Thanks for the posts. In a recent post I brought up Chess-coaches and I've noticed that nobody here has mentioned that type of instruction. It might be interesting to hear from a person who has had a Chess-coach. 

While reading thru some threads here earlier I noticed that someone asked the question ( as a thread title ) if Chess assists you in Life ? I think that most people here would agree on the benefits of Chess ( for example I have a thread on the go about Chess being good for oldtimes ). At the other end of the age scale kids that learn Chess at an early age also seem to derive benefits from the game as well, tho of course a balance in life is quite important at a young age.   

Good question, I guess we all find our level, somewhere between only studying and only playing.  The more you're satisfied with your ability / the harder it is to improve from where you are the more you'd lean toward the only playing side.

But I have heard people say (although I can't verify it heh) that they're quitting playing chess forever, and will only study it for its beauty or something.  An interesting thought.

Having dates is boring if it doesn't lead to something desirable ...

I really love that question you are asking cabadenwurt. Certainly, the more one studies, the less spontaneously one plays, and that will hurt your games at first, before you regain some assurance thanks to the learning. But it seems to me one never really regains the fun feeling we had when we played chess like kids do, without thinking too much, and without any self-consciousness. Perfectionism is never much fun, is it ?

Thanks for the new posts.

Echecs06, the answer to your question would depend on wether I look like Tom Cruise or Boris Karloff ( & I do tend to favour the latter in my appearance  lol ).

Wafflemaster, in my case I just luv to play the game tho doing more studying would be good in for me, but only studying Chess game seems a bit exteme.  

Patzerlars, I think that I will just zoom right past that subject  lol.

Epoqueepique, I'm glad that you like this thread. Yes I loved the feeling of being new to Chess during High School back in the late 1960s. Of course then we learn more of the rules and the tactics, etc etc. But I guess that time keeps moving on ( and things keep changing  lol ). 

Be your own guest ! :-)

Thank You for the reply. By the way I spent the early part of my childhood in the Black Forest region, are you anywhere near there ?  

Not exactly, I live in the thuringian forest region in central germany. Its about 300 miles away from the black forest I would estimate. But compared to the usual travel distances in the US it is rather ridiculous, I think. So you could call it "near" depending on your perspective, lol.

Thanks for the info. In my case that was all long ago and far away  lol. 

Well the fun continues here ---

Two recent threads caught my eye: " Is Chess good or does it cause Insanity " plus " Practice & Talent ". This got me to thinking, if one has a talent ( in Chess for example ) and one practices it too much does that lead to insanity ? Or on the other hand if one neglects the talent and in later life comes to understand that the talent was wasted is that going to lead to insanity ?   

I haven't had too many new things to post here recently but I'm about to try something new regarding Chess ( for me that is ). Several months back I had the chance to get an interesting item on sale: Chessmaster - Grandmaster Edition. At long last I've downloaded it into my old PC, I hope that the old machine won't quit on me now  lol. One other thing worries me tho, the booklet that comes with this program is 52 pages long so things might get interesting here.  

studying

Well JG27Pyth that certainly is clear enough. However you didn't say anything about why you prefer studying over playing, might be interesting  for other visitors to this thread.

Only thing that comes close to playing (for me) is solving puzzles, and thats because the thrill of immediate discovery is there with out the pressures of playing - or in spite of its not being there?

Thanks for the post Splitleaf. Yes there are a fair number of people who love to to Chess puzzles, indeed each issue of Chess Life carries several puzzles for those who like to solve them.

Right now studying is more fun because I can feel myself growing as a chess player. Playing is also fun because I can see the chess growth in action (or how much more I need to improve still!).