Originally posted by MoneyMaker7 What do you guys do? I'm pretty busy to do any hardcore studying so I'm getting an instructor on ICC for 15$ an hour (babysitting should pay for it).
Are books just as effective but cheaper? Let's clear this up
Nothing will improve your chess more than having a competent chess instructor help you to analyze your games. Tell your instructor the reasons why you played a certain move and have him tell you if your reasoning was sound or not.
Basic mates and endgames you can study on your own from a textbook, but only a good teacher can analyze your thought processes.
The first ever World Correspondence Champion, IM C.J.S Purdy, said that an "infalliable way to improve your chess" is to study well-annotated master games. A great book to start with is "Logical Chess: Move by Move" by Irving Chernev.
Originally posted by wormwood tactics, tactics, tactics. free, fun and effective.
http://chess.emrald.net/
YES! Almost all games at sub-expert level are decided by tactical lapses. Having said that, tactics tend arise out of good positions, so you need to have good positional judgement in order to create positions where tactical opportunites abound.
Originally posted by wormwood tactics, tactics, tactics. free, fun and effective.
http://chess.emrald.net/
Or free, fun (just keeping that to make three f's) and frustrating. 😞 I either mess it up half of the time, or I take so much time that I lose points even if I get it right.
Edit: But I guess if I would do it daily instead of about once a month, it would actually help. I'd just have to break the vicious circle - it's frustrating because I am doing so badly, so I am not motivated to use it more, so I don't get better.
Originally posted by Nordlys Or free, fun (just keeping that to make three f's) and frustrating. 😞 I either mess it up half of the time, or I take so much time that I lose points even if I get it right.
Edit: But I guess if I would do it daily instead of about once a month, it would actually help. I'd just have to break the vicious circle - it's frustrating because I am doing so badly, so I am not motivated to use it more, so I don't get better.
the trick is to do them slowly enough to get most of them right. as your rating decreases, the server will adjust the difficulty of the problems served until you find your level. then you just work your way up, one point at a time.
the initial 1500 rating is very high. many 1800-1900 here score only in the 1400's, and even GMs and IMs score only 1800-2000. a finnish 2150 fide guy scored only 1590. so no need to be discouraged if you score low. 🙂
Originally posted by MoneyMaker7 What do you guys do? I'm pretty busy to do any hardcore studying so I'm getting an instructor on ICC for 15$ an hour (babysitting should pay for it).
Are books just as effective but cheaper? Let's clear this up
Originally posted by Fat Lady This chess tactics site is quite simply the best chess resource on the internet. I practice for an hour the night before all my league games.
No wonder your rating is much higher than mine.
I rarely practice tactics (sorry, I should correct that, as other than the odd puzzle in the paper or BCM I never practice tactics. Perhaps that explains my many (often elementary) tactical lapses that cost me games and rating points.
I'm not saying you should not do it to improve. The advice is correct, you should study tactics - I just wonder where I would be if I put in that sort of effort.
Originally posted by Dragon Fire No wonder your rating is much higher than mine.
I rarely practice tactics (sorry, I should correct that, as other than the odd puzzle in the paper or BCM I [b]never practice tactics. Perhaps that explains my many (often elementary) tactical lapses that cost me games and rating points.
I'm not saying you should not do it to improve. The advice i ...[text shortened]... ect, you should study tactics - I just wonder where I would be if I put in that sort of effort.[/b]
I really enjoy doing the tactics so I don't find it too difficult. I always log in as a guest user as I don't want to become preoccupied with my rating there. If I get a good start I can sometimes remain above 1700 for a while, but I always fall back to between 1500 and 1600 by the end of the session.
Edit - I forgot to clarify that by "league games" I meant over-the-board league games, which means just ten games or so a season.
Originally posted by wormwood the trick is to do them slowly enough to get most of them right. as your rating decreases, the server will adjust the difficulty of the problems served until you find your level. then you just work your way up, one point at a time.
the initial 1500 rating is very high. many 1800-1900 here score only in the 1400's, and even GMs and IMs score only 1 ...[text shortened]... 00. a finnish 2150 fide guy scored only 1590. so no need to be discouraged if you score low. 🙂
The problem is that I won't get as challenging tactical problems as I would like, because I can't solve those immediately, and if I don't solve the problems before I have even had the chance to see the whole board (not to speak of looking for threats my opponent might have - luckily there usually aren't any, but that makes the whole thing rather unrealistic), my rating drops, and I get less challenging problems (which I still can't solve fast enough). I think working on solving tactical problems fast may be useful because it probably helps to develop pattern recognition, but the allowed time is just way too short for me. It would be nice if you could set the difficulty yourself, so that you could try more difficult problems even if your rating is low. What I do now is that I log in as a guest, so that I at least start with more difficult problems, before my rating drops to 1200-1300.
One thing which makes the whole thing a little less hectic is ticking the box "Break on success" before you start, and update the settings. That has made the experience a lot more tolerable.
08 Dec '06 01:091 edit
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