Day 143 / 222 to go

As indicated yesterday, I spent today (i.e. Sunday, even when by the time I am writing this it is already Monday morning, 01:00 o´clock) trying to organise, summarise and incorporate Rowson´s advice based on his book "The seven deadly chess sins" (which I read during my holidays) into my thinking + playing. Here´s my very personal perspective on what I consider important, use- and helpful for me:

Einstein´s famous E=mc²

The most impressive (for me) was his analogy of Einstein´s famous E=mc². He concludes that the value of a piece can hardly be fairly determined without recognition of its potential - or energy which can either be kynetic (energy in motion) or potential (future energy). To cut it short (if it is too short for you, either ask me or simply buy Rowson´s book): A piece has to be regarded as the sum of  its value + its potential - and the latter depends upon the position!
 (If we label a pawn with the value of 1 and a rook with the value of 5, how comes that two connected passed pawns on the 6th rank are "worth" more than a rook of the opposite colour? Because of their potential!)
Yes, yes - we all know that only the position itself determines the value of a piece and not the static arithmetic value all beginners are told and many club-level players still follow like disciples. But yet we are all finding ourselves way too often trapped and limited within this sort of thinking, accepting this axiom too blindly!  
My coach Charlie actually asked me to have an eye on exchange sacrifices and go for them as often as possible. He, too, tried to make me aware of the potential and direct my thinking away from a pure materialistic view and "pawn-counting" mechanisms.
I will try to incorporate Rowson´s interpretation of Einstein´s formula into my games!
 Being reminded of Einstein´s formula is definitely a well-working memory hook (at least for me)!

Beware of phase-changes within the game
Apart from the typical phases of a game (opening, middle + end game) there are phases even within these phases. It is important to recognise these exactly when they accur. I actually felt these moments before, but never paid the necessary attention to them. Often games get lost or at least move into the wrong direction because a player misses the necessary transformations coming along during a match when moving from one phase into the next. Signals, e.g. are strange moves made by either side or having - all of a sudden - a wide array of moves/candidates available or when many pawn moves are made within a short time or when many pieces are exchanged within a short time...)
From now on, I will invest a bit more time once I recognise them during a match.

Talking with your pieces
Just like Aagard´s well-known 3 questions to ask in every position or Silman´s concept of imbalances - or even my personal PAT - Rowson gives the advice of talking to the pieces in order to better understand which pieces and paths for them to consider. Yes, it is somewhat strange or even weird, but yet, for me it is somewhat appealing! I will try to incorporate into my game.

The bishop pair
There was a nice explanation of the bishop pair and why it is so valuable. Rowson draws upon Plato´s hermaphrodite. (I am a bit to lazy to provide a summary here+now. Simply believe me that I understand the value of it a bit better now...)

Practical Advice (which I will not comment or rationalise as such, but simply list):

• If you are not able (capable or simply due to time pressure) to deeply/completely calculate a move/variation but you have to decide between a few candidates, follow your intuition and go for the one you simply like best - REGARDLESS of how deep you calculated into any of these candidates!
• There are positions/candidates where it is simply not economic to spend too much time trying to understand it all. 
• Don´t forget trying to get into a state of FLOW - or Gumption (I mentioned this one before, but simply forgot about it) - in order to enthusiastically remain in the moment without caring too much about the result or even the opponent´s rating!
• Gumption and/or Flow include making use of the opponent´s time.
• In a bad position,
  - try to stand the pressure and not to release it too early since this mostly results in a yet even worse position.
  - focus on the good aspects of your position and try to extend on these so that your opponent has to worry about them.
• If in time trouble, go for a last break some 10 minutes prior to time control in order to refresh and upload your energy reserves.
• Being a pawn up: Watch out for chances to give it back for an additional positional plus!
• Being a pawn down: Don´t be overly materialistic on limit your thinking on getting it back while ignoring positional aspects/advantages!
• Based upon a better understanding of the value of the bishop-pair (see above), I am a bit more attentive to both keeping it and exchanging a knight for my opponent´s bishop pair!
• A piece might have limited kynetic energy but high potential energy.
• Prophylaxis is not just a passive way of playing chess (something also reflected in the concept of Wu-Wei - interesting that I learned about Wu Wei in another of Rowson´s books!)
• Never forget or even ignore that your opponent is just as worried as you and faces the very same doubts as you - regardless of his rating.
• Beware of "Neuronal Kidnapping"! (Feel free to get in touch with me for an explanation and some insights!)

I hope (actually expect) that the above will aid my personal process of changing my game and make my journey even more interesting (and finally successful).
Luckily, I will play my next tournament already in a few days in Wiesbaden. So I can try all the above!