I'm glad you raised the issue, Bobblehead ! I have a number of chess books but never ever finished any cover to cover ( except Bruce Pandolfini's Weapons of Chess ). I don't have much time to read - and I'm very poor in the discipline department. And certainly no one else to help me ( you're lucky ! ). Don't know about chess coaches - can't tell a good one from a bad. I too like you like to find out what "systems" everyone has.
How to effectively study chess
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Well I am not trying to figure out how people play their games so I can challenge and beat them, I just want to know how people study chess, how they learn to play better. What tools they use to do so.
It also depends on how much time ur willing to give to improve. I use to study lots of books on various aspects of the game. And i studied my own games after i played them sometimes taking days to work them out. i played in tournaments and practiced against the pc for hours, this is before i even had the net like this. basically i played got my ass handed to me then learned from it to do it all over again and studied books to speed up the learning process by learning from masters books and from there games all this takes time.I hope this helps....
Jul 30, 2008
0
#5
bobbleman, i join your inquiry - how to study to improve my chess. i've played since i was a kid, but have never really studied properly... i'm thinking about joining a local chess club so i can learn from the wisdom of the other players. other that and books, i'm at a loss...
I would probably just inhale chess classics and burn the themes into your head. That is what I would probably do.
Read - My library has grown to over 300 books and I have read at least half of them cover to cover and probably 20-25% twice or more.
Play - The slower the time control the better, avoid blitz like the plague, when you get good at 'normal' time controls, you will be good at blitz.
Study - and analyse your own games. I use chess engines to do a blundercheck on my games for tactical reasons. I use Chessbase and the online databases to compare how better players played similar positions. I also try to study an endgame every day or so, or do some of the exercises from Technique Trainer.
I also try to do as many tactical exercises from a book or online as I can each day. This is usually only 25-50 for me, I probably should aim to do over 100, but finding the time is a killer.
This may sound like a lot, but chess is just like any other skill, perfect practise makes for perfect play, or at least we can hope 
Bobblehead wrote:
I want to hear some ways that people study chess (i.e. books to buy, programs to use, places to go).
You need to narrow it down a bit. There are many excellent books out there; the thing is, each one is aimed at players of a different skill level. Since you haven't said which chess books you've already read, I'm going to assume you haven't read any and start from the beginning.
My ideal chess course would go like this:
1. Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess - Fischer et al.
2. Logical Chess Move by Move - Irving Chernev
3. Winning Chess Tactics - Yasser Seirawan
At this point you have a solid foundation. Next:
4. Ideas Behind the Chess Openings - Reuben Fine
5. The Middlegame in Chess - Reuben Fine
While reading these, also do tactics puzzles from a puzzle book such as 303 Tricky Chess Puzzles - Wilson & Albertson
Also, go to www.chesscafe.com and read all of Dan Heisman's "Novice Nook" columns.
At this point you are no longer a beginner. You are now an intermediate player. Next:
6. Silman's Complete Endgame Course - Jeremy Silman (Alternatively, Chess Engames Essential Knowledge - Yuri Averbakh)
7. The Art of Attack in Chess - Vladimir Vukovic
8. Chess Master vs Chess Amateur - Max Euwe
While reading these you should also keep doing tactics puzzles from a puzzle book. Also, pick your favourite player and get a book with a collection of his annotated games. For example, My 60 Memorable Games - Fischer; or, 100 Selected Games - Botvinnik.
After all this you're ready to read books on positional play like "My System" or "Reassess Your Chess"; or, you can get a repertoire book like "Play 1.e4!", and start building an opening repertoire.
Of course this assumes you're playing lots of games and analysing your own games the whole time.
That would be my plan for turning a complete beginner (i.e., someone who has never read a chess book) into a strong intermediate player.
Jul 30, 2008
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#10
How do you analyse your games using a chess engine? And what engine do you use?
samsom wrote:
How do you analyse your games using a chess engine? And what engine do you use?
Open up the chess program. Set up a human vs human game. Enter all the moves of your game (alternatively, if your game is saved in .pgn format you can just go File>Load and load it up). Fritz and Chessmaster have an option in one of the menus called "Analysis Mode" or something like that. Click it and a menu pops up where you can customize the analysis options. Then just tell it to start analyzing and wait until it's done!
The programs give you some useful info:
1. An evaluation of the position. E.g., let's say after the 19th move it says 19.Bxc3 +0.65. This means that after the move 19.Bxc3, white is winning by 0.65 pawns (in the opinion of the chess program - which isn't always 100% correct, so take it with a grain of salt).
2. Suggestions of alternate moves. Continuing our example from 1., it might say 19.Bxc3 +0.65 (19.Qxh5 +2.55). This means that if white had played 19.Qxh5 instead, he would be winning by 2.55 pawns instead. This would indicate to you that white missed a golden opportunity!
You can use this info to see where you missed tactics (as example in #2 suggests). Also, you can see where you went wrong: if the evaluation after move 19 is +0.65 and after move 20 it's -1.34 (i.e., black is winning by 1.34 pawns) then you can tell that white's 20th move was a blunder.
Phil_from_Blayney> My library has grown to over 300 books and I have read at least half of them cover to cover and probably 20-25% twice or more.
Very nice. Not the size of your library, but the fact that you follow-through and have completely read so many of them. :)
Lanceuppercut recommended: 8. Chess Master vs Chess Amateur - Max Euwe
That's a great book! silly of me - i had completely forgotten about it when I recommended books [on other threads i think...]
Jul 30, 2008
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#14
this is a helpful thread.
i was interested in the ebooks...but it seems that chessbase is only available for a PC..
VedaSlade wrote:
this is a helpful thread. i was interested in the ebooks...but it seems that chessbase is only available for a PC..
Supposedly you can use the following programs to read them as well:
Fritz, ChessBase, ChessBase Light, ChessBase Reader, Junior, Shredder, Hiarcs, ChessTiger
Ok to narrow it down I already reveiw my games after and I only have one chess book but it is on the broad topic of strategy it is more of a refereance. Anyway thats all I am doing now.
I do play chess a lot, but I have heard that blitz chess really helps people to think faster and accomplish their goals quickly. What do you guys think.
Jul 30, 2008
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#17
The way I study chess :
1) I play OTB long games and Internet rapid games
2) I analyze my games by myself
3) I look for advice of stronger human players
4) I look for advice of computers
The best way I think for players under 2100 (most of us) is to do alot of tactical puzzles and play alot of games, and analyze them after, either with someone or with a program like fritz. Studying the endgame is probably more important than studying openings at the lower levels. Pick a few openings you like and stick with them, learn the basic theory but don't bother going really indepth unless you play at a high level. Just my opinion.
diskamyl wrote:
Bobblehead wrote:
Ok to narrow it down I already reveiw my games after and I only have one chess book but it is on the broad topic of strategy it is more of a refereance. Anyway thats all I am doing now. I do play chess a lot, but I have heard that blitz chess really helps people to think faster and accomplish their goals quickly. What do you guys think. Assuming you are a beginner, avoiding blitz might be better. You first need to get the right thinking habits burned into your brain. and, tactics tactics tactics. You should work on tactics 90 % of your study time.
First of all, I am not a beginner I have been playing for 9 years and have one many tournaments. Second, how should I go about studying tactics?
Jul 30, 2008
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#20
Bobblehead: First of all, I am not a beginner I have been playing for 9 years and have one many tournaments. Second, how should I go about studying tactics?
The tactics trainer on chess.com is good for tactics (no surprise there). If you are not a subscriber and the prospect of lots of practice doesn't persuade you then http://chess.emrald.net/ is similar.
http://www.chesstactics.org/ is also good for tactics. I have the books but the website is better!
I play chess very often and have over the past few years gotten to be very good. I want to hear some ways that people study chess (i.e. books to buy, programs to use, places to go). I prefer books over most other things and have little need for conventional classes or teachers, I have a friend rated 1981 USCF that helps me out. So if you all coupld please help me out now and tell me how you guys learn better chess.