tips on how to study and play

Some intresting articles:

http://www.chessville.com/instruction/instr_gen_path_to_improve.htm

http://www.chessville.com/instruction/instr_gen_suggestions_for_improving.htm

http://www.chessville.com/instruction/instr_gen_practicing_tactics.htm

http://www.chessville.com/instruction/instr_gen_reducing_otb_errors.htm

http://www.chessville.com/instruction/instr_gen_play_v_patzers.htm

http://www.chessville.com/instruction/instr_gen_my_system.htm

http://www.chessville.com/instruction/Notebook.htm

http://www.chessville.com/instruction/StudyOfTheOpening_PartOne.htm

Now,get to work! 😀

here's another one

http://www.chessit.net/originals/or-become-master-1.htm

and another one

http://www.chessit.net/originals/or-become-master-2.htm

Fischer said his mother lacked the "chess gene." Some say beginners can't "see" moves. The fact is that the process of assessing the position is not discussed as much as it should be. Benko's new book says nothing about how to think like a chess master -- when it sould have! The real issue is ignored once again. If Fischer or Leko, say, would merely think out loud before each move, you would learn the most... seing the whole board, playing both sides, weighing probabilities and contigentcies, etc. Then listen to the 1200 player think out loud, focusing mostly on the last piece moved, not exploring options, etc.

I remember as a kid starting out in chess. It seemed as if there were hundreds of possibitlies to move. Then as I learned more, the possibilities narrowed down to two or three. Now, I'm reversing the situation and looking for more possibilites outside the first few candidates that come to mind. One of the things I believe sets off the super grandmasters is the speed of dismissal. Over the board, moves we might look at for maybe five minutes before dismissing them are thrown out in seconds by the great players. Then they play "blindfold" the remaining moves down to a quiescent position. Their thinking is very efficient, unlike the ragged thinking processes of the typical club player. I might pick a move, then look around some more, go back to the same move, run through the lines just to make sure before making it. More often than not I'm surprised by my opponent's reply. Chaotic thinking--not good for good chessplaying.

Originally posted by SirLoseALot
Now,get to work! 😀

www.chessarea.com

Very nice, thank you.

Question -- how come openings is the LAST thing to learn? One of the reasons I went in search of openings books (I got the Fine book) is that I was getting killed at the opening...I wanted to change my name to "one piece down" because I was so often playing "one piece down" from early in the games.

Nonny

[ chessarea.com ]

Very interesting. Have you used their program yourself? Does anyone else besides me find it frustrating to read the lessons (or books) with all the moves? Is it so hard to provide pgn files so that we can follow allong without having to type the moves in ourselves, or get a board out?

I read computer books all the time, and they almost always provide the code samples on a disk or for download.

Nonny

Originally posted by nonnymoose
Very nice, thank you.

Question -- how come openings is the LAST thing to learn? One of the reasons I went in search of openings books (I got the Fine book) is that I was getting killed at the opening...I wanted to change my name to "one piece down" because I was so often playing "one piece down" from early in the games.

Nonny

Originally posted by nonnymoose
[ chessarea.com ]

Very interesting. Have you used their program yourself? Does anyone else besides me find it frustrating to read the lessons (or books) with all the moves? Is it so hard to provide pgn files so that we can follow allong without having to type the moves in ourselves, or get a board out?

I read computer books all the time, and they almost always provide the code samples on a disk or for download.

Nonny

The key to improving at chess is to try your very hardest each game you play. The rest is details.

The reason why serious tournament players tend to improve faster than casual players is simply because they are trying harder during each game that they play.

Whenever we make real effort at something, our brain forms connections, like pathways between neurons. The analogy is something like this -- imagine a pathfinder in a thick forest cutting away underbrush with a machete. The harder he works, the more plentiful his paths through the bush will be. And the more clear these paths will be. If he works really hard, he soon has a whole network of crisscrossing paths through this dense forest. Meaning, he can find his way around quicker and more efficiently.

The higher brain functions needed for efficiency in chess work in a similar fashion. These brain functions require pathways, neuron-connections, to be established, much like those needed for learning a foreign language. These pathways or connections cannot be established if the effort is not applied to creating them.

So-called "genius" is really nothing but 90% perspiration, and 10% inspiration. As Fischer once remarked, "effective tactics in chess flow from a sound position". The "sound position" arises from the 90% perspiration, that is, the hard work applied to creating the brain connections that come from practice. The harder we try to think through each position, calculating as far as we can see and pushing ourselves to see further each time, the more brain connections needed for that type of calculating are being formed, and the easier it will be to calculate that far next time.

The strongest chess masters all worked their butts off to get where they are. As the great philosopher Gurdjieff once said, "nothing is possible in life without aim and effort." He also said, "if you can do one thing well, you can do anything well." So the neat thing about grasping the cause and effect relationship between sincerity of effort and improvement at chess, is how it shows us a golden key to success at anything in life.

Originally posted by Metamorphosis
So the neat thing about grasping the cause and effect relationship between sincerity of effort and improvement at chess, is how it shows us a golden key to success at anything in life.