John,
Chess mastery is no different than mastering any new skill. We start off doing what we see. Then we start to learn. Unless you are one of the fortunate ones to have studied chess at a young age with a skilled mentor, unlearning bad habits is a necessary step to improve.
In answer to your question, what you're going through is normal and, unfortunately, necessary.
Jeremy Silman wrote two books that focus on this very issue:
Several years back an International Master recommended both of those books to me, and they were (and still are) quite helpful.
Regards,
C.S.
Hi there,
I guess this has probably been covered before, but I'm relatively new to chess and have reached a wall at how to get better.
I'm rated about 1500 on here, so probably lower in real life. I can get through almost all openings in a decent position. I can notice some good moves, and win against equal or worse players. But when I meet people who are actually good (instead of pretend good) then I always lose.
I've tried reading books on tactics to try to help. But every time I read one, I end up looking for certain patterns and missing out on what's actually going on in the game. What I'm saying is, the more I try to learn to be better, the worse I get. Is it a change in thought process, that, if i continue, i'll get worse to get better? Or should I ignore tactics and try to learn from my own games?
Any one else encountered this problem? Or have any advice?
It'd be much appreciated!