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Chess Masters

4 years ago · Quote · #1
Sambirder

Does anyone have any ideas about which player(s) a class e/d player should emulate? I have read in an Eric Schiller book that if you're a conservative player, you should study the games of Tarrasch, but I don't know of any of his game books that are within my budget. Are there any, or is there a better player to emulate? An answer would be much appreciated.
4 years ago · Quote · #2
NM OmarCayenne

I don't know whether you should necessarily do so to "emulate" him...but by all means, have a look at Tarrasch's games! He played an amazing number of great and instructive games over his vast career. There is his 300 Games collection (try not to pay too much attention to his annotations btw as I hear he gets pretty dogmatic), and the collection by Reinfeld (the one that I read). And of course you can always look up all (or pretty much all) of his games online.

One thing that amazed me is that he (fortunately) did not always follow his own rather martinetish counsel. For example, in one game the first 12 moves he makes are with pawns! This from one of those "no unnecessary pawn moves, only move a piece once" kind of guys.
4 years ago · Quote · #3
NotKasparov

Well don't emulate Eric Schiller.

No. Sorry. I just think his books suck.

I don't think you can go wrong by studying grandmaster games, but if you're worried about openings, I would say it's better to study more modern masters. More useful to look for strategic motifs in the KID than in the King's Gambit. Also, Tal's games are like none others, just be careful... to 1200 players I would basically say "don't try this at home," but you're probably experienced enough that studying Tal's games would improve you're attacking judgement rather than damage it. I go through The Mammoth Book of The World's Greatest Chess Games when I have to time, both to learn and just to marvel at the games.

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