A Masters Thought Process

I am a club level player 1860 rating and I would like to get a thread going of different level players thought processes, add your rating and tell us how you think during a chess game from the opening to the endgame. Because I believe the tought process is very important and that its this that takes you to master level chess.

My thought process

For the opening

1. Advance a pawn in the centre by 1.d4 or 1.e4.                2. Develop knights before bishops so they exert pressure on the centre.                                                                  3. Castle and get pieces of the back rank.

For the middle game

1. Look for weaknesses in the opponent position like backward pawns, isolated pawns etc.

2. Try to make weaknesses where the opponent king is castled and then sacrife and attack.

In the endgame

1. Try to exchange pieces and use my endgame knowledge to win.

Though this is a bad example of a thought process it needs more detail so I am looking for some advice and compare this to other thought processes.

1. Kick my opponents butt

2. Repeat #1.

windows96 is pretty outdated, i will change my username to Windows7, in the meantime, dont take me seriously

Perhaps you should put forward à position and let the people write what they think about it. This is what De Groot did. Hè discovered that grandmasters evaluate à position statically before they look at it dynamically. THE better they believe their position is statically, the more they expect as à result out of their next move etc....

I will try to give my normal thinking process (I'm a USCF Candidate Master).

Pregame: If I know the opponent and their strengths/weaknesses/tendencies, I will prepare for them time permitting, or at least think about how I want to conduct the game and what opening variations I will play/allow. If I don't know the player, I may decide on my conduct of the game based on their rating, their physical appearance, and the tournament situation.

At the board before clock is started: Refine my initial impressions, maybe chat with the person to gauge their confidence level.

Opening: Follow my prep if it applies, or if not try to make my pieces active and decide if I want to be aggressive, dynamic, or counterpunch.

Middlegame: First and foremost, concentrate on improving my pieces and on hindering the enemy's pieces. Decide which exchanges I want to make or avoid, where I want my remaining pieces to be and the maneuvers required to make this happen. Look for chances to seize the initiative. If I have White, try to use my space advantage to gain an initiative, greater mobility, a structural advantage, or best of all an endgame edge.

Endgame: Activate the king and other pieces, concentrate on creating passed pawns and/or weakening the emy's pawns and attacking them.

My thought process: (from 0 to 1)

Opening: 0
Middlegame: 0,8
Endgame: 0,5

Should be:

Opening: 0,6
Middlegame: 1
Endgame: 0,9 

Andre_Harding thats pretty good, but when you play do you run through a few questions in your head to decide on a move ? Because thats what many people recommend in books, like silmans and igor smirnovs videos. 

Never. At least not anymore. The Silman stuff really hurt my game when I was in the 1300-1600 range because I found it totally unnatural.

Smirnov actually teaches chess understanding (and does so brilliantly, IMHO). I have purchased all of his programs and recommend them highly.

When you acquire more and more chess understanding, it will not be hard to figure out what you need to be doing in a position, and you won't need to ask yourself a bunch of questions. Even as a lowly 2000 player I rarely choose a totally wrong idea. My implementation of an idea might leave something to be desired, I may miss some detail, but the general course of my play is typically correct. Studying Stean, Euwe, Smirnov, and yes getting some quality lessons from Serbian, Ukrainian, and Georgian coaches, really helped me in that regard.

On the other hand, Smirnoff completely destroys your chess understanding. I have purchased this particular regiment and do not recommend it at all. :)

Opening - don't blunder

Middle game alright I'm doing ok just don't blunder

Endgame-damnit.....I blundered

I disagree. I think Smirnov's courses are phenomenal...and I am normally reticent to give such praise.

Oh I get it now...you were thinking about the other Smirnoff...

I can't listen to smirnov for more than 2 minutes his voice drives me nuts.

Haha yes, the other Smirnoff. ;)

Opening: I'd like to play this opening line because I know he doesn't score well in it. So I'll play this move. Oh crap, he's played a totally different move, and now I'm in a line I know nothing about.

Middlegame: This position is unfamiliar, so I've got to find some sensible-looking strategy for it. This looks like a reasonable idea. My position seems to be quite good. Oh hang on, this isn't developing so well, I didn't realise that aspect of the position would prove so much of a weakness.

Endgame: How can I defend this weakness now he's piling in on it? Realistically I can't and the game is probably lost on best play. I've got to try this complicating move to muddy the waters and try to get something from the game. Okay, he's navigated the complications, it's time to resign now.

Welcome to my chess life.

@OP : Dan Heisman's book 'Improve your chess thinking process' (or something like that) answers this question in great detail.

edit : the title is the improving chess thinker

Nice! Will defenetlly check out Heismans book though I read somewhere its preety complicated the thinking process. Andre_Harding did Smirnovs videos really help your game like they are advertised? Because the reviews look really biased towards it being really great and what programs were the best of them all because he has so many e.g. GM secrets, Winning plan etc.

My thought process is pieces coordination, pieces coordination, pieces coordination.

The Grandmaster's Secrets is his "basic" course, but I think you can get away with skipping it if you have to.

Winning Plan teaches you how to play based upon the central pawn structure. I really recommend this one, as he makes it so easy to understand.

How to Beat GM is more about a psychological approach to chess. It is a very good one actually, if you are going to play pretty strong players and are trying to find a way to get chances against them. Don't expect too many nuts-and-bolts for understanding though.

Endgame Expert is my favorite course. I won a few games in tournaments directly after studying the course because he makes things so simple and clear.

Self-Taught GM is the only course I didn't really like that much. I didn't like his flowcharts and mind maps...it was odd to me.

Openings Laboratory has some interesting ideas, and is worthwhile, but I think that it could be skipped.

Grandmaster's Positional Understanding is a phenomenal course. It helped me look at some aspects of chess in a completely different way.

Calculate till Mate (the newest course) is excellent but will require discipline to integrate it into your thinking process. I have never calculated that much when I play chess, since I usually don't go for complicated positions, but this course has helped me.

Smirnov makes some big promises in selling his courses and in his introductory materials, but I have to say that I feel he keeps his promises! Before I started buying and studying his courses, I had a lot of chess knowledge but could not play well. Smirnov has greatly simplified my thinking and helped me start to put my extensive knowledge into practical use. I still have some weaknesses, but over time I am addressing them, thanks in large part to his courses.