A study plan to reach 1600 OTB?

Originally posted by GhostofMarmorstein
Learn how to calculate. R+P endings, opening theory, My System are all useless to the 1400 rated player because he/she can't accurately calculate in any position. Learn how to play blindfold chess, learn how to see the board and learn how to calculate without moving the pieces. Then your rating will jump enormously. The subtleties of the game ...[text shortened]... aster level chess. Sub-master players can't hold onto material against a skillful calculator.

Tactics Tactics Tactics 😉

Originally posted by gorookyourself
Tactics Tactics Tactics 😉

take one of your opening books(if you are like most other chess players who own a lot or at least one). There is a position where it says and white is winning and you have no clue why. Set up the position at the board. Go through what you think are the natural moves and/or tactics in the position(which the author of course does not mention) and who is better?

Now go back and set up the position(without looking at the book if you can-this is good visualization practice for otb) can you find improvements for either side-in between moves, completely different strategy or maybe one sides attack only worked because of one very strong piece-can that piece be removed beneficially.

You can also do this including playing the opening moves-it helps to see how the tactics come about.

Of course it also might be an endgame advantage which comes about from the diagram. Opening, middlegame, tactics and endgame study should mesh together.

Originally posted by GhostofMarmorstein
Learn how to calculate. R+P endings, opening theory, My System are all useless to the 1400 rated player because he/she can't accurately calculate in any position. Learn how to play blindfold chess, learn how to see the board and learn how to calculate without moving the pieces. Then your rating will jump enormously. The subtleties of the game ...[text shortened]... aster level chess. Sub-master players can't hold onto material against a skillful calculator.

I'm inclined to think this is an exaggeration, as there are plenty of examples of 1400 players on the site who have calculated positions accurately.

They also miss many, but to say that they can't calculate accurately in any position isn't true.

R+P endings (all endings, really, as they are solvable- that's why we have tablebases now) are basically pure calculation, and learning them will have immediate application, as well as being a great way to learn how to calculate through a position.

I think the idea about learning to calculate without moving the pieces is very valuable, though. We have that rule in our club up here in Clermont, FL when we kibbitz a position, because it's better practice- you can't move the pieces back and forth in a tournament, so get used to doing it in your head!

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
I'm inclined to think this is an exaggeration, as there are plenty of examples of 1400 players on the site who have calculated positions accurately.

They also miss many, but to say that they can't calculate accurately in any position isn't true.

R+P endings (all endings, really, as they are solvable- that's why we have tablebases now) are basicall ...[text shortened]... an't move the pieces back and forth in a tournament, so get used to doing it in your head!

So what's the answer?

I'm one step away from praying to the God of Alekhine.

There has to be a way, a method, to get to 1600 OTB.

I just read through the thread again and the majority of players say... Play chess at clubs against stronger opponents and play OTB often.
That with essential endgame knowledge and no opening blunders.
So it comes down to experience. And dragging my a$$ to the club.

I was hoping for something with $29.95 beside it but that isn't reality.

I'll keep on keepin on. Keep playing. And one day I will be a strong chess player.
Or...I'll shoot a lot of people. 😉

I hope you meant the God of Capablanca! :-) Actually lets not start that!

Its not OTB but I got to blitz 1600 just by playing alot (I read one book, Bobby Fischer teaches chess).

My mate has got to 1416 from being a complete beginner within the year just by playing as well, although he has played nearly 3000 games this year.

I play at about the 1500-1600 range and I'd say just read a decent all in book like Capablanca's Fundamentals and to play alot. This should get most people to 1600 I'd say.

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
I'm inclined to think this is an exaggeration, as there are plenty of examples of 1400 players on the site who have calculated positions accurately.

They also miss many, but to say that they can't calculate accurately in any position isn't true.

R+P endings (all endings, really, as they are solvable- that's why we have tablebases now) are basicall ...[text shortened]... an't move the pieces back and forth in a tournament, so get used to doing it in your head!

In my OTB experience there are not 1400 rated players who can calculate accurately. Often they can play reasonable moves until they are out of their prepared openings and then it deteriorates rapidly. 1400 players cannot see the board accurately at 4,6,8 or more ply while all masters can.

A 1400 rated player with a perfect knowledge of r+p endings has little chance to beat strong players because the odds of getting to a r+p ending are remote. It's a small subset of chess positions that are easily avoidable. The 1400 rated player will lose well before the ending or be down significant material when he gets there.

Players tend to focus on opening traps where they can pickup some easy wins or endings where they can try to win from memory. However, these represent a very small portion of the games played. Most games, and by most I mean 9/10 or more, are decided because one player sees more than the other. When I play OTB or CC here, I win the games where I out calculate my opponent and I lose the games where I am out calculated.

Want proof? Play some games against a decent computer program with the opening book turned off. You wont last 15 moves without losing material. The computer will out calculate you and win quickly.

Think about this: What would your rating be if you could play all your OTB games with an analysis set next to you? You could move the pieces in each position and check your tactics before playing a move. No more guessing if a combination worked or if your opponents threat was legitimate. My guess is you'd add 300-400 points to your rating.

No one said it was easy to improve and if you could simply read a book or play a lot of games, everyone would be a master. The answer is simply put but much harder to execute. Calculate, calculate, calculate.

"I was hoping for something with $29.95 beside it but that isn't reality. "

You cannot buy experience from a book.

Get down to the club and play, play, play.

At home looks at tactics and basic endgame technique.
(How to queen a pawn with K+P v K or K+R+P v K+R,
how to create a passed pawn.)

How to create a passed pawn



1.g4! Good,
1.h4? Bad (1...h5)

You will be surprised how many times I've seen that one screwed up.

The play,play,play bit will build up your opening rep.

1400 players can calulate but they often do so at the wrong
positions and at the wrong time.

Experience tells you when the position requires a good going over.
Experience will give you the alarm bells you need to survive OTB.

in 1400 players games it is usually he who attacks first wins.
The blunder rate (inaccurate moves) is higher down there.

Unsound and misplayed attacks usually stumble through.

The blunder when defending is always fatal.

So if given a choice always seek the most active move and aim for
tense positons where the time you are spending studying tacis will bear fruit.

Originally posted by GhostofMarmorstein
In my OTB experience there are not 1400 rated players who can calculate accurately. Often they can play reasonable moves until they are out of their prepared openings and then it deteriorates rapidly. 1400 players cannot see the board accurately at 4,6,8 or more ply while all masters can.

A 1400 rated player with a perfect knowledge of r+p en aster. The answer is simply put but much harder to execute. Calculate, calculate, calculate.

Obviously R+p endings alone won't do the trick, but you learn how to calculate and use the power of the pieces in endings, and that's calculation practice that has value in line with your mantra about calculating.

I can't attest to your experience, but the 1400 players you have seen are not a representative example. I think 1400 players lose to 1800 players everywhere, but they don't always lose, and sometimes those games progress rather far before the 1400 player slips and the ratings assert themselves. They most certainly don't all play 8 opening moves and get mated by move 20.

I do think that your assessment of accurate ply evaluation is on the money, but as much for positional evaluation as calculation ability, if not more- in my opinion, anyway.

The statement about most players are looking for opening traps is also a bit exaggerated, unless you definition of "most players" really means "Greenpawn34"! 😉

Edit: And I should add, your profile is a classic!

So many things make up chess strength the debate is silly, usually GP has the OP trot out a couple games and then we find the nature of the ailment. I think looking at a couple games will tell much more than a debate on the calculation abilities of a 1400.

It's clear at 1400 a player won't calculate accurately- but they may calculate certain parts of the game accurately. Every player is different. For example I discovered about a year ago that I struggled with calculating mobile pawn centers (which make up about half my openings in otb)
I have otb games where I calculated 15 ply lines perfectly, but I couldnt see 4 ply accurately when pawn chains start moving around.

Chess blindness comes when the mind is out of ideas- I was analyzing several games between an expert and masters/IM's- in every game the expert missed winning positions because they ran out of ideas for the position and just made a "safe" move. When they were comfortable in a positon they found deep, good combinations.

I think you can go from 1400 to 1800 by reading half a book.

Simply read the first half of the encyclopedia of chess middlegames and you will go from 1400 to 1800 I predict.

Or read only the mate in 2 section of Polgars book called chess and again bingo 1400 to 1800.

Read one decent book like 'My System' by Aron Nimzowitsch and spend 20-30 minutes a day doing tactics on a site like this... www.chesstempo.com. You'll hit 1800 this way, no worries! 😉

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
Read one decent book like 'My System' by Aron Nimzowitsch and spend 20-30 minutes a day doing tactics on a site like this... www.chesstempo.com. You'll hit 1800 this way, no worries! 😉

The OP was discussing how to reach 1600 OTB which, since he flies a US flag, means 1600 USCF. That rating is a bit above average for established, experienced players in USCF tournaments. Reading a book, no matter how good or practicing tactics alone, isn't going to get you there

Originally posted by no1marauder
The OP was discussing how to reach 1600 OTB which, since he flies a US flag, means 1600 USCF. That rating is a bit above average for established, experienced players in USCF tournaments. Reading a book, no matter how good or practicing tactics alone, isn't going to get you there

Obviously your grade depends on who you play, if you play 2100+ rated players all the time, you could be 1900 in actual strength but your grade won't reflect it. A well written 'general' book about chess corrects countless repeated errors in beginner strength players. There are players on this site who've reached 2100 from humble beginnings simply by studying tactics. Ask Sicillian Smaug, we play regularly OTB and for a while he was positively invincible! Though that did require heaps of time and practise... 🙂

If you can consistently recognize two and three-move combinations, then you should reach 1600. Solve a lot of relatively simple tactics problems. I made it to USCF 2000 without even knowing the difference between the Philidor and Luceana positions. Just don't fall victim to two and three-move combinations, and execute these short combos when the opportunities arise.

I also highly recommend reading Point Count Chess by I. A. Horowitz. I think that it is superior to Silman's Reassess Your Chess.