I think a big part of what you're writing about here is what Jonathan Rowson calls "sensitivity" - the idea that as you get stronger you become more aware of potential critical moments - it's the remedy to the sin of "blinking" in his Seven Deadly Chess Sins book.
There's also a memorable story in Mark Dvoretsky's book Attack and Defense in which he's playing badly and is pissed off so he tells himself that he's going to think for five minutes on his next move to get back on track. His opponent attacks a piece, so Dvoretsky thinks that the time will be wasted, since his next move is to obviously move the attacked piece, but he's committed to the five minute think, and it turns out that there's a brilliant piece sac instead - he tricked himself into being sensitive to the moment.
I think that's spot on. I really need to read Rowson — it seems like he's going to very much up my alley in terms of how I think about the game.
Love the Dvoretsky anecdote, too. It does feel like sometimes, just changing the way you look at the board and shocking yourself out of your typical habits can be weirdly effective.
Regulatory Focus Theory both makes me feel seen and attacked!! My competitive powetlifting career motivated me to study performance psychology/philosophy and RFT so neatly summarizes so much of what I've learned, and in a uniquely insightful way. Thanks Kevin for writing about this!
One thing I maybe can recommend. It's not killer instinct or personal defect... you're just not looking wide enough in game for possible moves. My guess is that would likely extend to your opponent's moves as well. Just looking for all the possible moves is a habit that we have to nurture, it's not natural. There are a ton of "invisible moves" that our brain dismisses. One way to look for them is Pawns, Pieces, and Lines. If you hit a spot where you don't know what to do then look at the pawn structure first, the pieces individually second, and then the lines (especially the lines that end in the king). It's like taking a tour of the board but essentially you're just trying to notice what's there and get away from the tunnel vision we all have.
I think a big part of what you're writing about here is what Jonathan Rowson calls "sensitivity" - the idea that as you get stronger you become more aware of potential critical moments - it's the remedy to the sin of "blinking" in his Seven Deadly Chess Sins book.
There's also a memorable story in Mark Dvoretsky's book Attack and Defense in which he's playing badly and is pissed off so he tells himself that he's going to think for five minutes on his next move to get back on track. His opponent attacks a piece, so Dvoretsky thinks that the time will be wasted, since his next move is to obviously move the attacked piece, but he's committed to the five minute think, and it turns out that there's a brilliant piece sac instead - he tricked himself into being sensitive to the moment.
I think that's spot on. I really need to read Rowson — it seems like he's going to very much up my alley in terms of how I think about the game.
Love the Dvoretsky anecdote, too. It does feel like sometimes, just changing the way you look at the board and shocking yourself out of your typical habits can be weirdly effective.
Regulatory Focus Theory both makes me feel seen and attacked!! My competitive powetlifting career motivated me to study performance psychology/philosophy and RFT so neatly summarizes so much of what I've learned, and in a uniquely insightful way. Thanks Kevin for writing about this!
Glad to hear it!
One thing I maybe can recommend. It's not killer instinct or personal defect... you're just not looking wide enough in game for possible moves. My guess is that would likely extend to your opponent's moves as well. Just looking for all the possible moves is a habit that we have to nurture, it's not natural. There are a ton of "invisible moves" that our brain dismisses. One way to look for them is Pawns, Pieces, and Lines. If you hit a spot where you don't know what to do then look at the pawn structure first, the pieces individually second, and then the lines (especially the lines that end in the king). It's like taking a tour of the board but essentially you're just trying to notice what's there and get away from the tunnel vision we all have.