I am not good enough to go against something a GM says about chess so I will not comment on the questions. However, abou this rating, he hasn't played in 4 years according to his ratingchart. Still, a much better player than I will ever be, but he is also trying to sell something. I think as with most things in the world, what he is trying to say is, do make sure you understand openings, do make sure you recognize a fork or a pin, but don't spend all your time on those things.
i dont understand this GM's thought process...
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Seems like a commercial. A lot of half truths. Of course less is better than more... humans use abstraction to tackle any difficult subject, so it seems intuitively true. However that argument has nothing to do with the effectiveness of his methods which he never specifically mentions.
He actually said studying the opening a lot was bad.
He said tactical puzzles are secondary, which is fine I guess. The bit that's ultimately suggesting brilliant players find more brilliant combinations than average players due how they trained is not too believable.
Watching analysis of GM games is for entertainment. However it can also be for learning when a titled player or actual GM is the one making the comments precisely because they're giving you the reasons why the moves were made.
Anyway like I said in the beginning, seems more like a commercial trying to sell me something and my gut reaction to this is always to distrust it. Of course I've heard of Smirnov's course before and it always seemed overpriced to me. I'd rather hear from his students about how effective his material is. I'm sure it's not bad, but I certainly don't think it's the instructional holy grail.
I really think this titled player is really good Valeri Lilov especially when he kikblitzes his videos.
Very instructional.
waffllemaster wrote:
Seems like a commercial. A lot of half truths. Of course less is better than more... humans use abstraction to tackle any difficult subject, so it seems intuitively true. However that argument has nothing to do with the effectiveness of his methods which he never specifically mentions.He actually said studying the opening a lot was bad.He said tactical puzzles are secondary, which is fine I guess. The bit that's ultimately suggesting brilliant players find more brilliant combinations than average players due how they trained is not too believable.Watching analysis of GM games is for entertainment. However it can also be for learning when a titled player or actual GM is the one making the comments precisely because they're giving you the reasons why the moves were made.Anyway like I said in the beginning, seems more like a commercial trying to sell me something and my gut reaction to this is always to distrust it. Of course I've heard of Smirnov's course before and it always seemed overpriced to me. I'd rather hear from his students about how effective his material is. I'm sure it's not bad, but I certainly don't think it's the instructional holy grail.
Hi,
I've bought and looked at a couple of Smirnov's lessons a couple of years ago. Out of curiosity, and because I think it's always interesting to hear a very strong player's opinion.
On the positive side, I think he gives a lot of well thought-out pieces of advice in his courses. I don't think following any of them would be harmful.
On the negative side, I think he is happily mixing ideas that apply to people of very different levels.
Sometimes I thought : "oh this is interesting for me, but it wouldn't help someone in the 1500/1600 range for example. Conversely, some ideas were aimed at near 2300 level." That's maybe the reason why Smirnov can be confusing at times.
If you can't afford a coach, and would like some material to help you study chess in a global way, I've provided some ideas here.
Ive bought his stuff aswell and they are pretty good you do have to put them into practice and study them more.
hicetnunc wrote:
Hi,
I've bought and looked at a couple of Smirnov's lessons a couple of years ago. Out of curiosity, and because I think it's always interesting to hear a very strong player's opinion.
On the positive side, I think he gives a lot of well thought-out pieces of advice in his courses. I don't think following any of them would be harmful.
On the negative side, I think he is happily mixing ideas that apply to people of very different levels.
Sometimes I thought : "oh this is interesting for me, but it wouldn't help someone in the 1500/1600 range for example. Conversely, some ideas were aimed at near 2300 level." That's maybe the reason why Smirnov can be confusing at times.
If you can't afford a coach, and would like some material to help you study chess in a global way, I've provided some ideas here.
What I don't like about that video is he doesn't mention anything about what you should do as an alternative to these traditional study methods, i.e tactics, studying master games, studying openings etc. Personally studying tactics for somebody under 1400 is critical and is something that should be done everyday. I guess he keeps his youtube videos pretty ambiguous in order to entice you to buy his material, which in my opinion is grossly over priced.
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http://youtu.be/c_JplcEMYQg
Yes there is a post about this GM, maybe it was something different about what he was talking about or a different chess course. I understand that he is a grandmaster for a reason, he could be right about a couple of reasons his "misguided techniques"
Lecture.
-less is more
-studying to much openings
-unneccessary tactics studying
-Analyzes of grandmaster games is based on purely for entertainment.
-ect ect ect
I mean is he basically refuting what are the past principles of being a better chess player. It doesnt make sense, i know you all are gonna say just buy his course to know for yourself. Yea i agree i should when i have the money and since i do own a laptop.
But so lets say youll play against someone who understands an Openning more than you but you know the principles of what mr igor smirnov presents youll be a better overall player. It just doesnt make since, i mean this is comming from a guy floating around a rating of 2500 and sitting on it. Can someone please explain, i mean i believe in doing it the old fashion way, spending 5 hours of my life every day, studying openings, solving tactics, watching video lectures and analyzing games.