Chess Training Methods for Rapid Improvement

$100 for two hours a month.

Then has a link to Wiki to tell you what a Chess Master is. 😕

I may be misunderstanding the lad but is he suggesting as
an opening rep for Black:

Ruy Lopez: Graf Variation:
Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation
Two Knights Defence
The Scotch Game

You cannot force a White player into the Exchange Lopez.
White has to do the exchanging on c6 and it is the same with the Scotch.

You book up on the Black side of a Scotch hoping one day someone
will play it against you?

It's not quite how an opening rep works.

The Exchange and the Scotch for White yes, but for Black? I'm a little confused.
It's a bit like asking:

"What's the best Opening for White?"

and being told:

"The French Defence."

This made me chuckle under the section.

Businessman Opening Repertoire

(I presume this is for people who don't have the time to devout
to chess...it will still cost you $100 for 2 hours a month though).

The Businessman's rep is as follows.

The Kings Indian Attack (KIA)

KIA versus the Sicilian
KIA versus the French
KIA versus the Caro-Kann
KIA versus the …Bf5 System
KIA versus the …Bg4 System

This lad has ben reading the forum and that KIA thread.
Watch your pockets you Bg2 guys, you have been spotted.

Anything for me?

Gambit Opening Repertoire for White:

Sicilian Defence – Wing Gambit
Danish Gambit
French Defence – Wing Gambit
Caro-Kann Defence – Fantasy Variation

Well well well, by a very strange coincidence the first four exact same
reps as recommended by Nigel Davies in Gambiteer I.
He even has them in the exact same order.

Nigel's Reads:

Sicilian Defence, Wing Gambit
Danish Gambit
French Defence, Wing Gambit
Caro-Kann Defence, Fantasy Variation

The only difference being a '-' instead of a ','.

(Knocking them into alphabetical order would have made it less obvious).

So I pays my $100 for someone to send me bits out of a book I already have
or anyone can pick up for $12.00 (I got mine for a few quid 2nd hand).

So Charlie, what else do I get for my $200.
A felt tipped pen to write the word 'MUG' on my forehead?

Surely ye must be impressed by the bargain of 4 hours for $350. A savings of 12.5%!

I sense we are entering a phase where "pattern recognition" is becoming the new fad in chess training, and whilst I don't deny that researchers have wired up GM's eyes and analyzed the physiology - I'm not sure how it's really meant to help somebody improve their play. What are we saying, show somebody 10,000 "must know" positions and their resolutions and they are an IM or something? Are we thinking we are going to walk into the tournament hall, sit at the board, say OM a few times, enter some trance which allows our subliminal "pattern recognition skills" direct access to the hand, bypassing any thinking skills? I don't really buy it, except in bullet/blitz chess maybe.

It doesn't teach you how to recognize problems and direct your thinking to solve them, it doesn't help you choose between two moves of equal worth, it doesn't teach you to dig deep and fight, it doesn't teach restraint, patience, knowing when to strike, or how to direct a game in the direction of one of these "patterns".
It doesn't teach you any logical thought process to find pattern number n+1 where n is the number you have trained. Neither does it teach you how to overwrite a pattern.

This is why I see GM's fidgeting, sweating, heavy breathing, displaying all of the "fight and flight" responses when they are in difficult positions against some lower rated amateur at some of the weekend tournaments I have been to. Pattern recognition seems to me to be another over simplification of a difficult thinking game.

I think there is no question having read De Groot's work etc. that pattern recognition plays a role in chess strength, but it is far cheaper to work through the Polgar brick or even get ct art 4.0 etc. than pay a teacher for this.

Forget everything else. I simply can't get past the horrible grammar on the site. It gives me a headache.

Anyway he's not up with the latest which I have just read about in my copy of "Cycling Weekly"

Dutch research published in the "Journal of Nutritional Neuroscience" has looked into the effects of the key chemical constituents in tea on 44 subjects. The research shows that accuracy and alertness in tasks was heightened and that drinking tea "improves cognitive function and helps to focus attention during the challenge of demanding tasks"

So drinking tea is bound to help your chess too - Hurrah for Science!

Originally posted by Ragwort
Anyway he's not up with the latest which I have just read about in my copy of "Cycling Weekly"

Dutch research published in the "Journal of Nutritional Neuroscience" has looked into the effects of the key chemicals constituents in tea on 44 subjects. The research shows that accuracy and alertness in tasks was heightened and that drinking tea "improves cogn ...[text shortened]... helps to focus attention during the challenge of demanding tasks"

Hurrah for Science!

Do you know the exact title of the study?

Originally posted by Mad Rook
Do you know the exact title of the study?

Its not given in the Cycling Weekly article, merely referred to. I guess it's the old journalist trick of filling half a page with a "research piece" or "survey" when they have nothing else to print. Doesn't even give the name of the Dutch Scientists - perhaps they are poor post-grads trying to impress their credit hogging master...
Just names some Doctor from the Tea Advisory Council to give his totally unexpected "rent a quote" endorsement. [/cynicism]

As it this weeks print issue the CW site hasn't published their article on line either.

Originally posted by Ragwort
Its not given in the Cycling Weekly article, merely referred to. I guess it's the old journalist trick of filling half a page with a "research piece" or "survey" when they have nothing else to print. Doesn't even give the name of the Dutch Scientists - perhaps they are poor post-grads trying to impress their credit hogging master...
Just names some Doctor f ...[text shortened]... As it this weeks print issue the CW site hasn't published their article on line either.

I thought it might be this one...

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/nns/2008/00000011/00000004/art00007

...but it's a 2008 study and only used 27 participants.


(Ingesting caffeine makes you more alert - I never would have guessed. 🙂 )

Hi Raggers.

The good players you see wriggling v some lower rated amateurs are
doing so because they can see the real trouble they are in.
(it's the curse of being a good player).

The weaker player may sense he is on top but has no concrete path to follow.
The good player will see the rock solid path and will be trying
to lay false paths for the lad to follow.

Some find it hard to disguise they are losing and must play a few
unsound moves to try and get themselves out of trouble.

Knowing they are playing an unsound move and depending on an error
is not the real good players way. Hence the uncomfortable look on the good
players face. Which unsound move to choose?

Patterns

Mating Patterns are aids which players use subconsciously in helping them
construct mates.

You look at the postion and mating patterns you have seen before appear.

You use them more than you think.

Bog standard Q & B mating pattern. (I'll call this MP 1)



Another elementry Queen and Bishop mating pattern. (I'll call this MP2)



Same one on the side of the board.
(alway been a great believer in messing about with MP's to make sure they stick)



Now seeing the above postions it should not be too hard to find the mate
in this postion. Black to play.


Do it making every move a check.

Try it - Solution below.











And we see it action.

yournightmare - Ragwort RHP RHP 2011

Originally posted by Mad Rook
I thought it might be this one...

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/nns/2008/00000011/00000004/art00007

...but it's a 2008 study and only used 27 participants.


(Ingesting caffeine makes you more alert - I never would have guessed. 🙂 )

I've found a bit more on line at the Tea Advisory Panel here where at least the dutch scientists are named...

http://www.teaadvisorypanel.com/press/view/38

You have to click you are a journalist or Health professional to unlock the page.

It looks like it was published in December 2010 and like you say not altogether unsurprising conclusions. This all comes from cyclists frequenting tea shops on weekend training rides, although "afternoon tea" is making a comeback over here enabling posh hotels to charge £250 for a scone and a cuppa.

Originally posted by greenpawn34

Some random Ragwort game

I don't deny pattern recognition training has a place or that it occurs subliminally. I just think that it is an over simplification. I don't even know in the game you quoted how much I saw and how much I recognized.

I think that if you are a tutor you should be in the business of explaining why a pattern works if you want to put it that way, how and why the pieces are functioning in the way they are. You should also prepare your audience for not improving at the pace they are hoping. You know the value of learning how to fight "He's not practicing his endgame technique on me." you said on here once. You know how to prepare openings. "I don't play it unless I have had it on my board at home". In that thread about 4.Be2 in the c3 Sicilian you talk about the disguised attacking possibilities associated with that move if they don't fall for Nxe4. This is showing how to bring about one of the "patterns". I don't deny it's relevant but it is only part of the story...

Hi Ragger

Spot on. Pattern rec is only part of the story.

It all comes down to how we think, imagine and recall.

When you walk along the street you meet someone you know.
Instanly your memory tells you who it is.
You were not thinking about them, you never expected to see them
but there they are and you know them right away.

There are 101 other things going on in a game fo chess (slight exageration
but you know what I mean.) mating pattern rec plays small part but it's there.

By playing and looking at tactics that have a mate base builds up this muscle.

It's nigh impossible to explain as we all think differently.

Imagine the No7 rolled on two dice.

I see 6 and 1 on two white dice with black dots.
Someone else will see 3 & 4 on red dice with gold dots.
Another 5 & 2 on a red and blue dice.

(Mad Rook will see two ice cubes floating in a martini with 6 & 3) 😉

But pattern rec is there tucked away waiting to pop up when you are
looking for a mating combination.

I see you did not take part in my experiment in Thread 132654
Try it now - just read my first post then try it.

Then read rest of thread to see how you compare and then he look at this blog:

http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=11