• Member Since: Oct 1, 2012
• Last Login: May 8, 2013
• Profile Views: 207
• Points: 33

I played chess as a child, but never really understood it further; I was good enough to beat my friends, and that was fine by me.  Scholar's Mate attempts every single game; 1.e3 e6 every single game; Rambo queens; king/rook forks with a knight at c7...every single game; zig-zag pawn structures because, well, what else do you propose?!

Recently I became interested again, as a way to stop my brain decaying with old age; logic and number puzzles (eg, Sudoku) had become stale, and I needed a hobby that would provide a challenge.  I spoke to a friend, and he advised me to check out a video series on Chess.com. I learnt more than I thought I would learn in years in 1 month at Chess.com; the resources available to Diamond Premium members are just incredible learning tools!

I shall continue to study, and improve, and, hopefully, one day I will be as cool as IM Rensch.

Video hero list (authors whom have created videos that have helped me immensely):

• WGM Abrahamyan
• GM Dzindzichashvili
• GM Kaidanov
• GM Khachiyan
• FM Lilov
• FM Liu
• IM Rensch
• IM Pruess

Article hero list (same as above, but not for videos; nobody will be listed twice):

• GM Serper
• IM Silman
• WIM Zenyuk

If you think I am really missing out by not watching your favourite author, then please do not hesitate to message me! (Either the author's name, or a link to a choice piece of their work.)

Recommended chess books (books that I have read that helped me, in some manner; I will try to remember to include my rating when I started reading the book, though it is hard to attribute specific gain to one book):

• "Chess Fundamentals," by Jose Capablanca (ISBN:9781927179062) [Rating:~1250]
• "How to Reassess Your Chess (4th Edition)," by IM Silman (ISBN:9781890085131) [Rating:~1400]
• "Lasker's Manual of Chess," by Emanuel Lasker (ISBN:9781888690507) [Rating:~1500]
• "Mayhem in the Morra!," by Marc Esserman (ISBN:9781907982200) [Rating:~1650]
• "My System," by Aron Nimzowitsch (ISBN:9789797600538) [Rating:~1350]
• "Silman's Complete Endgame Course," by IM Silman (ISBN:9781890085100) [Rating:~1300]

To-read list (partially read): Artur Yusupov's, "Build, Boost, Evolve..." series; "the Caro-Kann"; Avrukh's 1.d4 volumes I and II; Yakov Neishtadt's, "Improve Your Chess Tactics"; Viktor Bologan's, "The Powerful Catalan"

To buy: a couple more Caro-Kann books; Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual; "Beat the KID"; Schandorff's 1.d4 books.