Originally posted by JoniGGood question. I want to mention the blitz stuff first. I read you post that it gives you bad habits when your playing blitz and I pick up bad habits also so I stopped playing blitz completely. For me, It feels great when you playing and winning but after you feel like you wasted your time and if you lose then you find some excuse (O, i was winning and then I dropped a piece. I wouldn't do that in real chess, therefore its okay. This is a bad habit to me).
Hey RahimK,
I've an extremely difficult question for you 🙂
I've stopped my tactics exercises and chess book reading due to increased work and school. I still read the monthly chess magazines though. Also I still think a lot about my moves in RHP as you advised, but that's about all chess playing I can do.
Do you have any advice in order to maintain ...[text shortened]...
Something that would not take a lot of time but still keep me sharp? .
Thanks in advance.
So I would say no blitz. I play OTB tourneys during school holidays and summer break. So for the rest of the year I gotta keep sharp some how. What I do is have 3 games on Rhp always going, 1/7 timer so that keeps me involved in chess. When I have time I read some chess books. But I think the biggest thing is to do some tactic puzzles each day. I took several months off from my tactic program and when I came back to it, I couldn't solve some easy puzzles and spent more time completing the 810 puzzles then before. My chess play was also not that sharp. Eventually it came back after several months.
So for the simple answer, do some puzzles each day. I say at least 4 though. 4 puzzle * 5 min = 20 min. That's good.
Originally posted by kaizaevery kind. -although at first it's important to get those basic 1-2 move tactical motifs down. pins, forks, skewers, removal of guard, double attacks, discovered attacks. it's not enough to know about them, you have to recognize them instantly, in your sleep, drunk or any other moment. that takes hundreds or thousands of repetitions.
I just have one question, when you say "Do 4 puzzles everyday" what kind of puzzle are you refering to? Mate in 1? Mate in 2? Mate in 3? Pin? Fork? Gain in material? Gain in position? Draw?
just wondering 🙂
come to think of it, here's a few hundred such puzzles:
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/index1.htm
Originally posted by kaizaAny puzzles. But keep in mind doing 4 mate in 1 puzzles won't help you as much as doing 4 mate in 3 puzzles.
I just have one question, when you say "Do 4 puzzles everyday" what kind of puzzle are you refering to? Mate in 1? Mate in 2? Mate in 3? Pin? Fork? Gain in material? Gain in position? Draw?
just wondering 🙂
It depends on your strenght. Do puzzles which give you a challenge but are do able. I recommend puzzles which force you to calculated at least 2 moves deep for each side, so 4 half moves. So mate in 3 or more and combination puzzles 2 + moves deep. Do 4 of these a day at least.
Originally posted by wormwoodYou know I keep seeing people recommending this site but i can't understand why it's so popular.
every kind. -although at first it's important to get those basic 1-2 move tactical motifs down. pins, forks, skewers, removal of guard, double attacks, discovered attacks. it's not enough to know about them, you have to recognize them instantly, in your sleep, drunk or any other moment. that takes hundreds or thousands of repetitions.
come to think of it, here's a few hundred such puzzles:
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/index1.htm
The pages take forever to load and the way the pages are set up and the puzzles etc, I find pretty bad. I can't even follow what going on most of the time because of the way the moves are displayed. Instead of showing half moves, I think he shows a whole move for both sides sometimes without writing down the moves and then you gotta figure out what piece did what.
I don't like that site. I also tried it on faster computer but same thing, takes forever to scroll and load etc...
There's about 100 puzzles on that chess.about site I mentioned on page 2. There's more online too if you search for them.
Originally posted by RahimKnothing like that for me? everything opens up and scrolls instantly.
The pages take forever to load and the way the pages are set up and the puzzles etc, I find pretty bad. I can't even follow what going on most of the time because of the way the moves are displayed. Instead of showing half moves, I think he shows a whole move for both sides sometimes without writing down the moves and then you gotta figure out what piece did what.
I agree there's not much design to talk about, but to me it's very clear. hundreds or more like thousands of puzzles. the about.com puzzles are ok, but it's one day and you've done them all. then you iterate of course. but for me, 140 puzzles I pretty much memorize the first time through.
but actually, my point was there's 600 puzzles for basic 1-move tactical motifs there. I don't know any other source like that.
Originally posted by JusuhLike I say it depend on your skill level.
what if one does 12 mate in 1 puzzles. 🙂
If you find mate in 1 puzzles challenging and think they will help you improve your chess then fine.
This isn't meant for you Jusuh in particular but, if you can do mate in 1 why not try mate in 2. It's just 1 further move. You know you can do it, try it.
Jusuh, just curious why are you here, Rhp ? Got time to kill and find the forums interesting?
Originally posted by wormwoodacademic chess or chess academic or something similar to that.
nothing like that for me? everything opens up and scrolls instantly.
I agree there's not much design to talk about, but to me it's very clear. hundreds or more like thousands of puzzles. the about.com puzzles are ok, but it's one day and you've done them all. then you iterate of course. but for me, 140 puzzles I pretty much memorize the first time throug ...[text shortened]... 0 puzzles for basic 1-move tactical motifs there. I don't know any other source like that.
They got 1000's and 1000 from different book built into some java thing. the only problem is that when i visted the site recently, it was really slow and the solution on listed the first move even if the problem was mate in 6 or something.
But when I got 200 puzzles from that site 2 years ago for my chess tactic collection and back then it was working fine and i could see the whole solution.
On to planning. These websites describe it pretty well so I'll just post them on here. I read through them and they are pretty good. Personally, I think i do most of the stuff unconciously for each of my moves. I tried using a checklist but its so hard to follow and takes valuable time of the clock in OTB play.
Couple of things I want to add though.
1. If your opponent has different pieces then you, say a bishop and you have a knight, that is called an imbalance. Use you advantage, thus in this situation try to close off the position since his bishop will be bad. Stuff like this is covered in Silman's reasses your chess book.
2. If you are not sure what to do, look at your worst piece and place it on a better square. Picture this, If you could put your pieces on any reasonable square where would they be? Then try to put your pieces there and try to prevent your opponent from doing the same. Also from Silman's book.
3.Finally, I've used this a number of times and it's great. You often hear masters give this advice. Find a similar master game to your Rhp game and looks at the pawn structure and where they place thier pieces. Look at what works and what doesn't and pick up some ideas from the game. Use these ideas, pawn stucture, piece placement in your game.
Here are the sites:
http://home.worldonline.dk/kfyhn/VikingChess/RussellBlack/index.html
The 3 articles.
http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_orlov_middlegame/archive.html
The middlegame planning articles. There rest of the site is also great and maybe the thinking cap stuff by Heisman might help you guys. Its under instruction, begginner/intermediete/thinking cap . I haven't looked at them.
http://www.davidlevinchess.com/
go to instuction- and then 2 articles, To plan for the Middlegame______ and Larry Evans Method.
Post any questions on here,
Rahim
Originally posted by RahimKDoes that help?
On to planning. These websites describe it pretty well so I'll just post them on here. I read through them and they are pretty good. Personally, I think i do most of the stuff unconciously for each of my moves. I tried using a checklist but its so hard to follow and takes valuable time of the clock in OTB play.
Couple of things I want to add though.
1 ...[text shortened]... for the Middlegame______ and Larry Evans Method.
Post any questions on here,
Rahim