I've recently been playing opponents pretty much 1750+ and after a string of losses played a 1450 rated opponent... it is amazing how easy the game gets after straining to keep up for so long. I would also say that I have been doing some tactics training and I have been studying Modern Chess Theory by Ludek Pachman so maybe I have actually been improving. here is the game... I let myself get into a worse position so that I had to fight out of it.
Originally posted by trev33This is true to a point. You can mimick without understanding and still learn to play better chess. If all you see is people open with 1.a3, then you'll think that 1.a3 is really a pretty good and natural move.
not if you don't understand what you see...
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Originally posted by Eladaryou don't 'learn' to play better chess by mimicking, whatever opening you copy there comes a point in the game when you can no longer 'mimick' your moves, that's when your lack of understanding of what you have been doing comes into play and you soon realize that you actually have no idea why you just made those moves and most certainly have no idea what to play next. this where the understanding of the game come into play, if you don't understand what you just did you're in a hopeless situation for the rest of the game.
This is true to a point. You can mimick without understanding and still learn to play better chess. If all you see is people open with 1.a3, then you'll think that 1.a3 is really a pretty good and natural move.
Originally posted by trev33Yes, this is why I study my games afterward to understand the moves, even my own moves, better than I do before a game.
you don't 'learn' to play better chess by mimicking, whatever opening you copy there comes a point in the game when you can no longer 'mimick' your moves, that's when your lack of understanding of what you have been doing comes into play and you soon realize that you actually have no idea why you just made those moves and most certainly have no idea what to p ...[text shortened]... 't understand what you just did you're in a hopeless situation for the rest of the game.
Trev,
This is what I meant. If you play people who start out playing with their pawns and try to bring their rooks out first, then you'll mimick if you don't know any better.
Play people who bring out their knights and bishops and you'll learn to do the same.
You learn good moves by seeing good moves. Same thing works for tactics puzzles. Yes, you'll have a better understanding when you get your mind wrapped around it, but there is still a certain level of improvement simply seeing it demonstrated.
Here's another example of what I'm trying to say:
Play low level players and you may come to believe that bringing out your queen as quickly as possible is the best thing to do. You win your share of games doing it and other players you run into do the same thing and sometimes they beat you.
If you play higher rated players who you can't beat by bringing out your queen early and they never bring their queen out early you will adjust and copy how they develop and you improve your opening and therefore your options later on in the game.