Best practices to improve chess

I have silman's book such as how to Reassess chess, silman's end game, how to train like grandmaster, how to think like grand master, polgars 5334 chess combinations, chess Strategy by Edward Lasker and so on

1. Choose an opening that you like

2. Find all the youtube videos on them

3. Watch them repeatedly

and at the same time

1. Find a tactics book

2. Do a lot of tactics

3. Do this more than you watch videos

This should work for substantial improvement for at least 200 points.

If you have those books and read them you didn't read them in a way that stuck with you or possibly those books aren't written in a way that sticks well with you. You don't need dozens of chess books, a few books if completely understood and broad enough to cover much of the game can lift your game up hundreds of points. Do you play OTB? If not do so. Do you play any slow chess at all? If not you must. Do you study Endgames in anyway? That area can win or draw more games than any opening ever could. Analysis your losses. You should be able to understand and identify why you lost each of your games and then if you find a trend focus on that in your studies until you no longer see than trend. Do you review Master games that play the openings you do? You should see how Masters play your openings and what strategies they make against certain opponent structures so you can do so. don't reinvent the wheel here, creativity can be used in the excecution of the strategy. If you want to improve create a study plan, modifying it frequently to suit your immediate and long term needs. continually look for your biggest weakness and eliminate it during your studies. play slow chess often, analyze each loss to identify your mistakes and then correct them in your studies. you'll have to improve if you do that consistently and are always honest about your weaknesses.

hi,

just search for opening principles in youtube.

study most common openings. atleast 4 of them. there are may opening.you can divide opening into king side opening and queen side opening.

try sicilain defense, it has may variations. just study one of it.

try indian defense, it has many variations. may i suggest indian defense benoni.

in middle game. you need tactics. practice tactics in chess.com tacticts exercise . so many android apps available for free.

to study end game , go to tuition. ha ha. or else you have to study yourself by reading books or videos. try end game videos in youtube.

solve easy level puzzles daily.

most important is to review your own game. i spend more time in reviewing my own game. it may not be good to stufy grandmaster games in the begining. their tactics may be too tough for you to understand. so i suggest to review your own game.

buy and read the book "How to improve middle game", "How to improve end game", "How to improve stategic planning", "How to make sacrifice for material gains" and "How to stop asking questions that would require to write a book collection to answer".   XD

@OP- Read your books and use a chess board to follow the examples. Just flipping pages won't do that much for you.

Lesson #1 How To Play The Game

1.      The main idea of a chess game is piece activity.

2.      The main ideas of the opening are:

a. Control the center

b. Develop your pieces towards the center.

c. King Safety (Castling)

d. Connect your rooks.

3.      How do decide on a move?

a. The principle of the least active piece.

b. The principle of maximum activity.

c. The principle of keeping up the pressure.

4.      How to play the middle game?

a. In the middle game we need to start an attack.

b. We come up with a plan.

1)      We need to find a target to attack.

2)      We need to find a way to attack the target with our pieces.

3)      The easiest targets to attack are the opponent’s weaknesses.

i.        Weaknesses are the pawns or squares on the 5^th, and 6^th rank which cannot be protected by pawns.

c.       How do we decide on exactly what to attack?

1)  By using the strategical principle of the center.

1.      The central squares are the most important squares on the board. (e4-d4-e5-d5)

2.      The central squares can also mean the huge center (c4-c6, d4-d6, e4-e6, f4-f6)

3.      Because the pieces in the center are the most active.

4.      Centralization provides the base idea of the chess game (activity of the pieces)

5.      Attack weaknesses in the center.

6.      Calculate each of your candidate moves.

7.      When the Stable Factor (material, and or pawn structure) changes in a position, we need to recalculate our plan.

5.      How to play the end game?

                          a.   We come up with a plan.

                          b. The pawn structure determines the plan.

                          c. There are two main plans in an endgame.

•  Advance your passed pawns.

•  Attack your opponent’s weak pawns.

•  The king becomes an active attacking piece in the end game.

•  Rooks should remain as active as possible (Keep the rooks as forward as possible)

•  The active side should advance his pawns as far as possible.

•  The defending side should be careful when making pawn moves, as they can make the active side realize his plans.

•  The king should support passed pawns, while rooks should attack your opponent’s pawns.

Lesson #2 How To Calculate Correctly.

1.      Calculate Forcing moves/lines first!

                  a. A forcing move is a move that forces your opponent to do something concrete.

                  b. A Forcing move is a Check, Capture, or Attack.

2.      At the end of forcing lines, the position must be reevaluated.

3.      If you can’t attack you must do one of two things

                  a. Increase the activity of your pieces.

                  b. Decrease the activity of your opponent’s pieces.

4.      To find candidate moves in the end game you must focus on every single piece.

                  a. Recommendation: Start with the King-Queen-Rook-Bishop-Knight-Pawns.

                  b. Recommendation: Calculate all forcing moves even if they look bad at first.

                  c. Always ask yourself:  What is my opponent’s threat? /What is my opponent's next move?                                (This helps to avoid blunders)

                  d. Always follow The Principle Of Material.

i.        If you can safely capture material then capture it!

ii.      Always remember that the two main ideas of chess are:

1.      The Principle of Activity

2.      The Principle of Material

Conclusions

➔  You should understand in general what you need to do in each phase of the game.

➔  Opening Tasks:

                  a. Develop your pieces.

                  b. Castle (King Safety).

                  c. Connect the Rooks

➔  Middle game Tasks:

                  a. Find a target to attack.

                  b. Realize how you can attack your target.

➔  Endgame Tasks:

                  a. The pawn structure determines the plan.

                  b. Advance your passed pawns.

                  c. Attack your opponent’s weak pawns.

                  d. Make forcing moves first.

                  e. If there are no forcing moves, you need to use the following principles:

1.  The Principle of the least active piece.

2.  The Principle of maximum activity.

3.  The Principle of neutralizing the opponent’s most active piece.

➔  After realizing which move should be played, based on the general principles.  YOU NEED TO CHECK THE CONCRETE VARIATIONS.

➔  The Calculation System:

                 a. Find all the forcing candidate moves first.

                 b. Calculate them until the end of the forcing line.

I often suggest Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf

Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf

The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/

Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1949)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf

Discovering Chess Openings by GM Johm Emms (2006)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf

Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)

http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html

Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/

Everyone has chess books

Dude, that's not good, butt.

This book will answer most of your  chess-questions : How to reassess your chess 4th ed.", by J.Silman. Read it with a good chessboard everyday for 1-2 hours and you will make progress!

Has Fulcairee been here since 2015?