How to get better performance in chess
Suppose you are spending 5-10 hours in chess but still you can't improve or can't see better results? Then these of the following can be your problems :
A common mistake amateurs, upcoming players, young children, parents, and many coaches make is to make an opening theoretician out of a player early on in the career.
The long-term consequences of such an approach are:
1. The player gets used to playing only in familiar positions where they know what the opponent is doing, and their plans are well laid out beforehand. This ensures they will develop a fear of unknown, unfamiliar, and unpleasant positions.
2. Such players can be easily unsettled by the opponent's unexpected choice of opening, a new move they have not seen at home, etc.
3. They will not learn to think by themselves in unknown, unfamiliar, unpleasant situations. For such players, once they are taken out of their preparation, they will be like fish out of water.
4. Soon, they will start fearing new positions and will not learn to be mentally tough, which is an essential quality to play good chess.
5. At a young age, when children are learning openings, they should try to find the opening moves themselves before seeing what is given in the material or database. If the moves are not matching, they should put a good effort into trying to understand why the move given in the opening database is played, the reason, logic behind it. They should not immediately turn the engine on in such instances.
6. The easiest way to turn a promising, talented player into a mediocre one is by teaching them a variety of openings in depth in their formative years.
7. Children who learn that opening is the most important phase in chess early on, are working hard towards an early retirement from chess.
8. Unfortunately, most parents and coaches actively push the children in this direction.