Chess Videos: My Sequence for Watching

right about now i'm hating wildblue...

30 Day Update!

Since organizing the Chess.com videos into a planned viewing order on September 12th, I have now watched 29 of them.  I started with the videos in Section A (Isolated Queen Pawns), switched to Section I (Queen's Gambit) part way through that series, then went back and completed Section A (Isolated Queen Pawns) today.

I have watched some of the Section I - Queen's Gambit videos a second time and tried building a variation tree based upon on what was being discussed.  This was helpful.

I am pretty sure I have gotten my money's worth out of my premium membership.  Now, on to the Section B videos! 

29 chess.com videos in 30 days!

That shows dedication in making your diamond premium membership worth every cent.

Are you able to keep this up for another 30 days?

This thread makes an excellent index for accessing some good videos. Thanks! 

Ok, so I've been putting my video watching to good use and trying to play around the Queen's Gambit and the pawn structure lectures.  My rating has bounced up and down during the process (to be expected and I'm not too concerned about at this nascent stage of my chess experience) and today I thought I took a loss that was, for me, very educational.  Commentary starts at MOVE 17.

 

Great idea making this list!  I'm going to work my way down it.  Thanks!

Thanks for the list.  The best way to improve is with a plan, and this is a good one!!

60 day update!  

In the first 30 days I made it through the first 29 videos (section A on pawn structure and into section B on Development).

In this second 30 days I switched my order somewhat as I pressed on through section B on Development.  PRUESS!  That section on ATTACK & DEFENSE is TEDIOUS!!  I know I have to go back and watch that 5-6 videos on that single game again because it is highly instructive, but man that was hard to get through.

I then moved into section C - passive queen pawn games.  This actually turned out to be defensive lines against d4 sidelines, so after the first two videos I skipped ahead to Section D - ENDGAMES.

GM Roman Dzindzichashvili is a GREAT video lecturer!  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO WATCH THE END GAME VIDEOS categorized in my first post AND THE PAWN STRUCTURE VIDEOS in section A.  So far those are my two favorite sections.  The development section is very deep and technical and requires a lot of attention and work and may be off-putting to someone starting out wanting to walk through some videos.

Anyway, after tonight I will have done maybe 45 videos in 60 days.  My OTB play, I feel, has bettered significantly.  My end games need a lot of work, I just haven't learned the theory and principles yet.  So I hope to push on through some more tonight and through the end of the month!

45 videos in 60 days with games to show for.

Nice.

90 day update! I worked though Rook Pawn endgames, did the live lecture with GM Magesh, and then switched over to a DVD series on the Najdorf Sicilian to try to add some structure to my play as black. I threw in some one-off videos of the day too. So I'm somewhere around 60 videos in 90 days plus some DVDs now. My observations: 1. I try to play too fast online. 2. I need more self-discipline to slow down and ask "why did he move there" and "what are my candidate moves" and "where can he attack next" before i move. 3. If I focus only on my moves, I am likely to hang a piece or miss my opponent's attack. 4. I am getting into the middle game comfortably when play a disciplined, slow opening. 5. My end games are better. 6. I need to work on tactics every day to develop bettet vision and pattern recognition. 7. There is enough self-study content on chess.com to keep me occupied for a long time. 8. My one-year old daughter likes to bang chess pieces together.

60 videos in 90 days.

I believe that you are now experiencing the logarithmic improvement curve: you improved fast and have now reached a level higher than you were in 3 months ago. Now you will have to struggle to overcome this plateu for a while.

You should probably start looking for opponents who like to play long games in standard time controls.

I found myself hitting a wall.  The chess videos here, Kasparov DVDs, and Silman's 4th Ed. of RAYC have been good "book learnin'", but I find myself struggling to find the self-discipline to formally analyze moves deeply enough.  

I have a regular OTB opponent (about 4 games a day, 5 days a week, no time control but rarely more than 30 minutes for the whole game), and I am making a concerted effort to analyze these games afterwards to identify my errors.  Primarily, it's been crappy analysis on about a sacrifice, exchange or a pawn break where the deeper I go (say 4-5 moves in) my analysis breaks down and I am missing alternate moves from my opponent that undermine the whole purpose of the exchange in the first place.  

I am thinking about swearing off suspect sacrifices and daring moves for a month and just trying to play solidly and positionally.  Will be interesting to see if I have the self-restraint. 

Hello, Petrosian... the iconic master of positional play. There's also Capablanca. Let their games be an inspiration for you.

Your regular oponent sounds just as accomodating as mine. Only my partner is a chess computer.

I haven't yet sat down and gone through master games myself, though it's on my list of things to do.  

Yes, the problem with my regular opponent is that he has some natural talent and I play the same opening over and over and over so he gets better and better and better against it.  Which is good in the long term for my error correction, but somewhat deflating in the meantime to invest so much time 'studying' chess and still lose games I 'think' I should win.  Ah, the invincibility of hubris.

166 Day Update!  Here's what I've done and a progress summary below:

70 Chess.com videos in 166 days

20 Kasparov videos on the on the Queen's Gambit (from a DVD)

25 Kasparov videos on the Sicilian Najdorf (from DVD series)

Reading through Reassess Your Chess (lightly) before going planning to go back through it with an analysis board.

Have "Focing Chess Moves" by Charles Hertan on deck to read after RAYC.

Still playing 2-4 OTB games a day pretty regularly.

Things I have noticed: 

1. I have eliminated much of the hanging pieces problem from which I suffered;

2. I have forced myself to stop making unsound piece sacrifices, a habit I picked up when studying some Bxh7+ lines in the Colle-Zukertort;

3. I look for hanging pieces and pins more often before moving my piece;

4. However, I still get excited about "my ideas" and neglect to look at things from my opponents side when playing the second or third move of "my calculation" and in turn allow counterplay to be developed;

5. I have a bit of Najdorf overload and confuse lines, I regularly fail to push d5 or e5 when it's appropriate;

6. I need to develop the ability to narrate the big picture of what is happening on the chess board during the opening and middle game;

7. I am starting to dislike playing QGD and find 1. e4 attacking games more exciting.

That's all for now! 

290 Day Update!

1. Recap: I started playing chess when I was 6.  Played casually until high school, when I entered a tournament.  But shortly threreafter only played at school and casually until July 2010 when I joined Chess.com.  In September 2010 I embarked upon a journey to work through www.chess.com's amazing CHESS VIDEOS!  

So here is where I am at!

2. Videos: I made my order for watching chess videos in the first 2 posts.  

I viewed 135 videos (90 Chess.com and 45 DVD videos) in the first 200 days

3. Tactics. I use www.chess.com Tactics Trainer (or a comparable software program) every other day for about 15-20 minutes (I need to use it every day! But hard sometimes to do...)

3. Games I play 20 OTB training games a week at 15 minutes per side.  I play a nauseating amount of online games at short time controls.

4. Study:  I have a coach now!  A 2 hour lesson each week via Skype and the computer.  The www.chess.com Coaches Directory was a great asset in finding someone in my price range and who is excellent!  I finished lesson my fifth lesson today.

5. Reperoire.  I finally have a usable repertoire as white and black.

6. Performance.  Differs among websites!  I assume there is at the very least a 300 to 500 point difference between on-line chess and real chess because my rating ranges between 1700-1900 for slow chess depending on the website and I just think that is highly optimistic when considering the real OTB world, although my OTB games are getting much better.

6. Biggest improvements:  

 A. Hanging a piece has decreased dramatically

 B. Missing a mate in 2 has decreased dramatically

C. Losing in the first 25 moves has decreased dramatically online and OTB

D. I'm using up more time! I never though I'd ever take all of 15 minutes to play a game. Now I can easily use up my time on 30 minutes per side.

E. Planning is significantly improved!

F. Applying principles during play is a conscious thought in each game.

G. Shift from Move-By-Move strategy to 3-Move strategy (and then keep planning 1 move ahead, so there are always 3 moves in my pocket).

 

7. Goals! 

I want to play a big, open, OTB tournament in the U.S. before the end of the year.  Preferably two.  Preferably where there will be a big chess.com meetup!

 

Hope the video grouping is useful to some of you guys. Thanks for reading!

Good for you.

Great job JHB... Thank you very much...

And also big thanks for CM Il Mago for setting priorities...

I didnt know about this list.  thanks Ive been watching videos way over my chess intellect.

I hung around a 800 blitz rating for a while, watched 5 chess.com video and now im sitting around 880.

maybe I'll try a few of your playlists. thanks again