if you could start over...

Originally posted by gorookyourself
If I could start over I would have walked away from the first chess board I sat down at.
You have any idea how many women I turned down so I could go buy that book/play at the park/go to that tournament/study/ etc etc

I'm only 1400!! WHAT WAS I THINKING!!

Now I am soon to be married and still 1400... 😞

This. I've spent so much time studying chess, I could have become a doctor with that time, as well as beat 7 video games and get laid by 10 different ladies. Now my friends won't play me, trying to improve is the same as bashing my head against a wall and yet I can't stop playing because I feel too attached.

Now if I could start over with the objective of becoming better than I am currently. Here is what I'd do.

- Still get the latest chessmaster, the courses with Josh Waitzkin and the loads of other training material is gold and will really get you to understand chess in a different way.

- I would NOT waste so much time on openings. You have no idea how much time I put in memorizing lines, which I've never seen and then soon forgotten anyways. I still think it's important to learn openings but memorizing lines is not the way to go. Now I have more fun going on chessgames and watching good winning games in the opening I'm trying to learn. Another way to do it, but I've never tried it, would be to play games vs your computer starting from the end of the variation you're trying to learn.

- Get Silman's endgame manual. That's all you'll EVER need for endgames.

- Spend time everyday on chess tempo. I've never done this consistently, but the time I've spent there was probably the 2nd most effective in improving myself. (after chessmaster)

-Don't even touch Nimzovitch - My system. It's overrated, It's outdated and there is loads of better material out there. Chessmaster basically goes through this book in a few hours and is WAY more entertaining.

- On the other hand, I'd get the full Chess course from Yusupov. Now those books are AMAZING. They will plug your leaks like no other.

To recap, the only books you need are Silman's endgame book, the yusupov series, and a few opening books if you wish to really master an opening - I recommend the GM repertoire series by Quality chess (god I love those books)

Originally posted by Maxacre42
This. I've spent so much time studying chess, I could have become a doctor with that time, as well as beat 7 video games and get laid by 10 different ladies. Now my friends won't play me, trying to improve is the same as bashing my head against a wall and yet I can't stop playing because I feel too attached.

Now if I could start over with the objec ...[text shortened]... recommend the GM repertoire series by Quality chess (god I love those books)

A pursuit like chess does seem to offer financial returns mostly at the top, and entertainment mostly at the bottom.

I think there must come a day in every amateur's chess career when they have to decide whether to stay in the little leagues or to triple their efforts and keep growing. Most of us won't have the right stuff to get titled, and would be better served to keep our play at the hobby level.

Probably I'll quit paying so much attention to my game before I reach 2000, and turn my attention to my mathematics studies, which promise just as much challenge, but far more applications and career options.

Originally posted by wormwood
I predict no sex for either of you.

if you could start over, you should stop acting like 8-year-old dumbasses.

As always... wormwood.... the voice of reason. Rofl

For what it's worth:
I'm not a strong player, although I'm significantly better than I was when I started.
I've bought a few books with specific purposes in mind. Nunn's Understanding Chess Move by Move was my first. I then bought a huge endings book which has been very useful for training (Rook endings mainly) and Bobby Fischer's My 60 memorable games... more out of curiosity than anything else. It is considered a classic after all.

However, I soon realised that my losses were almost all (99😵 down to not concentrating, or more precisely not thinking properly and I've just bought The Seven Deadly Sins of Chess by John Rowson and Dan Heisman's The Improving Chess Thinker. Both are superb and have changed my outlook to my game and improved it immensely in a short space of time (although my rating has yet to reflect this). there's not enough out there about how to 'think' in chess which is really what us weaker players should be looking at first in my opinion. Proper and efficient thought processes are to chess what ball control is to football and this has got to be your number one priority in my opinion.

Originally posted by tharkesh
Hello,

I have been looking around the forum a lot and found many very exciting threads - also concerning the topic 'which book to buy'. So I hope not to bore you with this and to get some reasonable answers (this forum needs a 'best of' thread...).

Given a player, who has never a) owned nor b) looked into a book of chess nor c) played in a chess club: ...[text shortened]... ecause you too often follow this route of playing?

Thanks in advance for your answer,
T.

500 Master Games of Chess by Tartakower. It's a bit dated, but a lot of dangerous tatics lay hidden those old games! 😉

Originally posted by Maxacre42
Now my friends won't play me,

Why won't your friends play you anymore?

Hallo,

just a thanks to you. Santa brought me 500 master games of chess by tartakower. it is such a wonderful piece of lyric! a page-turner. amazing, how he develops the characters, again and again. like here, page 110: 1 P-K4 P-K4. it becomes gradually more breathtaking, even though i was a bit at a loss at around page 427 when he seriously stated, that black P-Q3. It took me be surprise, but oh alekhine, it was better than P-Q4.

Right now I came to the evil mr. colle, apparently the retarding moment, just before the climax of this dramatic book. Can't wait for the end.

o_O

ps: i like it, yet more by its aura, than because of my understanding. the notation is indeed quite difficult at first...

If you didn't start at 7 and make steady progress with a good teacher until you made your first grandmaster norm at 17 then...

Sorry, dudes, I just enjoy the game with no objectives. What is this "better" people keep talking about?