Wow, you all seem very passionate about the game, and that's great. I personally take pride in the fact that I can teach myself and learn from my mistakes. I mean, the first time I got forked, it was a HUGE learning lesson for me - opened up a lot of insight into different sorts of play. This is just one example...I guess the reason I'm not so uptight about it is that I don't have any ambition to be the best chess player ever - I'd rather enjoy myself playing. I've got a busy enough life outside of chess, that it's not cut-throat here for me.
@ the person who mentioned not studying in AP class --
You may not believe me, but I didn't study in my (AP and not) classes. In fact, I think I studied for one test all throughout high school. I just paid attention in class and did my required homework and came out with pretty good grades (something just below 3.9), and I certainly wouldn't consider myself a genius. :)
xoise wrote:
Vibovit wrote:
If you don't study, you're not really playing chess to me - just moving pieces about (probably waiting until your oponent makes some obvious mistake like hangs a piece etc.), if you never study any tactics you are quite likely to miss even most obvious 2-move opportunities (like a Knight fork for example) and make some inferior move instead, is it better fun?
I'm a beginner but I'm getting stronger, and the feeling of improvement is most rewarding here, not unlike in any other field (whether you learn to play guitar or speak some foreign language etc.), it's every time when I look back and tell myself: "wow, I have moved on" that I get this unique satisfaction
Wait, so you're saying that you can't get better without studying? I feel I'm improving all the time, and it's because I learn from my mistakes and also the things I do well. I won't say there's no benefit to studying, but I'm sure there's no better way to get better than by playing.
Thanks for everyone's input though.
If you don't like to study, so don't do it, but the best way to improve your play is to do both, play and study.
-To play really good you need to know all the basics, it's tough to learn it all from just playing.