Is it skill? Is it your gene pool? Is it destiny? Or, is it possible that we all have the potential, but only a few of us have the instinct, the drive, or the will!
What separates me from Garry Kasparov or you from Bobby Fischer? Can anyone ever answer that question? Is that question supposed to be answered?
I can tell you one thing… We all have one thing in common: We all want to improve! Whether being the number one player in the world or the best in your school. We always want to improve.
The psychology behind the game of chess is much more apparent than in other more physical sports. In such sports a lot of people are confined to their physical limitations. The limitation to the brain is just a state of mind. All of us have the potential to be what ever we want to be. But if chess was just lines and moves it would be so much easier. What makes us interesting and what makes chess interesting, is the emotions that we add to every move! Every game is different because we add a little part of ourselves to it. This is what gives us an edge over super computers. It is, what makes us, us! Let me take the time to give an example.
Let us take two of the top players in the world at present. Kramnik and Topalov: What makes Kramnik so solid and so good against computers? What makes Topalov such a loose cannon and still so good against human players? Kramnik plays like a computer and tries to keep his emotions under control as much as he can. He plays the best moves because they are the best. He still makes mistakes because he is human, but he is better at it than most of us. Topalov on the other hand plays with his full emotions and with his own infusion into the game. His style is more popular because you can feel the power of every move and the feelings that go into them.
So I will leave you with this question: Why do we all want to improve so badly and why do we want to walk over each other to do so?
