Lim Zhuo Ren Chess

  Literacy-Fluency-Mastery You don't need to wait to be a master at something to use it. When learning a new language, e.g., Chinese. knowing 500 words is akin to literacy. You know enough to live in China alone and to get about. Perhaps fluency is knowing, say 2000-2500 words. You know enough to think in that language. Humans normally think in terms of words and images. So being fluent in a foreign language helps you to be able to think differently too. For example, the way English and Malay structure their sentences is very different, normally opposite. For example, my name is Zhuo ren is nama saya ialah Zhuo Ren. My name is nama saya. Being fluent is probably more than enough for most things. Mastery is perhaps knowing 10000 words like a scholar. In most situations, knowing 2000 words is sufficient. Only in rare cases, knowing the 10000 words will be helpful. Now to get Mastery, sometimes you need say 10 years. But maybe fluency requires 2 years. This is what I mean by not all t

  Long Term vs Short Term Infinite Game vs Finite Game Patience vs Impulsive Last week, my chess friend (also a coach) was telling me about how there have been so many new chess coaches, chess academies springing up in the past year. And most he never heard of. He wasn't sure whether they were qualified or not. I just said I can imagine that would be true given the popularity of Netflix's Queen's Gambit. And the subsequent boom in popularity after that. I just said it doesn't concern me because most of these people are in it short term. They are the type to chase BSO (Bright Shiny Objects). I said to my friend we are in it long term and I spoke about listening to this concept of the Infinite game (just google it). He told me but they are so many unqualified ones and no one knows the difference. I corrected him by saying you and I know the difference. But outside people don't. The people in the industry always knows how to differentiate the good from the bad within t

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  Joy is in Constant Approach.....But it doesn't mean you deserve the results. Its my birthday week and I got a lot of great gifts...... First, I get to play a semi 'OTB' Tournament for the first time in more than a year...It starts this Saturday, one day after my birthday. Two, Great results from 3 of my students.... You will see them in the upcoming posts..... I wanted to talk about preparation in this posts. One of my students told his dad that this is the first time he see coach in super serious training mode. I have been preparing quite intensely for this week's tournament. My daily schedule for the past 3 weeks is something as follows: 1. Wake up, 2. Solve for 1 hr, 3, Walk.jog 30 minutes, 4. Opening Preparation, 5. Breakfast 6. Training Games, 7. Game Analysis and Discussion. Sounds intense no? Funny thing I actually enjoy it while I do it.  :) Just that I have been feeling rather nervous these last few days. Part of me feels like I put in a lot of effort. What i

  When was the last time your confidence took a knock? Is confidence actually fragile? If confidence can be broken, how can I rebuild it? Part 3 In the post yesterday, I spoke about broken confidence and also lessons. And today I will talk about some ways to rebuild it. I am not an expert in this and I don't think this works for everyone and definitely it doesn't work for me every time. But I feel confidence comes from certainty. There is this chess workshop I teach on chess classics and chess strategy where I speak about the Sun coming up in the morning and then sets followed by the Moon coming up. I ask the group how sure are you that tomorrow when you wake up you will see the Sun, they all say 100%. You say it without hesitation. Or if I Say 2+2, they will shout out 4. No doubt, no hesitation. You are confident. Because you are sure. And being sure comes from being certain. ie. certainty. So whenever I try and rebuild my confidence or try and be confident. I go back to my ro

  When was the last time your confidence took a knock? Is confidence actually fragile? If confidence can be broken, how can I rebuild it? Part 2 In the post this morning, I mentioned that I too have been struggling with my own confidence which is perhaps why I start to see that in some of students now. As I said, if you spot it, you have it. I think my confidence definitely took a knock...Multiple knocks in May. Looking back, I am reminded of the words/Statements I was making. For example, this position I would never throw even a year ago. I can't believe I didn't win this. This is the type of position I tell my students is like a free win. Or things like, I felt that no matter how much effort and energy I put in, It isn't enough. Or I gave my all but its so ..... frustrating because it feels like its not enough. You see I was playing two tournaments during May. The Zonals and the Asian Continental (AC). And these were the words I was using during and after the tournament.