So I want to take chess more seriously. I don't study games. I have only read about 150 pages(not thoroughly) of "How to Reassess Your Chess" by Silman. I don't know openings. Only what I've seen played against me or a few I've seen in the forums. I have about 8 more months in Iraq and would love to come home an 1800+ club player. I think I can reach it but I'd love to know what books I should start with. Especially openings because I get lost in them. Really lost actually, or at least I feel I do.
So here's what I would like
1. A few specific openings to study as white/black.
2. Games that you think are worth anyone analyzing.
3. Programs or websites I should look into.
4. ANYTHING THAT WILL HELP.
You sound like my dad he came home from iraq with mad skills
he plays the sicilian against e4 which if black caN protect his king for the first 15-20 moves is crushing
queens gambit is very nice
you shoudl study one side of the board either e4 or d4
i play e4 my dad plays d4
he wins 9 out of 10
read books
he ordered them from amazon i beleive
study only
and play
the only proven ways to get better
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Originally posted by TimInIraqhttp://www.chessvideos.tv/
So I want to take chess more seriously. I don't study games. I have only read about 150 pages(not thoroughly) of "How to Reassess Your Chess" by Silman. I don't know openings. Only what I've seen played against me or a few I've seen in the forums. I have about 8 more months in Iraq and would love to come home an 1800+ club player. I think I can reach it bu ...[text shortened]... ne analyzing.
3. Programs or websites I should look into.
4. ANYTHING THAT WILL HELP.
Originally posted by TimInIraqHey my bad,
thanks for the link but the internet here in iraq is pretty horrible for $70 a month so i cant watch videos.
At first create a repertoire! The most important thing is to really understand that there s a battle goin on for the squares d4/d5/e4/e5, for when one controls them then he can create outposts and soft spots deep into the enemy's camp. The opening has to do particularly with the placement of our pieces in proper squares in order to become evident for our army to advance as a whole; so the e4 square is quite essential.
Therefore you have to choose whether you want to claim it with an immediate 1.e4, or with the dynamic 1.d4, or with another placement of your pawns and pieces. In addition, the pawn structure is critical.
Once you pick a repertoire you simply have to play it till you master it, ie untill you grasp in full the basic ideas. For example, if you stick with 1.d4 you must get prepared to fight against Chigorin/ Albin/Queen Gambit Accepted/ Tarrasch/ Orthodox/ Slav/ Semi-Slav/ Indian Defences (Old-KID-Gruenfeld-NimzoIndian)/ Budapest/ Benko/ Czech Benoni/ Modern Benoni/ Modern/ Dutch/ English/ Miscellaneous.
And surely you have to study the endgame, for in that phase you see the real power of the pawns and of the pieces.
Enjoy the royal game and take care over there🙂
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Originally posted by BadwaterGood stuff, thanks Badwater.
http://www.chessvideos.tv/
Just watched both parts to the Capablanca end game against Ragozin. I'm not an end game fan but when you see it deconstructed like that it's pretty amazing [both the depth of thought and gulf in class between them and us mere mortals].
I should relly do some work now I spose....cheers.
Maybe just one more vid.....
What books have you read? Some books that will easily raise your rating is the book of endgames by jeremy silman, I forgot the title but he wrote it. Also Pawn Structure by andrew soltis is a very good read. It covers how openings should be played based on pawn structure. It is rather boring though. Winning chess strategy is a good book by yasser seirwan and the book that I found to be an very easy entertaining read was a book by bruce pandolfini called weapons of chess. He is the same coach who trained the prodigy josh waitzkin. Those books may help your level. I would say pick openings and look up games on chessgames. Look at the opening you want to play and how they move their pawns. Look at the entire strucutre. Where do they move certain pieces? Some openings knights will go to certian spots because later in the game look for common moves and then ask yourself why they make those moves. If you like to attack then sicilian against e4 if you don't like to attack then ruy lopez.
Originally posted by kmac27i havent read anything. ive never really studied chess at all except for going over my own games and learning from my mistakes. i briefly read about 150 pages of how to reassess your chess by silman. the biggest thing i learned from that i think is that the opening is about creating a difference and learning the strengths and weaknesses of the difference. that's been my problem. i know opening moves but dont understand why im using the specific openings. lol like why would i play a queen's gambit over an english opening. i guess that's really what im trying to learn.
What books have you read? Some books that will easily raise your rating is the book of endgames by jeremy silman, I forgot the title but he wrote it. Also Pawn Structure by andrew soltis is a very good read. It covers how openings should be played based on pawn structure. It is rather boring though. Winning chess strategy is a good book by yasser seirwan and ...[text shortened]... ves. If you like to attack then sicilian against e4 if you don't like to attack then ruy lopez.
i just purchased winning chess tactics and winning chess openings by seriwan. Chessmaster:Art of Learning and Chessmaster Special Edition.
is learning the endgame really that important..?
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Originally posted by TimInIraqLearning all parts of the game is important. 😉
...
is learning the endgame really that important..?
I've won a few games because I had an understanding of how to exercise an advantage in the endgame. Mind you, it's a patzer's understanding and I work to improve all the time, but without even a basic understanding I'm sure I would have lost those games.