Finding the rhythm

There are many things about chess that are easier said than done.

In this sense, it could be said that it is not difficult to play chess. But to train on it… it really is, and to cultivate a practical approach to it, no words are needed.

Undoubtedly, it is necessary to work with pragmatism and common sense, leaving aside the chimerical idealisms and the suggestions of the pseudo-culture of indulgent easy-ism.

If something could be considered the most difficult thing about chess, in any case, it is learning to separate from individual criteria those ideas of what one would like to do, from what one really needs doing, in correspondence with the situations that arise spontaneously when playing it.

Something that goes beyond stylistic preferences or accumulated knowledge about some positional scheme or combinative pattern. Being the principle of thinking clarity that transcends the paradigms of superficiality and provides chess elements of art, sport and science.

Prioritizing the essential over the non-essential lies in mastering the habits that nourish each of our thoughts and emotions... In chess, it can be formulated as: finding the rhythm.

What can be done to find the individual rhythm?

It is logical to say that playing a lot, studying a lot and maintaining consistency in didactic learning. But such a generalization is too broad to be conceptually instructive in the specific training discipline one would like to develop.

After pondering for some time, one can come to the conclusion that the chess player's rhythm is a state of contemplative flow made up by strategical perception (formulate a plan for technical positions, avoid mistakes and work for a positional advantage) and tactical instinct (recognize critical positions, refute the opponent's innacuracies and define a certain positional advantage), that, working synergistically as one, result in the natural playing focus. Therefore, whatever the techniques and resources applied in exercising such focus, these nuances should be integrated by working on the accuracy of analysis, assessment and calculation in our approaches to systematic learning.

The purpose, of course, would be the achievement of criterion objectivity. Purpose that is not alien to the game, but complementary to any effort made to improve in it. And that is what the search for independent rhythm consists of.

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