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Michael de la Maza (Read 7073 times)

dfan God Member Offline "When you see a bad move, look for a better one" Posts: 766 Location: Boston Joined: 10/04/05	Re: Michael de la Maza Reply #5 - 02/01/13 at 14:56:38	Post Tools	Print Post
	My thoughts on de la Maza: 1) I sincerely doubt that he cheated. 2) There's no contradiction in the assertion that his study technique worked for him but didn't work for others. People learn and improve in different ways. He seems to have had an unusual ability to apply himself and it's not surprising that it paid off for him. 3) Drilling tactics is a good thing, although in my opinion he massively overdid it. The hypothesis that going nuts drilling tactics can get you to 2000 doesn't make a mockery of anything, since all it does is get you to competence, not excellence. And I would argue that if you are, say, 1500 and trying to improve your game, drilling tactics is the best way to do it and reading master games is indeed a diversion (though an entertaining and instructive one). 4) I feel like the de la Maza wave has come and gone. In the middle of the last decade the chess blogging scene was dominated by the "Knights de la Maza", a group of largely C-class players who chronicled their relentless tedious treks through de la Maza's legendary "Circles" and occasionally noted that their rating hadn't gone up even though they felt stronger. After a few years of no one vaulting upward, it seems like the group kind of dispersed. Mentions of de la Maza these days seem to mostly be from people who were around then and remember his system being a hot topic rather than from current devotees who are actively trying to apply it today. So I don't feel like there is much of a need to "debunk" him anymore.


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Uhohspaghettio God Member Offline I Love ChessPublishing! Posts: 515 Joined: 02/23/11	Re: Michael de la Maza Reply #4 - 01/31/13 at 22:47:40	Post Tools	Print Post
	ReneDescartes wrote on 01/31/13 at 15:30:26: What interests me are the implications for de la Maza's doctrines regarding training, which have acquired a cult following. I am always grateful for the discrediting of dogmatism and reductionism, especially concerning chess, which I value as an art "not one whit inferior to the violin" (Botvinnik). Chess, like pure mathematics, occupies its own place, sui generis, poised between art and science; in the case of chess there is an admixture of war. De la Maza's ideas, if true, would have made a mockery of what I value in chess, and would relegated even the reading of master games, for example, to the status of a diversion rather than that of a valuable component of training. So all credit to his discreditors. I don't think De la Maza is ever going to be proved entirely "wrong", since most lower rated games are decided by tactics. One strategy of a scam artist is to take something common sense and ordinary and act like it's something revolutionary and you invented it. Then if a person fails to get results tell them they're not working at it enough. It's like the Atkins diet: everyone knows that heavily processed foods are bad, but Atkins noticed that it's the high-carbohydrates processed foods that really get people fat the most. So he invented this diet that does work and produce results... but the only reason is because it cuts out all the heavily processed carbs (at least that's what I believe). And a person would do it better and more easily if they just ate normal healthy foods. Like the "de la Maza" thing only works for lower rated chess players, this will only help people who were really fat to begin with. So to become a scam artist you should: 1) Identify a weak spot and 2) Act like this is the only thing that matters and nobody else realizes this and you're onto something revolutionary and miraculous. And it's the practioner's fault if they don't work hard enough to make it work. It would be extremely hard to pull off a long-term scam for something that didn't work at all, better to rob something that works and make it "your own". Besides, Houdini proves to us weaker players how almost all these strategic manouvres and refinements are in fact correct and not imaginary.


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ReneDescartes God Member Offline Qu'est-ce donc que je suis? Une chose qui pense. Posts: 1240 Joined: 05/17/10 Gender:	Re: Michael de la Maza Reply #3 - 01/31/13 at 15:30:26	Post Tools	Print Post
	What interests me are the implications for de la Maza's doctrines regarding training, which have acquired a cult following. I am always grateful for the discrediting of dogmatism and reductionism, especially concerning chess, which I value as an art "not one whit inferior to the violin" (Botvinnik). Chess, like pure mathematics, occupies its own place, sui generis, poised between art and science; in the case of chess there is an admixture of war. De la Maza's ideas, if true, would have made a mockery of what I value in chess, and would relegated even the reading of master games, for example, to the status of a diversion rather than that of a valuable component of training. So all credit to his discreditors.
	« Last Edit: 01/31/13 at 18:15:19 by ReneDescartes »

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RdC God Member Offline I Love ChessPublishing! Posts: 868 Joined: 05/17/08	Re: Michael de la Maza Reply #2 - 01/30/13 at 18:37:27	Post Tools	Print Post
	barnaby wrote on 01/30/13 at 17:32:27: from the blog comment roll: "If professional gamblers have been using computers successfully against hyper-vigilant, wealthy casinos for 40 years, why would chess tournaments pose any challenge at all? " Rating systems have been in existence for 60 years and are well able to signal exceptional performances. That coupled with a general prohibition on outside advice, electronic devices being switched on during play and a suspicion of players with devices potentially concealed in their clothing ought to be enough, particularly when no great sums of money are involved.


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barnaby Senior Member Offline The night is dark and full of terrors. Posts: 345 Joined: 01/09/12 Gender:	Re: Michael de la Maza Reply #1 - 01/30/13 at 17:32:27	Post Tools	Print Post
	from the blog comment roll: "If professional gamblers have been using computers successfully against hyper-vigilant, wealthy casinos for 40 years, why would chess tournaments pose any challenge at all? "


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ReneDescartes God Member Offline Qu'est-ce donc que je suis? Une chose qui pense. Posts: 1240 Joined: 05/17/10 Gender:	Michael de la Maza 01/30/13 at 15:40:44	Post Tools	Print Post
	This warms my heart. http://empiricalrabbit.blogspot.com/2012/06/michael-de-la-maza-verdict.html


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