Yusupov and the Older Lower Rated Player

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Chess-Tactics-Scratch-excerpt.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708091717/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review851.pdf

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Inner-Game-of-Chess-The-77p3897.htm

Yes, it's the holidays, but I've gotten much more time than usual to study chess the last few days. As a result, I've now finished chapter 17 of Boost Your Chess 1, helped a lot by the fact that 15-17 were fairly easy chapters.

The plan is to finish this book, then take another break from Yusupov. My wife got me another Soltis book for Christmas, "100 Chess Master Trade Secrets", so I'll study that before moving on to the third Yusupov book. This Soltis book looks like one of the good ones (he has written some pretty useless stuff as well as some very good material). The "trade secrets" are 100 frequently recurring patterns and how they are handled: key priyomes, must-know endgame techniques, standard sacs, and exact endings.

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/100-Master-Trade-Secrets-77p3835.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094523/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review916.pdf

Seeing 18 moves in a single line (a long branch) is good, but the real test of visualization is keeping all the lines of an analytical shrub with several similar positions at the end straight. Soltis' book is very good. I could recommend others too, but I will keep my focus in this thread just on the Yusupov series.

You will find many positions in Yusupov's books that require accurate calculation of several different relatively short variations. To do those well, you will need to visualize well and take note of where all the pieces are. 

I am in my late sixties and also play guitar(acoustic)......I used to be a serious tennis player,but I only wanted to play singles,so moved to the gym a few years ago,and let go of my tennis.....

I feel the " is more the "age thing" is over rated,if you keep yourself healthy and fit.I play my guitar regularly and am always learning,as well as my chess studies and activities.I got re-interested in chess two years ago and began to study/play......I know I have gotten better(though I have a long way to go) as well as my music,but I don't put a time frame on any of it......I just enjoy the journey!

Magictwanger: Welcome to the thread. One thing I am sure of is that it is still possible to learn later in life.

I finished Chapter 1 of Boost Your Chess, The Fundamentals, last night. The chapter was on Windmills. I scored 16 of 23, which earns a good. This chapter I found pretty intuitive. On the other hand, I don't think I have ever set this tactic up in a game of mine. To double check I just did a search through almost 500 games of mine that I have recorded, and none of them had it. I don't know if it is just that rare, or if I just haven't been looking for it.

In other news, I got a chess table for Christmas. I have been wanting one, and I didn't even have to drop hints.

Windmills occur very rarely in games. I think it never happened in any of my games. I've just finished the last chapter of Build up you chess, beyond the basics ( the 4th book ).  I scored 14 of 21. It was a chapter about pawn endgames, but this time the exercises were a little more avdanced ( there are two pawn endgame chapters in this book ).  Now it's time for the final test, but I think it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Btw, This 4th book has been the most challenging for me so far.

I think the fourth book is probably intended for roughly 1800 strength. But judging from your various scores, that is probably well within your capabilities.

Well, I have no official otb rating, but I have played a good number of games against FIDE rated players, and I have consistently beaten 1800 players, without any problems whatsoever. The last time I played against a titled player was in September. He is a CM, and even though he is not in his prime anymore, he is still a strong player, and well known in the local chess clubs. We played 5 min blitz with no increment. We played two conescutive days. On the first day the score was +5, -5, =2. The second day the score was +5 -3 =2 in his favor. I've been studying and playing chess since Novebmer last year, after 15 years break. I played chess a little between 2001-2003.

Finished Chess Evolution 1(the 3rd orange book), chapter 15. Scored 19/23. I scored myself 0/3 on one of the 3 point problems. I had all the elements of the answer, but did not get it right.

Christmas family time has passed. With a little luck and effort I should get thru 2-3 chapters in next week(unless they are as hard as chapter 14 was for me)

@KassySC - what is your personal experience with two previous books if I may ask? Did you went through all the chapters and exercises?

I played all, or almost all of the reading on a board.  Exercises I write down answer and then did play on board unless they were extremely easy.  I'd have to go back and check but I don't believe I've failed any tests, though some chapters were definitely harder than others. I'm rated 18xx USCF

I think it was Aagaard who wrote: "... When we acquired the books, we originally only planned to publish one from each series. We all make mistakes. For this reason, the order which the books are intended to be read is not entirely obvious. ... The newest book, Revision & Exam 1 should probably be read last. …" (2017)

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/blog/?s=yusupov

I wonder if the "newest book" sentence is another mistake. Since it is orange, that would seem to me to indicate that it should be read fourth.

"... This book complements the three volumes in the Fundamentals series (Build Up Your Chess 1, Boost Your Chess 1 & Chess Evolution 1) with exercises …"

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Revision&Exam1-excerpt.pdf

Somewhere,  and I'm not going you search,  that was clarified. It was suggested that the 4th orange be done since after the 3rd orange.  One idea was after doing the 1st blue. 

The test books for each color group should be read last for that group. 

It is good to see others actually prevailing through these books. It helps give me motivation to continue on!

I think I just played one of the best/most accurate games of my life. It was played with the usual 120 seconds/move time control against Komodo 12.2.2 at Skill level 11 (12th out of 20).

There were a couple critical junctures where I could have (perhaps should have) played quite differently. For example, 10. Bg3 and 15. O-O-O. Still, it was a remarkable game for its accuracy by both me and my opponent. Here is what the "Maximum Analysis" on this site says about it.

The evaluation bar was very close to flat for the entire game.

Anyway, it feels good to actually play a fairly decent game once in a while.

As an aside, it looks like Komodo 12.2.2 at Skill 11 (12 of 20) is a very close match for my level of play at the moment. I'm +5/=2/-5 against it.

Good game. Where do you find these different Komodo skill levels?