I do this in hopes that my finger will absorb some of the heat to keep from frying the chip. If you feel you did not line up right the first try on a particular leg, back off and come back to it later, alternating sides is a good idea. Continue along until you have pushed each leg into the solder pads. When I soldered my chip on both times I had already installed the ten pin box header that receives the cable. This was an extremely bad idea.
Space is tight already without the header.
Use good lighting and get a magnifying glass with a stand. I have a desk lamp that swivels around in all directions. Position the light an an angle below the magnifying glass to reduce glare. I hit the ISA slot and the ten pin header a couple of times while soldering the chip. The last thing you want is melted plastic on your pins.