Flow experiences are very rewarding, and arise when our skill level and challenge level are optimally matched; too little challenge and we get bored, too much and we feel anxious. Chess is a great way to access flow, but as a lodestar for life, flow has limitations. Usually it describes a quality of consciousness, not…
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Concentration is not always that rewarding. It comes and goes, forms and collapses, builds up and then crumbles because there is an upper limit to what players can keep in their heads at any given moment. I find myself going up to my upper limit and getting off it repeatedly. When I look into the…
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Together we create a story, and narrative themes such as attack and defense are both reduced and reduced to certain movements with certain pieces on certain squares, which we incorporate as stenographers, in our own arcana of algebraic notation. The climax of a game’s story might be “Brutal counterattack!”, But the record only reflects the…
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Chess has been a source of friendship, refuge and growth since I was five, and I have been a grandmaster for twenty years. The lifetime title is the highest awarded to chess players and is based on achieving three qualification standards at international events that often deliver top performances, combined with an international rating that…
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For the Happy Few Amsterdam, January 2021 – Telling stories: that’s what vintage watches do.Of course: anyone can easily buy a new watch in all types and brands, and batteries on-line or in a real shop. But a vintage watch is unique. Perhaps worn by the judge who convicted crooks. Or by crooks themselves. Who…
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