How do you beat a genuis at chess?

Question

Looking for ideas on how to beat a genuis through maybe planning or strategy.Please be as detailed as possible.

Answer 1

Play him/her, there is no reason why a genius should beat you purely through natural ability. If the genius does beat you it can only be explained through 2 reasons:

1. Luck, if this is the case keep playing them and you should eventually win.

2. Knowledge, if this is the case you are in trouble. To beat them you will likely have to study. Try starting of with books closer to your level such as "The Complete book of Chess Strategy" by Jeremy Silman which should give you a general knowledge of chess. As you get better I suggest also reading "My System" by Nimzovitsch and "Positional Play" by Mark Dvoretsky(all other books by him are great too). If you find these two books to be boring or to strong for you, you can read "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" which has as much information about Tal as is does abut chess(although I still recommend returning to "My System" and "Positional Play"). After you read these I suggest focusing on looking over games of great players(such as Kasparov, Fischer, Capablanca, Alekine.......) and studying openings, I also recommend getting one of the many chess endings books and reading it. If you do all this you should be at least expert level and should have a good chance to beat the genius. Depending on his/her level you may not need to do all these steps. If you still can't beat them, try playing them in Poker.

Answer 2

practice and more practice. you get better each time you play it. You'll learn your opponents strategies the more you play him/her. You can find a way

Answer 3

Raw talent is important, but only one factor in playing good chess.  There are a lot of geniuses who never apply themselves to learn chess and are quite easy to beat.  You should focus on improving your own play.  The better you are, the better chance you will have to win irregardless of your opponent.  Doing the following will greatly improve your chances of beating the top players.

1. Buy books and study them.  Improve your knowledge of opening theory, tactics, common mating patterns, middle game strategy, and endgame technique.

2. Play regularly.  Nothing improves your "feel" for the game like constant practice.

3. Play a good share of your games at longer time limits.  Speed chess is fun, but slower games are less likely to be decided by gross blunders and more likely to favor the player who does better at conceiving and implementing sound long-term strategic planning

4. Don't be afraid to play other players who are better than you.  It's an ego boost to score easy wins against weaker players, but you won't get any feel for what it takes to beat someone who doesn't fall for simple traps.

5. Keep a positive attitude when you play someone who is much better than you (i.e. the "genius" you want to beat).  Formidable reputations don't win chess games - good moves do.  If he plays a complicated combination, don't assume it must be good or your genius opponent wouldn't have played it.  Look hard and long for the flaw that may very well be there.  Above all, if you feel you're winning, don't play for a safe draw on the grounds that a draw is a moral victory against such a good player.  It's not.  Furthermore it's not even a very good way to score a draw.  Give the other guy as hard a time as possible and make HIM look for ways to draw.  If he knows you're not even trying to win he'll be the one who decides he can't lose and starts playing for a win himself.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Surely this has to be one of the stupidest questions ever!

You learn more...

You go on the Internet and research.

Wow that was hard.

Answer 5

pat k thats sexist and not nice to to the male gender. some people are good at chess others are not thats life

Answer 6

If you're female, and he's male, wear a push up bra and low cut top.

Or have a bevy of beauties standing behind you, "oohing" and "aahing"!

Answer 7

Play him/her until you know his/her strategy, and then create a strategy to counter his/her strategy. Also find the strengths and weakness of his/her strategy

Answer 8

khris, what pat k said about low-cut tops and such may be sexist, but it can work.  I heard a funny story years ago about Capablanca (a world champion chess player from Cuba and a real ladies' man) that involved just such a ploy.

There are non-sexist variations of this, in which one player wears something odd or paints their face weirdly in order to distract the opponent.

If the above is not something you'd consider, then try becoming an expert at something like blitz chess.  The moves are so fast that a player might beat a higher-rated player simply by knowing a lot of cheap traps that would not fool anyone who had more than three seconds to think about them.

If you want to be totally honest and above board, so to speak, you'll need to study, play and analyze a lot.  If you have a particular genius in mind, it would help to study his games, and see if you can find his strengths and weaknesses; these would give you a clue about what you should play or not play.

Answer 9

You don't have to be a genius to be a great chess player.  

Experience is the best way to learn, incorporate some studying and you'll become better.  

Playing people who are better then you or at your same level will be beneficial too.

Remember, Chess is about problem solving, and not every genius is a good problem solver.  

Another thing you might consider is risk taking and bluffing.  You can do that in chess.  Setting up traps or sacrificing pieces to gain key positions is a talent you can learn to acquire.  Just the other night I sacrificed my queen by moving her into a check position, she got captured by a bishop who I captured with my pawn putting the King in Checkmate!  And I couldn't have done it without sacrificing my best piece.  No genius can escape a well executed plan in chess because you can literally "force" an opponents move.  

There's no adequate way to put an answer to your question on this forum.  You have to practice, practice, practice.

Answer 10

Take the time to learn a few of the standard offenses and defenses. Learn not to make beginner's mistakes such as isolating pawns.

Answer 11

just practice hard and you need to learn tricks