you know guys these threads pop up people read whats fresh, say something or dont and then they die quickly. Your analogy is very cute but your long frequent posts killed my chance at getting real help.
Dog, Dac, and Try are good examples of people helping... the way you can help "learningthemoves" is learn how to use a shotgun and then go blow your brains out.
Add the tubester to the list of people helping, Haha! Thanks bro! You see "moves"? It's my thread... I promise you i will not post on yours... i swear it, if you said "ha thanks... NOT" to something i said i wouldnt spam your thread to death like you have done to mine tonight... thats just a dick thing to do. Ya know the tubester is right on second thought just shoot your PC, you could keep breathing, just not my air #learningthemovestotakeahike
yeah its 230am in LA, i edited it, have a good morning Tubester, ill send you a friend request and try to give you a good game although you are rated pretty high. I'm off to bed. Dont breathe "moves", dont breathe, but if you have to... dont let me know about it, this is MY THREAD!
you know guys these threads pop up people read whats fresh, say something or dont and then they die quickly. Your analogy is very cute but your long frequent posts killed my chance at getting real help.
Dog, Dac, and Try are good examples of people helping... the way you can help "learningthemoves" is learn how to use a shotgun and then go blow your brains out.
Whatever gave you the mistaken notion that I'm not already adept at using a variety of firearms?
The one who wields the weapon chooses the target.
Of course if that was a threat, 205th square, you'll have to do better than that because...
although I'm not presently wearing my bulletproof vest,
I am wearing a custom t-shirt with an Nf6 enclosed inside a square on the front.
As far as I can understand the topic is about how to find a called square rapidly. It looks to be a matter of practiсе, I think. I don't need to search for 'e4' square, I remember it's a usual first move, so I just KNOW where it is. Same way, 'f6' is a common square for black king's knight and 'b5' is a place where white bishop goes on the 3rd move of spanish game. Just keep reading notations or writing your own games. I think you'll have no need in counting rows and columns fast enought.
Sorry if I misunderstood what's the topic about :)
Allow me to step in to the original question in this soon-to-be flame war.
I too have played my whole life and still have trouble with instantly identifying the coordinates sometimes. Two things (actually one thing) which have/has helped me is this:
First get out your board--hopefully without coordinates marked on it--and imagine that you are on the white side. Then plop your finger quickly on some random square and try to name it as fast as you can without counting abc 123. Keep popping your finger around the board and naming those squares from the white side. Now do the exact same thing, only naming them from the black side. So, of course, b4 and g5 are the same square, depending on your perspective.
After a few sessions of this, if you're not already stark raving mad, do the same thing but name both squares simulaneously, i.e., e2/e7, b1/g8. Note that the "e" and "d" files are always the same no matter your perspecitve, but "a" becomes "h," "b" becomes "g," etc.
Finally, if you ever suffer from insomnia, lie in bed and try to visualize the board and name the diagonals (concentrating on what color they are) from, say a1 to h8 (black), or d1 to h5 (white). Then, mentally, put a knight on h1 and move it around the board, naming the squares and their colors as you go. The last step (one which Lev Alburt endorses but which I can't do) is simply to name squares at random--f3, e8, d5--and quickly visualize where they are and what color they are.
Remember, and I'm sure you know this, study of the board is different from study of chess. You can play chess for decades and still not know which color the b1-h7 diagonal is without thinking about it (or even knowing that b1 IS ON the same diagonal as h7.
None of this, of course, will guarantee you have the quick vision of the board of Capablanca or Carlsen, but I bet it will help. It helped me.
It is just a question of familiarity. You need more practice.
Another idea for practice (in addition to MSteen's excellent suggestions) would be to read through games in a program like Arena. Open the PGN, and play though the game by reading each move before making the move, and visualizing in your head what the move would be. Then make the move and see if you were correct. If not, go back, and visualize the correct move while saying it aloud and try to determine why you made the mistake you did. When saying the moves aloud, here are some examples of how I say them: "Nf3" (knight to f3); "Bxc4" (bishop takes c4); "exd6" (e takes d6); "Rae1" (rook a to e1 [used when there is more than one rook that could have moved to e1]); "Bxh7+" (bishop takes h7, check).
I have the same difficulty as the first poster here. I read the answers and was really turned off by the silly back and forth sniping until finally a real ray of hope arrived in the responses of KahZeeMin and the following two. Thanks to you follks for providing helpful, useful ideas.
Yes! Thank you!
KahZeeMin i love your suggestion i will start using it immediately.
MSteen thank you for the good advice and seperating board familiarity from the game you hit the nail on the head and helped me feel better about my inability to follow along rapidly,
Sapientdust your advice is super practical and is going to make practice easy.
All good stuff guys! Thank you.
Update:
I know its bad to preface something with this is gonna sound dumb but
this is gonna sound dumb...
I had a breakthrough with notation a couple of months ago and the thing that triggered it was so stupid. i saw this video http://youtu.be/SMe-hvCwTRo and at 30 seconds in i said WTF?! the board is sideways the pieces must be on all the wrong squares (i dont know why the notation on that board is mirrored from every other board ive ever seen... i guess that is for the sake of TV) and then as i realized the pieces were fine i realized a1 is gonna be a1 no matter how you spin it unless you start with a black piece on it then its h8!
It almost goes without saying, but for me someone had to say it.
Since then ive been going through an old book with old notation (Qbp4 = c4 or c5 if black) and that has helped my visualization a ton too and then i sat down a wrote down observational facts about the board such as if you assign a numerical number to the file letter a=1 b=2 etc... and add it to the rank, if the sum is an even number the square is dark, if its odd its light. Then that helps me name the diagonals forwards and backwards both directions, and then i also wrote down observations of common manuvers within quadrants and the common functions of each rank.
I really just sat down and wrote as many thoughts as i could think about a particular square and its common role as the game progresses, i honestly underestimated the value in such an exercise, and think it should be suggested to beginner players much more often. Thinking your own thoughts about just the board, not reading about the board, or being told about the board but surveying it; like a general surveys the field of battle before it begins. Where are the infantry, where are the fences gonna go, the tanks, the missles, and the special forces... you get the idea. I hope this unlocks something for you as it did me.
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It was your MOM "learningthemoves"
Thanks for your "ahem" help now could you "learn the way out my thread"
Is that your feeble attempt to insult me? Insult my mother?
Let's just say some good practical all-around life advice would be to drop the insults stuff. There are many more constructive and healthier alternatives.