Silman's "The Amateur's Mind" - Chess Forums

madratter7

Jul 22, 2018

0

#1

I have been going through this book recently. I have also read some of "Reaccess Your Chess".

I was chiming in on the ever popular "Secret of Chess" thread, and it suddenly struck me. "The Amateur's Mind" is all about how difficult it is for amateurs to actually implement Silman's system of imbalances. Now this doesn't mean I haven't learned anything from the book. And it doesn't mean I'll stop going through it. But I do have to wonder if there isn't a more accessible way of learning what he is trying to convey.

I'm not afraid of hard work. I'm going through Yusupov. And I have to admit, I cannot think of a way to further simplify what Silman is trying to convey. Nor can I think of another book that does a better job of it.

But does Chess REALLY have to be this hard to grasp? Perhaps the answer is yes. Perhaps the answer is no one has really found the ideal way to teach it yet.

kindaspongey

Jul 22, 2018

0

#2

torrubirubi

Jul 23, 2018

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#3

I think the most important thing is to recognise the most common mistakes we do in our games. A list of mistakes is the first step to prevent them in future games.
I am planing since long to make such a list, but I didn’t yet. It is somehow difficult for me to go through a game I lost and review it carefully.

torrubirubi

Jul 23, 2018

0

#4

You can find useful advices on how to analyse games and how to make a list of mistakes on chapter 5 in the book Pump Up Your Rating by Alex Smith.

kindaspongey

Jul 23, 2018

0

#5

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708085005/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review918.pdf

dannyhume

Jul 23, 2018

0

#6

The brain can only see what it knows. If you don’t know what you are planning for, then no system of thinking can help you ... you will simply be trying to calculate to checkmate or overwhelming material gain (or avoiding them), none of which may be realizable in the foreseeable, visualizable, calculable future ... at lower levels, the opponent helps you figure out the plan (“ah, s/he gave me a rook... my plan is to take it.”). That is in part why amateurs have a hard time implementing Silman’s imbalances, and I think why lots of advice for developing players centers upon learning tactics and endgames; in other words, realizing (or avoiding) a concrete (dis)advantage that can be simplified into a technically unstoppable win (or loss).

IMKeto

Jul 23, 2018

0

#7

madratter7 wrote:

I have been going through this book recently. I have also read some of "Reaccess Your Chess".

I was chiming in on the ever popular "Secret of Chess" thread, and it suddenly struck me. "The Amateur's Mind" is all about how difficult it is for amateurs to actually implement Silman's system of imbalances. Now this doesn't mean I haven't learned anything from the book. And it doesn't mean I'll stop going through it. But I do have to wonder if there isn't a more accessible way of learning what he is trying to convey.

I'm not afraid of hard work. I'm going through Yusupov. And I have to admit, I cannot think of a way to further simplify what Silman is trying to convey. Nor can I think of another book that does a better job of it.

But does Chess REALLY have to be this hard to grasp? Perhaps the answer is yes. Perhaps the answer is no one has really found the ideal way to teach it yet.

K.I.S.S

Keep It Simple Stupid. And no its not a personal attack on you :-)

When we all started to learn the game, we all pretty much improved the same way.

We fell for the 2, and 4 move mate. Then we learned how to prevent it.

Then we just got quickly mated, and learned how to avoind that.

Then we lost because of blunders, and learn how to limit them.

Our blunders became smaller, and smaller until out losses were more do to 1-2 move tactics.

We then learned how to not fall for simple tactics, and then the even smaller stuff like longer tactics started to kill us.

We grown beyond them (somewhat) and then begin to not understand strategy.

Learn from your mistakes, try not to repeat them, and grow from them.

We are human, and will always make mistakes. All we can do is try to make our mistakes as small as possible.

kindaspongey

Jul 28, 2018

0

#8

https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

TenaciousE

Jul 29, 2018

0

#9

When I went through that book, I wrote my answers to the problems in a notebook. After reviewing the answers, I critiqued my thinking. I think it helped me improve.

Terminator-T800

Jul 29, 2018

0

#10

The amateur's mind book is the best thing on this earth to get me to sleep