Garry Kasparov and his old rival Anatoly Karpov, two of the greatest chess players of all time, sat at the chessboard. The World Chess Championship of 1990 was about to begin.
The two men competed in 24 games to determine the winner, with the highest scoring player being crowned World Chess Champion. In total, the match would span three months with the first 12 matches in New York and the final 12 in Lyon, France.
Kasparov started well, but soon began to make mistakes. He lost the seventh game and missed multiple wins during the first half of the tournament. After the first 12 games, the two men left New York with the game tied at 6-6. The New York Times reported that "Mr. Kasparov had lost confidence and became nervous in New York." 1
If Kasparov was going to keep his title as the best in the world, he was going to take everything he had.
"Playing Kasparov's Chess"
Josh Waitzkin was a chess prodigy as a child and won several US junior championships before he was 10 years old. My father once asked Garry how he would handle his lack of confidence in the next game after Kasparov had lost a great match and was feeling dark and fragile. They learned, in particular, how Kasparov faced incredibly difficult matches, such as the one he faced against Karpov at the 1990 World Chess Championship.
'Waitzkin shares the story in his book, The Art of Laerning (audiobook).
Kasparov was a chess player who thrived on energy and confidence. My father wrote a book called Mortal Games about Garry, and during the years surrounding the Kasparov-Karpov match of 1990, we both spent quite a bit of time with him.
My father once asked Garry how he would handle his lack of confidence in the next game after Kasparov had lost a great match and was feeling dark and fragile. Garry replied that he would try to play the chess moves he would have made if he felt safe. He would pretend to be confident and hopefully activate the state.
Kasparov was a bully on the board. Everyone in the chess world feared Garry and he fed on that reality. If Garry bristled on the chessboard, opponents wilted. So if Garry felt bad, but puffed out his chest, made aggressive movements, and seemed to be the manifestation of self-confidence, then the opponents would be restless. Step by step, Garry fed on his own chess moves, the position created, and the growing fear of his opponent, until very soon the confidence became real and Garry was in flux ...
He was not being artificial. Garry was activating his zone by playing Kasparov's chess.
- Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning
When the second half of the World Chess Championship began in Lyon, France, Kasparov forced himself to play aggressively. By winning the 16th game, he took the lead. With his confidence, he achieved decisive victories in games 18 and 20 as well. When all was said and done, Kasparov lost only two of the final 12 games and retained his title of World Chess Champion.2
He would continue to hold the title for another 10 years.
"Pretend until you become him"
It can be easy to see the performance as a one-way street. We often hear of a physically gifted athlete failing on the field or a smart student staggering in the classroom. The typical underperforming narrative is that if they could "get their heads right" and develop the right "mental attitude" then they would be performing well.
There is no doubt that his mindset and his performance are somehow connected. But this connection works both ways. A confident and positive mindset can be both the cause and the result of your actions. Physical performance and mental attitude are linked in a two-way street.
Confidence is often the result of showing your skill. That's why Garry Kasparov's method of playing like he's confident could lead to real confidence. Kasparov was letting his actions inspire his beliefs.
These are not just feel-good notions or self-help ideas. There is solid science that proves the link between behavior and confidence. Amy Cuddy, a Harvard researcher who studies body language, has shown through her groundbreaking research that simply standing in safer poses can increase confidence and decrease anxiety.
Subjects in Cuddy's research experienced real biological changes in their hormone production, including increased levels of testosterone (which is related to confidence) and decreased levels of cortisol (which is related to stress and anxiety ). These findings go beyond popular forgery to philosophy. According to Cuddy, you can "pretend until you become him,."
How to build trust
When my friend Beck Tench began her weight loss journey, she repeatedly asked herself, "What would a healthy person do?"
When deciding what to order in a restaurant: what would a healthy person order? When I was sitting on a Saturday morning: what would a healthy person do with that weather? Beck did n't feel like a healthy person at first, but he thought that if he acted like a healthy person, he would eventually become one. And in just a few years, he had lost more than 100 pounds.
Confidence is a wonderful thing to have, but if you find yourself overwhelmed by fear, doubt, or uncertainty, then let your behavior guide your beliefs. Play like you are in your prime. Work like you're on top of your game. Talk to that person as if you feel safe. You can induce a bold mindset by taking bold actions.
In short, what would a brave person do? 3
Footnotes
With a draw, Kasparov holds the title for Steven Greenhouse. December 27, 1990.
The 1990 World Chess Championship.
Thanks to Derek Sivers for posting his notes in The Art of Learning, which mentioned Kasparov and sent me down the den of chess history and eventually led me to this post. And thanks to Kristy, the love of my life, for inventing the phrase, "What would a brave person do?"
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