Is this "chess theory?"

Dear Abigail chess wisdom;

as my profile states, chess started for me when my 9 yo nephew beat
me in a game last year...that is 1/2 of it. The other was a humbling
experience I had taking an aptitude test. This test was designed to
find your strengths and weaknesses to help guide you in a possible
career choice.

I've always tested well, particularly in aptitude tests. But a portion of
this test was for "spacial reasoning"...most of the test was looking at
cut outs and determining what 3d shape they would create if folded
together. I was unable to complete the test in time, my score stood
out as my lowest by far, and I developed a whopper of a headache!

Long story short, I felt chess could help develope what was obviously a
weakness...kind of like working out to get stronger. My experience w/
chess, however, closely resembles my experience w/ the test...I look
at postions for a long time and still wind up missing simple
continuations.

Is this hopeless?
Please help

Cross eyed in New York

you are hopeless, but so sweet 🙂
Lioness

Absolutely not...and first off...we talk to "Caissa"...I have no clue who
Ms. Abigail is.

Positions can be broken down into certain categories..pawn
structure..piece placement..etc.

What the key is is finding how everything will work together...that is
something that just takes practice...but it is attainable for anyone.

I still find that just asking the original three questions works the best.

What did his last move do?

Is anything of mine undefended?

Does he have anything undefended?

You are playing some great chess Franklin

Dave

Caissa?...what does that stand for/mean?...here it's probably more
appropriate to say "Dear Dave." Thanks for the always positive
encouragement. I've had a string of poor play over the weekend and
today especially. It didn't help when TONY pointed out a move I
missed that would have won his queen!🙂 It's up and down as always.
I do appreciate all your help though. You're a very generous person.

As for you, Julia, Miss genious natural chess godess! I can do without
the salt in the wounds thank you very much🙂

Hehe........I'm a patzer what can I say! I have the most crap chess
days but then the next tourney I go to I'll tear it up and people will
say..........wow........you're only 16, you got what it takes........and it'll
make my next week grand! Studying always helps..........The
Reassess Your Chess Workbook has helped me a little!

Franklin-- First off, Caissa is the Goddess of Chess. And I have to
echo what Dave said, even if I don't always do a great job practicing
what he preaches. Just keep playing, GO SLOW, and you WILL get
better. I still make more than my share of blunders, usually due to
rushing. I keep telling myself to play fewer games, and that won't
happen, but then someone challenges me and I can't resist. The
thing about repeated play is that you start to recognize patterns. Do
you remember the first time anyone ever forked your king and queen
with their knight? I'm willing to bet you were much more alert to
knight forks after that. Dave has pulled some killer tactical moves on
me-- but every time he does, it will be a LITTLE bit harder for him to
do it again. But, if I can add one last piece of advice-- being one of
the nicest people here, as you are, is way more important than how
well you play, and that requires no practice at all.
Peace.
Tim
The Dark Squire

thanks Tim and Tony. I appreciate the kind words. Even as I was
writing that post I realized it's just part of the process. Everyone here
understands the frustration.
I just need to vent every now and then and then again.

Hi fexkorn,

I read your post and your profile, and something major stuck out --
that you don't "use chessboards" because you want to "stretch your
brain."

On the contrary, I highly recommend that you use a chessboard for at
least one of your correspondence games. This way you can manually
move the pieces through combinations which you wouldn't normally be
able to do in over-the-board play. What will this do for you? It will
take you places that your stretched brain can only dream of ... (boy, I
took that metaphor way too far). Considering your spatial recognition
abilities aren't on par with Alekine's, a chessboard sitting in front of
you could only help you!

Now, if this doesn't help you, and you still feel like you're on a
plateau, then get a good chess book, read it, and go through the
example games in the book (yes! with a darn chessboard!!). Seirwan
has a good series out there for beginners like you. Or for more of a
challenge, try my personal bible, "Reassess Your Chess" by Silman.

In a nutshell, better chess won't seep into you like osmosis -- you
must actively work at it -- like practicing piano.

Best of luck,
GuyFrancon

Thanks Guy. I have Silman's book and will go through some of the
problems on occasion. (usually w/o a board!!🙂) Although when I
have time I also will take out the board and give it a more involved
look. I could stand to do a little more reading and a little less
playing. I haven't done much reading at all the last few months. I
have recently bought another book w/ 303 tactical problems (Silman's
seem to be more positional) and I do intend on doing some
sharpening. And I like your suggestion about using a board in a
game or two. I think that will help.

don't use a board against me Franklin. What would i have to do then?

just joking... sin.

acturally, you're the perfect candidate!...challenge me if you don't
have too many games going.

you got one coming your way. set up your board, and make the first move....
sin.