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How are you supposed to study master games? They aren't helping me.

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DarknisMetalDragon

I'm right now reading the book Keene on Chess. I'm reading the book and about 95% of the time, he is going through a game in the book, but I'm not learning anything from the games that's helping me. I go through the moves and stop when there's annotation after the move. Is there a better way to study these games?

goldendog

cover up the next move and work at guessing it.

New_Member24

They might be a bit too advanced for you. You should work your way up to them starting with other books that focus on tactics, endgames, positional play, and strategy. You need a good foundation to appreciate and learn from master games.

DarknisMetalDragon
Supreme_Commander_FS wrote:

By "stop", do you mean you stop looking at the game, or stop playing through the game and look at the annotation.

Stop playing through the game and read the annotation. Btw, I understand the annotations, but I just never learn anything from them.

DarknisMetalDragon
New_Member24 wrote:

They might be a bit too advanced for you. You should work your way up to them starting with other books that focus on tactics, endgames, positional play, and strategy. You need a good foundation to appreciate and learn from master games.

How would I be able to tell if it's too advanced. What do you mean by too advanced?

Ziryab
DarknisMetalDragon wrote:

I'm right now reading the book Keene on Chess. 

That's too bad.

http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com.es/2006/10/ray-keene-plagiarism-index.html 

g2em3

When you are reading are you also playing out the moves on a chess board?

I found it is helpful to play the game out as you read along or try searching for the game on www.chesstempo.com or another database and follow along that way. It helps me, something about reading and using your hands, kind of like reading a text ad then taking notes...to reinforce the material more.

DarknisMetalDragon
g2em3 wrote:

When you are reading are you also playing out the moves on a chess board?

I found it is helpful to play the game out as you read along or try searching for the game on www.chesstempo.com or another database and follow along that way. It helps me, something about reading and using your hands, kind of like reading a text ad then taking notes...to reinforce the material more.

I play the games on a 3D board.

New_Member24
DarknisMetalDragon wrote:
New_Member24 wrote:

They might be a bit too advanced for you. You should work your way up to them starting with other books that focus on tactics, endgames, positional play, and strategy. You need a good foundation to appreciate and learn from master games.

How would I be able to tell if it's too advanced. What do you mean by too advanced?

I mean you're not learning from from these books, which you've already clearly stated. The books are either too advanced for you or the way they're formatted is not helpful to your learning process. Either way it might be helpful to find an easier to understand book that doesn't necessarily have to do with master games. 

ponz111

You need more of the basics before you start to study games of the masters.

You do not have enough chess knolwledge to understand those games.

I suggest tactics trainer as a good place to start.

DarknisMetalDragon
New_Member24 wrote:
DarknisMetalDragon wrote:
New_Member24 wrote:

They might be a bit too advanced for you. You should work your way up to them starting with other books that focus on tactics, endgames, positional play, and strategy. You need a good foundation to appreciate and learn from master games.

How would I be able to tell if it's too advanced. What do you mean by too advanced?

I mean you're not learning from from these books, which you've already clearly stated. The books are either too advanced for you or the way they're formatted is not helpful to your learning process. Either way it might be helpful to find an easier to understand book that doesn't necessarily have to do with master games. 

Any suggestions, New_Member.

kco

http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-point-of-studying-master-games-part-one

http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-point-of-studying-master-games-part-two

http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-point-of-studying-master-games-pt-3

New_Member24
DarknisMetalDragon wrote:
New_Member24 wrote:
DarknisMetalDragon wrote:
New_Member24 wrote:

They might be a bit too advanced for you. You should work your way up to them starting with other books that focus on tactics, endgames, positional play, and strategy. You need a good foundation to appreciate and learn from master games.

How would I be able to tell if it's too advanced. What do you mean by too advanced?

I mean you're not learning from from these books, which you've already clearly stated. The books are either too advanced for you or the way they're formatted is not helpful to your learning process. Either way it might be helpful to find an easier to understand book that doesn't necessarily have to do with master games. 

Any suggestions, New_Member.

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/chess-books-for-beginners

Search function is your friend.