How to progress!!!
I know the basics,and after 6 months playing chess i have dragged mysekf up to 1433 rating,
I think my problen is planning and strategy.
I know about castling , rooks on open files etc.
I have some good openings as well.
Its in the middle game i seem more at a loss what to do! Its a plan i think i need.
any ideas!!!
Just don't stagnate. Whatever you do. Keep trying to improve. Get books and study them. Set yourself a goal and go for it. Practice your favourite openings by always having at least 20 open invite games going against players within 50 points of your rating. Study!
...and try get this book: http://tinyurl.com/yc4u98
I'd deffo try and mix up your openings a little more I had a look at some of your games and most of the time it's the colle system for white and the Scandinavian for black. Try out maybe 3 different openings for both colours. I usually like to play Ruy Lopez or the King's Indian Attack for white and for Black the Najdorf, Dragon, King's Indian Defence, Nimzo Indian and I'm in the process of learning the French.
I don't sit around and learn loads of different variations, I just get to grips with the 1st 6 moves and take it from there, play some blitz games on a free site and get to grips with some new opening moves.
Now I'm not really one for chess books because tbh I find them boring and most of the time they have way too many variations so it's difficult to put them into to practice because you move the pieces and then forgot where they were😀 so I use opening training DVD's from chessbase.
http://www.chessbase.com/shop/productlist.asp?product=ot&subd=&user=&coin=
Here is a sample vid of one of the DVD's
http://www.chessbase.com/news/2006/products/French.wmv
All those DVD's take you through the main lines of the openings. So you see the ideas and plans behind the opening.
It was just a suggestion, as I said I prefer learning on the PC, people learn in different ways. More and more material is available for PC's these days so I just find it easier to learn from computer based learning material be it videos or databases. It's important to get something that works for you.
Thanks for the suggestions.
In n terms of dvd s i really like that idea.
Audacious thanks for looking at my games,i think i have tended to stay with opennings for black and white which means no going thugh lots of theory.
I know i must learn more opennings though!!
What about plans though for the Middle game, i am at loss over that.?
any thoughts there? what do people do in that area
If you like the idea of the DVD's then if you don't already own Fritz then I suggest you getting a copy. I picked up Fritz 9 from amazon for £20 which is a bargain. With Fritz you get access to playchess.com (online chess). Great fun, any game you play or watch online gets saved to your internetgames database ( so you can go back look at your wins/losses or analyse your games, which is real handy if your at a loss as to where you went wrong) loads of GM's are there as well so if you like watching games you can see them in action. Basically I can't praise the site enough, it's been great for me.
For the learning DVD's I use a site called www.chessdirect.co.uk never had a problem with them, any of the learning dvd's you'll be looking at around £18-£20. They come with a reader so if you don't have fritz you can view them, but if you've got the cash buy fritz and one of the learning dvd's and see how you get on.
The opening discs take you through the ideas behind the openings by showing you the main variations in games. They show you the whole game, so you see how the opening progresses through the middlegame into the endgame, which should help you.
Originally posted by mipmcptMiddle game plans are often dictated by the pawn position obtained from the opening. Is the centre open, fluid, fixed, closed or dynamic. Are the pawns symmetrical? Do you know the typical plans for either side in these situations? Do you have outposts, space, better positioned pieces etc etc. How do you make use of a half open file? How do you defend against such an advantage? One of the best books I ever read was The Middle Game by Kotov and Keres which explained these ideas quite well and also the book Simple Chess by Michael Stean, an underated masterpiece. I think both books are still available as reprints but I don't really know what the up to date equivalent is. John Watson's Secrets of modern chess strategy is quite good, but only if you have had exposure to some of these ideas in the first place.
Thanks for the suggestions.
In n terms of dvd s i really like that idea.
Audacious thanks for looking at my games,i think i have tended to stay with opennings for black and white which means no going thugh lots of theory.
I know i must learn more opennings though!!
What about plans though for the Middle game, i am at loss over that.?
any thoughts there? what do people do in that area
Originally posted by mipmcptat 1433 I think your biggest problem is most likely tactics. at 1700 I still lose almost exclusively because I miss something incredibly obvious like a Q+K fork.
How to progress!!!
I know the basics,and after 6 months playing chess i have dragged mysekf up to 1433 rating,
I think my problen is planning and strategy.
I know about castling , rooks on open files etc.
I have some good openings as well.
Its in the middle game i seem more at a loss what to do! Its a plan i think i need.
any ideas!!!
Originally posted by mipmcptReinfelds 1001 wining chess sacrafices and combinations is a classic. It is also available for free online if you prefer that format (no answers, but fritz or another engine can provide those). RahimK knows where they are online. I have the book and I try to do 5 per day but it's more like 15/week. At this rate, it should last me forever.
have you a book to reccomend on tatics?
On CD CT-Art is highly recomended. For free is chess tactics server (chess.emerald.net).