I have a bunch of books, how do i improve?

I am finally playing again after a short break. I have a few books.

Chess tactics for champions- susan polgar

Pandolfinis end game course - pandolfini

Winning Chess Openings, Tactics, Strategy. (3 books) by Seriwan

I also have access to chess tempo and ICC.

My tactics are okay as I have done alot of tactics book and chesstempo.com

So how should i continue my study?

Play, maybe read.

You're really close to the answer, you probably just need someone to fill in the missing step.

Lets see, so far you have:

1.Get chess books

2. ???

3. Improve.

In my experience what works most often for step 2 is to read the books.  So now we have:

1. Get chess books

2. Read the books

3. Improve

Hope that helps.

One book I can personally recommend is Pawn Power in Chess by Hans Kmoch.  For me, it was a good explanation of how to consider pawn moves, especially in the middlegame.

However, it is a hard book to read.  Kmoch uses his own terminology to describe light & dark square weakness.  But if you just skim past that; he explains when to push OR not push a pawn.  If you can get a copy and devote about an hour per day of reading it, then I think you will gain a new appreciation for subtle middlegame positions.  I know it helped me through a tough period when I was stuck wondering "what do I do in this situation?"

True, most of the book deals with positions from the Benoni BUT the lessons can be applied in other situations as well.

Give it a try!

i meant as in a order of the books ! :) thansk guys

In the beginning improving in tactics will bring the greatest benefits. Also certain fundamental endings such as K + K and pawn should be studied early.

I second that "Pawn Power' Is a great book and you can work with it on your computer screen makes it easier.

So what should i do? Focus studying tactics and then my openings book while playing on ICC?

Read 5-10 pages a day in the Polgar book. Do 1-2 endgame situations in Pandolfini's book(there is only one endgame per page), practice the endgame against a computer or app or even on a board by yourself.

Pandolfini's book is a good start for endgames but it does have some typos. Here is the correction list.

http://www.glennwilson.com/chess/books/pec_errata.html#end134

Pawn Power is written in descriptive notation and speaks its own language.  I would recommend you buy Understanding Pawn Play in Chess by Drazen Marovic.

So what should i do? Focus studying tactics and then my openings book while playing on ICC?

tactics,tactics,endgame. I'm sure you can get out of the opening and into the middle game without too much damage...if not go with your opening studys

Yeah, long opening sequences are not so important to you right now. Your opponents will deviate after a couple of moves anyway. You could slightly research the openings you use, but mostly for ideas, not for specific moves.

Buy Bastford's MCO. Then read it, obviously.

Read Pandolfini's book ASAP, if you're ambitious and/or have lots of time available you can read it on and off with one of your tactic books. If you can afford to buy another book I'd recommend Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move followed by his The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played, look for cheap used copies at amazon.

BTW do not take this personally but I doubt very much how "OK" your tactics are considering your rating...

And don't forget to check out my endgame blogs, endgame principles and rules are often applicable to openings and middlegames as well! (Well at least if you want to end up in a decent endgame)

http://blog.chess.com/RoboRoy

According to Sir de la Maza, until hitting Elo 2000, all you need to do is play and do tactics, tactics, tactics (say, do the Tactics Trainer of this site or get Daddy Polgar' s puzzle book). He recommends CT-ART tactics trainer software in a progressively faster time limit routine.

A word on openings.  Chess masters say that most beginners spend too much time on openings.  That doesn't mean that openings aren't important and that you shouldn't study them.  You should spend about a 1/3 of your study time on openings.  There is a go proverb that says : Memorize joseki (corner openings) to become weaker. Study joseki to become stronger.  When you study an opening try to understand why the moves were made.  Openings lead to specific pawn structures and middle games.  When you study an opening, play through the whole game.   You many not remember more than 7 or 8 moves, but that doesn't matter.  If you know where an opening is heading you can find your own moves.  The opening is organically linked to the middle-game and you can't study either in isolation.

so learn some basic openings

practice tactics and end game

play on icc?

I feel that CT-art is hard for a beginner like me , when should i start to use it

Basically, you're faced with the same things all of us are (or at the very least me).

I need to work on my openings and tactics.

And also there's an endgame book I've been meaning to read.

Also I don't understand ______ middlegame positions very well, and want to study some of that.

And go to more tournaments and analyse my tournament games seriously.

And work on my time management.

And play long practice games.

------------------------------------

Basically I need to work on everything :p  And so do you.

So pick one of your books, and read it all the way though at least once.  If you're not sure if it's pitched at your level look on amazon.com for reviews or simply ask here.  As you read take notes and review your notes.  Play games regularly during your study of the book (this is important).

It always boils down to the simplest answer of all, put in the time and effort.

What not to do?  Don't read a few pages here and there in each book without finishing any of them.... and don't spend many hours a day posting on here "how do I get better" ;)  You're not guilty yet, many of us are though!

I know right?

Oh, and don't be afraid to check this out, it's not just for kids:

http://www.chess.com/download/view/chesskidcom-curriculum