I'm a believer in absorbing the old lessons first, so yes, unless you already know "all about" the old lines and how they were played, you would do well to study Morphy and Steinitz for awhile.
Some like to start themselves with the most modern theory, but I think that's silly,
Also, what current day masters still play 1...e5? i really only know ivanchuk and carlsen do?
I dont understand what you mean by " but there is much to be learned from the great masters which is far more relevant than just opening theory." also is modern better then old?
"Can i still elarn form the games of Morphy and Steinitz the open games players but really from far back history?"
You can learn openings for example from books, if they are explaining, the moves. But you cannot learn openings, if you just watching a match with the given opening. Because the great grandmasters really UNDERSTOOD what they play, and why. You can see from matches what they played, but it does not help you, to do the same!
So you can learn openings from books/videos if they are explained, and from a good chess coach.
experts can say which master games to study on level basis.but here what I do
1.DOWNLOAD The Tarrasch Chess GUI.
2.install a strong engine (critter 1.6/houdini 1.5)
3.open the game you want to study.
4.turn on kiblitzer.
5.now best 4 moves will appear in any given position.
6.capture and follow move seqence(one or all) you dont understand.
7.make your own move to see where the line goes(if needed)
with this process its possible to learn from any games.atleast it works for me
I fully agree with IM Pfren,even i had views that morphy or other classical games dont teach much before starting with Masters of the Chessboard by Reti last week.Only thing is that the games have to be very well annotated.
By the way pfren can you tell me which part was written by Reti himself?(I read somewhere he died before completing the book with the remaining part written by somebody else).
Perhaps the great masters of today don't play 1. . . e5 so much now because they all know the brilliant lines of the masters of the past so well that they can't surprise each other any more. But we, at the average club level, have volumes and volumes to learn before we are at that level. I can't imagine that Carlsen, Nakamura, Karpov, Kasparov, or any of the other top GMs turning their backs on Morphy and Steinitz because they're old and out of date. On the contrary, I imagine they can quote chapter and verse from those old masters even as they keep up with the most innovative lines from today.
For the vast majority of us here on chess.com, I believe that studying the classic lines from the past will better prepare us to understand the more innovative and "offbeat" lines of the present.
Your question is kind of like a modern writer asking if Shakespeare and the King James Bible are out of date. No modern poet, even if he no longer writes in that style, would suggest that there is little to be learned from them.
Pfren what is an "xyz" opening? and i want to thank everyone for putting inputs in my forums espedcially you Estragon i see you a lot? Im just a lost chess student in a big pool of text
Pfren what is an "xyz" opening? and i want to thank everyone for putting inputs in my forums espedcially you Estragon i see you a lot? Im just a lost chess student in a big pool of text
"xyz" stands for "any", or "x", or "whatever" (in the context of IM pfren's post, it means whatever opening was played in the game)
hi
You can still learn a lot from Morphy games. He was a booked-up player who strove for development and active play.
I wouldn't recommend Steinitz, in particular in his later years when he developed a preference for rather cramped and defensive play.
Is that position correct?
28. Rh3#
The greatest games are still the greatest games. But there are many, many games of Steinitz, Morphy and others that are not worth the time it takes to play through them.
Simply get an anthology of great games, such as The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games or Kasparov's On My Great Predecessors and go through that!
Im trying to learn the opening 1...e5 against 1.e4. Can i still elarn form the games of Morphy and Steinitz the open games players but really from far back history? Are they too out of date to out of date to learn from? Did they try hard for an opening advantage? What should i keep in mind when studying their games?