very last time. But
the same thing happens next time as well: they set a task, then waste an inordinate
amount of time, which leads to more suffering and hand-wringing.
 Controlling Time 93

I'll leave a place here for a picture about procrastination, but I need to find
a nice one. Well, they are all nice. OK, I'll put off this hard choice until
later.

Below, I’ll try to list all possible reasons for “time-trouble disease”, both
deep and not so deep:
→ Lack of self-confidence
→ Lack of over-the-board practice
→ Lack of self-discipline and willpower, the ability to get a grip on yourself
only in extreme need
→ Lack of culture of calculating lines (or discipline)
→ Lack of chess knowledge
→ Dependence on the opinions of others: your parents, coaches, fans. In
time trouble, the player gets an “excuse” for their moves
→ Addiction to adrenaline and time-trouble excitement, the desire to feel
it again
→ Bad habit of thinking when you don’t need to
→ Perfectionism, the constant search for “the ideal move”
→ The need to enter the White state during the game because of a pathological
desire to enjoy life and do nothing
→ The desire to be an artist, not a player (which is tantamount to amateurism
in modern chess), which makes one search for “the prettiest” continuation
→ Time trouble is characteristic of “heavy thinkers”, players with poorly
developed intuition. (Mark Dvoretsky)

Poor health, a lack of freshness, strong emotional pressure (for instance,

because of the tournament situation) etc. – all these troubles are transitory.
They can serve as the reason for time trouble in individual games, but they
cannot cause “time-trouble disease”.
As a rule, chronic time-trouble addiction is caused by several reasons at
once, and the problem is more difficult than it seems. In addition to serious
daily chess training (which expands your knowledge and makes you more self-
assured) and regular tournament play, serious work on psychological issues is
necessary. And, of course, constant control of your inner state and time during
the game, even when it seems that development of this skill (constant control)
is detrimental to your results.
94 A Zillion Chess and Life Hacks

But the most important thing is that the player should truly want to kick the
habit. Otherwise, it’s useless.
As proof of this assertion, I’ll show you the maxim by psychologist Mikhail
Labkovsky which he uses to make people quit smoking (he’d been a smoker
himself for 35 years):

How can you stop doing something that makes you happy, that you like?! It’s
impossible. It’s possible in the short term, but then you’ll regress to your previous
state. For starters, you should definitely understand that the thing you are doing is
evil, and you are a complete addict who got hooked on that rubbish. Only after you
realize that can you quit smoking.

There are a lot of grandmasters who spend their entire life in time trouble;
they try to kick the habit, but to no avail, because they seem to enjoy time
scrambles. They play at a high enough level, but can’t progress further. There’s
even a chess commandment:

You cannot become a great chess player if you’re a time-trouble addict.

There’s only one exception: Alexander Grischuk. Many say that if

he didn’t get into time trouble so much, he would have become world
champion. Or, at the very least, permanently stayed in the top five – he’s just
that talented.
Since there are many reasons for “time-trouble disease”, and several of
them are usually combined in one and the same person, every “patient” should
be considered separately. But in this book, I’ll try to give some universal advice
that can help many. Consider them recommendations for serious individual
work.
Let’s begin!

Play rapidly

When you are psyching yourself up to achieve a particular result,

concentrate on the things that you want to achieve, not the things
you want to leave behind. Tell yourself: “I’ll be healthy” (instead of
“I won’t be ill”), “I’ll be rich” (instead of “I’ll get out of poverty”),
“I’ll be successful” (instead of “I’ll stop being a loser”). Our brain is
primitive and ancient like a dinosaur’s jaw, it reacts only to the direct
meaning of the word. Metaphors, hints, parallels, and other figures
of speech are too difficult for it to comprehend.
 Controlling Time 95

The main advice is simple: play rapidly. Pay attention to the phrasing: not
“avoid time trouble”, but “play rapidly”.
Let me remind you again about the precept of psychologists and various
spiritual gurus: if you want to leave something behind or get cured of it, you
shouldn’t think about this problem or illness – you need to think about what
you want to get in exchange. Let’s remember our white monkey formula again:

You cannot stop thinking about a white monkey, but you can start thinking
about a giraffe.

And the monkey will disappear on its own.

You want to quit smoking, drinking or overeating? Concentrate on a healthy
lifestyle or a life goal. Forget about “quitting smoking, drinking and overeating”!
Moreover, your entire lifestyle should be changed – since it is based on your
bad habit. It’s the same with time trouble. Don’t think “My goal for today is
to avoid a time scramble!” You’ll get into time trouble for sure. Tell yourself
instead, “I’m playing rapidly today, like in a rapid game.”
How do you play in rapid tournaments (say, 15 or 30 minutes per player per
game)? You get a grip on yourself for the whole game and don’t let yourself
leave the table or relax. You should play a classical game in the same state. If
you’re a chronic time-trouble addict and try to play a classical game like a rapid
one, you’ll suddenly realize that you’re still almost out of time! Nevertheless, if
you do save some time, then spend it on moves 35 to 40 – the most important
ones.
Remember this state and play like that every time. Do not relax. Think
of yourself as a chess engine. It’s constantly working. It gets switched on
before the first move and switched off after the last one. No daydreaming, no
“meditations”, no “There surely is a winning move!”

Give yourself permission to play rapidly

Our fears and complexes don’t allow us to make the steps we want
to make. We simply don’t give ourselves permission to follow our
intuition easily and joyfully. How should we improve the situation?
(1) Here’s an experiment: forget about the result, make peace with
the idea that you might lose, but make all decisions quickly and
easily, following your inner voice.
(2) Look at the result.
(3) Feel the horror ☺