- Joined
- 12 Aug 06
- Moves
- 5380
I've reached 1569 OTB rating last month. Coparing this with the 1100 OTB rating on August 2006, I've improved.
No idea what to do now.
I've read only two books: Attacking Chess by Waitzkin and Unbeatable Chess Lessons by Svidler. Aside from that, I only studied tactics and played games.
I have absolutely no opening repertoire.
Any books or software that can help me jump to the next level?
Originally posted by anthiasI'm assuming that you understand tactics, and I'm pretty sure (from how you describe yourself) that you understand the basics of positional strategy (open ranks for rooks, knight vs. bishop strategies, pawn structure strategies, etc.), so I would work on an opening collection. Granted, I do not have an opening collection, either, but you should probably familiarize yourself generally with some common openings and see which ones fit your style. In other words, you might want to choose an opening to play as white, and a reply to 1. c4, 1. d4, and 1.e4 as black to start.
I have absolutely no opening repertoire.
Originally posted by anthiasYou need to analyse your recent OTB games... identify common weaknesses from these... and let that determine what you should study next.
No idea what to do now.
e.g. all of your recent losses could have been in the endgame. Or maybe none of them were. Hence, study accordingly in terms of what your play needs most.
14 edits
Originally posted by anthias"MCO(Modern Chess Openings) is good for finding a favorite opening. "1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices & Combinations" & "1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate" are great for improving on tactics play.
I've reached 1569 OTB rating last month. Comparing this with the 1100 OTB rating on August 2006, I've improved.
No idea what to do now.
I have absolutely no opening repertoire.
Any books or software that can help me jump to the next level?
Best wishes 🙂
-- Paul
Originally posted by anthiasYou could send a couple of your games of for analysis. I found this very useful. I sent in games with my anotations and then they were annotated by an IM who gave me tips on repertoire and what my strength and weaknesses were etc. as well as recommending some books. Although I did become very aware of how little I know - it did help me focus my study.
I've reached 1569 OTB rating last month. Coparing this with the 1100 OTB rating on August 2006, I've improved.
No idea what to do now.
I've read only two books: Attacking Chess by Waitzkin and Unbeatable Chess Lessons by Svidler. Aside from that, I only studied tactics and played games.
I have absolutely no opening repertoire.
Any books or software that can help me jump to the next level?
My sessions were organised via www.improveyourchess.com which is a subscriber site run by GM Tony Kosten. They do expect you to commit to 3 games a month for 3 months. The Andrew Martin Chess Academy will let you send in 1 game for analysis and they give you a discount for 5. You can also find chess coaches via ICC and I presume Playchess.Com also.
Study the endgame. Pour over every Capablanca and Rubinstein game you can find. Buy a copy of Fritz. Read Nimzovitch's "My System" and "Chess Praxis." Study Alekhine's books: My Best Games 1 & 2. Read Botvinnik's book. Then plow through Smyslov's games. If you do all this, you will have done more than 99% of all chess players.
1 edit
Originally posted by anthiasI bought CT-Art 3.0 a couple of weeks ago.
...Any books or software that can help me jump to the next level?
It's a tactics trainer with 1200 interactive puzzles set by theme or difficulty from elo 1200-1300+ I should think.
The learning process is helped because for each problem if you can't get the solution straight away, the lines of attack & key squares are hinted.
If you still don't get it right, the piece to move flashes.
If you're still having problems, a simplified 16-square corner version of the full-board theme is shown.
Counterplay is shown where relevant - you can play the opposition tactical moves as well.
I've done at least 300 of these & they are just like situations you get during a game, from simple forks & discovered attacks to multi-move combinations, I've learned more from this doing the problems than reading winning chess tactics from cover-to-cover twice!
Originally posted by der schwarze RitterAnd after you've done this you'll be bored rigid - just play it by ear. 😉
Study the endgame. Pour over every Capablanca and Rubinstein game you can find. Buy a copy of Fritz. Read Nimzovitch's "My System" and "Chess Praxis." Study Alekhine's books: My Best Games 1 & 2. Read Botvinnik's book. Then plow through Smyslov's games. If you do all this, you will have done more than 99% of all chess players.