How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Opponent

58 Pages·2007·1.017 MB·English

by  Chris Seck

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How to
Beat a GM

What Every Amateur Should
Know About Playing a
Higher-Rated Opponent

By Chris Seck
How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Player © 2007, All Rights Reserved
2
How to Beat a GM

What Every Amateur Should Know About
Playing a Higher-Rated Opponent

By Chris Seck

© 2007, All Rights Reserved
How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Player © 2007, All Rights Reserved
3
Table of Contents

Introduction … 4

Chapter 1 Why GMs Usually Beat Amateurs … 7

Chapter 2 The Power of Belief … 18

Chapter 3 Win by Losing … 25

Chapter 4 Learn to Tolerate Difficult Positions … 28

Chapter 5 Pick an Amateur-Friendly Opening … 33

Chapter 6 Make Simultaneous Games Work for You … 37

Chapter 7 Exploit the Peculiarities of Internet Chess … 40

Chapter 8 Study Your Opponent’s Games … 45

Chapter 9 Sometimes, You Get Underestimated … 49

Chapter 10 How to Beat Your Computer … 52

Epilogue … 58
How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Player © 2007, All Rights Reserved
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Introduction

When I was 12 and a Class D player, I played in a simultaneous exhibition against
the legendary ex-world champion Anatoly Karpov. Although the odds were heavily
stacked against me, I’ve always felt that the game ended embarrassingly early:

GM Anatoly Karpov-Chris Seck
Singapore, 1997

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 O-O 8.Bc4 Nc6 9.Qd2
Bd7 10.O-O-O Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.h4 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Rxc4 14.h5 Re8 15.hxg6 fxg6
16.e5 dxe5 17.Ne6 Qc8 18.Nxg7 Kxg7 19.Bg5 1-0

Years passed. As a student, I worked hard at my chess. I read a lot of chess books
and my playing strength slowly improved until my rating hit a plateau: USCF 1800. From
that point onwards, I would occasionally manage to accidentally beat an expert, or even a
low-level master. But against GMs, I lost 100% of my games, without even a single
draw. Here’s one of my more notable masterpieces—from the GM’s perspective, that is.

GM Saidali Iuldachev-Chris Seck
Singapore, 2001

1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Bd6 5.g3 Ne7 6.Bg2 Nbc6 7.O-O O-O 8.Nh4 b6 9.f4
dxe4 10.dxe4 Ba6 11.Re1 Rc8 12.c3 e5 13.f5 c4 14.f6 gxf6 15.Bh3 Bc5+ 16.Kh1 Rc7
17.Rf1 Bc8 18.Bxc8 Qxc8 19.Rxf6 b5 20.Qh5 Ng6 21.Ndf3 Qh3 22.Ng5 1-0

To be sure, at the scholastic level, being an 1800 player was enough to win a
couple of minor school tournaments. I was elected president of my high school chess
club, and my scholastic achievements eventually helped me get into Stanford University.

But I remained dissatisfied. My rating remained stuck at the 1800-1900 plateau,
and I knew no way to improve further. Moreover, my lifelong ambition remained
unfulfilled: I wanted to beat a GM. Sure, it’s good to beat other amateurs, but wouldn’t it
be nice to beat a GM—someone who is really good at the game?

So, I read more chess books. But while the existing chess literature featured
plenty of GM vs. GM games, they rarely showed GM vs. amateur games. None of them
offered practical advice on how a weaker player can hope to prevail against a stronger
one. Moreover, the few published GM vs. amateur games tended to be one-sided matches
where the amateur would voluntarily make a couple of beginner’s mistakes and concede
the game after a token positional struggle. Quite simply, it wasn’t the stuff that I was
looking for.

Therefore, I decided to design my own personal program to beat GMs. I visited
open tournaments and watched first round matches between top-seeded GMs and untitled
players. I talked to class players and experts who had beaten GMs before, and they shared
How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Player © 2007, All Rights Reserved
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their games with me. I compiled a collection of hundreds of GM vs. amateur games and
studied them in detail. I observed the ways in which GM vs. GM games were different
from GM vs. amateur games. In the end, I came up with three general observations:

Insight 1: GMs usually dictate the pace of the games

Regardless of the result of the game, I found that it was almost always the GM
who played aggressive moves early and more often. Inevitably, due to his superior
opening knowledge and tactical skills, the GM would often have forced the amateur on
the defensive within the first 20 moves of the game.

On the occasions that the amateurs managed to win or draw, it was usually
because the GM made a mistake that allowed unnecessary complications. Most amateur
wins were due to tactical shots in the middlegame, rather than through positional play or
in the endgame.

Don’t get me wrong—positional and endgame skills are important. It’s just that
when you’re facing tough GM opponents, they usually aren’t enough by themselves to
win.

Insight 2: Shorter time controls favor amateurs.

I found that percentage-wise, amateurs score far better in blitz and rapid games
than in longer time controls. The shorter the game, the greater the chances of an upset.

Contrary to popular perception, the true advantage of playing blitz is not that the
GM is significantly more likely to blunder (the Dutch psychologist Adrian de Groot
refuted that claim in a study), but that the subjective element of time (and the importance
of moving quickly) becomes a larger factor. An amateur may lack the GM’s knowledge,
but he can easily acquire a quick hand—a very useful skill in blitz.

Moreover, although GMs are often good at playing chess at faster time controls,
their comparative advantage lies in their ability to play games that last 4-5 hours because
that’s how they became GMs in the first place. But for amateurs, who usually practice by
playing blitz, the opposite is true since they tend to be comparatively better at faster time
controls.

Insight 3: Amateur-GM games rarely feature the absolute main lines.

At top-level tournaments such as Linares and Corus, GMs overwhelmingly play
the main lines against each other—the Najdorf Sicilian, the Semi-Slav Meran, etc. Some
of those lines are analyzed 20 moves deep, and most require enormous home preparation.

Against amateurs, however, GMs almost never play the main lines because they
don’t want to waste their best opening ideas on amateurs. Usually, a GM would play
How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Player © 2007, All Rights Reserved
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uncommon lines to get his opponent out of the “book” and think for himself. As a result,
amateurs almost always face complex, unfamiliar positions against GMs.

§

I don’t consider my games to be of high quality—even my best wins against GMs
are riddled with my inaccuracies and blunders. I prefer to think my anti-GM tactics as a
sort of guerilla warfare—where the weaker side employs unconventional tactics to fight a
much larger, better-trained opponent.

It took a long time for me to figure out all the things that you’re about to learn.
But I’m glad I did, because although my last published USCF rating was in the 1800s, I
can now log on to the Internet Chess Club, confident of beating at least one IM or GM
during almost every session.

But on the other hand, I know for a fact that I probably never will become a GM
myself. It takes more to become a GM than to beat one, and my chess ambitions are
pretty much limited to the latter.

Against GMs, I still lose most of the time since I’m technically the weaker player,
but I take the losses in my stride. As an amateur, I have the freedom to lose as many
times as need be, confident in the knowledge that it only takes one victory to make my
day. For GMs, the opposite is true—they win almost all the time, but it usually only takes
one bad loss or draw to spoil their day.

GMs beat amateurs because of their superior playing strength. That does not mean
amateurs have no chance. Because each player plays by the same rules and has only his
brain as a guide, it is often possible for an amateur to find enough right moves, or for a
GM to make enough errors, to create an upset.

The FIDE handbook states that a 500-point difference between an amateur and a
GM translates into a mere 4% chance of the amateur winning. But there are various
factors that allow determined amateur players to considerably increase their immediate
odds. This book is about recognizing that any amateur versus GM match is an
asymmetrical fight—and using the available imbalances to increase your chances.

Now, let’s have some fun!
How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Player © 2007, All Rights Reserved
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Chapter 1: Why GMs Usually Beat Amateurs

Before you sit down to play GMs, it pays to consider the reasons why they are
higher-rated than you. As Sun Tzu said, “Know thy enemy, know thyself; a thousand
battles, a thousand victories." It is only by recognizing your opponent’s strengths that
you, as an amateur may find ways, to ameliorate them—thereby maximizing your
chances.

Of course, specific information on your GM opponent is useful. But generally
speaking, if you don’t know the GM personally, chances are that he possesses the
following 7 advantages, which the average amateur lacks:

Advantage 1: A professional stake in the game’s outcome

Advantage 2: Years of sophisticated training techniques

Advantage 3: Superior tactical sight and knowledge of patterns

Advantage 4: Well-worked out opening repertoire

Advantage 5: Vast knowledge of typical middlegame themes

Advantage 6: Superior endgame technique

Advantage 7: Previous experience with vast majority of positions

A serious amateur who wants to play a GM would do well to think about how to
reduce the impact of these factors. Let us take a look at them.

Advantage 1: A professional stake in the game’s outcome

GMs have reputations to protect. The vast majority of them are professional
players who make their livelihood from chess—whether it is prize money, coaching
students, or writing books and articles. Their economic well-being depends heavily on
their ability to win tournaments and maintain high ratings.

In contrast, most amateurs play chess for recreation; they see chess as a small part
of a big life that includes commitments to work, school, and relationships.

When an amateur loses a game to a GM, nothing bad happens. But when a GM
loses (or concedes a draw) to an amateur—particularly a young one—the aftermath can
be particularly traumatic: The happy amateur would replay the game endless times to his
friends. The spectators watching the game break out in applause for the amateur’s
achievement. Sometimes, newspapers and TV media even publicize the sensational upset.

How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Player © 2007, All Rights Reserved
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During the first round of a blitz tournament in the 1999 London Mind Sports
Olympiad, the famous GM John Nunn played against an 8-year old boy named David
Howell. Had Nunn won, the game would have long been forgotten as a routine first-
round victory.

Unfortunately, the opposite happened. Little David Howell scored a sensational
upset and the media frenzy was enormous. Even in faraway Singapore—halfway across
the globe—the local newspaper gave generous coverage of the little boy’s victory (and
his illustrious opponent’s embarrassment). Nobody reported that GM Nunn went on to
win his next five games while Howell lost his next two. To the outside world, all that
mattered was that a GM had been beaten by a little boy.

While GMs may dislike losing to other GMs, they view losing to amateurs with
utmost hate, disgust, revulsion, and abhorrence—and will do anything within their chess-
playing powers to avoid conceding losses or draws.

As such, whenever a GM faces an amateur, it is clear that he has greater
motivation to win—his reputation and livelihood depend on it. Therefore, the GM puts
more effort into choosing better moves, which is why he usually wins.

Advantage 2: Years of sophisticated training techniques

Regardless of nationality, any GM would have spent thousands of hours being
coached and playing practice games. Many GMs have teams of personal trainers to
analyze their games to weed out mistakes. Some GMs have received special training ever
since they were young.

There is plenty of literature surrounding the legendary Soviet School of Chess and
its “secret training methods.” But few Westerners know that even Asian countries like
India, China, and Vietnam also have serious chess schools.

Take China for example. In his book, The Chinese School of Chess, China’s
national coach IM Liu Wenzhe outlined the training methods used to prepare 20-year-old
Xie Jun (then rated about 2450) for the 1991 Women’s World Championship. They
included:

1. 190 days worth of chess training, including 480 hours worth of training games.

2. Three GMs preparing Xie Jun’s openings for her—including the black sides of the
Ruy Lopez, the Scotch Game, the King’s Indian, the Reti Opening, and the
English.

3. A detailed training timetable where Xie Jun would wake up at 6:30am, train the
whole day, and sleep at 10:15pm. The training included not just opening study
and practice games, but also vigorous physical exercise and psychological
conditioning.
How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Player © 2007, All Rights Reserved
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At the GM level, such training and preparation is common.

Amateurs, on the other hand, tend to train using far simpler methods (and for far
fewer hours). Compared to GMs, many of whom have lived and breathed chess for many
years, the vast majority of amateurs see chess as a mere hobby that must be balanced
against other priorities like work and family. Moreover, amateurs generally lack the time
or inclination to study chess for 190 straight days—let alone for many years at a stretch.

Advantage 3: Superior tactical sight and knowledge of patterns

Much of the gap in playing strength between GMs and amateurs can be attributed
to tactical sight. As author Michael De La Maza writes in Rapid Chess Improvement, an
amateur’s strength “is limited first and foremost by a lack of tactical ability.”

The GM invariably exploits almost every tactical blunder the amateur makes,
even while making virtually none himself. His familiarity with tactical patterns —
checkmates, forks, pins, skewers, double attacks, or any combination of the above—is, as
a rule, far superior to the amateur’s.

The late Dutch chess master Adriaan de Groot once theorized that a chess player’s
skill was correlated with his ability to readily recognize “pattern chunks” on the
chessboard. De Groot suggested that grandmasters know tens of thousands of such
chunks, which allows them to recognize the functional relationships between the pieces—
patterns that amateurs are often unfamiliar with.

I once learnt about a common pattern chunk the hard way:

GM Dmitry Gurevich-Chris Seck, Simultaneous Exhibition
Whitewater, 1998

Black to move
How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Player © 2007, All Rights Reserved
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After surviving a difficult middlegame, I had achieved a drawn position as Black.
To draw, all I needed to do was to shuffle my king between h7 and g7. Even if the White
King could make it to b6, the position would still be drawn because it would have no
pawn cover from my rook checks.

After a long think, I decided to bring my king to the center to win the White a-
pawn.

45. Kf7??

And a smiling Gurevich instantly responded:

46. Rh8! Black resigns

Black loses the rook after 46…Rxa7 47.Rh7+, and any other move allows the a-
pawn to queen.

But the most revealing moment came after the game, when I told my opponent:
“That was a cool trick.”

To which he replied, “It was a typical tactical pattern. You learn it with
experience.”

Gurevich, like all other GMs, had seen this pattern countless times, which was
why he was able to play the winning move on pure instinct. As an amateur, I was much
less familiar with the pattern and therefore played a bad move, even though I spent much
more time pondering over it.

Often, GMs win precisely because their familiarity with such tactical patterns—
accumulated over years of chess playing—is so much greater than that of the amateurs.

Advantage 4: Well-worked out opening repertoire

Although GMs commonly say that the opening is about understanding “ideas”
and “schemes” rather than memorizing variations, they often say this because they
already possess a lot of pre-existing opening knowledge. All openings require some
degree of memorization, especially the sharper ones.

GMs study their openings in great detail. As my former coach IM Jovan Petronic
once told me: “Memorizing this book [ECO] is good enough to reach IM level. But to
become a GM, you need to not just read this stuff, but also to come up with some new
ideas of your own.”

How to Beat a GM: What Every Amateur Should Know About Playing a Higher-Rated Player © 2007, All Rights Reserved