Back in the day when you actually had ot go to the library, book store, or mall to get a real book, a bunch of us woould get together and study. This served 2 purposes:
1. Group study is funner, and the interaction is necessry.
2. We could all use the same book.
Then along came the interwebz, and it wasnt about group study, learning, or interaction. Online study became a race to see who could say they "studied" the most books the quickest.
Back in the day when you actually had ot go to the library, book store, or mall to get a real book, a bunch of us woould get together and study. This served 2 purposes:
1. Group study is funner, and the interaction is necessry.
2. We could all use the same book.
Then along came the interwebz, and it wasnt about group study, learning, or interaction. Online study became a race to see who could say they "studied" the most books the quickest.
That's pretty cool that you used to do group study like that back in the day.
But this part: "Online study became a race to see who could say they "studied" the most books the quickest."
Really? Are you serious? How did you do in this race? Name a book that you went through the quickest, yet also very profitably (i.e., you just know that you improved as a player from this book and you did it rather quickly). How quick is quick, i.e., guess how many hours it took to get through that one specific named book on a first complete pass?
Back in the day when you actually had ot go to the library, book store, or mall to get a real book, a bunch of us woould get together and study. This served 2 purposes:
1. Group study is funner, and the interaction is necessry.
2. We could all use the same book.
Then along came the interwebz, and it wasnt about group study, learning, or interaction. Online study became a race to see who could say they "studied" the most books the quickest.
That's pretty cool that you used to do group study like that back in the day.
But this part: "Online study became a race to see who could say they "studied" the most books the quickest."
Really? Are you serious? How did you do in this race? Name a book that you went through the quickest, yet also very profitably (i.e., you just know that you improved as a player from this book and you did it rather quickly). How quick is quick, i.e., guess how many hours it took to get through that one specific named book on a first complete pass?
I dont study that way. I was referring to those that for some reason think that the person that finishes studying a book first wins. A guy that used to study with us said that he completed studying Silmans Complete Endgame Course. He was asked when he started it? The reply was 2 months ago. This is a 1200-1300 player that is still a 1200-1300 player, but claims that he "studied" the book.
Hi Daniel,
I assume you saw Post No. 24 under your Thread, Best Passive Learning Method, EVER!! I Kid You Not. If you're after self-improvement, picking the correct book at the right time makes things go smoother and quicker, particularly if the book is well written and at least somewhat entertaining. Naturally, the most entertaining books are not always the most instructive. It depends on what you're after.
There are two ways to approach chess books. Jennifer Shahade's methodical approach or skimming through the book and playing through the games ignoring annotations to get a flow and theme of each game, and only then returning to each game more seriously. By the way, playing though the game can often be done online at chessgames.com or using ChessBase.
Trying to guess each move does little good unless the next move is straightforward or you're in a crucial, analytical position. Guessing each move implies there is a best move in every position, and I don't think that's correct. If it were, there wouldn't be playing styles and chess would have been played out long ago.
Just my two cents worth.
Best,
Bob
"There are two ways to approach chess books. Jennifer Shahade's methodical approach or skimming through the book and playing through the games ignoring annotations to get a flow and theme of each game, and only then returning to each game more seriously. By the way, playing though the game can often be done online at chessgames.com or using ChessBase.
Trying to guess each move does little good unless the next move is straightforward or you're in a crucial, analytical position. Guessing each move implies there is a best move in every position, and I don't think that's correct."
Thanks Fighting Bob for that counsel! That's a real time-saver. Just gotta know when I should cover up the moves, and when not to cover them up.
"There are two ways to approach chess books. Jennifer Shahade's methodical approach or skimming through the book and playing through the games ignoring annotations to get a flow and theme of each game, and only then returning to each game more seriously. By the way, playing though the game can often be done online at chessgames.com or using ChessBase.
Trying to guess each move does little good unless the next move is straightforward or you're in a crucial, analytical position. Guessing each move implies there is a best move in every position, and I don't think that's correct."
Thanks Fighting Bob for that counsel! That's a real time-saver. Just gotta know when I should cover up the moves, and when not to cover them up.
My former coach said that when playing solitaire chess, play through the first 6-7 moves of the losing side, and then cover them up.
Be careful not to spill coffee or allow the binding to become worn resulting in missing pages, they tend to lose resale value !
Keepers are the ones with good stories: "The Chess Companion" by Irving Chernev
Be careful not to spill coffee or allow the binding to become worn resulting in missing pages, they tend to lose resale value !
Keepers are the ones with good stories: "The Chess Companion" by Irving Chernev
What??! Resell a chess book? Are you kidding me? The blasphemy laws in France must not be what they used to be. Sad! 
When I used to read chess books, my goal in going over games was in all key positions, to ask myself if I felt confident in taking the route the winner took -- be it sacrificing a piece, etc. I would take however much time I needed to feel that I understood that position.....which brings me to your goal, mr senior patzer of breaking thru 2000. It is said that the higher Rated one becomes, the more key positions one understands. That makes a lot of sense to me, because you don't want to be reinventing the wheel each time you are confronted with a "new" position. That takes away valuable time from your game.
Sometimes GMs can be successful applying their chess principles to new positions, ie; It is said that GM Frank Marshall was saving his new opening idea, the Marshall Gambit to the Ruy Lopez for a special occasion. He sprung it on World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca for the 1st time ever. Capablanca played very reasonable moves, Marshall did not get enough compensation for the pawn and had to resign.
and so, sometimes ( like Capablanca) we are thrown on our own resources to find a proper plan. however we do not want to be doing that every move ! as that takes away valuable time and our energy.
By going over, and more importantly understanding, many different games annotated by masters will help us know many different positions. the more we know, the higher our chess skills will be. Whether or not you can make that count in over the board tournament play can be different ( based on your temperament, your opponent's, confidence, etc ).
But at least you will get the proper tools to give you a fighting chance ! Best of luck to you and others.
I was perusing the web today and came across this paraphrase attributed to Master Jennifer Shahade:
As I recall, Jennifer Shahade in her interview at the Silman website says that (my paraphrase): "just to read ONE chess book, when you REALLY read it, takes a LONG time".
Now why did I think this was personally helpful? Because I've been acquiring chess books recently, and goodness gracious, it's going to take a hours, hundreds of hours to "REALLY" read them.
How does this cash out? One, I think I was living in fantasy land when I was thinking (actually hoping) it wouldn't take that long to go through a book. (Eg., I acquired Sergeant's book on Morphy's Games).
Now if I take a long time (how would you define a long time?) then I'm not going to feel so bad. It's normal.
If you do "Guess the Move" where you cover up the page with the next move, it's going to take a while to go through one game. If you do that, and you're writing down your candidate moves and variations while doing "Guess the Move", that's going to take a dang long time.
Psychologically, I was like, I want to get the learnings out of this book FAST, but now I'm realizing that this just ain't gonna happen. At least, not for me.