grandmaster repertoire

Does anybody know are the grandmaster repertoire books good and are they worth buying.

I found chestmaster good but would these books be any better???

GM Repertoire books are excellent quality, but they aim at a strong audience, else you may not fully benefit from them.

Thanks

I read where a person that had the same ranking has yourself and he was playing in a fairly big tourment and he was playing a player with a lower ranking then himself and the reason he said the lower ranking player was able to compete with him his because he had read these books??

I have the Gm repetoire book on the caro kann, its a very good book but for more advanced players, OTB rating probably at least 1500.

So has I am at a rating if just less than 1400  you think I will get no benifit from them and hence they would not help me  to get to a rating of say 1500. I know there is quite a few of the books in the series but would there be one that may stand out and help me to improve my game.

At your level, the book that may help you the most in this collection is Yusupov's training book 'the fundamentals', I think.

The GM repertoire books are for serious tournament players, say 2100+ who play tournaments regularly. You won't get anything out of it, except that you will sometimes get a line from the book on the board, where you then won't have any idea how to continue.

You should get "Fundamental Chess Openings" by van der Sterren, since it really explains everything extremely well, and it covers all the openings there are so it won't restrict you to a small set of openings fit for GMs. The best first opening book there is, and you won't need a second one for quite a while.

Thanks:: kwaloffer

This book gets a great rating on Amazon so I have bought it and see how it goes

A question which I would think is related to the books etc.

I have a rating of 1392. Is it possible for me to get to a standard of say 1800 or more??

Or is it like a football player you are just born with having a talent for chess??

You hear people saying that if you start when you are young you will have a better change of been very good at the game of chess. If that is the case I can forget it????

Is it true you are better off learning the finishing part of the game well then going to deep into the opening game???

You can make lots of progress in chess by working and practising, whatever your innate abilities for the game.

The more important part of learning is not about starting with endgames or openings (both approaches have their points), but that you make sure to improve your thinking system.

If you're a bit lost, a coach can help you organize your work.

There is probably a limit to how far you can go depending on talent, but 1800 isn't near it. How high you can go depends on the time you put in, and the effectiveness of how you study.

Improvement in chess is partly about knowledge (openings, endgames, knowing different tactics patterns) but it's probably more about learning a skill. You don't improve as much by studying chess as you do by practicing it seriously. And serious practice means to play, then evaluate what went right and what went wrong, then try to do better next time -- not just mindlessly play game after game.

Being good at chess is more about concentration, time management, tactical alertness and especially having the right method of deciding which move to make than it is about knowledge.

Openings and endgames help a bit and can be fun.

Dan Heisman's Novice Nook columns (see www.danheisman.com) are fabulous.

I think it is easy to improve if you have time and discipline to practice and know what to study.

Youngsters cannot learn alone. Somebody must teach them. And they will easily listen to advices. Adults can learn by himself, and often difficult to accept advices, especially if they have to change their fixed beliefs.

What is a good opening for a grandmaster and what is a good opening for the average player are two different things.  Grandmasters often play openings that give them a slight positional advantage but are much easier to play from the other side.  The Scotch is one example.  In the main line Black gets a big jump in development and active pieces.  White gets a better pawn structure which it takes a master to reap the benefits.   Many lines of the Spanish are objectively better for white but much easier to play from the Black side.  The Nadjorf is an opening average players would do well to stay clear of.  In the Nadjorf if you follow general principles you will probably lose.  If you follow grandmaster lines you will have to spend hours of study time trying to grasp concepts that are above your head.   I would stick to opening books that are written for your level of play.  Play for active open positions and concentrate on tactics and you will probably beat other average players that spend their lifes studying grandmaster openings.

I notice since I reduced the number of games I play my ranking has improved slightly.

I do not know how some players can play 15 to 20 or even 30  games if they are just new to chess???

How much time do you spend to think for each move? Beginners are less likely to be able to think longer than experts.

One minute per move? Then you can play 30 games, 30 minutes a day, for games with time control 1 move/day.

So it depends on how many move you make in a day.

I would agree with you the better you are at the game the quicker you can come to a decission on what move to take.

But I feel myself I have improved my ranking by playing less games and yes I would put it down to me been a beginner and will take longer trying to make the best move while a persom like yourself will see a good move fairly quickly

I am in a position in a game at present and I am a pawn up with little material left on the board. It would be nice to win has he has a ranking of nearly 1700.

This is I suppose were a lot of experts find themself when playing players of there own ranking and can win by using there extra pawn correctly.

If it was done to me having a King and pawn and the other player just having a King I have a good idea how to play out this for a win by getting the pawn to the back rank if I am in a positioned on the right squares by keeping the pawn behind the King and forcing his King up the board.

Only learned this lately but I still would have to watch my moves carefully has one slip and it is a draw.

No, I mean everyone can play 30 simultaneous games with correspondence time control. This is good imo. You should replay the game from first move anytime you want to make a move in each game.

For everyone in every level, investing more time will improve the quality of the play of course (remember that we are playing opponents of the same level with ourselves).