Best piece of chess wisdom that made you a better player

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avneet
Skipp wrote:

A friend told me a few days ago:

"When you have found a good move; stop and look for a better one."

He told me who originally said this, but I don't remember the name.

Skip


i think it was lasker

porkscrew

I find Silman's advice to "always assume your opponent will make the best move" to be extremely valuable. If they don't make the best move you'll find that your plan falls into place with less resistance. This advice is really just another way of saying "never underestimate your opponent".

TheGrobe
ACQ wrote:

I find Silman's advice to "always assume your opponent will make the best move" to be extremely valuable. If they don't make the best move you'll find that your plan falls into place with less resistance. This advice is really just another way of saying "never underestimate your opponent".


Great advice, and probably the one true chess maxim.  I take it to mean that you too should always make the best move -- if there's an inferior move that wins in almost every variation save for one in which it is completely refuted then you should not choose that move however tempting becuase you must assume that your opponent will see the refutation.

I'm also quite fond of this advice:

When you find a good move, look for a better one!“ - Emanuel Lasker

Shivsky

In general, I think that's great advice but when playing weaker opponents that are playing to draw, it's often better to make moves that create complications even if those moves aren't objectively best.  When it comes to complications, the Caltrop coefficient should always be a part of the decision making process in my opinion.


Well said! I'm glad somebody else out here knows what Caltrop Coefficients are! :)

My own interpretation of McGrew's article is "When playing a stronger player OR when you're already losing, you're NO longer trying to find the best move  ... just find the most annoying move that makes your opponent burn his clock trying to make sure his response is safe".  Stronger players always want clear positions to play with when dealing with weaker ones.  I'll be damned if I'll give them clear ones :)

Boardom

“When you see a good move, look for a better one”
-Lasker

I couldn't remember who said it, so I google'd 'chess quotes' and it was the first one that popped up, ha ha.

avneet
Boardom wrote:

“When you see a good move, look for a better one”
-Lasker

I couldn't remember who said it, so I google'd 'chess quotes' and it was the first one that popped up, ha ha.


 Emanuel Lasker said that

Dexter_Morgan

"Avoid all book openings.  Force your opponent early on to play chess rather than play from memory.  Then crush said opponent with blunt tactical force." 

porkscrew
Dexter_Morgan wrote:

"Avoid all book openings.  Force your opponent early on to play chess rather than play from memory.  Then crush said opponent with blunt tactical force." 


My 7 year-old daughter has thrown me for a loop several times with her shoot-from-the-hip wacky openings. Then I have no choice but to pummel her for going against the grain! Tongue out

@TheGrobe: Nice elaboration on that point. I try to live by that thought process within and outside of chess.

Boardom
avneet wrote:
Boardom wrote:

“When you see a good move, look for a better one”
-Lasker

I couldn't remember who said it, so I google'd 'chess quotes' and it was the first one that popped up, ha ha.


 Emanuel Lasker said that


 Hence the "-Lasker".

Shivsky
Boardom wrote:
avneet wrote:
Boardom wrote:

“When you see a good move, look for a better one”
-Lasker

I couldn't remember who said it, so I google'd 'chess quotes' and it was the first one that popped up, ha ha.


 Emanuel Lasker said that


 Hence the "-Lasker".


Well there were "two" chess playing Laskers around that time, if I remember right?

jamessaul

A good sacrifice is one that is not necessarily sound but leaves your opponent dazed and confused.
Make your first strike very hard, very fast, and very controlled, and most opponents will fear they're beaten already.

Not sure if its made me better yet but it made me think

Boardom
Shivsky wrote:
Boardom wrote:
avneet wrote:
Boardom wrote:

“When you see a good move, look for a better one”
-Lasker

I couldn't remember who said it, so I google'd 'chess quotes' and it was the first one that popped up, ha ha.


 Emanuel Lasker said that


 Hence the "-Lasker".


Well there were "two" chess playing Laskers around that time, if I remember right?


I'm sure there were quite a few more chess players sharing the last name "Lasker". I never hear anyone talk about someone besides Emanuel, however. So I didn't feel the need to add "Emanuel". Just like how people refer to "Karpov", "Tal" or "Morphy" without listing their first name. Bleh, I'll list the full and complete name in the future.

bigpoison

I've been wrong before, but I'm pretty sure Emanuel's older brother was quite a chess player himself and helped pull Emanuel out of the ivy covered University to play a bit of chess.

Dexter_Morgan

Yea everytime somebody says Kasparov, I immediately think of the lesser known chess player Yuri Kasparov.  Ok, so Yuri had a hard time remembering how the pieces moved... and didn't play in many tournaments (or any at all above grade school level)... and didn't have the same passion and fire as Garry had for chess... but seriously... the guy had a heart of gold.  He sat down on his end of the board and immediately meant business.  So yea, first and last names please people, you can never be too specific.  There are probably duplicate names out there too mind you, so please, if you have their social security number at hand please provide that as well.  This will avoid any and all confusion...

yourbetteroffasian

Just Do It. -Nike

bigpoison
Dexter_Morgan wrote:

Yea everytime somebody says Kasparov, I immediately think of the lesser known chess player Yuri Kasparov.  Ok, so Yuri had a hard time remembering how the pieces moved... and didn't play in many tournaments (or any at all above grade school level)... and didn't have the same passion and fire as Garry had for chess... but seriously... the guy had a heart of gold.  He sat down on his end of the board and immediately meant business.  So yea, first and last names please people, you can never be too specific.  There are probably duplicate names out there too mind you, so please, if you have their social security number at hand please provide that as well.  This will avoid any and all confusion...


Whoa, hey, Dexter!  I didn't realize what the contention was.  If you said to me Lasker said such and such, I would know, immediately, to whom you referred.

alwaysmated

It's alright Ma!, I'm only checkmated!Yell

Shivsky
Dexter_Morgan wrote:

Yea everytime somebody says Kasparov, I immediately think of the lesser known chess player Yuri Kasparov.  Ok, so Yuri had a hard time remembering how the pieces moved... and didn't play in many tournaments (or any at all above grade school level)... and didn't have the same passion and fire as Garry had for chess... but seriously... the guy had a heart of gold.  He sat down on his end of the board and immediately meant business.  So yea, first and last names please people, you can never be too specific.  There are probably duplicate names out there too mind you, so please, if you have their social security number at hand please provide that as well.  This will avoid any and all confusion...


Are you a bad troll who does good things, or a good troll who does bad things? *grin. (I should win props from you for that Dexter pun .... love the show!)

JG27Pyth
Boardom wrote:
Shivsky wrote:
Boardom wrote:
avneet wrote:
Boardom wrote:

“When you see a good move, look for a better one”
-Lasker

I couldn't remember who said it, so I google'd 'chess quotes' and it was the first one that popped up, ha ha.


 Emanuel Lasker said that


 Hence the "-Lasker".


Well there were "two" chess playing Laskers around that time, if I remember right?


I'm sure there were quite a few more chess players sharing the last name "Lasker". I never hear anyone talk about someone besides Emanuel, however. So I didn't feel the need to add "Emanuel". Just like how people refer to "Karpov", "Tal" or "Morphy" without listing their first name. Bleh, I'll list the full and complete name in the future.


There's was an American master Ed Lasker, younger than Dr Lasker but of the same period. If I'm not mistaken he played Em. Lasker in a tournament at one point. Ed Lasker was pretty well known because he wrote a chess manual that for a period was one of the first books learners were recommended. It was really a standard book for a long time, but it's become obsolete now -- Chess Strategy is the name IIRC.

jpd303

one should never sacrifice anything if one seriously wants to win...paraphrase of Capablanca

its better to sacrifice your opponents pieces...paraphrase of tartakower

its no use to contemplate how to pull a hippo out of a marsh...para Tal

i would rather have a pawn than a finger...Fine

when you blunder look like you did it on purpose...Me