Studying Chess...

How do YOU study chess books, Games and Openings to get the most out of them?

I know that there are different types of books, how do you study each?

And please, Don't say dont study, just play.

I read through once, not really paying too much attention to notation.  Then I reread them, following notation on my board at home.

Play the moves from the book on a board.  As you play through a game on the board, think along with the players about what you would do in that situation.

At your current level PLAYING is most important.

Try to study the common tactical themes (fork,skewer, discovery,pin etc) and the basic endgames. A book like 'Winning Chess Tactics' by Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan would be a great start. Also fundamental opening principles (occupy/control centre, develop Bishops and knights, castling.)

Try to solve some tactical puzzles (the 'Winning Chess  Tactics' book has these inside) - you could also try the tactics trainer on this site.

You should then look at some basic ideas regarding strategy in chess (try the book 'Winning Chess Strategy' by GM Yasser Seirawan or similar). Use something like 'Chess Mentor' (on this site) to develop your strategy skills and awareness.

Some other good books at your stage are 'Nigel Short on Chess' by Nigel Short, 'Simple Chess' by Michael Stean [an oldish classic], 'Secrets of Russian chess Masters 1+2' by Lev Alburt and 'Attacking Chess' By Josh Waitzkin.  'Simple Chess' is especially good. 

After this, choose/ find perhaps 30-50 good standard games (master upwards) and play through these slowly and carfeully. Think about the reasons for each move and perhaps make some notes. Try to find a top player (mine is Nigel Short) whose style of play you like and purchase/find an annotated collection of that players games. From this you can model your opening repetoire on this player. A book called 'Chess move by move' by GM John Nunn is fairly good for this, but not essential.

You should then try a slightly more advanced book. I am thinking of 'The Art of The Middle Game' By Keres and Kotov. Also 'My System' By Nimzowitsch is revolutionary, by one of the best players of all time.

This is probably a 1 year process. BUT be sure to keep playing most important.

You should see a steady improvement in your rating during this process.

After this one year you can then start to hammer the opening theory and study much more endgame theory. Endgame is very important - in fact the Russians teach chess from the endgame first.

I do a post mortuum on allmost every otb game, worked like a charm for my opening repetoire.

whats that mean?

Often these  books have tips inside for how the author expects them to be used. In my experience most Chess books require you to have a chess board (or 2 if there are lots of sub variations) for playing through moves and setting up positions. I also try to sometimes go through a game without playing it out on a chess board - this is great for a skill called 'visualisation'. Therfors going through a chess book is often a slow steady process if most value is to be gained from them.

You should also pay attention to the other advice I have given - get a note book for your own analysis and ideas for your own further investigation. For example, if you come across a player whose style you particularly like be sure to record their name and opening repetoire etc for further research.

If you are solving a tactical puzzle from a book, do not use a chess set. Treat it as a real game. This is great training for real play.

Maybe you have some chess books, fine. But having the right books is very important. It is like a tool kit - if a mechanic has the wrong tools they are of no use. Look carefully at the books I have reccommended to you.

However, I will say again that playing chess is the best road for improvement at your level.

A post mortem is an analysis of the game after you have played it - perhaps using reference books for openings/ endgames and possibly a chess engine on the computer - mainly for tactical areas. Be sure to record your notes in the note book i have reccommended you to keep.

ima little confused with the notebook idea. can you clarify a little more?

He wants you to physically write down your analysis in a note book. Ideally you would write down your thoughts and ideas during the game, then go back over and really analyze the position after the game to see which ideas worked and which failed. Then you can move on to engine analysis and you can then compare that analysis and annotation to what you found by yourself.

I think the single thing you can do to make yourself stronger is to constantly be aware of whether or not you're playing with a plan. This goes right along with reading books, because you should be asking yourself what the basic idea is in whatever position they are presenting.

The notebook (or computer file - but i prefer the notebook). When you go through /analyse your games after you have played them you should record your analysis/thoughts for each move/what if your opponent had played move x instead - what would you have done? / was the opening good - how can it be improved - any further research needed? Did your opponent kick your butt in an unusual opening? You need to find out more about this opening - record your analysis in your notebook. A good place to check openings by the way is www.chessgames.com .

Perhaps use your note book to set out your traing calendar for the year/ keep of record of books read/ openings/master players needing further study/ list of useful websites and so on. It will become YOUR own personal training manual if you do it diligently and carefully.

try setting the pieces, and trying maybe a continuation of your own, or maybe look for a nice idea even if it doesn't work out after a bit of analysis, at least you get to unbderstand the position better if you do that, then look at the moves in the book and play them out, sometimes there are many variations, but they might be unsignificant, it depends really on the importance of this particular position and variation in the position to you...

when i study my books i tend to pick a section to focus on and then i'll sit down and read it, reread it, and play out the positions on an actual board. i'll usually try to spend at least one hour per "concept" because it's one thing to understand it, but it's another thing to remember it in the middle of a game.

the only problem is, i dont reallly play online, i normaly do Live.

but thanks alot so far you guys!

Most of the time I just play as many games as possible, but when I'm in the mood for study, I love the tactics trainer on this site.

Not only is it a good brain workout, but it really helps me to understand some key positions:  both how to get there and how to capitalize.  There's been several times where I will complete some tactics trainer problems, then go play a few live games and see familiar positions.