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Mental Toughness in Chess: Practical Tips to Strengthen Your Mindset at the Board
Your performance at the board does not only depend on your pure chess skills. Being a winner also requires a mindset that is able to cope with lots of stress and setbacks during hours of uninterrupted concentration. Just like technical chess skills, mental toughness can be trained. There are simple steps you can take that will help you to better realise your potential. Professional mental coach and chess player Werner Schweitzer has been working with chess teams and individual players for many years.In this book Schweitzer presents practical tips and tools that will help you to improve your mental power during a game. You will learn how to increase your concentration and stamina, recognize your own strengths and weaknesses, cope with losses as well as victories, increase your self-discipline when studying, handle disturbing thoughts and feelings during a game, boost your self-confidence, avoid underestimating (and overestimating!) your opponent, make better decisions while under pressure and other mental skills.These lessons and simple mental workouts will help players of all levels to unlock the full power of their brain and win more games.
- GenresChess
139 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 10, 2020
6 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 19, 2021
This book is an interesting one in that it is written by someone whose skills at chess are somewhat modest. Nevertheless, this book is notable in that it views chess as an athletic endeavor and seeks to encourage the reader, who is presumably a competitive chess player, to develop the skills to get an advantage in toughness over one's opponent. One of the aspects of mental toughness discussed in this book that I found particularly interesting was the way that the author discussed not only playing against opponents who are scored much better but also who would be considered much worse--such as children and new players. It is important neither to overestimate nor to underestimate those we are competing against, and there are players that do much better than they would otherwise because of how they deal with those particular circumstances. As might be expected as well, this author also looks at chess in a way that brings it in line with the competitive practices of more physical sports, seeking to turn a chess player into someone whose mental toughness provides an advantage that can allow one to maximize one's use of one's talents.
This book is a bit less than 150 pages and is divided into four parts. After a preface that discusses the goal of having more success through mental toughness, the author then discusses how mental toughness can be trained (I) in eighteen short lessons that include focusing on how to strengthen one's strengths, gain in self-knowledge, learn from mistakes, overcome fears, make brave decisions, have more confidence and patience, and be able to set and visualize one's goals. This is followed by a discussion of game preparation (II) that includes a discussion about calmness, the right kind of tension, taking naps, having proper nutrition, and even how to play against a child. After this comes a discussion of playing successfully (III), including dealing with emotional balance, maintaining concentration, time management, and winning one's won games. The book then ends with some more practical tips (IV), including dealing with luck, learning from Carlsen, and having more fighting spirit, after which there is an epilogue, bibliography, and biography.
Overall, this is an easy book to appreciate. The behavior discussed in this book is certainly applicable to chess but is intentionally designed in such a way as to be applicable to a lot more situations than simply playing chess. This appears to be intentional. The author writes as a sort of coach that is seeking to make a player tougher and better able to handle adversity and deal with opportunity but does not only have chess players in mind but anyone engaged in competitive endeavor. It is important for us to realize that the mental game of chess is more than simply about the moves on the board but how we size up our opponent. I remember one time when I was in chess club in high school that the teacher who sponsored the club thought that I was a suitable opponent to try experimental chess strategies with, and I ended up winning a fair amount of matches as a result of playing a basically sound strategy that was not particularly flashy but was considerably more safe than what was being tried. This is likely not an isolated experience, and there are certainly going to be occasions where people would do better than expected because of the match of approaches that a particular match has.
This book is a bit less than 150 pages and is divided into four parts. After a preface that discusses the goal of having more success through mental toughness, the author then discusses how mental toughness can be trained (I) in eighteen short lessons that include focusing on how to strengthen one's strengths, gain in self-knowledge, learn from mistakes, overcome fears, make brave decisions, have more confidence and patience, and be able to set and visualize one's goals. This is followed by a discussion of game preparation (II) that includes a discussion about calmness, the right kind of tension, taking naps, having proper nutrition, and even how to play against a child. After this comes a discussion of playing successfully (III), including dealing with emotional balance, maintaining concentration, time management, and winning one's won games. The book then ends with some more practical tips (IV), including dealing with luck, learning from Carlsen, and having more fighting spirit, after which there is an epilogue, bibliography, and biography.
Overall, this is an easy book to appreciate. The behavior discussed in this book is certainly applicable to chess but is intentionally designed in such a way as to be applicable to a lot more situations than simply playing chess. This appears to be intentional. The author writes as a sort of coach that is seeking to make a player tougher and better able to handle adversity and deal with opportunity but does not only have chess players in mind but anyone engaged in competitive endeavor. It is important for us to realize that the mental game of chess is more than simply about the moves on the board but how we size up our opponent. I remember one time when I was in chess club in high school that the teacher who sponsored the club thought that I was a suitable opponent to try experimental chess strategies with, and I ended up winning a fair amount of matches as a result of playing a basically sound strategy that was not particularly flashy but was considerably more safe than what was being tried. This is likely not an isolated experience, and there are certainly going to be occasions where people would do better than expected because of the match of approaches that a particular match has.
May 10, 2020
Successfully overcoming defeat is one of the most underrated aspect of chess. The defeat can cause serious damage in the long run and bad feeling. Focus on the game and stay calm while neglecting ELO rating of the opponent.
The book explores on the mental game of chess and how to navigate the inner psychology of chess player.
The book explores on the mental game of chess and how to navigate the inner psychology of chess player.
January 10, 2026
important for every chess player to read. I wish this book was published when I was growing up and a teen. It gives you an overview of important mental skills in chess. Sometimes, I would have wished for Schweitzer to go into more detail.
January 7, 2022
It's amazing how life is close to a chess game. This book teaches you a lot of mental tricks and tips to obtain stable state of mind during a chess game but the same tips can be used in real life!
September 11, 2022
Easy to read book. Has some tips how to become stronger at psychological side of chess game.
Will try to use some ideas in my next tournaments.
Will try to use some ideas in my next tournaments.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews