Chessimo - usage reccomendation

I think Chessimo itself repeats enough, you shouldn't repeat it "manually". I've said this in the chesstempo forums too, but I think you're overestimating "structured" training. you don't need a software to structure it for you, you can do it your way. I think Chesstempo is way better and beneficial for tactics training than chessimo and CT-Art, but Chessimo is the best tool I've seen for practicing endgames. it's problem set is very nice, and indeed repetition is a must there, if you want things to sink in.

My ultimate endgame study material in mind was Silman's book for concepts and ideas + chessimo for actually using my brain for the relevant ending. of course I never had the time .

I am using CHESSIMO. I sometimes repeat some exercises manually, until I clearly see the pattern. It helps my vizualisation skills.

you know what, I'm going to say it. I think the benefit of repetition is a myth.

Thanks all for your comments!

Philidor, I see where you are coming from, and I partially agree with you (which is why I keep using CT in parallel). However I think that the idea of "pattern recognition" is not so wrong, and to create that, you need some structure-  or at least you want it to make the learning more efficient.

Thinking 20 minutes to solve a complex tactical problems will help my analysis skills, but it will not help directly to improve my game from a tactical standpoint: in a tournament, you cannot afford spending 20 minutes on every move to see if there is a combination - even if you had the time, that would be an overkill! 

I think it makes more sense to do a lot of low rated problems, so to get them as second nature (which is why on CT I mostly do <1100 problems). Which is why I like the Chessimo approach. I will give it a try, stick with it for at least six months, and see what happens.

Is Chessimo the old Personal Chess Trainer? If so, it is a very bad program. Especially for endings, I encountered many positions where alternative solutions were marked as simply wrong. So, based on my experience with it, I found it way below the tactics trainers available on the web. Not to speak that the program is not free ...

Costelus - yes, it is the old PCT, but I believe they fixed many broken positions...

The best thing about chessimo is that it automatically copies the FEN of the position to the clipboard. It's true that it didn't recognize many alternative winning lines for endgame problems but I always solved them on fritz anyway (without the engine first, of course), it was very convenient to do that.

Would you please share any online problem set for endgames? say, King and pawn endings, rook endings?

HERESY!

But no seriously, this is doubtful considering the widespread use of repetition in advertising and learning.  From riding a bicycle (operational, alike basic endgames), multiplication tables (rote, alike tactics), and pavlovs dog (association) there are various forms of learning that -require- repetition.  How much repetition is needed is debatable.  I always found chessimo a bit suspect.  It fails to fully capitalize on the proven benefits of spaced memorization; and the problem arbitrary says you have memorized a tactic after solving it 6 times.  Regardless, it's still better then any other tactics solution.

I don't know any online collection of endgame puzzles. Besides, such a thing would be difficult to realize, given the large number of alternative good moves. I personally found that it is more effective to take a book and go through basic positions, to understand what is the correct plan in some fundamental endgames, rather than solve hundreds of puzzles based on tablebases.

A partial answer for your question: you can practice as many basic endgames as you want using tablebases. Other resource might be chesstempo. On a higher level you have Convekta (not free unfortunately). Also, the tactics trainer here includes some endgames where the winning moves are unique.

It would be cool to have tournaments on chess.com that start from endgame positions that are equal.  Like a rook endgame position that is unclear.

I find Chessimo very useful. Plus the Convekta software running in the new Peshk@ interface (download and try the demo).

So far there is no one-stop-shop for all my chess needs (though chess.com gets pretty close). One has to pick and choose from several different sources in software, online, CD, DVD and book format.

Thanks all again!

chessoholicalien : I have seen Peshka and it looked very nice as well, in particular the "Chess Course" which is suggested for 1200-2000. I have decided to use Chessimo based on the recommendation of my coach though, and will eventually move to Peshka.

Chessimo will require about two years though, at an average of 1 unit done each day, for 6 days a week, considering there are 12 modules with 51 units each, for a total of 612 units...

That is wrong, so wrong that we dont need to discuss about it.

Without repetition its a very ineffektiv training. Maybe you was never learning another language because you dont made this experience. And you was never reading something about modern systems to learn. Because there is no question about it.

@Andrea Coda:

Chessimo: Endgames very good, Strategy very bad, Opening ok. Taktik: The modules and units have no theme, I dont like that. And there are no alternate moves possible. You have it in CT.

Regards

English is my "other language".

I think repeating the same problem over and over is just not as beneficial as trying your best in new problems, because the patterns repeat themselves in different positions anyway, you don't need to solve the exact same problem for that.

You are a lucky guy, I forgot what I was eating at lunch yesterday.

Regards

Here is a nice endgame problem:

http://www.chess.com/tactics/server.html?id=170230

Repetition is very important in chess. I spent so much time taking a little bit here and there from my chess books, until I realized that I HAVE to train methodically. Repetition (and more repetition and more repetition) is the key to get the stuff in our memory. Pattern recognition sounds strange, but is very simple: you see a position and you know what to do (because you know the pattern). There are other ways how to learn (a traumatic experience, for example, is a quick way to learn, but nobody tries it in chess...).  If somebody tells you that he has a quick and sure way to make you a GM - well, forget it!

Chessimo is a great program, but I can only talk about tactics, strategy and endgames, as I am not using it for openings (I have a repertoire book and do not need to know basic stuff about all openings). 

Somebody above wrote on tactics that "The modules and units have no theme, I dont like that".

I understand that classic books give you the stuff in chapters acccording to themes. The problem is that in a game there is also nobody telling you that now  you can win with smothered mate. The good books usually mixed the themes up at the end of the book to solve this problem.

Believe me, with the time your pattern recognition is so strong that you will "smell" a lot of mates in few seconds, as big players are used to do: the queen and knight are there, only rooks protecting  the king, the king somehow with few space around - here we go, mate in 3 by sacrifying the queen. Or sometimes you see a position and you "know" that now you have to give check by sacrifying your queen, as the white bishopf is mating in the next move. It is a similar thing as when you learn to sacrifice an exchange to eliminate a defender, you do not have to think much for this kind of things. The things get really funny when you can also find the only forced continuation in a messy position, able to see 7 or 8 moves ahead just because you know how to do in these positions. 

I began to train with Chessimo with the old version, did some units, changes my priorities, and now I am taking the training more seriously. In my last vaccation I spent twoo weeks playing many hours per day and I finish modul 1 and did 6 units of modul 2. I am still a beginer and an unbelieveable patzer, but I am getting more and more  a feeling for what chess is really about and how the stronger players got so strong. 

I know the problem with the lack of alternate moves in chessimo (as somebody wrote above), but I am always curious about different solutions for the problems, For example, I did a total of 11505 tactics (!) to learn "only" 720 positions. This is because I dont have a good memory and because I like to understand the position (why I cannot take the pawn with the knight and checkmate? Oh, it is not a checkmate at all, yes, I see now, I have to sacrifice the queen to give check with my other knight.. and so on). This kind of work you have always to do, doesen't mater if you work with a book or a program. 

I still think chessimo can improve a lot, for example telling you that you are still losing even by playing the best move (this kind of information you have more in the strategic exercies, but not in tactics). But the benefits from chessimo are huge for the price.

Above somebody wrote the strategy in chessimo is bad. Well, I am still in the first modul and cannot tell you much. I have the impression that the exercises are rather basic (what is good for a beginer), a mix of exercises taken from known openings (push your pawn in the center / pin the knight / take the ideal center, open lines for the rook, do not allow open lines for the enemy rook, and so on), and some exercises are rather suited to the endgame part. But I know that the first units of the first modul of chessimo were also very basic, but things get rather complicated as soon as you advance. 

To resume: try chessimo, it will improve your game. But you have to invest time. If want only fun than is better to play blitz agains beginners, but do not expect to get a Nakamura doing so.