Am I a genius?

[gollum]

Originally posted by Mithrandir
Now that you mention it, I have to agree though, I always thought Kasparov was less gifted as well.

This kind of talk (as well as the title of the thread), shows that you are one of these people that think that being good at chess is an ingrained ability.

Although such a thing like talent exists, this is not true. You can build up your skill step by step as surely as a house is built. The only prerequisites are:

1. Lots of work: it seems like a no-brainer, but the basic blocks of chess are learned incrementally through a long process of assimilation. Say for tactics: pins, forks, skewers, xrays, discovered attacks etc. you need to build "muscle memory" on them in the same way one does for walking, driving a car etc ie until they are second nature. A similar process applies for more higher level abstract concepts that one finds later on.

2. Honesty with one self: remember to challenge your self with good measure (not too much not too little) in order to face obstacles and through them improve; too many people stay in their confort zones after they've reached level x, and essentially remain static, regardless if that level is absolute beginner or strong club player. Conversely many people burn out because they constantly try to bite more than they can chew.

3. Play the game the inside out: too many people get bogged down by bad coaching that insists they play a style it doesnt resonate with them in order to learn it. Undoubtedly you need to learn other styles than your own and master elements that are not coming of their own accord to you but you need to do so through your own devices.

4. Genuinely love and be interested in the game: this i'm afraid is where it all rests at. People who get into chess to "prove" something or because it makes them "feel" a certain way but dont really like it, drop out quite quickly, because there is no resilient bond between them and the game that'll take them through the steep curves. This is the most important bit and nothing can substitute for it; when playing the game feels boring or painful beyond redemption one is better off to something else.

And by the way, avoid playing computers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=1DQcArPizkI