Eidetic Imagery and Total Immersion in Chess

How I found this rabbit hole

One of the books I got from dear old dad was Fischer’s “My 60 Memorable games”.  I vaguely recalled a blurb somewhere that Fischer had trained by studying in depth old classic games and was trying to relate some early Najdorf Sicilian to a broader database with older games. Then I got frustrated because nothing seemed to correlate nor did I want to sift through reams of games by Fischer and search on branched mainlines of the time.  I also couldn’t find “the Blurb”. I have a life outside of chess , so I googled  “fischer chess training.” The only reference I could find to the old games study was when he first trained seriously with IGM William Lombardy and the phrase: Eidetic Imagery and Total Immersion came up.

Wait, What?

When I first encountered the phrase, I had NO CLUE what it meant. So I googled  that phrase and discovered it was related to a form of psychotherapy that relates to a true vision so vivid that the person can recall exact details and more.  Another description puts this in the category of  photographic memory. I am not doing it justice so read it for your self here.  It’s more than just a vivid memory, it sounds very similar to what native Americans would refer to  a vision quest where the answers unfold in front of the person unhindered by presuppositions or ones own preconceptions. It has to do with clarity and some sort of “ultra vision”.  William Lombardy at about the age of 17 dropped that hallucinatory thought on a fertile prepubescent Fischer ( age 11)back in 1954 before retiring from competitive chess in 1962 to pursue a career as a Roman Catholic Priest. You may want to reread that last sentence.  He wanted to teach the young Bobby how he was able to have a meteoric rise to competitive chess.

What does this mean for Chess Training?

Training a student for meteoric rise sounds suspiciously like “rapid improvement” techniques.  For all you Royal Knight Errant fans, you might recall the Michael De La Maza’s (MDLM) Rapid Chess Improvement in Chess plan?  This was a kind of force feeding method of increasing imagery to the memory in hopes to make your brain light up when a tactic is available through pattern recognition. ( Been there done the 7 circles of hell…so I can speak from experience here) This process may work varying degrees of success to a student depending on their learning style. One may be visual learner and gain some ground but if you don’t have a photographic memory the results are somewhat static and not long lasting .  When experts ( not me) talk about Eidetic Memory, they speak about it falling between the memory image and after image in one’s mind. For those with photographic memories, the after image is just as vivid as the first. The problem with MDLM’s method is it force feeds the memory imagery. If your learning style is auditory it makes it more difficult. Bottom line is that there is no silver bullet.

Can someone develop a better capacity for “After Image” in their memory?

Let’s face it, calculation holds the key to many advanced chess skills and this means the ability to “see” the board in one’s mind. Here is  nice article on learning how to improve one’s blindfold chess skills. I like because it  further elaborates on how different masters have approached or viewed the inner chessboard making me want to pick up YET ANOTHER chess book by George Koltanowski called, In The Dark. In the past, I played games against a computer on a lower setting to practice blindfold. I would start on the lowest level and play until I could win consistently before going to the next level.

DeGroot, who wrote a psychological study about Masters versus amateurs called Thought and Choice in Chess, noticed that masters do have a better ability to recall patterns in order of magnitude greater than the amateur. He goes on to mention the concept of “chunking” parts of the board visually and recognizing lines of forces from the pieces as favorable traits for the Master. He had also done tests on positional recognition by showing positions from real games for a few seconds and having the subject reconstruct the position from memory. Masters obviously scored better again. But when shown random positions, there was no significant difference between the ability to recall random positions from Masters and amateurs. There must be something “meaningful” behind the image we are committing to memory. Does this mean, Masters find more “meaning” in their games? As an amateur, as much as I love the game, I still am struggling to comprehend all the positions, and fear of being put into an unknown position dampens my ability to find true meaning.

Back to the entrance of the rabbit hole

Lombardy also mentions spending hours with Fischer going over “quality” games. The key operative is getting the right set of games to go over.  I would also add having the right coach early on that can help guide you to a stronger sense of meaning in the positions and nuances of the games is part of the “immersion technique” Lombardy mentions. I also think going over whole games to the point where you can commit them to memory is good. If you can then recall these after-images of strategic components or tactical elements during your own games then I can see how this might rapidly improve your playing strength rather than just making you good in one area of the game like tactics. For the amateur like me, its learning to set aside all the other elements outside the game ( mortgage, job, life) and being at ease when I reach an unknown position over the board. I wish I could afford ( time and money) for a coach but in the meantime, I search for meaning in some games I study.

See you across the board.

Blunderprone

Dare I blunder some more?

For the past couple of years, my priorities in life had shifted pushing chess to the bottom shelf behind the therapeutic guitar. One thing I’ve learned is that given time, things do change and shift.  Things tend to level off, a new harmony restored in a once chaotic shift of life events. As long as I am patient, my passions can return.

Nostalgia’s past.

Chess has been calling my name. I’m “inheriting” all of my father’s chess items as my folks are downsizing  and culling possessions. The sets I learned on, the books I dog-eared, the table I admired that my father created, are all now in my office. The familiar feel of the pieces come back like an old song I would always play. Nostalgia reaches deep into my heart of a time I unwrapped a hand carved set of red and ivory, too fragile for play yet reminiscent of a time of the romantic age of this great game.

As I put the broken pieces back together of a long almost forgotten memory, it parallels the journey I’ve been on over the past couple years. Revisiting my chess origins provided a cathartic convalescence on my difficult journey through a turbulent period. Chess taught me that even though I may be behind in material, given the right initiative, ingenuity, and spirit, I can overcome many circumstances.  I’ve never turned my back on this game as I never turn my back on life.

Life through simulations

Tactics marks the slow rise back out of the depths of a long hiatus. Daily puzzles reminds of my core strength of problem solving.  I’m not rushing things or feeling the frantic pace of a once Errant Knight. Rather, I am absorbing through a new set of eyes these patterns once committed to an errant rote memory.  Each problem is a story worth learning. All stories have main characters, protagonists and supportive players that augment the lead’s style.

Perhaps now is the time to revisit my repertoire and make revisions. Exploring new ways seems apropos to my greater life. Like a new song to learn, I need to make it in my own voice so I can carry more meaning with it. There is no rush. Time is not running out.  The litmus is on my computer, the true tests will follow at club. Chess is nice like that.

Setting a lower threshold             

I am still working through the logistics of life and how to fit chess back into it. Chess can be a demanding mistress for me as I get caught up in the competition. What do I really want to achieve in the game? Chasing ratings creates a big demand. Can I just play chess for the enjoyment? That would be a practical goal. 

My local friends may see me come back to a club in the near future. For now I am slowly building up to that.  I am going through a culling process of my own.  I may start by selling some of my books on my return to the club as way to sustain my dues to play in the arena.

The magical chess history tour is looking more like a reality to come back to this blog. I enjoyed those journeys. Right now, this fits more into my chess goals.

See you soon.

Blunderprone

Looking for a little Geeky help.

Yes, my chess set is still on a shelf. I am in the process of revamping my online presence from a professional stance as I am looking for greener pastures in the job market.  What this means is that I am networking through the professional mediums.  One method I am trying to improve my professional online presence is though a technical blog.

I looked at how I had success with Blunderprone ( and I still wish to wear that hat in the future). It really helped me improve my chess skills. I saw an increase in my rating as I used this social media to track my training and collect insights.  I decided to attempt to apply the same blogging intensity now to my professional life. 

Where I need your help is just to visit my deep dive of a geek fest from an electrical engineering perspective and comment if you will, or “Like” or “Follow” this even if you are not the least bit interested. I need to ramp up the online presence.

The name of the site was chosen partly because I wanted to leverage a little from the “Blunder” association but merge that with a positive solution space … yes I call it Blundersolved, with a tag line “ Putting the double E in Geek”

Here is the link, http://blundersolved.wordpress.com

While my chess board gently weeps….

For my fans of Blunderprone desperate for my return to blogging, I’m afraid you will have to wait a bit more for regular  in depth imaginative, chess study  entries with a bend towards chess history and  “old dogs, new tricks” improvement techniques.  I’ve been working on my other cerebral hemisphere lately.

I had a bit of a personal storm hit on the home front and had to put my  chess endeavors on the shelf. For how long? It is still undetermined. I’m not ready to add that layer of stress and complexity into my new routines. (Not quite yet... but not too far away either.)

I’m focused on some non-chess related improvement as a means to fill a hole in my soul. Music is one avenue I’ve been channeling some growth as well as other intense personal learning and discovery.

 What brings me here today is the fact that MY BLOG has taken a life of it’s own. In my absence, a couple of outside interests has asked for my participation based on content they found on my blog.

The first came from a  book author, Stuart Smith , who wrote  Kings of the Street .  It’s a gritty crime novel, fast paced and even has a good plot twist. More importantly, it even has a chess theme. He approached me about the main character a while back. The character relaxes after a tough day with a drink of whiskey while  going over a classic game of chess. He asked for advice on who would be a good historical chess figure. I suggested none other than the whiskey drinking  Blackburn famed for his come from behind wins at the tail end of the 19^th century. Sure enough, he includes a chapter where he reviews a chess game I recommended.  He also has a chapter where the main character reviews a game of Nimzovich versus Tarrasch and gets into the nuanced personalities of the players and how it mirrors a modern day struggle the main character is having.  I have to admit that I  was partial to the chess related  chapters but the book was fast paced and exciting.  I got a free e-copy on my kindle app  for my input and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Then, I get an email from a guy putting a website together on memory  improvement techniques.  He wanted me to review the website and “feel free to comment” on my blog.  To be honest, its loosely “scientific” but more related to weblink generation. So I won’t point you to it unless you really want to check it out. In that case email me  and I’ll forward the link.  I found fellow bloggers like Linux Guy, Empirical Rabbit , and Temposchlucker   having  a much more thorough grasp and proof of the generalized concepts this guy was calling “published”.

Until we meet again,

Blunderprone

Evaluation of chess skills post hiatus: Learning to recognize emotional based memory markers..

Because of time constraints, I opted to take only half of the test ( first 50 problems) in IM Khmelnitsky’s Chess Exam and training guide. I used a spread sheet to tally the score and adjust for the 50% portion. After making these adjustments and checking the percentiles, I highlighted the 4 weakest areas in order of priority:

-Tactics

-Recognizing threats

- Middle Game

- Openings

I scored rather well ( relative to my current rating) in  Counter Attacks, Standard Positions and endgames.  Falling in the middle ground were, Calculations, Sacrifice, Attack and strategy.  

I wasn’t all that surprised to see the low score with tactics but it was very discouraging to see such a low score given I’m a disciple of the MDLM ( Michael De La Maza)  circles training having done the 7 circles of hell method ( aka Knight’s Errant) 4 times since 2007.   For those not familiar with the “circles” method, you start with a set of problems, either with a book, website or program and work through all of them 7 times each. The idea is to cram as many patterns into memory as possible so you become better at pattern recognition and less reliant on calculation.

The problem I have is memory. Some problems stand out more than others. When it comes to doing tactical problems, it’s as if I have chess Alzheimer’s and each time I see the problem, it’s like I am solving it for the first time, OVER and OVER again. For me, part of this issue has to do with a short term memory incapable of handling “chunking” patterns into my active playing region.

Scoring better in the counter attack seems counter intuitive if you group counter attacking in a more general category like tactics. Counter attacking  is a defense mechanism. The position is already under an attack, and I have much practice in playing the underdog.  The reason I can recall these “patterns” is because I’ve already mapped this to my long term memory  through practical experience. Memory markers made from a fight for survival scenario in a game has a longer lasting effect than static tactical problems.  The emotional struggle fighting with the logic of the moves creates a lasting narrative that I can then retrieve when that SAME EMOTION is triggered.

Engames and Strategy being in the upper middle is an indication of the pawn structure analysis I labored through to understand. These are reinforced more in practical play in my games as I struggle with the strategy of positional games. The memory markers for these are also emotional based. This is not as much of a fear trigger as it is more of an annoyance or discomfort trigger. With pawn structures and endgames, usually there is  goal I’m trying to make, but my opponent will either annoy me, or make me very happy. The struggle of working through the annoyance creates another one of those illogical memory markers for me that resonates a “ I’ve ran into this petulance before, what did I do then?”

Recognizing key chess patterns through  emotional responses  is a way I can unlock my memory mapping of the concepts in this game that seems to be just out of grasp. Its an internal narrative that acts like a director on a movie set shouting “ CUT! Bring in the action double.”  Finding the key narrative is similar to unlocking learning a new language. Once it’s practiced out, it eventually moves from the long term memory to more of a motor memory and thus becomes a bonafide skill.  Until then, I can only expect to be a novice/ amateur.

The question now becomes, how can I train my tactics in a way that creates an  emotional struggle to resolve ?  I’ve tried to approach this in the past from looking at  practical applications of typical tactics in my games. Setting up my own problem set from my games was only marginally successful. Though, to be honest, it was a pain in the ass to set up and I lost motivation building the data base. I looked for short cuts to build up a problem set based my openings and related traps. 

Some of those things seemed to work for me as long I practiced them before the an event, but then again, I always seem to over prepare for the rare chances and under prepare for the curve balls always thrown. This always came back to “annoyance” and the need to resolve that struggle.

I am searching, and open to new techniques for tactical training that may improve my chances of actually recognizing these in practice.

  

Chess on a busy schedule and limited resources

My chess pieces feel so neglected they are about to form their own EMO-punk band singing songs of prolonged neglect and searching for wood chippers. Life has a way of getting real and limiting my ability to enjoy my favorite hobby. My last foray was a debacle with a rating plunge like a daredevil skydiving from 24 miles up.

I am still busy and have “life stuff” front and center demanding all those brain cells I used to waste on chess. Yet, I would like to “get back in the game”.  However, I’ve discovered that I am not that good with balancing things. I like to “fully commit” when I engage in an activity but it means something else has to let go.  How can I keep the rest of things in balance with a demanding hobby like chess? 

I am sure we have all similar struggles. I’d love to hear from you on how you find balance with this hobby and not tip the fragile balance of all the other “life stuff”.

What Shall I do? Reduce scope?  Can I really just do chess for enjoyment instead of trying my damndest to prove that an old dog can learn new tricks?

This is tough since  I tend to be mission driven. I have to set goals.  For instance, I still feel it’s my MISSION to find that great white whale known as Adult chess improvement. I’ve even seen glimpses of  this mythical beast in other “late bloomers” on the net, at the club, and even in my own games.  The real question then becomes, how can I seek improvement with limited time and resources? I think the answer lies in how to recalibrate my goal.

 I love this game, I enjoy playing,  and I really enjoy the learning process. Getting to a USCF rating of 2000 does seem like it’s within reach at least in a short term to midrange goal. Something keeps lifting the stick  with a carrot on it when I reach out my hand.  I peaked over 1800 for the time in my chess career about a year ago but the carrot was yanked rather quickly as life events challenged my ability to even sustain the performance.  I had managed to sustain a solid mid 1700 rating for most of last year, but after the peak, I tumbled pretty fast.

Enjoying what I have:

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell. --Buddha

Instead of pining for what I  lost or what don’t have, I think my goal for the next few months should  be to focus  on a more efficient approach to sustain a solid Class B rating.  Before, I had a sporadic approach to training between matches. It included various activities around tactics, understanding pawn formations, marginal endgame study before the match and club play.  I never found a good mix for these study areas. I always felt I was deficit driven when I reached the board in competition and felt like I never had enough time to actually prepare.

What I was actually experiencing was the effects of a lack of discipline in my training. Instead, I took a buck shot approach which required more time and I never really got a proper handle on successful training techniques.

That’s not to say I never had some successes. For instance,  I had found a method that helped me get a better positional grasp on  learning openings and variations.  I also know more efficient ways to study tactics that impact my own personal games.

The financial commitment was steep as well, on top of the USCF membership and state memberships that allowed me to play in local and national events, I had club fees, tournament costs and internet memberships.  Here, I need to scale back as well.

In one of my other lives, I’ll call the working-Blunder, we are encouraged to set personal goals for the projects we are assigned.  They use the following mnemonics:

SMART : Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic and Timel

I will make an attempt to use this model in my blunderprone chess life:

Here’s my plan:

      1)      Understand myself

a.       Know where my current deficits are

b.      Chess Exam- scoring  for a baseline ( specific and measurable)

       2)      Focus on Discipline from now until end of year. ( attainable, realistic and timely)

a.       Map out the spare hours I can dedicate to training ( specific and measurable)

b.      Use those dedicated hours specifically on focused aspects of where I need training the most.  ( More specifics after the evaluation)

c.       Blog about my training as way to keep track and motivate

       3)      Target One Tournament between now and end of year

a.       Renew State and National memberships

b.      Renew Chess.com membership

c.       Club membership on hold until more time is available

d.      Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial may be my target on Dec 2 ( time)

       4)      Re-evaluate end of December

a.       Evaluate how well I stayed on track with the disciplined schedule

b.      Re-take a chess exam evaluation

c.       Compare against baseline

d.      Set new training goals.