Tournament Battleplan

Given the changes inthe chess world over the last few years I feel that we badly need an update of how to prepare and out-prepareyour opponent during a chess tournament.

The pandemic giving rise to vastly underrated junior and amateur players.Online chess taking a much more prominent role. Accusations of cheating makingthe headlines. Social media being used as a tool to educate the chess masses.All these have lead to a different landscape, but some things stay the same.The player who is willing to analyse and work on chess harder than the restwill still separate his or herself from their peers. In my view, at least 90percent of success in tournament play will come down to how good yourcalculation and analysis is. Because that is the bread and butter of tournamentplay. This is what I will try to get across in this book, that a chess playerwill often stand or fall on the quality of analysis and I will discuss the positiveand negative role that working with computers has on a players overallstrength. I will also try to explain why my chess fell into a torpor because ofan over reliance on computers and how I have recently come to realize thattechnical deficiencies have often held me back from reaching the higher echelonsof the game. And in doing so, and looking at the chess world and trying toexplain it from my point of view while following my own progress and that ofothers I will try to put together a tournament battle plan