Best way to improve - Chess Forums

SCMoralez

Aug 29, 2018

0

#1

I first learned how to play chess at a young age. Well, a basic understanding of the game when I was about 9. Now that I'm in my 20s I decided to pick it up as a hobby. I'm looking at tips, tricks, and/or suggestions at how I can develop a better way of thinking about the game and other way that will help me improve.

Obviously, there's practice and playing more games, but how do I go about having the most productive practice sessions?

IMKeto

Aug 29, 2018

0

#2

[COMMENT DELETED]

Taskinen

Aug 29, 2018

0

#3

Play long time controls and go through every game you play afterwards, trying to think what were the difficult moments and were there something you could've done better. Make a habit out of this and don't skip post-game analysis! I believe it's the most important single learning tool that you have, and if you start doing it right from the get go, you'll create a habit that will be hugely beneficial for your long term improvement. Good luck!

Mal_Smith

Aug 29, 2018

0

#4

You need to learn the game by taking lessons. At the very least, look at "Lessons" under the "Learn" menu and do your daily free lesson and five Tactics Training exercises. Watch the free videos, they give very good advice, so watch them repeatedly until the advice has sunk in. Also do the free Drills. Plus spend ten minutes a day, or so, learning first few moves of the named openings. Try them out in a game... maybe play a game of 15 | 10 each day. That might be enough if you have a life! If you want to do more, buy a beginners book and study it (not just read it, study it, like you studied your school algebra text, or should have studied your school algebra text...)

Follow Bacon's principles and Taskinen's advice, they make a lot of sense. Note the free version gives you a "quick analysis" option where the computer tells you which of your moves were obvious mistakes and blunders, and which moves might have been better. Try and see why your moves were mistakes and blunders, and you'll (hopefully) avoid them next time.

On which book to buy - be careful it isn't too advanced or too long, unless you are a fan of reading doorstop texts. One that covers all aspects of the game in a short number of pages might be best for starters, so you can get the gist of the openings, middle and end game in a month of serious study rather than a year. Maybe something like:

The Right Way to Play Chess

by David Pritchard

DiscipleOfKeres

Aug 29, 2018

0

#5

Study master games.

Start with Morphy, Emanuel Lasker, and Steinitz

Then, proceed to Alekhine, Capablanca, Keres, Smyslov, and Botvinnik

Master games can be found in game collections, like Alekhine's "My Best Games". These books are helpful because they have the master giving out analysis which is easy for players to understand.

Games can also be found through databases. There are numerous databases on the web, most of which are free.

Old master games also have the benefit of laying out simple attacking and defensive plans since they were playing weaker opposition most of the time.

For a first book, you can start with a game collection or a primer. I highly recommend the "Soviet Chess Primer" by Ilya Mazeilis to get a good foundation for the game. I also believe that Capablanca's "Chess Fundamentals" has a free pdf circulating somewhere, but I believe the notation is in descriptive. This might be a problem if you are already used to algebraic notation, but descriptive notation is not too difficult to learn.

In addition to learning basic opening principles, also learn basic endgames. K+P vs K, K+2B vs K, K +Q vs K, K+R vs K, K+N+B vs K, and so forth. A good primer should introduce you to these ideas.

kindaspongey

Aug 29, 2018

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#6

Mal_Smith

Aug 29, 2018

0

#7

Isn't "Soviet Chess Primer" by Ilya Mazeilis a bit of a hard study for a beginner? Just read a rather critical review of it:

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/2015/06/04/the-soviet-chess-primer/

I'm "beginning again" and have been looking closely at reviews on books for beginners. I'm tempted by Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, but vaguely remember reading and liking Pritchard in my youth, so I ordered a copy, and it's still getting good reviews. "The Mammoth Book of Chess" might be a good second book...

Playing 60 5 isn't possible on chess.com, and that's a lot of time staring at the screen. Maybe try one game of 15 | 10 and and one move of a "correspondence" daily game... and spend 15 minutes thinking, and studying background on, each move! But most beginners just want to have a game in the coffee break, not to spend all evening on a game, or many weeks (!) 15 | 10 is fun, so why not play that?

kindaspongey

Aug 29, 2018

0

#8

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Soviet_Chess_Primer-extract.pdf

"... The title might suggest it is for beginners, but that is not the case. [The Soviet Chess Primer] does start off with some basic positions, but quickly moves on to much more advanced material including chapters on positional play and techniques of calculation." - IM John Donaldson

kindaspongey

Aug 29, 2018

0

#9

The Mammoth Book of Chess
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093123/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review756.pdf

kindaspongey

Aug 29, 2018

0

#10

"... 'Chess Fundamentals' ... does not deal so minutely as this book will with the things that beginners need to know. ..." - from Capablanca's A Primer of Chess
"... For let’s make no mistake, what ground Capablanca covers, he covers well. I enjoyed reading Capablanca’s presentation of even well-worn and standard positions. ...
Still, when compared with other instructional books for beginners and intermediate players, Capablanca’s Chess Fundamentals would not be my first choice. Other books cover the same or similar ground with a less confusing structure and more thoroughness. The following works come to mind as equal or in some ways superior: Lasker’s Common Sense in Chess; Znosko-Borovsky’s series of books; and Edward Lasker’s Chess Strategy. Later works that equal or surpass Chess Fundamentals would include Reuben Fine’s Chess the Easy Way and any number of Horowitz tomes.
Capablanca’s work has historical interest and value, of course, and for that reason alone belongs in any chess lover’s library. But there are better instructional books on the market. Certainly the works of Seirawan, Silman, Pandolfini, Polgar, Alburt, etc. are more accessible, speak a more modern idiom, and utilize advances in chess teaching and general pedagogy, etc. ..." - David Kaufman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20131010102057/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review564.pdf