A newly invented game may seem exciting, but it does not have much emotional value for players and spectators. Over the years, the special encounters between rivals and memorable events are what make it special. Both players and spectators start …
Read moreMalcolm Gladwell popularised Anders Ericsson’s work on deliberate practice in his book Outliers: The Story of Success. Incidentally, I found Ericsson’s Peak a better read.
Whichever version of the idea you read, I believe nobody could master (not ‘be …
Read moreAnders Ericsson’s work on deliberate practice was popularised by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers: The Story of Success
I am a partial believer in Ericsson’s work. I believe that nobody …
Read moreI subscribe to Ryan Holiday’s reading recommendation email. His focus is on stoicism and American history, but he reads wider than that and I have found some gems through his recommendations.
The latest of these is The Score Takes …
Read moreAnother year has come and gone. Another opportunity to reflect and learn presents itself.
Although I feel I have made progress in 2015, that progress is not fully reflected in my rating yet. I started the year at ECF 97 …
Read more“Guitar Star” is a short television series on Sky Arts. It is a talent contest, aiming to find a star guitar player. I normally avoid talent contests on television like the plague, but since I do like guitar music and …
Read moreRobin Sharma recently reflected on TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in a blog post entitled How Great Masters Think. As I read through the commonalities Sharma extracted from the list of great achievers in diverse fields, I could …
Read moreNot a day goes by without someone asking on one of the many chess forums what it takes to become a GM, or how many rating points they could gain in a year, or whether their 1100 online rating really …
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was. I wasted a few evenings reading it, having to force myself to read on, thinking the good stuff must be just around the corner. Well, it never came.