Studying GM Games

Well someone has got to do the pots as they are not going to do themselves are they?

Yes naturalproduct, maybe that's right. For me there always seems to be two or three 'ah' moments with each game, some new perspective or idea that captures my imagination. I don't suppose time really matters that much as long as you get something from it. The minimum it takes me is one hour with the board, maybe 45 min with the computer.

I've been putting a lot more hours into chess recently (like at least 5 hours daily) and I can already feel that it's helping me get a lot more comfortable analysing positions and spotting tactics.

I'm planning on going through master games next. I have a couple of those "move by move" books and various other annotated games I've managed to find online. My plan is to open up the game, hiding the moves list, and trying to analyse every position, noting candidate moves and lines. Once I've done this, I'll check with books' analyses as well as with the engine to find out where I went wrong/what I should have been looking at instead.

See. All you guys get it too. It's not just about playing. Studying master games may be just as important as playing ( once you are down with the basics). I'm sure that's a point to be argued, but now that I understand the basics, I think this is true for me at least .

TS gets it. He studies the same way...

TacticalSymphony wrote:

Jimmy_Jojo wrote:

I think studying master games is more important than playing.  By the way, I just joined your "Slow Learners" Group and hope to advance to a position of authority (based on the Fuehrerprinzip) soon.

No...the "slow learners" group is for those who play blitz and find real chess to be too complicated and attention demanding for them.  

We're the slow chess group.  We play standard games online and OTB.  

It might be a little too advanced for your feeble little blitz brain.

Lol! Sweet!

I think i need to join that group.

As at the moment i am either good at one or the other.

I never can combine the 2 as one. Grrrrr.

But naturally i have been playing more on the blitz side as i have only 5 years online experience vs my vast years previously playing chess.

@GM_fishys When you go through master games .Play through quickly until endgame then study the end game .I recently adopted this idea.Once i can understand the end game to certain level then i will look into middlegame ideas. This way it helps i believe.Also you have to select according to your priority suppose you want to absorb positional ideas you can study the Capablanca games.For openings you have to study the master games who plays the same opening you wish to master.Regards.

Ahhhh have to edit some of that here.

Opponents on this site are getting wise to that method.

In the past couple months i had seen so many different openings thrown my way. I had to fall back on previous online openings i used and come back with some fresh approach. Which has left my opponents confused.

They counter with lines that are not usually seen against mine. I had to do research. Then i came back with some creative approach with rare main lines in my opening. I usually take a month before i use it but i need it know and learn as i go along. I cross them over and get into the paint for 2 pts ..... Checkmate.

They so confused as they can not figure which opening i will play or which variation that is if they can figure it out. Too many players know the moves. Not know the move order or when to abandon it.

If you want to improve more, go over a Rybka vs. Houdini match where one of them won, and try to find the mistakes without a computer. I've tried, it is mind-numbingly hard.

After I went over the same game with Houdini, it actually helped me see where my analysis went wrong. 

Also, the reason why I like analyzing with computers is that they find tactical ideas in the most innocent of positions.

This helps me not only in the same position, but when I am playing a position similar to that, I wonder if the same thing would work, and it most often does.

Game collection books are the new opening books. 

I enjoy playing over master games to the extent I wrote http://www.chess.com/download/view/guess-the-move, which I offer for your consideration (along with its User's Manual, which contains some motivating words).