International Chess School

Originally posted by Shenandoah
Has anyone had any experience with International Chess School (chessmasterschool.com)? It looks on the surface to be similar to GM Schwartzman's Total Chess website. I'm kicking around the idea, but I can't find any testimonials from people who have done the work there, to see what kind of results they have had. It is a bit costly at $24 US/ mo. If anyone has had any experience with them, I'd appreciate hearing back.

just join www.chess.com, browse through articles and blogs, there is lots of excellent stuff for free, either by strong amateurs or masters.

Originally posted by philidor position
just join www.chess.com, browse through articles and blogs, there is lots of excellent stuff for free, either by strong amateurs or masters.

I am a member at that site. Thanks for the tip, but it doesn't address my question.

Originally posted by Shenandoah
I am a member at that site. Thanks for the tip, but it doesn't address my question.

I checked out the contents and I think chess mentor, or proper study of a decent book would beat that any time.

Originally posted by philidor position
I checked out the contents and I think chess mentor, or proper study of a decent book would beat that any time.

I'm asking if anyone has had experience with that particular site. Opinions of what it might or might not be are of no value to me at this point, only opinions from people who have actually used it. Thanks again for trying to be helpful.

Originally posted by Shenandoah
I'm asking if anyone has had experience with that particular site. Opinions of what it might or might not be are of no value to me at this point, only opinions from people who have actually used it. Thanks again for trying to be helpful.

Yes, I'm using it at the moment as I've recently started playing again and was looking for training aimed at getting to 2200+ before thinking about getting proper coaching. In month 5 at present.

Overall impressions:
$24 is a book. So over 12 months you could have bought 12 good chess books. That's a basic measure of value to assess it against.

You get the material each month, and it remains accessible thereafter. There is generally quite a bit, though seems variable at times. The english is really not that good, though I've found it clear to follow.

Content-wise, I think it is very good, and feel - broadly, see below - that I'm getting my money's worth. There are a large number of key games to explain concepts, some annotated (well) and some left as is for you to work out. The structure of the material is pretty good - so for example the lectures on the center break down into 'closed', 'mobile', 'open', 'static', 'dynamic', each with games explaining how to handle both sides of such a center, and the various transitions and transformations that occur. The piece play exercises are also good, especially [for me] the focus on collaboration between pieces.

I'm finding that the material here is enabling me to make a lot more sense of material such as Sokolov's 'Winning Chess Middlegames', and some of the Dvoretsky books. But it requires a lot of reading and study to get that benefit. the monthly scheme probably costs more than the equivalent in books, but certainly helps make the workload manageable.

However I think a really good well structured book- I'd recommend 'From Beginner to Expert in 40 Lessons', and the new Yusupov books look great - will help most players as much, especially somewhat weaker players - it's more about being willing to sit down and work things out that makes a difference. And $288 is not chump change.

Lastly, don't bother with the opening module that you can buy in addition - I've found that to be really not worth the time. Rather get the relevant John Watson 'Mastering the Chess Openings' book, and an 'Easy Guide to...'. The rest you can get by choosing a player who specializes in your variation and playing over all of their games.

Hmm, bit of a long post - feel free to ask any more questions or pm me if you want specific info!

Originally posted by Osse
Yes, I'm using it at the moment as I've recently started playing again and was looking for training aimed at getting to 2200+ before thinking about getting proper coaching. In month 5 at present.

Overall impressions:
$24 is a book. So over 12 months you could have bought 12 good chess books. That's a basic measure of value to assess it against.

You get t ...[text shortened]... free to ask any more questions or pm me if you want specific info!

Thank you very much for your reply. I'm not afraid of the $24/mo, if the content is good. I have easily spent the total cost for the year several times over in books, but I find that I have a tendency not to follow through properly with books despite my best intentions. I'm not entirely sure that the monthly format will be any different, but I know that I can cancel it at any point if I'm not using it. I just wanted to know about the quality of the content, and you have cleared that issue up for me nicely. As far as the openings package, I wasn't really looking at that part of it anyway. I think I can do better with books I already have and databases (which I should use a lot more than I do).