The sixth World Champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, was well-known for his rigorous regime. A person of precept, as soon as he decided a plan of action, he adopted it with out fail.

Botvinnik was the daddy of modern-day preparation. He invented the scientific strategy to chess, the best way to put together a gap, the best way to put together towards a sure participant, the best way to analyse endgames and a participant’s strengths and weaknesses.

It’s not stunning, subsequently, that his most well-known pupil, Garry Kasparov, adopted his instructor’s strategies.

One among these strategies was the strategy to the pre-game routine. Botvinnik wrote that he ate roughly 1.5-2h earlier than the sport and that one hour earlier than the sport he stopped all preparation and rested by mendacity down in mattress. Not sleeping, simply mendacity down. Then, in a super set-up, he would stroll 20 minutes to the enjoying corridor.

Kasparov was following an identical routine. I keep in mind seeing him taking a stroll within the park subsequent to Resort Anibal in Linares, once I performed the open match there in 2002.

I’ve additionally adopted that routine. Relying on the circumstances, I normally cease preparation roughly half-hour to 1 hour earlier than the sport and relaxation by mendacity down in mattress. It helps me focus higher on the sport and detach myself from all of the variations I had checked out in my preparation.

Nevertheless, not all people follows this routine.

Right here’s what Anand wrote in his ebook Thoughts Grasp:

“On the morning of a recreation throughout the world championship matches, after breakfast, my staff of 4 trainers and I’d spend a few hours debating the ultimate selections and features, and they might drive me to go over my notes earlier than breaking off to get again to work whereas I showered and took a nap. Within the closing 45-minute stretch earlier than heading off to the venue, I’d sit on the board within the coaching room whereas my seconds stood round me, forming a half-moon and, by turns, throw positions at me to resolve. If I used to be unable to resolve a place within the third or fourth try they usually have been all standing round me, maybe secretly questioning how I ever grew to become a world champion, the embarrassment I felt was intense and scalding. It was virtually as if my ego was shredded into bits with a butcher’s cleaver. If an identical place popped up in a recreation, I’d by no means be unsure anymore – the humiliation I’d skilled earlier would work as a branding iron. Typically, having your ego take a knock earlier than a recreation is definitely a very good factor. You’re then so much sharper on the board.”

Once I first realized of this kind of pre-game routine, getting ready till the final second, I used to be shocked. I believed all these champions have been following Botvinnik. Apparently, I used to be flawed.

There are a variety of gamers who put together till the final second. There’s nothing flawed with that, so long as it fits them.

What fits me is to comply with Botvinnik and Kasparov. It’s a private selection.