How not to suck

"To get good at chess you need to play the game as much as possible."

When I was watching my mate at his league game I was reminded that
at one time I was a member of both clubs at the same time.
In my hot days I was in four clubs so I could play in their club championships.
I even played in two different leagues to get my fix in.
At one time for nearly six months I had a serious game of chess practically
every night of the week.

During my lunch hour I would go to a cafe and meet a player called Alan Norris
who was also on his lunch hour. We would play 5 minute games.

Coaches I think work because you pay for the coach.
So you put in the effort becuase it's not free and you don't want to waste your money.
I never had a coach as such because I was surrounded by good players.
This is the benefit of joining a club.

But play play play is the way.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
was it not Botvinnik who stated that chess cannot be taught, only learned?

Maybe Botvinnik couldn't teach it.

Originally posted by moonbus
Maybe Botvinnik couldn't teach it.

Botvinnik was a teacher and apparently a damed good one, he after all, started the great Russian chess school which has produced numerous world champions, his point is i think, that the student must be self motivated. He famously stated that Karpov was hopeless and had no talent for chess.

Robbie I think my strengths are my willingness to keep plugging away at a game and a genuine love for the game. I actually enjoy playing even if I am losing. My weaknesses are tactical awareness, endgame knowledge and rash actions leading to numerous blunders.

Originally posted by Snave88
Robbie I think my strengths are my willingness to keep plugging away at a game and a genuine love for the game. I actually enjoy playing even if I am losing. My weaknesses are tactical awareness, endgame knowledge and rash actions leading to numerous blunders.

It was Fischer (peace be upon him) himself that stated you gotta love the game, so you are half way there,

tactical awareness is also my weakness, it can be remedied in some part to doing tactical exercises and practising visualisation (its amazing how we see the move after it was made)

endgame knowledge can be learned, i have made it to 1800 here and 2000 on chess.com without having ever played the lucena position or the philador position, king and pawn and rook i suspect are the most common. Soltis reckons you need to know about two dozen positions, max.

Rashness is a state of mind, you are like me, i have never played a serious OTB game, I learned to play by playing blitz on the internet, others are used to writing down their moves, this i do in games longer than 15 minutes, its good to get into the habit of reflecting on moves, in fact, its essential.

One of the things that helped me quite a lot was GM Igor Smirnovs videos, check them out on youtube. Wish you well, Robbie.

Not too sure about Botvinnik starting the so called Russian School of Chess.
Botvinnik himself said:

"In Russia the first player to devote all his life to the game, the man who
initiated the habit of adopting a profound approach to chess, was Mikhail
Ivanovich Tchigorin, and we can only speak of the existence of a Russian
chess school from this time onward."

and then there is:

"When people ask me about the famous 'Russian School of Chess' I say
it does exist. How can Tal and Petrosian belong to the same school?"

Bent Larsen in 'Learn from the Grandmasters.'

Recently, I try to play live games regularly on chess.com for practice. Not the very short blitz stuff, but games with 15min. on each side (10 sec. increment).

This time control suits me quite well. It's short enough so that I'm forced to keep focus on the game. Here, on RHP, I often postpone moves when the position is complicated. Games last max. about 30 min., making it a good in-between activity as well. On the other hand, it's long enough so that I have time to think deep enough. In shorter time controls, I often fail to see the tactics like hanging pieces, pins and upcoming forks.

I also record the moves. Partly to prepare for OTB (if I'm ever going to join a club or so), but also to avoid instant replying without much thought. I find it helpful. As a conclusion, this kind of practice gives me a satisfactory feeling. Hopefully, it helps getting better.

Originally posted by tvochess
Recently, I try to play live games regularly on chess.com for practice. Not the very short blitz stuff, but games with 15min. on each side (10 sec. increment).

This time control suits me quite well. It's short enough so that I'm forced to keep focus on the game. Here, on RHP, I often postpone moves when the position is complicated. Games last max. about ...[text shortened]... sion, this kind of practice gives me a satisfactory feeling. Hopefully, it helps getting better.

this is my absolutely worst fault, making mechanical moves, a habit that has stayed with me since i learned chess by playing five minute blitz. Can one run before one learns to crawl and walk, hardly! My remedy has been to try to adopt a methodical thought process in an attempt to retrain my thinking which i hope one day will become a natural process. Does Tiger woods think about his golf swing? Hardly, he just does it!

Over the years I have examined, IM Silmans thoughts process, IM Bangiev and his square strategy theory, GM Igor Smirnov and his principles, C Purdy and his methodical process and WGM Camilla Baginskaite and her thought process, which she terms the art of tempo moves and GM Soltis and his pawn structure chess. My theory is a kind of amalgamation of all these influences. I strongly believe that a chess player must search for and adopt his own personal philosophy which he believes in.

1. chess is a game of error, we must have a system which blunder checks
2. the basis of winning chess is threats

Yet there must be something fatally flawed about my system, it doesn't stop me from sucking!

1500 is not that shabby, btw. It's not 2000+, but not bad. Most people that are struggling at lower levels (below master), tend to benefit the most from drilling tactics. All the opening, endgame, and strategy knowledge in the world will lose to players that are superior at tactics, and their ratings show it.

Find yourself a good book of tactical puzzles, or software that lets you practice the same. I like the Convetka software. For me, finding the time to play and practice is the hardest part.