CHESMAYNE
the
way “memories are made of this”
Memory
01 Mnemosyne: Greek goddess of
memory. Mnemonics. She is the daughter of heaven and earth
(Gaea and Uranus).
‘History
remembers those who have helped humanity and civilization to march forward a
little’.
‘To see the future, you have to look backwards’.
‘Those who can not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it’.
02 Memories are symbolically
relevant to your present situation.
Memories are stored in the unconscious, and may be used by the
unconscious as symbols of the current situation that faces the individual.
‘Our memories are card-indexes consulted, and
then put back in disorder by authorities whom we do not control’.
03 One of the four rivers of the
Underworld (Greek) along with the River of
04 Many bards are
blind (ie, Homer) a handicap which improves their powers of memory.
05 Smara (India):
‘Memory’, the god of love, since we love what we remember.
Fragrant Memories: Artist: Josephine Wall.
Pieces:
550. Size: 15.5” X 18”.
06 Mnemon: a unit of memory
(memory is localized in small combinations of brain cells). Memory is formed by changes in the synapses,
the links through which the brain cells communicate with each other.
A pattern of synaptic change represents the memory of an experience. This memory soon disappears unless made
permanent by a process called long-term potentiation. Memory pills are being developed which lift
normal mental performance to super-normal performance. Cognitive enhancers are called
ampakines. Drugs improve memory
processing at the time the information is acquired, enhancing the transition
from short to long-term memory not by improving recall.
07 Zeigarnik: a tendency to
remember a task or duty that we have not yet completed, or got around to
(psychological term).
Thoughts on
Improving at Chess
by John
Coffey
I thought that it would help if
I would talk about my long chess history of how I got to the skill that I am
now. I am also going to talk about what
I am trying to do to improve my play further.
From this people might be able to determine if the techniques that I use
might be beneficial to them.
If you get bored reading my
life story then skip to my conclusions at the bottom. As I look back at my 25 year history with
chess, I realize that there were times of inactivity and even more times when I
did not study chess at all. Like most
people I have lead a very busy life, and sometimes chess has taken a back seat
to other things. It was only during
periods of intense chess activity where I both studied and played that I made
the most progress.
Part 1: The Early School Days.
In 1974 I took up chess in
the 7th grade and became instantly addicted. We were still in the Bobby
Fischer boom and my home-room teacher encouraged the whole class to play
chess. At first I was really lousy and
was easily beaten by most of my classmates.
As far as I know, I am the
only person in my grade level who made any attempt to study chess. I went to the local library and checked out
some books on chess. From these I learned such concepts as openings, basic checkmates, and primitive tactics. This new knowledge allowed me to get the
upper hand on my classmates and eventually I started beating the teachers as
well.
After 6 months I joined the
USCF and played my first tournament. I
managed to defeat a 1200 player, draw a 1300 player, and lose badly to two C
players. I got my first rating of 1323
which I was quite proud of.
The thing I remember about
chess tournaments from those days is that they were a little more formal and
the time controls were longer. The USCF had only recently allowed 40 moves
in 60 minutes, and some people complained that this time control was too fast
and called it “a fad”.
Between 1974 and 1980 I must
have played several thousand speed games. I played as
much chess as I possibly could. We
started a school chess club, and I joined the small town city club. I played for chess teams and competed in
school tournaments. Every morning we
were playing speed chess in the school library.
On the weekends I would get together with one of the adults from the
city club and play. Occasionally we
would drive to one of the big city chess clubs and play speed chess there
too.
During this time period I
made some effort to study chess but there were hardly any materials available
to me that were useful. Most chess books
were outside my budget and above my skill level. I managed to find a book on endgames and studied it with great
interest. I found a few opening
pamphlets but it is very questionable if these were helpful to me. However, I did feel that I got some benefit
from studying Reinfeld’s “
I did manage to play a couple
of chess computers during this time period, but they were incredibly
poor players.
In 1980 my rating peaked at
1598. I was not only the high school
champion but the small town champion as well.
I had studied very little useful stuff to get to that level, so I knew
almost nothing about openings or middle game strategy. I understood some things about pawn structure and endgames, but
my biggest strength was my good tactical ability. I remember that 20 years ago I could calculate
very quickly over the chessboard, and I probably looked at more moves per
second than I do today. On the rare
occasion that I had a chance to play class A players from the big city, I
thought that I could give them good games but I would usually lose. In the ‘70s I thought that class A players
were like gods.
In 1980 my openings were the English and the Petroff. I probably knew the English about six moves
deep and a couple lines of the Petroff nine moves deep. I could play one line of the Benko
Gambit to about move twelve. I knew
very little about other openings and it would stay that way for several
years.
While I was still a class C
player I tried to study games played by Grandmasters in “Chess Life and
Review”. I felt quite discouraged
because the games were all above my level.
In addition the games in these magazines were not very well annotated. Ever since then I have been somewhat biased
against the idea of studying Grandmaster games as a way to improve.
In these early years one very interesting thing happened with my attempts
to study chess that would be of great benefit to me later. Around 1975 I had lost a game that cost me
the school championship. I was not happy
with this loss but I had written down the moves, so I was able to go back and
study the game. I went through the game
so many times that I realized that I could remember the game without the use of
a written score. This was really
beneficial to me because I could then visualize the game without the use of
chessboard. I went around thinking about
the game all the time. This
visualization in my head helped me to get patterns into my long term memory. Eventually this method helped me to develop
the ability to play blindfold chess.
This technique of memorizing games was something that I
would use several times in the 1970’s. I
would show off games from memory to my friends. In those days it
would have been too difficult for me to memorize more than one game at a time, so if I were to learn a
new game then I would have to forget the old one.
Part 2: The College years
From summer 1980 to summer
1984 I played very little chess. I was
mostly busy with college and because my school was a small regional campus,
there were no local chess clubs. I was
also getting more and more involved with computers, so chess had become of
secondary importance in my life.
I didn’t give up chess
completely, but almost. I played in 1 to
2 tournaments a year, and I don’t remember doing very well. But somehow in four years I raised my rating
up to 1710. I think that toward the end
of my college years I had scored just enough upsets in tournaments to boost my
rating.
Part 3: The last half of 1984
What got me back into chess
was chess computers. I was already
involved with computers a great deal and had even started a successful computer
software mail order business. Until this
time I had thought of computers as not being very good opponents, but when a
friend showed me how strong his computer was then I got quite excited about
them.
In the fall 1984 I moved to
I continued my computer
business, and I got a crummy job to supplement my income. I also started playing chess a great
deal. I bought a ‘Novag Super
Constellation’ which I played constantly.
I also met with people that I knew and played speed chess with
them. Finally I played 13 weeks in a row
in quad half-day tournaments that were held weekly in
I attribute my rise to class A
to my strong tactical ability. This
ability came from playing ten thousand speed chess games, doing tactical
problems, practicing with computers, memorizing games and playing 13
tournaments in a row. I had done minimal
chess study although I knew some things about the endgame and I was just
beginning to learn more about the openings.
Part 4: 1985 to the first half of 1988
Circumstances changed quite a
bit for me during these years. I moved
away from
I eventually got back into
chess and was mostly playing computers.
As I started to get back into chess, I tried memorizing chess games once
again. However, I tried something new
this time. I wanted to memorize more than one game at a
time. At first I memorized three games and reviewed
them every day. This felt a little
cumbersome at first because it was time consuming. I told a friend that if I wanted to memorize a new game then I would
have to deliberately forget one of the old games to make room in my head.
Nevertheless, I wanted to learn more chess games. I began to realize that I did not need to
review every memorized chess game every single day. So I made a list of games that I was going to
review. On this list I grouped the games
by how well I knew them. The games that
I knew the best were reviewed the least often and the games that I didn’t know
as well were reviewed more often. I
still use the list today and I have about a hundred chess items on it.
As I got to be a better
player I could memorize more chess material and I could do it easier. I also feel strongly that as I practiced memorizing things that I got better at
it.
Part 5: The Purdue Years (Summer 1988 to Summer 1991)
I had the most fun with my
chess during this time period and I also saw my highest rating ever.
I got a new job in
Usually there wasn’t much of
a club during the summer. By the end of
the 1988/1989 school year attendance in the club had dropped to almost
nothing. I decided to do something about
this, so I advertised in the local paper that I would be offering free chess
lessons at the Purdue Chess Club. This
brought in several weaker players who were not Purdue students and I discovered
that I enjoyed teaching things to people.
From that time onward I would be offering my services to people as a
chess tutor. Eventually I started
putting my memorized chess games onto paper and giving them to people to use as lesson
material. I thought that someday I would
turn this material into a chess book that I would write.
I not only played speed chess
twice a week at the Purdue Club, but I sometimes played speed on the weekend
and attended slow tournaments about twice a month.
I also switched openings. The English and the Petroff didn’t really fit
my tactical style of play, so I switched to King
Pawn openings for White and the Sicilian Dragon for Black.
It was interesting to play the Dragon because there were several players
at the Purdue club who also played it.
We were able to share our ideas.
I bought a new chess computer
and played action games with it three times a week for six months. I also memorized many of the games that I played with the
computer. Eventually I was beating the
computer enough times that I had to buy a better computer. I practiced with the better computer for a
few months and continued to memorize chess games.
At one point I had thirty games memorized.
All this slow game practice
with computers along with memorizing the best games seemed to really pay off. I scored several upsets with chess masters
and my rating rose to an all time high of 2079.
I even won a couple of Expert prizes in state tournaments. I noticed that the best players at the Purdue
Chess Club gave me more respect after that.
People would ask me how to
get better at chess and I told them to memorize games. Most
people didn’t follow my advice because they told me that it would be too
difficult. One person told me that if I
was going to memorize stuff then it should be openings instead of chess games, but I didn’t agree with this advice.
During this period I also
spent a great deal more time studying openings and endgames. Overall I felt that I was well on my way to
becoming a chess master.
Part 6:
It has been said that some
player’s peak in their early thirties, and this was true for me. Soon I would become so preoccupied with work
that I would have less time for chess study and my rating declined.
I changed jobs and cities and
this resulted in different chess habits.
Indianapolis didn’t actually have an official chess club, so I started a
small club on the
For several months I would
play speed chess against a neighbour kid for a few hours each
week. At first I gave him queen odds or even more, but he
eventually got better to the point where I gave him only knight odds and then
eventually he didn’t want any odds at all.
I am sure that he learned a great deal although it probably didn’t help
me that much. Today he is nearly an A
player.
I had quite a few chess students in
One master told me that if I
wanted to go from 2000 to 2200 that I should go through 1,000 Grandmaster chess
games. I tried to go through some games
but I felt that I was missing the point.
Part 7:
After changing jobs and
moving across the country, my rating went into quick decline. I was very preoccupied with my new job in
which I was working much overtime. I
went to tournaments feeling not really prepared and I was beaten by lower rated
players. My rating plummeted all the way
back to the mid 1900’s. Therefore I
withdrew from tournament chess for a couple of years so that I could better
adjust to my new life.
My first real effort to study
chess again came in 1995. I spent time
most weekends studying openings. I
simply memorized lines. This was more opening
study than I had ever done. At first
this didn’t seem to pay off, but in the long run it became apparent that I had
become pretty strong in a couple of my favorite opening
systems.
In 1995 I also discovered the
Internet Chess Server (now called the Internet Chess
Club.) The first year according to ICS I
spent 12% of my life there. I played
more games there that first year than I have since.
In 1996 I had the notion to
write that chess book that I had wanted to do.
I spent almost all my spare time in 1996 writing that book. In addition to using all the chess games that
I had memorized, I created a couple thousand tactical problems from games played on the
Internet Chess Club. I figured that no
publisher would be interested in a meager class A player like myself, so I put
the chess book online for the whole world to see. I would continue to spend time updating and
improving the book over the next couple of years and I still spend time
updating it. It is an ongoing
process.
In 97 and 98 I was still busy
as ever with my work. Occasionally I
would memorize a game or an opening line, but the only real study that I did was to
look at my own tactical problems. I had
felt that my tactical ability was not as sharp as it once was, so the tactical
study was helpful to me. I have gone
through the 1-move problems maybe thirty times, and I know for certain that
this has helped my speed game. I have
also studied the harder problems.
All this time I continued to
play speed chess in the local clubs. I
was one of the few people who played in the clubs all year long because
attendance in the clubs would drop off considerably during the summer. Occasionally I would get together with
friends and play on the weekend as well.
I wasn’t playing computers
anymore and this surprises me considering that I had such good results
practicing with computers years ago. I think
that lack of time was the reason why I did not do this. Recently I did get Fritz 5, but I use it
mostly for analysis. I have yet to
play a long game with Fritz, but I should try that sometime.
Part 8:
I changed
jobs again and this has helped since I have just a little more free time with
the new job.
I noticed
that I would turn forty in about 400 days, and I did not want to stay an A
player forever and I was starting to worry that I might be past my prime. I have decided that I will make a 400-day
push to learn as much as I can. The goal
is to get as close to master as possible even through I know that I won’t make
it to master strength in 400 days. If I
can become at least a good Expert then I will have a chance still to make
master someday.
I evaluated my relative
strength and weaknesses. I seemed to be
strong with tactics and endgames, but I often had problems with certain openings. So I made a goal to memorize 200 short opening lines in
400 days. I have worked almost every day
on this and I am already up to 71 lines.
I think that it is already helping my play, although only time will tell
how well this approach works for me.
I am aware that I might have
to try another thing to see my way to chess mastery. I could start playing computers again. One other possibility is that I could take
openings that I know and look at the database on the Internet Chess Club to see
how masters play those openings.
It has been suggested to me
by a good player that I should try to play different openings from what I
normally play so as to broaden my horizons.
I might try this, but I feel that my understanding of the openings that
I do play are not sufficient and that I need to work on those a great deal more
first.
Conclusions:
The reader can draw his own
conclusions but I have a few of my own...
1 A person can get to 1800 with strong tactical knowledge
and very little understanding of the other aspects of the game. That is exactly
what I did.
This might not
work for everyone. Some people cannot
calculate as well as others. It is
possible that a few people in order to get to 1800 would need to develop other
areas of their game as well.
2 When people ask me how to get to 1800 then I tell them
to study tactics.
Although a
person could get to 1800 by playing ten thousand speed chess games like I did,
most people don’t want to wait the 10 years that it took me to do it. I believe that studying tactical problems can
shorten the process. I recommend
balancing 5 hours of play per week with 5 hours of tactical study. I think that if C players followed this
program then most would be 1800 strength in 2 years. Who wants to be the first to prove me
correct?
3 Chess is entirely about pattern recognition. People think that calculation is the most
important chess skill but it isn’t really so.
The most important skill is memory. People need
to be able to recognize things that they have seen before.
I think that the only
effective method of tactical study requires much repetition. I believe that it is better (and faster) to
study a few hundred problems ten times than it is to study 5,000 unique
problems once each. My personal goal is
to be able to recognize all 2,000 problems in my book on sight, but I recommend
that most people focus only on the 600 1-move problems at first. Once they get good with those then they
should work on the 600 2-move problems.
The reason why repetition is
important is that people are inherently forgetful. It is hard to build pattern recognition if a
person doesn’t remember anything that they have done. A local A-player once told me that he played
10,000 three-minute games on the net and afterwards he was still about the same
strength as when he started.
4 Studying simple problems can be helpful to your
game. One B-player told me that he sees
3 and 4 move combinations but misses simple combinations. I told him that if he is missing 1-move
tactics that he should study the 1-move combinations in my book ten times. He thought that maybe this was beneath his
level and wanted to study the three move combinations instead. Although I am sure that he can calculate 3
moves ahead, if he is missing simple stuff then I feel that he needs to work on
his basic pattern recognition.
When I do problems from my
online book, I time myself to see how long it takes to do a set of
problems. The 1-movers for white took me
an hour at first, but now I have that down to 15 minutes.
5 Memorizing chess games can be very
helpful to building pattern recognition.
If you are going to try to memorize very much then you need a well-organized list like I
have. I have categories on my list from
“Every Day” to “Once a Year”, and I review different items at different
intervals based upon how well I know them.
I have always believed that it
is fairly easy to memorize chess games.
Most players can remember a game after they play it. If they can’t do that then at least they can
remember the game after going through it a couple of times. This has become a little easier for me after
I got to Class-A.
The hard part is to retain
the game by going through it on a regular basis. Even this isn’t so hard. If I have a chessboard on my screen (such as
Blitzn) then it takes me maybe 5 or 6 minutes to go through most games.
Over the years I have told
people to memorize games and people consistently tell me that they don’t want to do
that. Either they think that they don’t
have the ability, in which case they sell themselves short, or they think that
it is not worth the time involved.
However, I have found that memorizing games is very helpful to
building my pattern recognition and therefore is worth every minute I spend on
it.
6 It is good to play slow games against computers. Especially if you memorize the most interesting
games. I like playing a level as close
to my ability as possible.
7 Knowledge is power.
The better the player, the more they know. I have spent much time studying endgames and
it has paid off in big ways. I used to
be so confused in the openings. Now when
I play speed chess in the local clubs, I watch what people play against me and
then I go home and study those lines.
Finally I know a little better what I am doing.
I disagree with the notion that
a person should play a generalized system where they don’t have to study many
lines. It can work very well at first,
but to take this approach is to assume that your knowledge base is going to
remain completely unchanged. It should
instead be the goal to expand one’s knowledge even if it is a little at
time.
8 Slow games and tournaments are important. This is where the limits of your ability are
tested, and it is where the best chess games get played.
9 Speed chess is important too. I like playing speed chess against as near
equal opponents as possible because it keeps my tactics sharp. To be honest, I think that most people enjoy
playing an opponent just slightly weaker than themselves. They know that they will likely win, but they
have to stay alert because if they make a mistake then they will surely
lose.
10 Balance play with study. Chess is a social game, so most people will
enjoy playing more than they will enjoy studying. However, if you like chess for the beautiful
game that it is, then studying can be a fun experience too.
If you want to get better
then you have to study. Playing will
help you to improve to a point but playing by itself does not expand your
knowledge of the game. A good rule of
thumb might be 1 hour of study for every 2 hours of play.
11 Work on the area of your game that is the
weakest. You might already know some
things as well as Experts or Masters, so focus on the parts that you don’t know
and you will see the most rapid improvement.
From my old introduction ....
12 Rules of study and play.
A Have a good time.
Chess is after all just a game.
If you are not enjoying your chess study then you need to try a
different approach.
B Be a good sport.
If a loss makes you upset then it is
time to take up knitting instead. It can
easily hurt your chess results if you let your thought processes be clouded by
emotion.
C Don’t be afraid.
Play every opponent as if you know that you can win.
D If you see an opening move that you don’t know, then
try to look it up later.
E If you get into an endgame that you don’t understand,
be sure to study it later. Eventually
you will get to be very good in the endgame.
F It helps to specialize your openings. You can’t possibly know everything there is
to know in chess, so try to learn a couple of opening systems really well.
13 Book recommendations
1 Logical Chess Move by Move
by Chernev.
2 Get a book on chess
tactics. It just so happens that I have
written one and have it online.
3 Essential Chess Endings
Explained Move by Move Volume 1. Silman.
4 Nunn’s Chess Openings.
5 How to Reassess Your Chess
by Silman.
6 After mastering my online pages - Chess by Polgar.
I feel that too many chess books is bad.
Most people have two-dozen books that they never read. I think the books that I recommend here are
complete enough for most players.
By ROBERT M. SNYDER, Senior Master
The magic formula to improve
your game consists of two components: study and play. Study provides the theory
and play provides the practice. Together
they formulate the most effective way to improve your game. In this article we will look at what you
should be doing to improve your game as a scholastic player. These methods and
ideas are the same ones used by my most successful national scholastic
champions.
STUDY
(theory)
FIND A CHESS INSTRUCTOR
Finding a good chess teacher in your area should
be your first step. There is nothing better than having an experienced teacher
to guide you and provide you with a well-rounded study plan. Many teachers will also take you to and coach
you at local and national tournaments.
Certainly private lessons are the most efficient way to improve for the
least amount of time spent. However, in
many cases group instruction can be more fun for beginners as well as more
affordable. A good youth chess teacher
should have a good understanding of the game as well as the skill to make
learning fun. Teaching and playing
ability are two different skills.
However, if you are paying an instructor for lessons you should look for
a teacher who has both good teaching skills and playing ability. Just like with any subject a teacher cannot
effectively teach what they don’t know.
A player rated 1600+ would be an acceptable rating for a paid teacher
working with beginning or lower rated (under 1000) students. Once a student gets a rating over 1000 they
should look for a teacher rated at least three classes higher (600+ rating
points) than themselves. For students
rated over 1800 their teacher should be rated at least two classes higher (400+
rating points) than themselves. Once a
student reaches 2100 the teacher will work in more of the capacity of a trainer
and should be rated at least one class higher (200+ rating points). These are only general guidelines for a paid
instructor. Fees charged for lessons
can vary greatly. A lower rated less
experienced teacher might charge $10-$25 an hour for private lessons. A higher rated experienced teacher might
charge $25-$100 an hour for private lessons.
Rates may depend on whether the instructor must travel to the
student. Group lessons should cost
considerably less depending on the size of the group.
A good teacher has prepared
lesson plans and a developed system. The
main format of lessons should not consist of the student playing games against
the teacher. When students have gained
the experience they should record their games against other players and bring
them to their teacher for analysis.
Video taping private lessons
is a very effective tool. In this way
students can build a library of their lessons.
Students can review their lessons at home as often as they want and the
material is never lost! How often you
should take lessons depends on how much time and money you have! Certainly the more lessons you take the more
you will learn. Most of my students come
once a week to a group lesson and can schedule additional private lessons
according to their individual needs. For
a serious student I would consider several hours of lessons each week as ideal.
By far, the best way to receive instruction is in
person. However, if there are no
instructors in your area some teachers give lessons on the Internet using an
online chess club to get an interfacing board and a telephone. If done properly Internet lessons can be very
effective!
The Directory of Chess Teachers
is a good place to start looking for a chess instructor in your area. Otherwise, you might check with your local
chess club, the yellow pages or with your local recreation department.
There are some websites that
provide online instruction. An excellent
site to learn the basics is at So You Want to Play Chess
by 14 year old Jeremy Cone.
READ CHESS BOOKS
It has been said that there
are more books written on chess than all other games in the world
combined! Take advantage of this. I personally own well over 1,500 chess
books. Collecting chess books can be
fun, but can become expensive and space consuming! If you are a beginner you should start out
with a book on the basics: "Chess For Juniors"
(Robert M. Snyder, McKay - Random House, 1991).
This is the top selling chess book in the
You can develop a
well-rounded basic library with about eight to ten books. I like to suggest as a first follow-up book, "The Art of the Checkmate"
(Renaud and Kahn, Dover, 1953) which helps develop basic tactical skills. There are many good books on tactics
available and you might consider getting one of the following: “Simple Chess Tactics”, by Gillam,
“Combination Challenge” by Hall, “1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and
Combinations”, by Reinfeld.
A good first book on the
openings is "Ideas Behind the
Openings" (Fine, McKay, 1989).
It has a good balance between giving ideas and covering the more
important opening lines.
A good first book on opening traps is "Winning Chess Traps"
(Chernev, McKay, 1946). It is certainly
an old book, however, this classic outlines the traps by openings and has
excellent instructional value.
A good first book on the
endgame is Pandolfini's Endgame
Course (Pandolfini, Simon Schuster, 1988). It has a very simple outline. A somewhat more complex endgame book and a
possible follow-up is "A Guide
to the Chess Endings" (Euwe and Hooper, Dover, 1959).
The number of books with game collections can seem overwhelming. However, an excellent first game collection
book to get is "Logical Chess,
Move by Move" (Chernev, Simon Schuster, 1959). There is a comment on every move in all of
the games.
Every serious tournament
player or chess teacher should own a copy of "Official Rules of Chess" (U.S. Chess Federation,
McKay, 1994).
Also available for study are
computer programs with instruction and databases and chess videos. They vary greatly in quality and what they
cover.
SOME USEFUL STUDY IDEAS
It is important to study openings, tactics,
positional play, endgames and complete master games.
You should at all levels
develop an opening system which is sound.
If you are a beginner or lower rated player your opening system should
be well rounded for instructive purposes.
An extremely positional opening is usually not something a beginner is
going to understand. Open games (1 e4
e5) tend to contain many instructive tactical themes for beginners and is
therefore what this writer likes to teach to his students. Details of the system are contained in the "Chess For Juniors"
book. As you get more advanced you will
develop a playing style and will certainly make adjustments to and expand on
your opening system. When studying the
opening don’t just memorize moves. A
good player not only knows his lines well, but has an understanding of the
ideas behind the them. A well prepared
player in the opening is hard to beat.
If you don’t survive the opening then your knowledge on the middle game
or endgame is useless!
Pattern recognition is the
key to learning tactics. Study the
tactical patterns in the problems given in the suggested books above. Try and work out each problem by spending no
more than a few minutes on it. Then if
you still haven’t figured it out look up the solution in the book. Mark the ones you missed. Then move on to the next problem in the
book. After you have completed the book,
go back a second time over the problems you missed. This is the most efficient way to learn
tactics!
Learn the most basic endgames first. If you were an absolute beginner I would
start you off with Two Rooks King vs. King (rook roller mate), then King Queen
vs. King, then the basic King Pawn vs. King endgame and then on to King Rook
vs. King. You start off with studying
the most simple endgames and learn the basic winning/drawing positions
first. Then you move on to studying more
complicated endgames. In that way you
will know which basic positions you want to achieve from the more complex
endgames. Going over well analyzed
master games from books and data bases is an excellent way of learning all aspects
of the game, including the art of positional play. Going over complete games allows you to see
the entire picture that is often missed when starting from a set position. There is a lot to learn by seeing the moves
made by masters!
PLAY
(practice)
Playing allows you to put the
theories you have learned to a test. As
a general rule you will learn more by playing players who are stronger than
yourself. Losing is a part of the
learning process, and everyone has lost games, including the world champion!
CASUAL PLAY
Beginners should immediately
start playing casual non-tournament games as soon as they learn the basic rules
and have received pointers on basic strategy.
Casual games against friends and at your local chess club are extremely
helpful for the beginning level player.
TOURNAMENT PLAY
Once a beginner has a solid
knowledge of the rules, knows basic strategy, knows how to record their moves
and use a chess clock s/he is ready to play in their first nationally rated
tournament. Many scholastic tournaments
have a special section for beginning level players. An excellent book to get to learn about
tournament rules is the "Official
Rules of Chess", (USCF, McKay, 1993).
Playing in rated tournaments
is the best form of practice. It is here
that both players will take their game most seriously and will be trying their
best to win. Games are recorded. After the game it is a good idea to review it
with your opponent to find out what their ideas were. It is best to use a score book rather than
individual score sheets. Using a score
book keeps the games together in chronological order and is more difficult to
lose than an individual score sheet. If
possible have your games analyzed by your chess teacher.
CORRESPONDENCE/E-MAIL/INTERNET PLAY
In addition to playing in over-the-board rated
tournaments playing by correspondence is very helpful. There are many correspondence tournaments
available to play in. Because you
usually have about 3 days per move to think, it allows you to play at your very
best! There is no pressure of having to
move quickly.
E-mail play can be similar to
correspondence play. Playing on the
internet allows you to find opponents without having to leave your home. You can join the Internet
Chess Club which I highly recommend.
PLAYING COMPUTERS
Owning a chess-playing
computer allows you to have a playing partner 24 hours a day. Computers are
improving constantly. Dedicated chess
computers can be very strong and portable so that you can take them almost
anywhere. Dedicated chess playing
computers allow you to move actual pieces and is making it more like playing a
real game! However, I encourage my
students to play against humans rather than computers when they have a choice.
Some of the weaker computers
do not vary their openings very much. If
you are a serious player you may want to invest the money in a dedicated
computer that uses a wide range of openings.
This will make the computer more enjoyable and a better learning
tool. The key to selecting the right
computer is to get one that is considerably stronger than its owner. You want it to move quickly and still be a
challenge at the lower levels.
FIVE MINUTE/SPEED CHESS
Five minute/speed chess can be
helpful if kept in moderation. Besides
being a lot of fun it is a great way to test your openings and sharpen your
tactical skills.
You must make quick and sometimes superficial judgements when playing speed
chess. If you are constantly playing
speed chess day after day to excess your mind is likely to become so geared to
speed chess that you may have difficulty in slowing down and thinking deeply in
your regular tournament play. It
requires the student to have good mental discipline to slow down for a
tournament game after playing speed chess.
DISTORTING PATTERN RECOGNITION
Forms of chess that change
some of the rules and/or the way the pieces move can actually be harmful. An example of this is Bughouse chess which
distorts pattern recognition. The
serious chess student wants to train his/her mind to focus on the types of
patterns which will occur in their tournament games. Therefore, the time spent on Bughouse chess
is distracting and gears the mind to analyze many patterns that cannot be used in
standard chess. While many students are
playing in the Bughouse tournaments at the nationals my students are either
resting or studying real chess.
TOURNAMENT CONDITIONING
Just as with other sports, coaches
want their players to be in the best possible shape. Here are a few useful guidelines to follow:
1) Players should get a good
nights sleep.
2) Players
should be well rested before rounds.
Excessive physical activity just before a round should be avoided. I don’t allow my players to swim on days that
they have a tournament round - this can also cause blood shot eyes. Playing video games causes eye strain and
fatigue and should be avoided on tournament days.
3) Players
should avoid eating a big meal just before a round. However, a player should never be hungry or
thirsty during a game. Don’t eat/drink
too many high sugar or caffeine products before rounds.
4) Psychology
plays a role in how a player performs.
Wearing a club/team uniform tends to indicate that a player has a coach
which may have a positive impact in some cases.
I have seen it work! A cap can
help keep light out of your eyes and block the ability of your opponent to see
your eyes. It is much easier for a
coach to find their players when wearing a team shirt and cap.
When
you make your move don’t have your hand hover near a piece. This shows a lack of confidence in your play,
you may be falsely accused of having touched the piece and your own hand blocks
your view. Keep your hands away from the board until you
know what your move is. Use your head
to think, not your hands! Once you have
determined what your move is going to be, make the move without showing any
signs of hesitation. Sit up straight in
your chair when you play and don’t sit on your feet!
5) Always
play “touch move” even in friendly games.
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