Rapid Chess Improvement- Should I buy it? - Chess Forums - Page 2

All_Exceed · 2016-03-06T09:01:33-08:00

Thinking of getting this book for training purpose. Some say it's just for motivation. Is it true? What are your thoughts on this. Is there some other good book out there?

RoobieRoo

Mar 7, 2016

0

#21

hhnngg1 wrote:

robbie_1969 wrote:

hhnngg1 wrote:

That's like saying my 98% accurate review isn't a good summary because I left out 2%.

Your summation was inaccurate and biased. Just accept the fact instead of attempting to justify it and try to be more objective in future. Also your statement of 2% and 98% is demonstrably false, there are 6 chapters,

1. chess vision skills, 2 the seven circles, 3 how to think, 4 practical tactics, 5 success with rapid chess, 6 what to do next.

pages 25 to 41 are devoted to chess vision, pages 41 to 60 to the seven circles. That is 16 pages and 19 pages respectively.

Yep, of which this is the relative value of what the contribution of each is to his training results:

- Doing 7 circles: 95%

- Everything else: <5%

So I stand by my accurate summary. If you disagree, I guarantee that take any beginner, make one do the 7 circles only for a few months, and have the other do 'everything else' while completely omitting the 7 circles, and it'll be pretty clear who's improving and who isn't.

His system is ALL about tactics. You're fooling yourself if you think it's not.

No one has claimed that his system is not all about tactics. Your claim was that chess vision takes up 2% of the work and the seven circles takes up 98% of everything else and was demonstrated to be false when I produced the pages devoted to each subject. You have now attempted to state that it was based on some kind of relative value, which you seem once again to have fabricated based on nothing more than your own opinion.

A piece of unsolicited advice, its difficult to argue against empirical evidence with nothing more than mere opinion :D

EscherehcsE

Mar 7, 2016

0

#22

Maybe a compromise in the debate is to look at the time he recommends you spend on the micro-level drills vs. the 7 circles. (Looking at the Skittles papers and hoping the recommendation in the book didn't change.)

"At the end of the Seven Circles training you will have spent a total of 155 days (28 days doing micro-level drills plus 127 days doing Seven Circles) working on your tactical training ability. If you work through the program exactly as I’ve described it, your tactical ability will soar."

28/155 = 18%

Of course, I don't know how effective the micro-level drills actually are vs. the 7 circles.

Uhohspaghettio1

Mar 7, 2016

0

#23

bunnyplayer1 wrote:

Please buy my book mating the castled king instead!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MATING-CASTLED-KING-DANNY-GORMALLY/dp/190798271X

or even better, my new masterpiece: http://chess-evolution.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=79

I have "Calculate like a Grandmaster". I liked the writing but I don't think it's that instructive for how GMs calculate. It's more like a paperback novel than a learning tool.

I don't really like the attacking style of chess anyway, I would rather play soundly.

kindaspongey

Mar 7, 2016

0

#24

Bronco wrote (~3 years ago):

Here's an article by Dan Heisman that may give some insight.

http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-michael-de-la-maza-story

kindaspongey

Mar 7, 2016

0

#25

ylblai2 wrote (~4 weeks ago):

GM John Nunn commented on the book in his own book, Secrets of Practical Chess (2nd Ed.).

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708110907/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review580.pdf

fiolmattias wrote (~4 weeks ago):

Nunn ends his review:

"The above comments should give the potential reader a good idea what to expect from Rapid Chess Improvement. The best that can be said is that if this book persuades you to spend more time on studying chess, then your game will probably improve. However, the author's highly mechanical training methods, quite apart from not being much fun, may also not be the best way to spend your time. "

kindaspongey

Mar 7, 2016

0

#26

ylblai2 wrote (~4 weeks ago):

"Every now and then someone advances the idea that one may gain success in chess by using shortcuts. 'Chess is 99% tactics' - proclaims one expert, suggesting that strategic understanding is overrated; 'Improvement in chess is all about opening knowledge' - declares another. A third self-appointed authority asserts that a thorough knowledge of endings is the key to becoming a master; while his expert-friend is puzzled by the mere thought that a player can achieve anything at all without championing pawn structures.

To me, such statements seem futile. You can't hope to gain mastery of any subject by specializing in only parts of it. A complete player must master a complete game ..." - FM Amatzia Avni (2007)

kindaspongey

Mar 7, 2016

0

#27

damngoodcoffee wrote (~2 seeks ago):

... Anyone who's considering buying or reading this book will do well to read Jeremy Silman's review before they decide. Silman's review is a great read even if you have no desire to read the book.

http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Rapid-Chess-Improvement-p3511.htm

kindaspongey

Mar 7, 2016

0

#28

ylblai2 wrote (~2 weeks ago):

"Jeremy Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess is an example of a good book which explains many important ideas in clear terms. ... de la Maza ... quite unfairly attacks competing authors (which in most cases are far superior to his own effort). Jeremy Silman is a particular target." - GM John Nunn (2006)

kindaspongey

Mar 7, 2016

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#29

damngoodcoffee wrote (~2 weeks ago):

"When all is said and done, I can’t recommend Rapid Chess Improvement (a book that, in my view, offers a philosophically bankrupt vision of what chess is). It smacks of "the blind leading the blind.” But, as I said earlier, his book might prove useful for some.-

Last paragraph of Jeremy Silman's review of Rapid Chess Improvement

kindaspongey

Mar 7, 2016

0

#30

ylblai2 wrote (~2 weeks ago):

Milliern wrote:

Just a reminder: MDLM talks smack on Silman, so Silman's review is immediately compromised with bias, or should be viewed as highly likely to be compromised.

Any dispute of specifics written by Silman?

"Mr. de la Maza ... tells you, over and over and over (page after page after page), what he’s going to do for you without teaching you anything." - IM Jeremy Silman

There are 16 pages before one gets to Chapter One Chess Vision Drills. Here, by the way, are some excerpts from an approximately page-long description of one drill.

"Use [these drills] if you feel that you are missing obvious opportunities or are taking too much time to find simple moves. ... start with the knight on a1 and move it to b1 in the shortest number of moves, ... physically hit the squares that the knight moves to, but do not move the knight itself. Once you have completed the a1-b1 circuit, move the knight from a1 to c1. ... After you have completed all of the circuits that start on a1 and go to all of the other squares on the board ..., move the knight to b1 and repeat the process. ... This drill will take half a day to complete. ... (64*63) pairs of squares ..." - Michael de la Maza

"on page 47 of his book: 'If you do not have access to a computer you should make every effort to get one. New computers can be purchased with a monitor for under $400 and used computers can be purchased with a monitor for under $200. The money you spend will be immediately returned to you when you start winning prizes at tournaments.'" - IM Jeremy Silman

"his sample game (one of his own in which he plays White), where he shows how one should think move by move:

'Opponent’s threat: No significant threats.  Decide move: 1.e4 of course! 1.e4 c5 Opponent’s threat: No significant threats, but watch out for …Qa5.  Decide move: No tactics. 2.Nf3 or 2.Nc3 are both reasonable. 2.Nf3 d6 Opponent’s threat: No significant threats.  Decide move: No tactics. 3.e5 is most shocking. Continue development with 3.Nc3. ...' ..." - IM Jeremy Silman

"... the 16 pages he devotes to reader’s praise. The title of this chapter is "Success With Rapid Chess Improvement.” - IM Jeremy Silman

And here is another GM John Nunn comment:

"... de la Maza ... recommends ... going through a set of 1000 tactcs problems seven times. One might imagine that a suitable set of 1000 positions would then be provided, but no, readers are advised to buy a piece of software ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)

The contents of the book are about 120 pages.

hhnngg1

Mar 7, 2016

0

#31

If you want to argue semantics,OK you win .yay.

Anyone who reads this book and does NOT think it's a 98% or more tactics focused method is fooling themselves. My prior posts say exactly that, no clarifications needed. You wanna say otherwise, you go try and pove that it's not as such.

robbie_1969 wrote:

hhnngg1 wrote:

robbie_1969 wrote:

hhnngg1 wrote:

That's like saying my 98% accurate review isn't a good summary because I left out 2%.

Your summation was inaccurate and biased. Just accept the fact instead of attempting to justify it and try to be more objective in future. Also your statement of 2% and 98% is demonstrably false, there are 6 chapters,1. chess vision skills, 2 the seven circles, 3 how to think, 4 practical tactics, 5 success with rapid chess, 6 what to do next.pages 25 to 41 are devoted to chess vision, pages 41 to 60 to the seven circles. That is 16 pages and 19 pages respectively.

Yep, of which this is the relative value of what the contribution of each is to his training results:

- Doing 7 circles: 95%

- Everything else:

So I stand by my accurate summary. If you disagree, I guarantee that take any beginner, make one do the 7 circles only for a few months, and have the other do 'everything else' while completely omitting the 7 circles, and it'll be pretty clear who's improving and who isn't.

His system is ALL about tactics. You're fooling yourself if you think it's not.

No one has claimed that his system is not all about tactics. Your claim was that chess vision takes up 2% of the work and the seven circles takes up 98% of everything else and was demonstrated to be false when I produced the pages devoted to each subject. You have now attempted to state that it was based on some kind of relative value, which you seem once again to have fabricated based on nothing more than your own opinion.

A piece of unsolicited advice, its difficult to argue against empirical evidence with nothing more than mere opinion :D

RoobieRoo

Mar 8, 2016

0

#32

Your summation somehow managed to neglect to mention five chapters out of six. Now if you had written a book and someone failed to mention five chapters out of six would you consider that a fair and accurate portrayal? In what universe is that to be considered a fair and accurate portrayal?

RoobieRoo

Mar 8, 2016

0

#33

ylblai2 wrote:

The contents of the book are about 120 pages.

Have you personally read the book?

All_Exceed

Mar 8, 2016

0

#34

Cam_and_Alex wrote:

Maybe you could see if your library system has the book or other chess books that you could use for training. There's always YouTube and other resources on Chess.com as well. =)

Exactly Cam good suggestion!

All_Exceed

Mar 8, 2016

0

#35

msiipola wrote:

No, don't buy it. It's waste of money.Lot of people have tried the la Maza's method and haven't succeed. At least I haven't hear of anyone.

But of course if you do lot of tactical training, your tactics will be better, but you don't need the book. There are lot of information about tactical training here on chess.com and in other chess web sites.

Yeah I have been thinking about its tactical exercises which seemed little weird to me. Better to use CT Art than that book. Thanks for your suggestion.

All_Exceed

Mar 8, 2016

0

#36

robbie_1969 wrote:

I have read the book and as an adult player who learned to play chess in my thirties it helped me immensely. The main focus is on pattern recognition and the exercises with a single queen v a king and rook where you find all the forkable squares on the board was really great, same with doing it with a rook and king v a knight. The potency of this is to see the board uncluttered with pieces and it helps one to isolate tactical motifs. The failing of the book is that it provides no strategic approach and the two are inseparable in a practical game of chess. I see this and the Silman books which I have read as opposite ends of the same spectrum, De la Maza is concerned purely with the recognition of tactical motifs and familiarizing oneself with these, Silman is concerned almost purely with a system of imbalances and cherry picks positions to illustrate these. Practical chess lies somewhere in between.

A much better book if you wish to understand tactics is Martin Weteschnik - Understanding chess tactics and a much better book than the Silman ones is Test your positional play by Robert Bellin and Pietro Ponzetto.

Thanks for the book recommendations Rob =)

All_Exceed

Mar 8, 2016

0

#37

hhnngg1 wrote:

Don't buy it. Seriously, it's a waste of money.

I will summarize the ENTIRE book for you, without cutting corners.

1. Buy a chess tactics problems computer program (the one he recommends is CT.ART, but that software 'devolved' with the windows upgrades and now has a horrible interface that's terrible compared online chess trainers - I bought the new version and it's horrendous - barely usable!)

2. Do it 7 times in a row. He calls it like the "7 circles" or something like that.

The end.

Unfortunately, while you will get better with his method, you'll find pretty quickly online that after about 1300 blitz level or some similar lowly level where your opponents don't outright blunder, you won't be able to beat them - with your nonexistent strategic knowledge, you'll get outplayed time and time again, with your opponent making nearly instant but solid non-calculating moves while you burn your entire clock and brain trying to calculate 10 moves deep in a position that has no clear win and really requires a small improving move rather than a tactical knockout. Yup, happened to me.

That and the fact it burns you out on chess pretty quickly since it's so one-dimensional. Seriously, you'll do FAR better doing some tactics, watching some strategic chess videos (Akobian!) and studying endgames and analyzing your own games.

I bought this book early on when it was new - it was hot stuff, and I was brand new to chess and had high hopes. It worked until I was like 'advanced-beginner' level, and then all the cheap tactics tricks simply didn't work anymore.

Oh, that's just like his 400 points in 400 days article.

All_Exceed

Mar 8, 2016

0

#38

bunnyplayer1 wrote:

Please buy my book mating the castled king instead!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MATING-CASTLED-KING-DANNY-GORMALLY/dp/190798271X

or even better, my new masterpiece: http://chess-evolution.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=79

Sure sir! I'll take it into consideration!

All_Exceed

Mar 8, 2016

0

#39

DrFrank124c wrote:

Instead of buying books try viewing videos on the internet. I watched Heisman's videos on ICC and improved greatly and only had to pay a small membership fee. I am now doing Akobian's videos which are free on YouTube. Also the Tactics Trainer is worthwhile practicing with. If you want books try some of the books that can be freely downloaded.

Nice suggestions, Thanks!

All_Exceed

Mar 8, 2016

0

#40

Senior-Lazarus_Long wrote:

There's so much free stuff on the internet that students don't need to buy anything,but if you want to see what an author has to say for entertainment purposes,sure buy it.

Free stuff like?