Think like a chessmaster planning,by Neil McDonald,this book is about the way of planning in chess .I downloaded it but never read it.😁
From where did you learn how to build a "PLAN"?
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May 6, 2017
0
#3
I've got two recommendations, the first of which is triple the size of the avg. chess book but worth it if you have the time. Note that ALL of these books work best if you're good at tactics. The Tactics Trainer here and the free, unlimited use one at chesstempo.com are worth spending at least 1/2 hour per day.
A. How to Reassess Your Chess, by Jeremy Silman. It teaches you how to look for imbalances and attack where you are stronger. The 4th Edition is 658 pages and the workbook that goes with it is 432 pages and I'm getting ready to tackle them. The 1st Edition was only something like 200 pages. I gave one to each of the OTB players on the the high school chess team I coached. We won our very competitive county championships (three teams in state top ten) and were 3rd in the state scholastic tournament.
B. Simple Attacking Plans, by Fred Wilson. I like this book because it pushes me to be more aggressive than I normally am. This is a 175 page book that uses 37 annotated games to illustrate a small set of key points:
1. whenever possible, relentlessly attack f7 or f2 in the opening.
2. most successful K-side attacks attack h7 or h2 after driving off the defender
3. if opponent's K is trapped in the center, open the e-file and maybe d-file
4. if possible, point all your pieces at the opponent's king.
May 6, 2017
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#4
First of all it comes with experience by playing a lot of games and studying the mistakes of them. And secondly training with a coach or better players will broaden your understanding of certain positions and pawn structures. Studying with books is also fine, but usually it is not as effective as analyzing with strong players. I hope this helps & I wish you good luck!
May 6, 2017
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#5
MickinMD wrote
A. How to Reassess Your Chess, by Jeremy Silman. It teaches you how to look for imbalances and attack where you are stronger. The 4th Edition is 658 pages and the workbook that goes with it is 432 pages and I'm getting ready to tackle them. The 1st Edition was only something like 200 pages. I gave one to each of the OTB players on the the high school chess team I coached. We won our very competitive county championships (three teams in state top ten) and were 3rd in the state scholastic tournament.
I have read 90% of this book, and have found that it only teaches you what you should be thinking about, not how you tgink about it.
do not read this book unless you figure this out, or you might lose a lot of games while not fully understanding the content but trying to use it anyway...
my recommendation...
May 6, 2017
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#6
Many middlegame plans depend on the pawn structure and the opening.
Soltis' book "Pawn Structure Chess" could be helpful.
Planning was perhaps the last of the 'basic' chess skills I learned. I got to 1800 by brute force calculating as much as I could. "I go here, he goes there, so I then go here, etc etc." This worked up to 1800, and it got me quite good at tactics, but it got me no further.
Planning, in my experience, is essentially doing the opposite. Rather than looking at individual moves, I took a step back and looked at the position in general. "Is the position open or closed? Are there any weaknesses to attack? What are the pawn breaks, and how can I set my pieces up to take advantage of them? If I could put my pieces anywhere, where would I put them? And my opponent, what will he try to do? What are his breaks, his potential threats?"
Basically, I'm asking questions that can't be answered by "1.Bxh7." By asking these questions, you begin thinking strategically, and then plans start coming naturally after awhile. Needless to say, you should try this in longer games and analysis, as trying it first in blitz will just suck all your time until you automate the process.
May 6, 2017
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#8
Aron Nimzowitsch's "My System" taught me how to plan and play positional chess.
It's a bit old-fashioned with the language, but if you can look past that, the insights in it should give you a solid positional foundation to help you make find and make plans.
Combine that with some opening-specific books regarding your repertoire (which should cover the most common plans and strategies specific to your opening system), and you're good to go.
May 6, 2017
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#9
StephenCorelli wrote:
MickinMD wrote
A. How to Reassess Your Chess, by Jeremy Silman. It teaches you how to look for imbalances and attack where you are stronger. The 4th Edition is 658 pages and the workbook that goes with it is 432 pages and I'm getting ready to tackle them. The 1st Edition was only something like 200 pages. I gave one to each of the OTB players on the the high school chess team I coached. We won our very competitive county championships (three teams in state top ten) and were 3rd in the state scholastic tournament.
I have read 90% of this book, and have found that it only teaches you what you should be thinking about, not how you tgink about it.
do not read this book unless you figure this out, or you might lose a lot of games while not fully understanding the content but trying to use it anyway...
my recommendation...
Good point! That's why I wrote before recommending the book that you need to know a lot about tactics before they're worthwhile. That's true of most books besides those on tactics themselves.
May 6, 2017
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#10
Hawkins' book "Amateur to IM" talks about "little plans," like getting an outposted knight or messing up the opponent's pawn structure. Presumably larger plans are based on those.
Fine's book "Ideas Behind the Chess Openings" gives overall general strategies, like on which side to launch a pawn storm or that focus will be on an IQP.
A few very rare books such as Keene's "Caro-Kann Defense" have an excellent description of medium-sized plans. Some specific opening books like one I saw on Petrov's Defense will mention a few general plans specific to that opening, like that the struggle in the main line is whether Black can maintain his knight outpost at e4, and that the struggle for Black in the Cozio Attack is to catch up on development. A few general books like Chernev's "Logical Chess" will describe plans and subplans of games where those plans were successful. Some books like Silman's "The Amateur's Mind" tell you how to spot weak points through an assessment of imbalances in any position, which then automatically dictates the plan you should use. And ditto to the comment above that a pawn structure itself automatically suggests a plan, like a Karlsbad structure dictating a Minority Attack, or an Exchange Ruy Lopez dictating that White attempt to get a kingside passed pawn.
For everything else, you're on your own. As you can see, really good learning material for most players is very rare. Anyone looking for a niche in the chess world for where to publish popular books need look no further. Personally I go through many games in a database and ask questions on this forum to understand why players make the moves they do, then notate in my own formal notation the intents of each move in my repertoire file.
----------
(p. 51)
Lesson 4
Step by Step--
A Guide to Little Plans
LESSON AIMS
> Learn how to optimize pieces in preparation for progressing the position.
> Understand the concept of 'little plans' and how they represent the practical
nature of planning.
It was once suggested to me that, in
any given position, you should have a
clear map in your mind of how the rest
of the game will pan out. A nice thought,
but this kind of chess is the exception
rather than the rule. Often a player will
have a general scheme in mind (as we
have already discussed), but the specif-
ics of progressing the position toward
the goal are dealt with only in the short
term.
Almost always the master will
progress in the game using a series of
'little plans'. The reasons for this are
clear. First, the opponent can take
many different paths so we constantly
need to update our plans. Second, as we
discussed in Lesson 1, the goal of win-
ning the game is usually too distant to
visualize in any useful way. It is more
useful to visualize ways to improve our
position and damage our opponent's
position. Through repeated application
of this we can hope to build up a win-
ning advantage.
Hawkins, Jonathan. 2012. Amateur to IM: Proven Ideas and Training Methods. New Highlands, MA: Mongoose Press.
May 6, 2017
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#11
Experience will teach you how to develop plans. Analyzing your own games is important. At least that's what worked for me.
When I started studying chess I read through Irving Chernov's Logical Chess: Move by Move as well as some other books. I felt I started to learn some principles and understand why certain moves were good or bad, but I also found it hard to create plans. How to Reassess Your Chess (I have the 3rd ed) really helped with this. The Art of the Middle Game (by Keres and Kotov) also helped a lot. BTW, the version I have has an introduction written by Golombek that was helpful to me in learning how plans are formed right from the opening.
Plan more. Look fore moves that seem terrible and then check if there is a benefit to it
*for
kid_may_know wrote:
Sometimes, I feel my chess is totally aimless.
What is the best way to learn PLANNING?
And when did you know how to plan?
If there is a good book on planning, could you recommend one?
________________________
In order to plan correctly and effectively you must first change your perspective of chess in 3 ways.
The confidence of understanding the correct perspective of a chess position and the understanding of why you are making the move you are making will go a long way to curing your jitters.
#6 1 hr ago
There is a lot of new information in this post. Read it slowly and carefully. Anytime you don't understand or have questions. Just stop and either message me or send me a note.
Purpose of development - why beginners shouldn't study openings
Purpose of development - you will learn that the purpose is to gain advantages in time, space and material by using the strategies of restraining, blockading, and executing the enemy to gain control of the center (the squares d4,d5,e4,e5). Piece moves are direct development. Pawn moves are aids to development, therefore they are indirect development moves.
beginners shouldn't study openings
Almost all strong players would disagree. The reasons they disagree are contained in 2 books that will change your perspective of how to play chess. The 2 books are: "My System" , by Aaron Nimzowitsch. and "Pawn Power In Chess", by Hans Kmoch.
I have learned the basic fundamentals, like develop your pieces, protect them, castle early, don't move pieces twice in a row etc.
Those are NOT the basic fundamentals.
In order to learn the basic fundamentals you must change your perspective of the game of chess in 3 ways. First chess is Siege Warfare in game form. There are 3 basic strategies in Siege Warfare. They are: Restrain, Blockade, and Execute the enemy.
The second change in perspective has to do with pawns. The principle that you must learn is: Winning chess is the strategically/tactically correct advance of the pawn mass.
The 3rd change in perspective has to do with control of the center. There are 2 theories in chess regarding control of the center:
Classical center control theory - control the center by occupying the center (d4,d5,e4,e5 squares) with pawns and pieces.
Hypermodern center control theory - control the center with the power of your pawns and pieces. This avoids your pawns and pieces becoming targets of the enemy pieces because they are not physically occupying the center (d4,d5,e4,e5).
Once you learn what the basic techniques of restrain, blockade and execute the enemy are, and combine them in your brain with control the center, develop your pieces, etc. you will understand opening books. You will understand how using the strategies of restrain, blockade, and execute the enemy together with control the center, develop your pieces, etc. combine to increase or decrease advantages/disadvantages in time, space and material.
The change in perspective in your brain causes you to shift your focus back and forth from concentrating on the squares the pawns and pieces control to concentrating on the pawns and pieces themselves as you analyze the position. It is difficult at first to do this. But as you practice it drastically improves your analysis of the position in front of you.
The second change in perspective causes you to concentrate on pawn structure. Concentrating on pawn structure will reveal 2 things to you. The first is the 3rd change in perspective which is what center control theory is being applied in the opening that has developed on the board. You will learn that there is a difference in what moves are made if you are fighting for control of the center with the hypermodern method with what is called a small but secure center. Or you are fighting for control of the center with the classical method of occupying the center with your pawns and pieces. Pawn structure is the terrain of the chess battlefield. The second revelation is the pawn structure itself which forms the hills, valleys and mountains of where the war is fought. Your plan of attack move by move has to conform to the pawn structure, Otherwise your battle plan might call for going thru a mountain given the pawn structure of the position on the board. The bird's eye view of the pawn structure of the position on the board makes finding candidate moves much easier. Especially if you know that one the important characteristics that you are looking for in the pawn structure is where the pawn breaks are or will be in the very near future. Pawn breaks are those places in the pawn structure where the opposing pawns are in contact with each other in a formation that permits captures of other pawns or pieces. Also, the execution of a pawn break is almost always the move that signals the first move of the beginning of the middle game.
I struggle at the next moves - the middle game - lack of plan I guess. What can I do in order to get the initiative in the middle game?
Studying opening books teaches you the move that begins the middlegame in that opening. Knowing the exact move when the middlegame begins is a big advantage in itself. Studying the opening books also teaches you what typical middlegame plan(s) of attack result from the opening you are studying. Being familiar with the typical middlegame pawn structures and where the pawn breaks are in the opening you are playing in a game is a great advantage over your opponent. All of this information confirms what you wrote in your post:
I believe, that learning an opening (10-15 moves) could give you an advantage in the middle game, especially at my level, and help me have an actual plan. Am I wrong? What should I do?
What should I do?
Select an opening repertoire that consists of 2 openings as White and 2 openings as Black(one opening against White's 1.e4 and one opening against White's 1.d4). Your overarching goal will be to build a visualization pattern memory bank into your brain of those openings, middlegames and endgames and the typical tactics that are themes or motifs in those 3 stages of the game. As you are studying the openings, the middlegame, the endgame, and tactics your goal in your training is to keep adding visualization patterns to the memory bank in your brain.
I also find it difficult to apply the tactics puzzles I have sold, as there are barely any tactics that can be done, with a bad positioning.
Your chess training system should consist of adding visualization patterns to your memory bank everyday of the following sections:
1. Tactics visualization pattern memory bank
2. Openings visualization pattern memory bank
3. Midddlegame visualization pattern memory bank
4. Endgame visualization pattern memory bank
Have you ever heard this phrase: "I love it when a plan comes together"?
Does that mean:
A. I've executed the plan that I planned and it's working out great. Or...
B. I finally laid out my plan and its sequence and how I'm going to execute it, and now it's a matter of just doing it.
What do you think it means, A or B?
P.S. Mike Tyson once said, "Everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth."
May 6, 2017
0
#18
there are many possible moves, but few winning positions. Find what works for you, and simply guide the game towards the winning position.
"... Going through games quickly and efficiently means you can read more annotated game collections and the more, the better. ..." - Dan Heisman (2005)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627023809/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman50.pdf
Possibly of interest:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/7192.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 (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
50 Essential Chess Lessons by Steve Giddins
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708100833/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review534.pdf
Simple Chess by Michael Stean
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104258/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review400.pdf
Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094419/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ammind.pdf
Sometimes, I feel my chess is totally aimless.
What is the best way to learn PLANNING?
And when did you know how to plan?
If there is a good book on planning, could you recommend one?