I was the first on either side of my family to finish college. I am the only one to receive a masters (besides my youngest sister a few years later) or a doctorate. Dad valued education even though he only completed his G.E.D. Mom finished high school and was an avid reader who encouraged us three children to read. Their influence on me as a learner continues today.
     Learning is important in life and in chess. When a teacher stops learning, he/she stop teaching. When a leader stops learning, he/she stops leading. In many ways, when a person stops learning, they stop living. Learning is a way we stretch ourselves. It is a way to think new thoughts. Through learning we "go" to new places and see new things.
     Some have had bad learning experiences in the past which resulted in apathy or dislike for learning. But life is full of learning experiences. Find one that is fun for you. Don't like to read? Then get audiobooks. Don't like to listen? Then go watch the movie. Not really into words or pictures? Then go do it! Go take lessons. Go try something new. Take someone with you. Learning something new with someone is often more fun.
     Many want to improve at chess, but they do nothing about that desire. Learning takes a plan along with the desire. What is your plan? Are you going to read a book? Be honest with yourself. If you hate reading, you probably will not finish reading a chess book. Perhaps watching chess videos and working chess problems will help--there are plenty of them online and books filled with problems.
     Some genuinely believe their game will improve if they just keep playing. For a few rare players, that is true. For most of us, "practice does not make perfect." As a coach once told me, "Right practice makes perfect." If we keep practicing or playing wrong, it will not help our game to improve. We must try new things. For many, that means they must learn it visually, verbally, or through hand-on application.
     What is your plan to learn to win at chess this year? What one step will you take? Assess yourself and your learning preferences honestly and choose an approach that will help you enjoy learning as much as you enjoy winning. Press the comments button below to share your plan and encourage others!

nice article, finding a good chess book and reading it was one of my next steps to help improve. just as when i coached baseball my first year knew how to play the game, put players in postions, and give directions. put players in the position i thought they were best at and let the game be played. read my fisrt book little league  baseball drills and statagies, my coaching went to a new level. the more books i read the more i learned about coaching and developing kids into better players. reading books and magazines has helped me improved in all the things i enjoy christ, fishing, hunting,coaching ect. reading a good chess should improve my chess game.

You make a good point.  I have recovered from all the turnament games now and am doing at least one chess mentor drill a day.  More when I get some job related things settled.

very well .. I will tell you something that you could like or not I hope you like!

I learn chess with my father wene I had 5 years old , wene the teacher start teach me how to read and how to count numbers I knew something that will continues in my life , play chess! with 7 years old I won my father for the first time was very importante to me.. I drop school with 19 years old because my parents hadn't much money and I get a job/work with 20 years old ..now I am 26 and I want to study and keep my work that gives me money to can dream in a way of life learning good and importantes things to me and to can realize my dreams ..I never read a chess book but I've got one ,  I read some books and enjoy a lot all of the books I had read but now I stop reading , life teach us what school cant do it school teach us what life only tell us ..now I am starting a new page of my life of a book that I will never stop reading "my life" as diferente as normal as special is mine and I mustn't stop learning and "teach my self" to keep going telling to life that I am alive and I want to do all i can to realize my self if I will do it or not I dont know but I will try ..all I know is what my heart learns and my head ask.. I will finish now all of my games and keep me out from chess for a moment but I will come back and I will try to play a game with you ok? thanks for this text you had touche my heart because I feel like you sad "Learn is the best" of teaching =) have a good life my friend , nice to know you. and sorry my litle contribution/participation.. I will come back into the front =)

I agree with the notion that you should never stop learning, no matter how old you are or what you do.  Yes, it all depends how fervently you wish to improve your chess.  Currently, I am giving priority to subjects related to the mental health services industry.  I keep on reading up on spiritual matters, how the brain works, why people become depressed and so on. 

Improving your chess does require effort and I totally agree that practice alone generally does not improve your chess per se.  Practice does help, provided you are willing to learn from your losses.  Why did you lose? How could you have prevented this?  Get chess software and good chess books.  Learn openings by all means but try to understand why a specific opening is being played.  If you just learn a few popular openings by heart, how will you respond if your opponent deviates from an opening after, say move 4 or 5?

Try to engage stronger opponents.  Don't worry too much about securing points.  They are a natural spin-off once you have acquired more knowledge and experience.

Develop a plan.  What opening are you going to use?  What is the objective of your game?  Understand the power and weaknesses of your pawns and pieces.  Realise this:  you need to attack at some stage in order to win. 

 

I think what practice does is that it makes you less prone to mistakes if you are a beginner. I do think that simply playing chess can improve your game although I think that it's much slower than reading a book and learning that specific concept. And even if you read that concept in a book a lot of times you have to experience it in a game to better understand it.