Practical Decision Making
Introduction and Free Preview
The Practical Decision Making camp is already a digital product. This product includes all the videos from the camp as well as the PGN file related to the training sessions. Additionally, we include the PGN file of GM Grigorov's lecture Moves of First Necessity.
Overall, the material consists of approximately 9 hours of video and a PGN database which includes 110 files!
You will find the following lectures:
How Modern Engines Changed Our Decision Making - GM Davorin Kuljasevic
Intuition vs Calculation - GM Dejan Bojkov
Creating Imbalances - The Best Winning Strategy - GM Grigor Grigorov
Decision Making in Critical Positions - GM Mihail Marin
Playing Equal Positions - Psychological and Practical Aspects - GM Ioannis Papaioannou
Navigate Risk - GM Petar Arnaudov
Q&A Session with GM Grigor Grigorov and GM Petar Arnaudov
In this article, we will briefly present some interesting moments taken from the lectures.
How Modern Engines Changed Our Decision Making - GM Davorin Kuljasevic
In this lecture, GM Davorin Kuljasevic analyzes the influence of modern engines on our understanding. He introduces the subject in the following way:
Chess engines have, over the last couple of decades, definitely made a huge impact on our understanding of the game and our decision making. Some people are not sure if this impact is positive - they claim that engines have spoiled chess: killing creativity, made us more superficial, contributed to many openings being analyzed 'to death', etc. However, I believe that most chess players would agree that the overall effect of our work with engines has been positive. In this lecture, I try to make the case for the latter proposition.
Some topics that we will cover are:
1. How engines have helped us develop a more concrete/less dogmatic approach to decision making.
2. A better understanding and more accurate decision making in positions with doubled pawns
3. In queenless middlegames
4. In positions with a space advantage
5. Of king safety
6. Of play with rook’s pawns
7. Of interplay between material and initiative
The PGN version of the lecture consists of 18 extensively annotated model games. Below, you can see one of them:
Intuition vs Calculation - GM Dejan Bojkov
Intuition and pure logic often coincide. There are many definitions of intuition. Anand once said that this is the first move he sees in the position. Many other great players explained it in different terms. Whatever the explanation, in the game of chess we often have to rely on our "gut feeling" when choosing a move. At the same time, one can never neglect the importance of precise calculation. We can say that the calculation is the "brute force" in chess.
In the current lecture, GM Bojkov makes an attempt to explain in which cases we should rely on intuition and when precise calculations are needed. Even though giving a conclusive answer is impossible, Bojkov provides valuable insights that will make easier your practical decisions.
The PGN version of the lecture consists of 11 annotated model games and 5 test positions.
Below, you shall take a look at one of the model games.
Creating Imbalances - The Best Winning Strategy - GM Grigor Grigorov
We can never win a game without creating imbalances in the position. In the introduction to the PGN version of the lecture, GM Grigorov writes:
Before diving into the different kinds of imbalances, we need to answer the simple question, "What is an imbalance?" Scientifically speaking, every difference in the positions of the opponents can be considered as an imbalance. Such a definition, however, will not serve our practical purposes. When applying it, we would discover that every position is unbalanced. In this lecture, we will speak about significant imbalances which dramatically change the nature of the position, thus providing winning chances for both players. In this lecture, I deal with the following imbalances:
1) Material Imbalance
2) Imbalance Related to an Exchange
3) Imbalance Related to the Pawn Structure
4) Imbalance Related to Space
As a disclaimer, I would like to state that the current lecture does not pretend to be exhaustive (otherwise I should dedicate an entire book to this topic). As you are going to witness on a number of occasions, the objectively best move is not always the strongest move. When we try to bring imbalances to the position, we cannot neglect the psychological factors. In order to illustrate the psychology behind the decision-making process. I have mainly included my games. At the end of the day, I am the one who knows best what I was thinking during the game.
The article consists of 20 extensively annotated model games.
Let's take a look at one of them.
Decision Making in Critical Positions - GM Mihail Marin
Identifying the critical position is one of the crucial skills one needs to progress in chess. The process of decision making in such positions is even more difficult. The current lecture of GM Mihail Marin is designed to help you in that regard. In the introduction, he writes:
Decisions in critical positions This theme is in a way connected to that examined in my previous webinar, Intuition versus Calculation. Players of all levels use the same general pattern when conducting a game. They play most o the moves after one or a few minutes of thought, relying on their general knowledge and understanding, without entering into concrete details too deeply. However, there are a few moments (on average two or three) in each game, when one cannot do without thinking longer and more deeply. These are the so-called critical moments when the truth lies beyond superficial understanding and needs to be uncovered. Failing to feel the critical moments or handling them inappropriately may result in losing an existing advantage or falling from an equal position into a bad one. At the end of my webinar, GM Grigor Grigorov mentioned that Dorfman identified three typical situations when critical positions may arise:
1) When changing the pawn structure
2) When exchanging pieces
3) At the end of a long variation we calculate
All these sound reasonable and we can find them illustrated in the games below. They may not cover ALL the possible situations, though. I would add that 1) and 2) refer to irreversible operations, meaning that these are situations when one should have a bit of thinking, indeed.
The PGN version of the article includes 13 deeply annotated model games.
You shall take a look at one of them:
Playing Equal Positions - Psychological and Practical Aspects - GM Ioannis Papaioannou
The new member of our team GM Ioannis Papaioannou gave a highly instructive lecture featuring the play in equal positions. Being both 2600+ GM and top-level coach, Papaioannou managed to present the most important aspects in quite a systematic way.
He has indicated the following cornerstones of the lecture:
1) Do not waste time on natural moves
2) Do not play passively
3) When defending a slightly worse position, calculate as much as possible
4) Always improve your knowledge of the theoretical endgames and strive for them
5) Always evaluate the position and figure out what you are playing for
6) In equal positions, keep your positive mood
7) When slightly better, calculate in order to keep the game going
8) Always try to set traps for the opponent.
The lecture includes 14 model games.
Below, you can see an example that illustrates the drawbacks of passive defence.
Navigate Risk - GM Petar Arnaudov
According to GM Petar Arnaudov, taking risk is a topic that is underestimated in the chess literature. In the introduction to his current lecture, Arnaudov writes:
I decided to present the examples where one side is sacrificing a material, sometimes entirely correct, sometimes not so much. The point is that when you sacrifice material, you take a certain risk to lose, but it also allows you to play for a win. In many cases sacrificing is a psychological decision. Almost always, the safer alternative exists, but then your opponent will have an easy game if you choose it. I always like the quote, "give your opponent the chance to make a mistake" In my opinion, nowadays, it is tough to win against a strong opponent without taking a certain amount of risk. All types of players are usually more insecure when the cost of each move becomes very high. From my experience, I conclude that percentage-wise, this strategy works. You will lose some games, but the percentage of your winning games will increase too. I always preferred one loss and one win over two draws.
The lecture consists of 10 model games and 6 test positions.
Below, you shall find one of the model games.