Michael de la Maza chess improvement

The book does succeed in driving that point (hard work) home, but where it fails is in being organized in a way that facilitates learning.

If the 'big secret' is hard work and de la maza makes a high standard and a person wont do it or afford to do it then there's nothing wrong with its approach at chess no matter what you tell them they wont do it. So, if chess is alive and has infinite possibilities and everyone has the ability to reap its rewards then how does a person do as little as possible without making any sacrifices without making a goal or just doing nothing to improve? Say if you even have a perfect memory?

I think that strategy demands learning on the spot, or pre arranged knowledge that allows for easy access. And strategy depends largely on what opening you play. Usually, during OTB play demands quick play and decisions, and lets be honest this is the 21st century information is found and used. All of my strategy books are found but not used. My tactics books however are found and used in everygame. Tactics are concrete while its takes wise thinking to make a tranference between bishop vs. knight trade.

I like that comparison of 'snake oil'. But i think the real question is: does the system make the man or the man make the system?

Pure genius.

Here's an idea, combine silman with de la Maza. Understanding of strategy often leads to the most wicked of tactics, and that is were an expert could turn into a master or IM.

 I think there is an atricle regarding dela maza's book that silman didnt like. But to improve might as well take Smylsovs advice "For a deep undestanding of chess, a knowledge of the chess classics is essential". and Capablanca's" Technical perfection is a goal only for those strong players who want to qualify for the highest ranks"

Really?  I tend to think the masses are simply being just as stupid as ever.  I don't find anything clever about his book in the least.

To be fair I think it's mostly the uninitiated though.  "Tactcs, tactics, and more tactics" has been preached by every level of player for the last 100 years at least.  Those who found it new or interesting were probably adult beginners if I had to guess.

Yeah being fair is calling the masses stupid then labeling them as adult beginners. Thanks alot, very ;clever;. Sarcasim from me. Memory and understanding are integral parts of knowing where, when and why something works. Alot of people have bad memory, bad calculation abilities, cant move the knight and cant find hanging pieces. De la Mazas drills affect all of those in one swoop, nobody has offered his easy to do drills that Ive seen. His knight drill and concentric square. Basic stuff, but Ive never seen before or after reading his book. Even his other stuff he talks about. I guess the only rub is that he doesnt give tactics from his own experience that he learned the most from, only books to study and memorize. His rebuk is that most tactical books arent ever used in class games because most of them are grandmaster tactics and master tactics, so how does a class player use master tactics if he/she cant understand them? He only gives 50 examples of class tactics that should be transfered to other tactical books, but again class tactics arent in master tactical books. So what to do? Oh yeah, blame it on somebody, hopefully somebody whos dead or isnt in office anymore, or the ;masses;.

I'm not trying to insult anyone, it's just the book offers very little substance.  It IS good to drill tactics (as literally every chess player knows) but de la mesa's book doesn't even provide puzzles, or even book recommendations.  It's a feel good story about how he improved a lot and so can you. 

If you want a success coach to pump you up and get you motivated (nothing wrong with that, it can be very useful) then the book is great.  If you haven't heard that tactical drills are essential for class players then frankly you're new to chess.  And finally if you need someone to tell you that you'll improve if you sweat blood from working so hard then you're not too bright.  I don't think this is an unfair assessment.

" I ask you to use restraint in your admiration of book analysis and to examine it thoughtfully, even if it comes from well known players. Myself included" Tigran Petrosian

I dont want to insult anyone either so if I sweat blood and work some day I wont be dim? I;ll be bright? Sarcasim from me. De la Maza gives examples of players who have been stuck in one class for years and asked for their training, usually from masters. I can suspect that they arent new to chess. training from coaches, learning positional books, etc. I believe what he tried to impart on others is that any improvement is based on tactics alone and concentric/knight drill which are only two! Those two are easy to grasp but wafflemaster you keep ignoring them or probably have never tried it. Then he goes on to say that it is probably impossible for him to become a IM because of how long it;ll take him.10 years. Its easy to get to the 90 percent tile, one year, but any higher is probably gonna take more than just tactics and drills. Which is why he probably quit. But Im guessing you already knew that.

"Chess is at times a complicated game" Glenn Flear

If you find his drills where you put a piece on a square and move it to all legal squares useful then you're not an experienced player who has been stuck in a class for years.  Maybe K class...

Doing puzzles over and over is not new advice and is even self evident.  If he really is imparting "any improvement is based on tactics" then he's doing a disservice to chess players.  Although I'm not sure if that's what you mean, it was a bit hard for me to understand your meaning.

I'm guessing the players la mesa helped needed to be doing tactical drills but they weren't motivated enough to do it without a cheerleader encouraging them for 100 pages or however long his book is.

Maybe after you've completed the training the book outlines you can report back on your success instead of telling me about the stories he uses to advertise his book.

Devout followers who are in love with the stories of success, and not the method itself.  I'd like to hear from someone who has completed the 7 circles thing.  The 6 or so players I've read about / talked to gave up half way through.

Oh yeah, and isn't the subtitle something like "400 points in 400 days"  Don't make me laugh.  Show me a rating graph of someone who has done this.  For obvious reasons you can't use la mesa's.

It's not that I hate la mesa, it just irks me that people fall so hard for something so gimicky.  It's very much a part of my personality to distrust anyone I think is trying to convince me of something, so when I see people fall in love with a 100 page advertisement my reaction is likely stronger than what la mesa's book deserves.

"You cannot be taught to play chess, you can only learn" M. Botvinnik

The real lesson in that book is to remove basic blunders from your game. And you do that by concentrating on what needs to be concentrated on, and not being distracted.

De la meza stated he made most of his blunders worrying about positional junk, and missing what was right in front of his face. Solution? concentate on what's right in front of his face. That's all well and good. More power to him.

Me? I always made (and occasionally still make) my blunders trying to calculate some fancy combination 9 moves ahead. The question isn't are you worrying about the positional/tactical? The question is, are you allowing yourself to become distracted from the relevant?

I would venture that is as good advise in life, as it is in chess.

Also, don't pay too much attention to the "Example Cases." I bet you've seen hundreds of stories of some person who turned $60,000 into $120,000 in One month! Or lost 80 pounds in 6 weeks!!!!

Those stories always seem to work better in print.

"To lose ones' objective attitude to a position, nearly always means ruining your game" D. Bronstein

But you CAN turn 60,000 into 120,000 and you CAN lose 80 lbs in 6 weeks.

Just send me $10.99 and I'll tell you all about it... don't believe me?

Michael from Arizona said:

"Waffllemaster is really a genious, his methods are both simple and effective."

Julie from New York said:

"After I purchased his product it turned my whole life turned around and I've never looked back since."

cool, the check will be in the mail wafflle.

"In your games you have all that you need to train with" IM Johan Hellsten