Excuse me trying to answer when I'm hardly over that hill myself.
But it seems to me you could get over 1200 by just stopping making basic errors. Always check to see what your opponent has stopped defending, what piece he is now attacking or which of his other pieces he has freed a path for everytime he moves.
Also, before moving check that you won't be leaving anything (including squares) undefended.
Then get a book on endgames. A nice chatty one that deals with basic endgames. pawn and King vs king and two pawns and king against king etc. These should turn the odd draw into a win and the odd defeat into a draw. That will start you moving in the right direction.
Originally posted by messplayerStudy your losses,learn from them,eliminate your common mistakes one by one,study tactics a lot,and endgames.You'll get there 🙂
What do I do to get out of this 1200's hole (USCF rated)? I study everyday from books from Silman, Bronstein, Vukovic, etc. and also have a teacher who studies with Kaidanov. It seems as though I can't get over the hill. What should i do?
Thanks! I got ChessBase and started entering my tournament and match games into them and analyzing them via fritz and my brain =P. Also, i do have a book on endgames by mr. pandolfini. However, After about 30 pages in, I got bored and gave up. I will indeed follow you and go back into it. Any other advice?
Originally posted by messplayerDoesn't matter,I do the same as I advise you,and I would advise it to anyone below 2000 elo.
p.s - Im rated 1292, not like 1201 or anything.
Just one more thing to add,use your brain first,then check for tactics with an engine.And check this out: http://www.chesswise.com/Miganalysis.htm
http://www.chesswise.com/Mig5Move.htm
Analysing my game that way,has helped me a lot 🙂
My best advice would be to go read up on skewers, pins, forks, discovered attacks, double attacks and removal of defenders.
This is a good site for that (except its black). Very concise with lots of diagrams...
http://www.intellectworld.com/chess/
Once you've read the rudimentaries of those, then find some interactive tactics online and play through a few of what u'd learned.
This is ok, but not a lot of examples of each tactics and non-interactive...
http://www.logicalchess.com/resources/lessons/tactics/
This is a great site with loads and loads of tactics to work through. non-interactive 🙁 I spent a few hours on here, and it helped no end.
http://clubs.juniata.edu/chess/live/chess_tactics.html
An interactive mating tactics site is found here...
http://www.chesslab.com/PositionSearch.html (click on games/puzzles)
Then once you've got your head around those few simple things and know what to look out for, before you make a move, see if your opponent has any pieces in position for a fork/skewer/whatever. Then see what is blocking u from using that tactic and check what u have to do to go ahead with the tactic. Then check your own pieces to make sure your opponent can't attack u with a tactic. Then move.
That little bit of work should easily get u to at least 1400-1500 level.
Get a large database from some grand masters and build your openings from that until u get familiar. Add at least another 100 points for doing that.
I've never read a book in my life (mainly cos I only realised last week that ur supposed to read them while playing with a chess set), and have reached 1800 on here by doing the above. And having LOTS of time on my hands to spot tactics.
Originally posted by messplayerChesspad is great for going through pgn databases. Its free as well. Just google for it.
P.S - My teacher recently gave me a King's Indian Database of about 800 games and a Sicilian one of about 7000 at the last tournament. It's all annotated but only with variations. How quickly should i go through each game? How should i go about viewing them?
D
The biggest single thing I've done recently to stop making beginner mistakes so much is the following:
Look at the board and compare material. Note any imbalances like different colored Bishops, different numbers of Pawns or pieces, one side has a Knight to the other's Bishop, etc.
Next, look at all of your pieces and Pawns, left to right. Start with the Pawns and quickly look at all possible moves each can make. See if anything looks interesting and if it does, make a mental note of it.
Do the same with the Knights. Then the Bishops, then the Rooks, then the Queen, then the King. Even if something looks really awesome look at everything else first. Pick the move that seems most useful, and keep in mind any backups.
Now look at the enemy's material and do the same thing (while remembering that you are going to have moved a certain piece!), checking for stuff he can take for free or anything else he can do to stop your plan or attack you. Especially look for pieces you left en prise (for free) or anything you leave unguarded when you move the piece you plan to move. Look for the basic tactical possibilities from both sides, skewers, pins, discovered attacks etc (already mentioned by Ragnorak).
Make sure you look at every possible move for a second or so before you touch anything. This will help you avoid most really stupid errors. It's frustrating and time consuming at first to do this, but it really helps and you get used to it.
Originally posted by messplayerAny kind of study can get boring from time to time; but if you truly found Pandolfini's endgame course boring, that could be the source of your problem.
Thanks! I got ChessBase and started entering my tournament and match games into them and analyzing them via fritz and my brain =P. Also, i do have a book on endgames by mr. pandolfini. However, After about 30 pages in, I got bored and gave up. I will indeed follow you and go back into it. Any other advice?
Basic endgames are the bread and butter of chess. Study them until you can do them in your sleep. Then do them in your sleep, and study them some more.