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Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

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Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#41

Post by pqs »

_urga wrote: post #10
segmondy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how you do concentrate on things that are not chess and games which you find boring?

I think this comes down to realizing that everything in life is eventually hard. Provided you're doing something worthwhile [1], when the going gets hard, don't look for easier pastures. They're all difficult. Just keep plowing away. And don't doubt. Where there is no doubt, the wind is your companion. [1] Ecclesiastes is a pretty great book to help figure out for yourself what exactly this is. It's not for nothing t…

Thanks for the link to Ecclesiastes. It is a great book which I hadn't read yet!

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#43

Post by username90 »

Why concentrate on playing chess when you can concentrate on solving math problems? They are deeper, more fun and also related to the real world. I never liked chess but thinking about random math problems kept me up at night. If you think math problems aren't interesting then you just aren't trying to solve hard enough math problems, there is no end to them.

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#44

Post by Dumbdo »

hellodang wrote: post #38

I question how much buzz about chess lately is the direct result of a certain Netflix Original. The effects seem to cascade. Chess blog posts on HN... a flood of sales of Chinese chess sets on Amazon... game night pics featuring chess on your social media feeds. How much of our behavior is dictated, or at least seeded, by Big Ns?

As someone who is following chess more intensively for over two years now, I wouldn't necessarily say it's just Netflix.

With the pandemic there was a huge influx of new chess players. You can see it in [0], the player count rose over 50% from February to April.

After that chess suddenly got popular on Twitch as well, which I would attribute mostly to GM Hikaru, who played chess together with well known streamers such as xqc. That rise is well visible in June/July [1] in the twitch chess category.

Queen's Gambit was just recently released (end of October). This of course led to chess being even more popular, but I wouldn't attribute all the chess posts to it. I maybe would even go so far and attribute it partly to frequency illusion [2], now that you're watching out more for chess posts I assume.

[0] Games played per month on lichess (open source chess server): https://database.lichess.org/

[1] https://twitchtracker.com/games/743

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#45

Post by [deleted] »

pmoriarty wrote: post #2

Once one has learned how to concentrate, the next thing to learn is to be able to concentrate on the right thing. Chess taught me to concentrate, but I've always had trouble concentrating on what I should be concentrating on, and instead wasted too much time concentrating on chess and other diversions. The real trick is being able to focus on something even when it gets frustrating, painful, or boring, and being able…

[deleted]

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#46

Post by kitsune_ »

adenozine wrote: post #39

So, as someone with ADHD-C, and someone who's been playing a lot of chess recently in the wake of its resurgence online, can I expect some important insight or self-realization from practicing the art of concentrating? I can concentrate for hours and hours on certain things, I just don't always get to choose the things. Will chess and its nature of honing concentration force me to enhance that? I listened to this art…

Enhance it in other areas? I doubt it. If you go by Barkley's model, ADHD is mainly executive dysfunction and might just as well be called intention deficit disorder. Hyper focus conversely is what is called perseveration and it is actually not a good thing in most cases. If you find an interesting angle that keeps your mind in the zone then that's probably how you could learn chess more deeply (aka if you really like studying chess openings and books from Alekhine, and if you enjoy finding those patterns in your own games for instance). Of course there are ways to improve the situation, break down your tasks into smaller tasks and so on. Or do boring small tasks immediately. Get enough sleep. Exercise. Also I would strongly recommend medication. Meditation seems to help some people as well.

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#47

Post by jacquesm »

username90 wrote: post #43

Why concentrate on playing chess when you can concentrate on solving math problems? They are deeper, more fun and also related to the real world. I never liked chess but thinking about random math problems kept me up at night. If you think math problems aren't interesting then you just aren't trying to solve hard enough math problems, there is no end to them.

Maybe because not everybody who is good at chess is also good at math. I knew a chess prodigy who could not add two three digit numbers if his life depended on it. It's a bit like catching a ball: when looked at it analytically you are solving a whole bunch of equations in real time, but in practice it is a skill that even a dog can perform with remarkable accuracy. Obviously, chess requires some analytical skills. But it does not necessarily indicate an ability - or a desire - to do maths.

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#48

Post by sriku »

Concentration (on anything) as an escape hatch away from the otherwise general noise on the mind (which games and music can give) needs to be distinguished from concentration resulting from a general and deep availability of one's being for any activity at hand.

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#49

Post by tarsinge »

kitsune_ wrote: post #46
adenozine wrote: post #39

So, as someone with ADHD-C, and someone who's been playing a lot of chess recently in the wake of its resurgence online, can I expect some important insight or self-realization from practicing the art of concentrating? I can concentrate for hours and hours on certain things, I just don't always get to choose the things. Will chess and its nature of honing concentration force me to enhance that? I listened to this art…

Enhance it in other areas? I doubt it. If you go by Barkley's model, ADHD is mainly executive dysfunction and might just as well be called intention deficit disorder. Hyper focus conversely is what is called perseveration and it is actually not a good thing in most cases. If you find an interesting angle that keeps your mind in the zone then that's probably how you could learn chess more deeply (aka if you really lik…

I can attest for meditation. If I try to sum up the insight in the case of ADHD it's that the next thing will not be more interesting than the present, and that simply being can be more pleasing than "doing" something. It's not only intellectual, there is a whole well-being feeling that comes up (at least for me). So the whole never-ending fall forward to find the next best/more interesting becomes kind of pointless in the process. Maybe not a cure but an efficient way to keep it under control instead of suffering from it.
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