Chess training and competition tips from Chess Strike!

John Ceena is an improving player, with a FIDE rating of c.1700, and one of our contributors.  In this article, he explains some important differences between chess training and chess competition.

Training is different from Competition!

Playing chess as part of the training environment is not the same as competitive chess. The differences are subtle. When you play as part of your training, typically games less than G30 or so, you are playing games to evaluate your understanding of your current knowledge of opening theory, the implementation of middlegame plan construction, strategic decision, etc. Training games typically are shorter and more relaxed as it is more important to display a wide set of ideas in your games, and to play more games, and not so much the end result. Of course, we want to win all games, but the focus is not on winning exclusively. The focus should be on applying what one has concentrated his studies on.

Competition is different from Training!

When you play competitively, these ideas hardly enter your mind, and the focus is primarily on winning the game. You do not risk by experimenting with openings you are still in the process of learning; generally you stick to what you know. In addition, the time limits on competitive chess are usually at least 40 moves in 2 hours, so the quality of play is better overall

 Profile of ChessStrike

John runs a YouTube chess channel, manages the Chess Strike blog, writes chess ebooks, and also teaches beginners.   Based in India, he is a regular tournament player.