This is what I love about correspondence chess. I have 3 days to invest in each move if I want.
Spending 30 mins to find best move - am I alone?
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9 days ago
0
#3
You have a day (or several) to pick a move. Might as well use them.
Fr3nchToastCrunch wrote:
You have a day (or several) to pick a move. Might as well use them.
Exactly!
delcai007 wrote:
It's a good way to study, especially openings, I think.
I peaked as a USCF A player and invested no more than 10% of my study time on openings. I did that for one simple reason. Openings were not deciding my games. But I also think that what ever makes the game fun should be what you do.
9 days ago
0
#7
LieutenantFrankColumbo wrote:
delcai007 wrote:
It's a good way to study, especially openings, I think.
I peaked as a USCF A player and invested no more than 10% of my study time on openings. I did that for one simple reason. Openings were not deciding my games. But I also think that what ever makes the game fun should be what you do.
Certainly I believe you. Here's my story, if you're at all interested. I played a little as a child, almost never as an adult, took it up in mid 2022, played at Lichess for a couple of months, joined chess.com in September, 2022, played at both sites for about a week, and exclusively here ever since... I quit playing chess entirely for almost a year, taking it up again about 6 weeks ago.
i'm wanting to take it more seriously at this point though I don't think I'll ever much obsess about ratings. We'll see how that works out.
Anyway, my first mistake was, yes, to try and memorize openings. It's boring and got me pretty much nowhere. I'm convinced it's bad advice for beginners... it just makes attractive YouTube content: "Learn this Killer Opening!", etc. What finally got me out of the 500- 600 range was:
1 - Respecting those often repeated opening principles: play for the center, don't move pieces twice, develop your minor pieces, castle early
2 -Not rushing my moves. Early on, I'd look for what was the best move,in my judgement, then make it, often without taking the time to thoroughly check out the board... what pieces might need defending most of all. I'd often get so absorbed by my own attack that I neglected to defend... lots of blunders.
3 -Not trading pieces unless it was actually to my advantage or at least not to my disadvantage. At first, it seemed like normal chess. Bang bang bang... a few moves into the game and half the pieces were gone.
4 -Learning the end game. This was about the only thing I studied that actually made a difference. I studied it enough that its probably my greatest strength. Agaonst an equal opponent, if I can get to the end game fairly equal, I feel very good about my chances, and my stats here prove I'm correct.
5 -being consistent with my opening, not just memorizing lines but more so trying to understand them.
About that, I sarted doing this: wanting to choose one or the other, I decided to lead with d4. Practicing against Stockfish, remembering those basic opening principles and, paying attention to what I was told were my best moves, I slowly developed a few lines then started using them in my games. I gained about 200 rating points in around three weeks, getting to 800 or so by June of last year, then quit, as I said, coming back about six weeks ago, intending to improve my game.
I continued with that opening and thought it'd be helpful to study it a little. How might I do better? The computer, in most of my games as White, kept saying "Queen's Pawn Opening, Zukertort Variation" (or Chigorin Variation). I tried to find this everywhere, including at Lichess and on YouTube... no luck and lots of confusion (this was about a week ago). Finally, yesterday, I started a thread, "Queen's Pawn Opening, Zukertort Variation???" and asked for advice, a first for me.
By this morning, I had the answers I was looking for. It turns out that the name refers only to the first 2 or 3 moves, that what I was actually playing was a variation of the London... ha ha. This shows you how much I still have to learn about chess.how ignorant I am about chess, really. This was great news. There are resources everywhere for that. It's been suggested I play Nd2 instead of Nc3 and c3 instead of c4. I'm still thinking about that but I'm very comfortable with what I do now. Against Stockfish, this is the board I see most often:
It looks like this:
I'm 62 and realistic about what my goals are.
1. My unrealistic goal is to make USCG Expert (2000-2199).
2. My much more realistic goals are the following:
Use chess as mental exercise.
Healthy socializing.
Have FUN.
Be a good witness to others.
If i never make 2000 it really doesnt matter. I just think its healthy to have goals.
Whatever your goals are in chess I pray you reach them. And if you dont still have fun!
In daily games, I would sometimes spend 30 minutes to 1 hour on a single move (even if I am in a winning position) to try to find the best move. Am I the only person who does this?