http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman54.pdf
That's another beer.
I get these here:
http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Articles/subject.htm
Really, most any question you might have Dan Heisman has written an article about.They are full of very useful pointers and information.
The articles are not too long, and even a lazy ass, such as yourself, can read 1 or 2 a day in less than the time it would take you to play a few games of chess.
Is it OK to call you a lazy ass?
Yes, yes, I have answered to that name for a long time now.
I'm going to give this stuff a read. But, honestly - reading is a put off. That's the problem with being someone who's used talent to survive this long (my day job is being a marketing guy - I talk to make a living - and am all smoke and mirrors ;)
The beers are on.
Yes, yes, I have answered to that name for a long time now.
I'm going to give this stuff a read. But, honestly - reading is a put off. That's the problem with being someone who's used talent to survive this long (my day job is being a marketing guy - I talk to make a living - and am all smoke and mirrors ;)
The beers are on.
Chess is a bit of smoke and mirrors. When you read, you will start to see that a huge aspect of chess is pshychological.
Talent is mostly useless if you don't know how to use it(or know that you have it). You mentioned talent in sports before. I think any top sports player will tell you that talent is only a part of the complete package to their success.
You can look at it like this; perhaps a little reading and investment in learning from others may reveal a talent you never knew you had.
At the very least, it may get you past the 1300 mark you are at after 2,871 games.
Hmm. Touché.
Y'know, I've known many players who hadn't read a book about chess kick my butt. No, I wasn't drunk (would've been an good excuse). As with the sports analogy, some skillsets can't be learnt. But everyone has the capacity to get better through hardwork, desire, and will. Some get better by playing alot (I'm not one of them) and learning intuitively. Most take baby steps. Learn the fundamentals, general principles, tactics, combos, rudimentary endgames. No expectations. Be practical. Set an realist goal. Wins & losses aren't that relevent. Playing's the thing, my friend.
Inane as this question may be, I think a lot of starters need to think about this. I've come across several posts where folks (like me) moan about not getting better at chess and mostly asking for some easy shortcuts at getting better.
The thing is - something like that would probably work at a game of pure skill - say something that needs hand eye coordination - even a simple hack-and-slash video game on the ipad.
With games of skills anyone with a little bit of natural talent gets better and the others get weeded out because their poor hand-eye coordination makes them lose interest.
Chess is NOT purely a game of skill. It is not something you can master like you can possibly master a sport. It takes learning. And the lazy, impatient ones like myself need to think - am I willing to do the reading it takes? I am not going to get better at it like I got better at clay pigeon shooting! I think a lot of us miss this simple fact.