The Secrets to "Real" Chess

Source: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/real.pdf

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ChessCafe.com is pleased to present the first contribution by American
Master Dan Heisman. He is the author of two chess books, Elements of
Positional Evaluation and The Improving Annotator; a third book is
scheduled for November publication. He currently works as a full-time
chess instructor.
The Secrets to "Real" Chess
by Dan Heisman
Recently a student of mine, rated 1100 (a good high school player), played a
tournament in which his playing strength was 1900 (!) for six rounds. He beat
four players higher rated than anyone he had ever beaten before.
As a chess full-time instructor, I was very intrigued as to what had caused this
sudden great jump in playing strength. Could it be attributed to random
chance or just "having a good tournament"? I gave this question considerable
thought, weighing the possible reasons against many of the theories I had
been teaching my students. I finally rejected the "good tournament" idea, even
though I am sure that had a part in it. Instead, I created a two-part explanation
that should be of interest to players rated under 1800 who wish to improve
their game!
Three Levels of Thinking
The first part requires a description of three levels of thinking chess players
use to decide a chess move. The ascendancy through these levels reflect the
maturing of a chess player due to both age and experience.
"FLIP-COIN" Chess – A move is played quickly and without serious
thought. The winner of a game where both players are playing Flip-coin chess
is almost random, and thus I named it after a coin flip. If one player plays Flipcoin chess and the other actually takes time to think, the thoughtful player
almost always wins. Flip-coin players don't use the important guideline "If
you see a good move, look for a better one." Almost all young beginners start
by playing Flip-coin chess; they really aren't interested in playing a serious
game.
It is difficult to give an example of Flip-coin chess because there is really not
much logic to it. The following is taken from my upcoming book, Everyone's
2nd Chess Book, due to be published by Thinker's Press in November:
Purchases from our
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The Improving Annotator
by Dan Heisman
The Improving Chess Thinker
by Dan Heisman
Chess Lessons
by Vladimir Popov