Early on I garnered what I could from master games and learned a lot of my openings from playing through them. It takes awhile to learn all the nuances of positional play. The best thing to do is practice, and the way to do that is play. Other things help as well, like tactics trainer, opening explorer, mentor, videos. What really helped me early on was studying game collections. You probably want to study annotated games.
how?
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The advice louis gave on practice is spot on . Early on I studied too much and played too little which was my main problem, of the very few rating boosts I have had in chess they were all from consistent play and analyzing my games .
Studying my own games to determine blunders is probably good too. I just don't know where to begin.
http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Chess-Algebraic-Edition-Dover/dp/0486424200
What do you think?
I know books are outmoded, but this looks good.
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I just needed to vent. My issues probably have a huge impact on my play. I get that way just about every week...
I have no idea on positional play. Every plan I make gets torn apart. I was good enough to get to 1440. But I plummeted and don't know why.
It's not so much what you want to happen, it's trying to read what the position calls for.
A move by move book would be good like Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move.
Post #5 about Stean's book is a very good book IMO, but depending on how good you are it may be too advanced right now.
I mainly feel like all I did before was out-tactic opponents. I am glad there are books for positional play.thanksfor the suggestion.
How to improve positional play. I like the chess mentor, the problem is I have no way to get a premium membership. Will studying gm games help me recognize and learn what constitutes a good position?