What is the optimal mindset for Chess?

Mindset may not, on the surface, seem a part of conceptualization and my normal schtick, but it certainly is.

The same resource that handles our ability to track complex information and think about our options is also used to process emotions.

And our brains, designed to prioritize threats and survival above all else, will automatically pull resources away from those other things if a pesky emotion pops up.

It's why tilt is so damaging to our play. And why we become way more likely to blunder in the few moves after we've realized we're winning against a stronger opponent.

Our brain senses an emotion, decides it needs to process said emotion, and reroutes some of our limited working memory resource to do that.

The result is simply less mental space for the actual Chess.

With the right mindset, we can help reduce the occurrence and impact of these emotions. Keep the limited mental resources where we most need them for our play.

I remember a while ago when Hikaru got back into career-best form. There was an interview he did before the Candidates that put the Chess world into a bit of a tizzy.

He was asked how it feels to be back in the Candidates. His response was, paraphrased slightly, that he doesn't really care.

Much of the Chess world got a little upset at this – how dare Hikaru disrespect the Candidates?

But there were a few of us who figured out what was actually going on.

He wasn't being disrespectful, he was adopting a mindset. One that has helped him back to his best.

Historically, Hikaru was one of the most emotional players in the game. He was famous, perhaps even infamous, for it.

And his emotions would sometimes get the better of him in key moments. Top players have the same brains we do, their working memory resource operates the same as ours.

So whenever Hikaru felt an emotion mid-game, his brain would prioritize a little of his working memory capacity to processing it. Leaving a little less of it for the Chess.

When he says "I don't care", he is not being intentionally disrespectful. He is creating detachment. Emotional separation between the Chess and himself.

The detachment helps him give his emotions a break, reduces the stakes, and makes it easier to resist and process any emotions that do pop up.

But detachment alone is not enough. You can't literally not care and still perform at your best. And Hikaru does care, a lot.

He cares about good Chess.

He creates emotional detachment from his games, but he remains deeply interested in every one of them.

That is the core of the optimum mindset for Chess.

Now, to bring it back down to the realm of us mere adult-improver mortals…

There's an interesting pattern I've noticed in my own games, those of the members and students I work with, and in the adult improver community at large.

People tend to play their absolute best Chess – the kind where they really impress themselves – in one situation:

We play our best Chess when we don't think we can win but want to go down swinging.

Maybe we want to put on a good show against a stronger player. Or maybe we blundered early in the game and want to make our opponent work for it.

When we don't think we can win, we become emotionally detached. We're not expecting to win anyway, so many of the emotional concerns aren't there. You've already, on some level, accepted a loss.

But you refuse to go down easy. You remain deeply interested in the game and in finding the best moves.

Suddenly, in that situation, many of us find a Chess skill emerging that we didn't know we had. We get the scalp, we get the swindle. At one point, we think we have no chance, and suddenly we're ahead.

We find ourselves in our best form.

This is the power of detached interest.

You're not thinking about the result, you're not identifying with your own play. You only care about finding the best moves. Just like Hikaru.

So how can we cultivate the mindset of detached interest in all of our games, not just the ones we think we'll lose?

Here are a few things you can do. Give them a try. Take what works, leave what doesn't.

1) Refer to yourself and your opponent only as the colors you're playing

The way we speak to ourselves in our head makes a huge difference to our emotions. Studies have shown, for example, that just avoiding the words "I" and "me" in your self talk has the same ability to create emotional distance in a few seconds as 15 minutes of long-form journaling.

We can use this psychological phenomenon to get into a detached interest mindset.

When you're playing a game, only refer to yourself and your opponent by the colors you and they are playing.

It's not "I play Nc3", but "White plays Nc3". It's not "I'm losing", but "Black's in trouble here". Never "me", never "I", never "they".

Speaking to yourself in this way makes the game about the Chess and not your pride, or your fear, or your emotions. Just the Chess.

When doing puzzles, playing games, studying openings, whenever. Make it automatic. Start practicing this immediately.

I'm convinced most of the top players do this too. Watch for it during interviews and you'll notice they do it all the time. It's rarely "me" and "them", it's almost always "white" and "black". They talk about their own games as if they were someone else's games.

That's detached interest.

2) Ask "what would _______ play?"

If you find the shift in self-talk a little airy-fairy for your tastes, here's something more practical for you.

When playing games, and you feel emotions starting to kick in, ask what your favorite player would do in the position.

This question will help to create a level of separation between the decision and your self-identity. It temporarily puts you in a state of detached interest, thinking not as yourself but as someone else, but still with a strong focus and curiosity about the Chess in front of you.

It may help you overcome whatever emotion you're dealing with in the moment, and find that move that saves the day.

3) Become Batman

There's a phenomenon in child psychology called the "Batman effect". Researchers found that children were better able to overcome intense emotions if they were encouraged to pretend they were their favorite superhero.

Taking on the character, and referring to themselves as that character, almost immediately shifted the children's emotional states, gave them access to an inner strength they didn't have a moment ago.

I'm not suggesting you rock up to your tournament games in a mask and a cape. (Though I think I read somewhere that Batman's a fantastic Chess player, so there might be something to that…)

Instead, create a character for yourself. A version of you that plays your best Chess. What do they wear? What do they do the morning before a game? How do they handle wins and losses?

Then become that character when you need to.

Many high-flyers from politicians to athletes use a version of the Batman effect to get in the zone and perform at their best. I think this is what Hikaru's doing when he claims he "literally" doesn't care.

If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for you too.

Cultivate detached interest in whatever way makes the most sense for you.

Those are three tools you can use to approach it. But there are hundreds of ways to do it.

Create emotional separation, but remain fascinated by the Chess.

Find the best moves, not because your sense of self is on the line, but because it honors the game and all those who came before you.

Here's to the journey,
Aiden