There is no easy answer. Some will say books - if you do read books I would recommend finding ones that discuss positional ideas and common positions rather than straightforward lists of moves in opening theory. Some people would say join a club and learn by playing against a range of people who will (mostly) explain where you are going wrong as they will see firsthand any errors. Tactics trainer is good for some people but it can be a little artificial - that is to say the ability to calculate is useful but the starting premise for the positions is that one side is about to win. If you understand the flow of the game leading up to those positions then you are more likely to win than if you just aim blindly for throwing pieces at the area you wish to attack. Attacking moves are there to be found once you have done the groundwork but they do not come out of a vacuum. There are other threads on this site which have explored methods of learning and it may be worthwhile to search for them and see what various people have recommended. I would say though that there is no one guaranteed method.
Improving
Here is a reply I made on another thread:
Personally, I have been influenced by the study that showed :
"The best chess players follow a similar strategy. They will often spend several hours a day replaying the games of grand masters one move at a time, trying to understand the expert’s thinking at each step. Indeed, the single best predictor of an individual’s chess skill is not the amount of chess he’s played against opponents, but rather the amount of time he’s spent sitting alone working through old games." This is from a review of a book -- http://www.joelichtenberg.com/2011/08/29/in-search-of-excellence-by-moonwalking-with-einstein/ Similar thoughts: http://www.davidpatrickhurley.com/tag/moonwalking-with-einstein/
Such thoughts inspired me to write my program, "Guess the Move", which is free, and can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/fredm/. I also recommend looking at various chess thinking techniques as contained in some of the Novice Nook columns by Dan Heisman: http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Articles/Novice_Nook_Links.htm#subjectorder, and his book: "The Improving Chess Thinker"
I agree that Tactics Trainer feels a little contrived. I think the Mentor, Workout and Daily Puzzle are more real. So maybe I will concentrate more on those.
Studying the masters games sounds like a good idea. I doubt I will understand a lot. I have trouble understanding the moves suggested int he computer analysis of my lost games.
I will get Moonwalking for my Kindle and Guess the move is free so I have nothing to lose there.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Charlie
I would suggest reading Tactics and Strategy by Graham Burgess (It goes under another name too, cant remember it). It got me from learning how the pieces move, to 1500 level. I'd try to find the third edition (2009) of the book, as the 1996 and 2000 editions are a bit outdated.
I think the Tactic Trainer is a blessing and a curse. If you're just starting out and can't spot tactics like forks, pins, skewers from several moves out, it really helps a lot.
On the other hand though, It makes someone feel like there is a tactic to be employed every move and players begin trying to force tactics that just aren't there in their own games.
Lesson to be learned from tactic trainer is simply to see something enough to be able to recognize it in your own games should it come up.
Thank you Fredm73 for linking out to my blog post about Moonwalking with Einstein & chess...
@Charliecan: Please note that Moonwalking with Einstein is about memory championships and only briefly mentions chess.
I think a good way to work through master games is to work out YOUR response to each move and then see what the master player did. You WILL begin to understand more each time you (1) choose the same move as the master and (2) choose a different (and almost certainly inferior) move.
Something else I recommend and have started to do on my blog is to film your games (if your partner agrees)... I play chess with a Japanese guy who played shogi (Japanese chess) as a boy and we have started filming our games. The standard is not very high, but WATCHING yourself and your opponent mess up can be very instructive if you can stand the humiliation... and I would suggest that all true winners are capable of enduring humiliation in order to improve!
I'm currently working my way through Jeremy Silman's The Amateur Mind, which is very instructive, and at times very amusing... Recommended!
Read chess books that will helps you understand deeply about such topic (positional chess, strategy, patterns etc.) Then try to apply them by playing strong tournaments, by this it's exposed you to strong players (Remember: It is you who need to learn so study your game with them.) After playing knowing the mistakes had done, now is the time to analyse, and get ready to point out your mistakes and never do it again. Have your opening repertoire then, to play firm at the opening. Chess.com feautures will helps you improve your chess skill further. Good luck then!
-nyLsel
I'll add another recommendation for "The Amateur's Mind". Most of my positional understanding started from that book, and I do okay for myself.
Silman's "Complete Engame Course" is also superb for endgames. It's organized by rating, so you learn the basics first, learn what's appropriate for your level, and put it down for a bit while you improve other things, then come back to it. Highly recommended.
Don't overdo tactics trainer. I've heard you can only absorb approximately 3 new tactical patterns between sleeping, so 15 minutes or so is about right every day. Better that than 3 hours every 3 days, or even 3 hours every day. You can spend those extra 2.75 hours better elsewhere.
I'll also add that you should make a point to play a lot, both people at your level, below your level, and above your level, for different reasons. You want to play people at your level for practice and learning--it's an even game right? Play those below your level to practice using what you've learned--they'll give you the opportunity to do so. Play those better than you to learn by watching what they do.
I'll also suggest that you make a point to play people -much- better than you. The reason is that someone who's a stronger player may beat you, but it may be 40 moves after your mistake, and seemingly unrelated. Someone much stronger than you will make you regret that error immediately, and clearly. They will beat you -because- of the error you made, and it will be very obvious why what you did was bad. If you trade your g2 bishop and weaken your king, you'll be thinking all game "Why did I trade off that bishop? Man, I WISH I had that bishop!"
Best of luck, and have fun =)
I learned to play chess ages ago. Now I want to get serious. Obviously playing a lot of games has to be part of improving.
On this site there are study plans. I am trying to follow that. I practiced a few openings as suggested openings are great but somehow I have the feeling that studying as much tactics is the key.
I do an analysis of the games I lost. Some of the suggested moves make sense to me some don't. I do a lot of tactics trainer, computer work outs etc. All the learning stuff on this sit.
Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks;
Charie