EdLee wrote:It's my personal preference, and I could well be in the minority here, thus my emphasis of "IMO".
But I still prefer to not think in terms of "punish" or "punishment" against overplays, unreasonable moves, soft moves, slow moves, etc.,
but just continue to play the best, most severe reply, counter-attack, etc. That's all.
illluck wrote:A rose, by any other name... :p
In any case, I don't think that's a wrong way to think of things, but hard to claim that looking for punishments for apparent non-optimal moves is "on the wrong track".
For most of us, it's probably much more important to learn to read out countermeasures to an overplay than it is to quibble about what to call it, but I suspect that EdLee is right in cautioning us against using the word "punish."
There is a subtle but significant difference in attitude between "I will punish my opponent's mistake" and " I will play the best move in this situation." Of course a pro wants to figure out how best to exploit any weakness in an opponent's position, but that is surely secondary to finding the moves that will best lead to a win. By focusing on punishment, we are limiting our scope.
I don't think though that it's just a matter of local vs global; it's also about how we direct our minds and thoughts. Using the word "punish" places our focus on rectifying a transgression against us. It awakens our sense of righteousness (and also a fear of being swindled). By adding a moral element, we are giving the situation more weight than it would otherwise have, and it becomes more difficult to view the situation objectively.
One might say that this is also true of "jealous" and "greedy," which are easily understood concepts that are helpful in pointing out moments in which an amateur's play turned sour. Usually such play is bad, and usually punishing overplays is good, but all of these terms insert emotional involvement into the equation, where a pro would more often tend to make a dispassionate assessment.
It might also be worth noting that in contrast, the words "severe" or "painful" for example do not have a moral element, and are frequently used by pros.
Then again, we aren't pros (yet), and approaching the game on an emotional level can offer us worthwhile shortcuts, but like any shortcuts, if they become habits, they will hinder us in the long run.
Patience, grasshopper.
