Three Levels of Chess Thinking

I have studied players' thought processes for over 30 years (I hate to say that!). I am convinced that one way to differentiate levels of chess play is to separate players into three categories, depending on how they deal with threats when playing slow chess:

• Does not pay attention to all (or sometimes even any!) of the threats generated by the opponent's previous move.
• Does pay attention to all the threats generated by the opponent's previous move, but, before making their current move, does not check to make sure that all checks, captures, and threats by the opponent on the next move (in reply to that move) can be safely met.
• Not only deals with opponent's threats from the previous move but, before making their move, also makes sure that the opponent will not have any checks, captures, or threats that cannot be met after that move, and does this check on every move possible/necessary.

Several years ago I published this thesis and dubbed these three levels of thinking Flip-Coin Chess, Hope Chess, and Real Chess. The method of defining these levels via threats was published in my book Looking for Trouble.

Perhaps Hope Chess was a bad choice for the middle level, because many readers confuse Hope Chess with the common “hope” problem of making a threat and hoping that your opponent will not see that threat or, similarly, making a bad move and hoping the opponent makes a worse one. I have dubbed these mistakes (they are not really thought processes as much as they are bad habits within a process) as just Bad Chess or perhaps even Hopeful Chess, but not Hope Chess, as defined in #2 above.

Flip-Coin Chess describes the kind of process used by most young kids right after you teach them how to play. They really don't care what their opponent does, and the winner is the one who accidentally makes more, or larger, threats that are duly ignored. At this level of play threatening checkmate, no matter how bad the move is otherwise, is often rewarded (which of course leads to bad habits…).

Hope Chess is practiced by 99%+ of the adults who do not play in tournaments, and by almost all tournament players rated under ~1600 USCF. Interestingly enough, I have run into several players rated ~1300 who tell me that they have read my material on Real Chess and are now happy to announce they no longer play Hope Chess. Unfortunately, upon testing them, it turns out they STILL play Hope Chess (else their rating would not likely still be 1300) and when I explain to them why, the most common answer is “Oh! So that is what Hope Chess is! I thought it was XXX” (most likely Hopeful Chess).

I have had several strong players tell me that my theory is wrong and that they do not use what I describe as a Real Chess thought process. But upon inspection it almost always turns out that they actually do, or at least incorporate the minimal criteria. For example, if you don't play Real Chess, then you often allow your opponent to create unstoppable threats. Strong players rarely allow such threats and therefore must use this aspect of Real Chess to reject candidate moves that allow them. However, they may not realize they are using this process because they have been doing so automatically for a long time and are not consciously looking for all upcoming checks, captures, and threats.

It just becomes natural for strong players to think, “Suppose I do X, then what will he do? Suppose he then does move Y, threatening Z, what can I do?” If the answer is “Nothing, and then I lose”, then they discard X as a candidate move. Of course it takes good board vision and analysis skills to quickly recognize all of the forcing “Y's” that the opponent can do to you and, further, to figure out whether the Y is stoppable or can be allowed. There is quite a bit of skill involved, which is one small reason why the rating variance of Real Chess players is so very large (1600 and up). In other words, if you don't play Real Chess, you probably never will be really good, but if you do play Real Chess, that is no guarantee you will be a very strong player! You still have to learn about all the other things that players study: openings, endgames, pawn structures, planning, lots of tactical patterns, etc.

One key to promoting yourself from Hope Chess to Real Chess is checking for upcoming danger on every move, and not just most of the time. For example, suppose you “only” play Real Chess on 95% of your moves but on the other 5% you allow unstoppable threats. Then, assuming the average game is 40 moves, twice each game (5% x 40) you open yourself up to an immediate loss. If you allow these two oversights each game, then you will play MUCH weaker than you will if you play Real Chess on every move. After all, it only takes one bad move to lose a game! So if you otherwise play 1700 strength for 38 moves but on two moves you play at only a 500 level, what do you think your average playing strength will be for the entire 40 moves?

No wonder that players who read tons of books and accumulate decent chess knowledge often lose to players with much less knowledge. The “well-read losers” can attribute their losses to talent or luck (usually the latter!), but often it is just that their opponent is playing Real Chess on every move, and they are not, and so their rating (and results) are relegated to the Hope Chess masses. This also explains why some 1900 players with relatively little chess experience (but “good game players”) can easily beat 1500-1600 players with far more experience – the two main reasons are tactical talent and a better thought process.

So what does it take to help graduate from Hope Chess to Real Chess?

1. The knowledge of what Real Chess requires.
2. The desire to do it (if it is fun, you will – fun is an underrated factor as a reason to do things).
3. The opportunity to practice it (slow games at 90 minute or more per side are required).
4. Practicing it until you don't have to think about it – this is actually one of the easier parts, since at first you will think about it and it will be distracting, but if you play enough it becomes unconscious, like walking.
5. Practicing Real Chess consistently and not letting down just because you don't feel like doing the work each move. There is a fine line here between desire and being careful – no doubt, naturally careful players have an advantage starting out, just as players who are naturally good with spatial relationships also have an edge.

Over the years I have gotten e-mail from all over the world from players saying “Why didn't anyone ever tell me this before? I have read hundreds of books and I never got good but I didn't know why.” Well, it could be lack of a specific talent or experience, but often a implementing a good thought process – combined with the opportunity to play many slow games against strong opposition (good practice!) is a key to unlocking that “barrier” that separates you from the players at the next level – or two!