Sorry, can't think of anything.
sftac
Reassessing my Chess
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Yep, HTRYC should help a lot. Don't just read it; study it.
Sayy, it's been another five months. How about a progress report?
sftac
Sep 22, 2012
0
#5
Hi! I have to admit, it didn't went so good. I only started getting real serious on my chess after a recent team tournament I joined.
Well, there's a lot of distractions, so getting serious on chess is really hard. But a few weeks ago, just as I was about to forget about chess, I saw a poster saying that my college needs players for the upcoming intercollege intramurals.
So I decided to join, and i was surprised that I qualified (and in the end playing as board 1) for the team. The games didn't end up well for me, it's my first tournament experience and I'm very shaky at that time. That motivated me to get serious at chess.
I painstakingly made my own Chess study plan, and now it's doing pretty good. Part of my study plan is reading a set of books, and I'm done with Winning Chess Tactics. My approach is to take notes while reading, and play the variations on a actual board. This way I don't bore myself as I study (I always feel sleepy back then) and it demands some interaction with my part. I use a notebook (yeah, the paper one :) ) to manage my study plan, but I also use Chessbase11 and Houdini2 for CC and analyses purposes.
Honestly, I think you should Focus mainly #1 Tactics. Get a good tactics book. and try your best to solve them and understand them. Then everything else is secondary. I'd say #2, Try Jeremy Silman's Reassess your chess 4th edition for strategy, and then Endgame, Try silman's Endgame book as well. OR if you like dictionary style, get dvoretsky's endgame. Silman's is an easier read though.---I just played down at my club the other day, after hammering tactics. I won all 3 of my games, due to tactical blunders by my opponent. Some not so obvious, many of them were hidden that didn't really popout until further investigation.
Personally. I try to hone in on the conception of the attack. I try to analyze in my games and other IM/GM games, excactly how their attack came to be. How to find the opportunity to make a deeper attack that is beyond a superficial threat.
Sep 23, 2012
0
#9
Well, my study plan is for 4-5 months time. I'd solve and analyze tactical problems for the whole period. I alloted 8-10 weeks for positional study, but the whole course still relies on tactical accumulation.
Read "My System".
Start with chapter 1 on development. Read everything, play everything and try to figure out what the great master meant.
If you have questions ask here.
Sep 23, 2012
0
#11
I do have that book, but I think I'll finish the 4-5 months that i stated for my current plan. I did a quick peek on that, It's not that appealing to me (looks complicated). I'd check on that after my current study plan :)
Find a chess coach here on chess.com (titled or experienced is enough) in order for them to guide you on what are your weaknesses and be trained on.
Also analysing your own games will also helps you out. If you don't want a teacher or coach, find a partner then.
Sep 23, 2012
0
#14
@nyLsel - I'm practically fine with how my Custom Study Plan is going. Since payment method (assuming coaching service would cost me LOL) is the worst issue I have on the net, (I guarantee you, I'm already a diamond member for a year if it was easy ) affording a chess coach is still out of hand. Thanks for the suggestion by the way
You said that the payment is the worst issue on the net. Then why not find a chess coach in real life? Or a chess partner if you would like to play with your own strength for free. Your welcome.
Sep 23, 2012
0
#16
If only that's an easy thing to do. Specially here in the Philippines. Thanks a lot for your suggestions, I'd definitely consider it.
Try to read this article up in order for you to think which is more important: http://www.chess.com/article/view/studying-chess-with-a-partner
Enjoy!
hey, some really good books are on the middlegame too.. paul keres put one out that is old about fifty years old but will do more for you than any other book right now ...... good luck..the middlegame by paul keres.
I am jealous that you feel your endgame technique is a strength. It is my achilles heel and I just don't have your commitment and energy to set about improving it. But maybe your enthusiasm will gee me up enough at least to look for a book.
It is good to find a pasttime which you love and which has the depth to continue to engage your mind throughout your life. Good luck with improving.
I'm not sure whether you are a member of a club but if not it would surely help to find one. If there are none nearby perhaps you could start one in your college?
Good day !
I certainly need your help ! I need your tips and suggestions on how can I get the most out of my study time and resources . You can skip to that part if you want to , but I included a introduction just in case you want to read more .
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I've been playing chess for some time now ('bout 5 months) . And I've seen a lot of what the Chess world have to offer . There are sad times that I'm being scrutinized by my friends for playing a board game when PC games are the "big thing" today . There are times when some people would think that I'm "weird" . Of course there are those exciting moments , such as playing my first time in a mini-tournament where I scored 4/3 (I felt a bit proud there :D) . Then there's a bonus of gaining the habit of thinking more "deep & clear" IRL , which I'm sure that is an effect of me playing Chess . Then there is the meeting of new friends , broadening of outlook in life , and gaining that feeling of passion for doing a thing that I love .
And recently , something strange happened . Whenever I play , whatever the result , I feel that I need to improve . I feel that there is something wrong in my game . I felt wrong that I'm not taking the Chess too seriously . So I made the decision of improving my Chess no matter how small the returns are .
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These are the resources that is available to me ATM .
I have a copy of
In my PC , I have :
(Note* I don't have access to high-speed internet connection ATM . So videos , web-base apps like chesstempo and tactics trainer, etc. , would be out .)
Now these are the Goals that I wish to achieve :
* Improve my TACTICS .
I've been said a lot of times to focus my time on practicing tactics . So this is my top priority . The way I practice is by solving 30 problems a day from L. Polgar's 5334 Chess Problems .
*Create an Opening Repertoire
I feel like I'm happy on how my Repertoire is going , so I think spending time here is a bit wasted .
(here is the link http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/my-quick-repertoire)
But , of course , having extra info on my openings once in a while is always good . I use FCO (for further reading) and SCID to see what some GMs play on these openings .
*Increase positional understanding .
This is the part where I think I'm OK , but still needs a lot of work . I'm reading HTRYC here .
*Maximize the gain for every game
I developed my own scheme here . First I load my game with Arena . Then I self-annotate the game, pointing mistakes by both sides . Then I would run Houdini to analyze interesting positions , then check if it matches my annotations . Afterwards , I load the game with SCID , get the "Capture current board" feature , then paste the board position on a MSword document where I will write an idea or two on what I learned in that particular game .
*Master the Endgames .
This is where I think I'm fine . Majority my wins are won on endgames , so investing 10% of my time on endgames would be perfectly fine . I read Silman's Endgame Course here .
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Again , I'm looking for your suggestions on how can I maximize my potential with the resources that I have listed .
And if you have a quick pointer about my Goals , feel free to add it up !
Wishing you a good day ,
AlcherTheMovie