I see it in media a lot. How on earth do you play yourself ?
In: 0
If you play chess frequently, it is pretty normal.
In order to be a good chess player, you cannot play “one sided chess” – this is what beginners and poor players do. “one sided chess” is only thinking about what moves you intend to make and seeing the chess game only from your point of view.
The better players anticipate what they’re opponents will do (their best moves and alternatives) and think about how they can respond. This is essentially thinking on “both sides” of the board.
Playing by yourself is therefore just making the moves for both sides – which is what the better players do mentally anyway.
Literally just play as both players. Its less of a contest, and more of a puzzle type thing. Youre not trying to “Win” but rather, repeatedly trying to find what the best move for each player is.
Alright, youre white. What do you do?
Now youre black, whats the best answer to whites move.
Now youre white, etc.
You can play any turn-based game against yourself. The hardest part is being unbiased when playing so you do not favour the white or black side while playing. Play your best as both sides.
If you stay vigilant while playing, you might even notice that you made a mistake as one side which you can then capitalise on while playing as the other.
When playing against yourself you should focus on analysing every position, what the weaknesses in your “opponent”s position are and how you can exploit them, thinking about possible strategies and tactics you could use and so on. It could be a sequence of piece captures or maybe a piece sacrifice you discovered which would give you an advantage.
Solo chess is not just mindlessly moving the pieces as both sides until one side wins since that would quickly get boring!
I see it more as a way to train your ability to spot interesting moves and your ability to understand the intricacies of a position rather than just playing a two-player game by yourself.
Latest Answers