I want to become a serious player

How is everyone doing - iv known the basics to chess for many years and have played from time to time but have never put in any time to play and take it seriously - now is the time that i want to take it seriously.

Im currently reading and re reading Teach Yourself Chess by William Hartson and im playing around with a copy of Fritz 9 that i picked up. I have also join an internet based chess team on Chess Maniac and im playing a few games for them aswell.

My questions are -

1) Should i just play lots of games and see how i do or study before i play.

2) Should i take into account about openings,tatics and strategy at this stage.

3) If i should study - what should i study - is playing through old games from Grand Masters worth it at this stage in my chess playing or should i just read more books.


Many thanks

Regards

Basciano

Originally posted by Basciano
How is everyone doing - iv known the basics to chess for many years and have played from time to time but have never put in any time to play and take it seriously - now is the time that i want to take it seriously.

Im currently reading and re reading Teach Yourself Chess by William Hartson and im playing around with a copy of Fritz 9 that i picked up. I ...[text shortened]... ge in my chess playing or should i just read more books.


Many thanks

Regards

Basciano

i agree with the above statement, truly, if you have to ask these questions you totally suck, and will never be good...never ever, just give up

Originally posted by Basciano
How is everyone doing - iv known the basics to chess for many years and have played from time to time but have never put in any time to play and take it seriously - now is the time that i want to take it seriously.

Im currently reading and re reading Teach Yourself Chess by William Hartson and im playing around with a copy of Fritz 9 that i picked up. I ...[text shortened]... ge in my chess playing or should i just read more books.


Many thanks

Regards

Basciano

Originally posted by Mctayto
Ignore those 2 a$$holes

If you play loads of games you will learn enough to then go to the books. Learning openings, stratagies etc is a waste of time before you have sufficient games under your belt to get a feel for the game.
During this time you will notice patterns emerging such as opponents tent to open e4 followed by knight etc you can then start to research best responses etc

Originally posted by Basciano
...
My questions are -

1) Should i just play lots of games and see how i do or study before i play. Play a small number of games and try to study them (using your electronic friend, if nothing else) to see where you might improve. Better yet, get a better player to help coach you. As far as studying - study some, play some, study some, play some. Here at RHP, you should probably be playing and studying att he same time, since the games take a while.


2) Should i take into account about openings,tatics and strategy at this stage.
Always study these


3) If i should study - what should i study - is playing through old games from Grand Masters worth it at this stage in my chess playing or should i just read more books.
Annotated games are helpful, unannotated ones, not very helpful. I learned most of my positional chess this way and a little about openings. It doesn't help tactics, though.

Oh yeah - don't expect to see big improvements fast. It takes a while, months at least, or even years.

Originally posted by Basciano
Dont worry, i would never worry about people like that - Thanks for the advice, i just want to go about things the right way and not waste valuable time on stuff at this stage that i will get to know further down the line, i think some people try to take in too much too fast - i have a good grounding for the game - i just wanted other players advice oln wha ...[text shortened]... y have done when they started to take the game seriously.

Thanks again

Regards

Basciano

Don't listen to that lot ^^

You've got to both play and study, otherwise no matter how much you play, you'll never know where you're going wrong. For now play but also get some books that cover the basics - openings (and more importantly, the basic ideas behind opening strategy), basic tactics (forks, skewers etc) and strategy. Then some basic endgames. In time you should start getting a better handle on things. Your first focus is to avoid making the silly, stupid mistakes. Take some time, look at the move you decide on and think about what his response will be. Try to learn to think more than one move ahead.

Spend some time going through your past games - particularly the ones you lost.

I can't really help on some suitable books but here's a good online tactics site http://www.chesstactics.org/

Perhaps it's because of the rebel inside of me .
Perhaps it's because of the tone of the original post.
Perhaps it's because I want to save a fellow huiman being from years
of abject misery and rejection.

But I have to say it.

Just give up.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Perhaps it's because of the rebel inside of me .
Perhaps it's because of the tone of the original post.
Perhaps it's because I want to save a fellow huiman being from years
of abject misery and rejection.

But I have to say it.

Just give up.

Originally posted by alexstclaire
hehehe
but on a more serious note, he really should just quit, there is not point to playing if u want to take it serious. youll never be good, i wish i never would have played, cuz ive been playing for like 4 years quite often and i freakin suck, and youll probably suck, so just save yourself the trouble and quit

You ought to be ashamed of yourself as a chess player and as a person. The very nature of "Forums" is a place where a sincere person can seek help. Your response is just the kind that discourages people from seeking help or even just from reading the forums. Why don't you just mature as a person or as a chess player.

Here are a few thoughts:

1. You should without question start with simple tactics and endgames. You cannot start toward playing better chess without a strong tactical foundation, and the ability to win simply won endgames. I would pick up some books on tactics, and some beginner endgame books. My choices would be for "Silman's Complete Endgame Course" and "1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices And Combinations" by Fred Reinfeld. Silman's book is arranged to start from the very beginning with the simple endgame mates, simple K+P endings, etc....and then progress into more difficult endings when you get better. The Reinfeld book is in descriptive notation, but it's difficulty level is perfect for beginners and it's cheap.

2. I would play games of varying time controls, always at least looking them over with an engine to point out obvious missed tactics and obvious blunders. Opinions conflict on the value of blitz chess, but I think it's an important part of learning chess. You get to see a lot of positions, make a lot of mistakes, and learn to think quickly. Playing longer games is more important though, because the games will be higher quality and you'll have a long time to study the positions.

3. Study some opening principles and try to choose variations that you enjoy playing. Note that this is #3. Some people get enormously carried away with opening study (ME!), but it's of negligible importance when your rating is low.

4. Play here! Correspondence is great because you can use books. You can look up and remember the best opening moves, you can analyze and think about the positions deeply, and chances, you'll find some nice people who are willing to chat and teach you about the game. If you look at my rating graph, I started below the default rating here, and peaked at around 2050.

5. Find yourself a coach or teacher if you want to get really serious. It of course is a bit costly, but they will be able to figure out which parts you need to work on, and will definitely shorten the time it will take for you to gain a respectable rating.

"The boy does not have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession"

Botvinnik on future world champion Anatoly Karpov.

Now, some of the guys here are being mean but they have a very valid point. It's a very steep learning curve. Lots of study does not automatically equal improvement, and each subsequent Elo point is harder to obtain. But it can be done depending on your dedication.

Originally posted by Basciano
How is everyone doing - iv known the basics to chess for many years and have played from time to time but have never put in any time to play and take it seriously - now is the time that i want to take it seriously.

Im currently reading and re reading Teach Yourself Chess by William Hartson and im playing around with a copy of Fritz 9 that i picked up. I ...[text shortened]... ge in my chess playing or should i just read more books.


Many thanks

Regards

Basciano