Hi folks,
I think it's been a little while since we brought Master Pu around (editor's note: almost a full year) but I figured 2019 might be a good time to get him back involved on TOA and see if we can't get anywhere with his brief but insightful brand of wisdom.
Good luck, reader.
Tim
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Thinking by analogy is dangerous because of possible misapplications. Beware of applying the reasoning from one game to any other, especially if the move, concept, or pattern is one you liked.
This is like making a hiring decision because the candidate reminds you of someone else.
It is very easy to become bound and influenced by popular dualities.
Who is the great fool that first presented ‘cat or dog’ as a mutually exclusive pair?
Good moves are good moves before they become any specific type of move. A player who thinks in terms of types of moves is less likely to come up with good moves than a player who simply thinks about good moves.
A good chef cooks his last meal of the night with the same vigor and passion as the first; the great chef must be told to go home for the restaurant has closed.
Generalization becomes useless when there are more exceptions than rules. Generalizations also lose value when the actual situations they describe are few and far between.
Though insightful, this thought describes no specific situation.
The difference between a pair and two of something is that in a pair one partner relies on the other to complement for shortcomings, weaknesses, or particular inabilities. In chess, the bishops are often referred to as a pair because of the square-color restriction. The knights, on the other hand, are interchangeable and therefore not referred to in the same fabled way as ‘the two bishops’.
Those with significant weaknesses should seek out a partner; those with significant strengths should seek out an alternate.
A good way to limit a piece’s potential is to force it to hold onto material. Along the same lines, a position is strengthened whenever the total energy of the pieces is highest. If a material sacrifice improves the lot of the rest, it must be done.
This thought easily extends to financial matters.
When a piece is needed for attack, do not deputize it for defense. If this requires another piece to take up an unsung position on the board, do it – the rest of the army will be grateful.
Those accustomed to asking – ‘what specific qualities are required to succeed in this particular role?’ – will find that these ‘counter-intuitive’ insights come quite regularly to them.
Young players see things very clearly from their own perspective – as they age, they learn to see things from other points of view.
The young complain about being misunderstood; experience means admitting that you do not understand.
Quantum mechanics states that an observer alters the very nature of what is being observed.
It took the field thousands of years to reach this discovery?
Time shortages lead to simplifying decisions based on certainties such as checks or captures. Players must recognize this tendency and fight the urge to make only such moves.
Schedule the day so that your mental state is aligned to the task.
