How to develop your knowledge?

Hi All,

I have a question, that what do you suggest for a zealous amateur who want to improve his chess play, how to make a good study plan? I know that all of these are important: tactics, positional play, openings, etc but I don't really know how to be systematic in an effective way. So what are your expediments, or your best practice in this matter?

If you are just starting out, I would highly recommend an `all in one` book that teaches opening, ending, tactics and strategy. Yasser Seirwan has some excellent books in this type. Initially, there's no need to buy a bunch of different books, unless you just enjoy collecting.

The study materials available here at Chess.com are excellent, but if you're looking for an organized way to get started, get the book.

Well, today's world doesn't lack for chess books, chess courses, chess videos and chess coaching. Tough to choose which.

I suggest you find materials which inspire you to study. Motivation is a huge multiplier in learning.

Back in the olden days I wanted to learn the endgame and I dutifully bought Reuben Fine's "Basic Chess Endings" -- a decent encyclopedia on the subject for its time, but deadly dull. I didn't learn any endgames from that book.

My advice would be almost the opposite. In my experience, all-in-one books tend to inappropriately rush through some subjects. I vividly remember liking most of Reinfeld's Complete Chessplayer and then struggling with his coverage of openings. Ironically, it seems to me that Seirawan's writings are more in line with my thinking with separate books on tactics, endgames, openings, sample games, etc. Anyway, I think they are a good choice as long as one is comfortable with the quantity of material. My own instinct is to suggest books that do not try to teach as much:

Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf

Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf

The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/

Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1949)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf

Discovering Chess Openings by GM Johm Emms (2006)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf

Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)

http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html

Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/

A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf

I'm watching YouTube videos, studying openings and endgames and doing a lot of tactics puzzles. For middle game strategy I'm going over master games. I just started studying chess a couple months ago. Its working well so far.

Personally I think the last book on the list that ylblai2 mentioned, A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman, would be your best bet.  Not only that it teaches basic chess principles, but it also guides you through the way of where you need to go in order to improve in chess.  I would start out with that book first, because in it is a systematic way to improve, which is what you where looking for.  

After you finish reading that book you should consider some of the other books Dan Heisman recommands.  For positional chess for you I would start out with something like Bobby Fischer teaches chess then migrate to My System, which is a requirement for tournament players, then when you get to a rating of about 1900 you should try Amateurs mind by Jeremy Silman.  Of course in order for this to work you would have to develop the skill that Dan Heisman Teaches in his book, Chess Improvement.  That will take a long time, so don't rush it.

Of course while you are doing all of this you will have to find your own way to get better at spotting tactics, and remember to develop your end game playing ability at some point.

Here is what I recommend though, for getting better at tactics.  Invest in a good topical basic tactical motif book, or two or three, (start with one and work your way through each), and do the book and keep doing it until you can do the book in your sleep, then start timing yourself, making PR's, etc.  While you are doing this do a little of chesstempo tactics trainer or the tactics trainer online here at chess.com.  Or if you want easier puzzles, which might be a good idea, go to lichess tactics trainer.  I would do lichess.org tactics trainer first, mainly because chesstempo puzzles are a bit difficult and chess.com has a timer you really shouldn't be worried about time when you are just starting out with tactics I don't know why chess.com has a timer on it's tactics trainer...  BTW, a good program to get, which teaches tactics, is chessimo.  Chessimo is a bit extreme but in it you will have all you need to learn about all phases of the game.  The endgame chessimo puzzles get really hard so don't get discouraged.  I would skip doing the endgame ones till you can invest in a book to learn about the endgame because when you do those puzzles you are often wondering why those moves the computer made for you  when you got the puzzle wrong where made if you do not know a lot about endgame theory.  But if you think about it for a long time and go through all the puzzles several times you eventually get it, but it takes a long time... :D  It takes about four months of a little bit each day, probably an hour or two, to get through all your daily chessimo, to get through it.  Lets say two hours each day multiplied by 30 is 60 multiplied by four is 240 hours of time spaning through the course of 4 months.  Even if you do get chessimo I would still invest in a good puzzle book or two to go through to reinforce basic tactics and do what I said, actually what Dan Heisman says in his book chess improvement :D.  

All of this of course involves a lot of time, but in order to become a better chess player you would obviously have to spend a great deal of time.  I would say if you don't have much time but google chessimo and think it would be a good idea to invest in it, just do only that for four months.  When you finish, buy a basic tactical motif book or two till you can do them in your sleep.  The goal here is to remember by rote and get really good at solving tactics.  Then when you finish doing the books, just do tactics trainer on chess.com.  If each stage takes you 4 months time each thats 1 whole year.  Of course this would obviously have to include playing actual chess :D.  So that's probably 4 hours a day for a year, not bad I'd say...  You will probably improve a lot over 1 year time if you do just that, along with finding time to read chess improvement and or maybe bobby fischer teaches chess, or something similiar...  

Only do this if you really want to improve though.  If you only want to mildly improve just invest in A Guide to Chess improvement by Dan Heisman and simply do tactics trainer on where ever and play actual games.  You might actually get really good if you just spend a lot of time on tactics trainer and actually improve.  I just don't like that idea because I've came across profiles of people that don't have a good score regardless of how many times they attempt to solve a puzzle... which is why it is recommended you "learn basic tactics" first.

If you want a sytemactic approach studying chess with books, I suggest you get winning chess series by Seirawan.

Study these in order

Winning Chess Tactics

Winning Chess Strategy

Winning Chess Endings

Winning Chess Brilliancy

There are seven books in the series.

Here are some 2001 comments from Heisman himself:

"Everyone is different, and an exercise that may make most players much better may not work as well for you. While most chess instructors agree that certain basic concepts (like learning tactical motifs) is necessary for improvement, their approach and learning theories vary widely."

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626202049/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman01.pdf

"... I can aid the reader with some general guidelines regarding reading order ... The first thing to learn about openings are general opening principles. ... I would also recommend a one-stop encyclopedic book ... Once you identify an opening you really like and wish to learn in more depth, then should you pick up a book on a particular opening or variation. Start with ones that explain the opening variations and are not just meant for advanced players. ... Buy a book ... or software ... with hundreds of basic tactical motif problems ... and study it until you can do each problem quickly. ... starting with the games of Morphy is not a bad idea. ... A classic [good general game collection] to start is Chernev’s Logical Chess Move by Move (mentioned below as also a good positional primer). ... There are several classic “intermediate” positional texts. ... Once you understand the basic positional texts, then you are ready for a more modern treatment of the subject, ... if the subject is purely thinking, then the book should probably be classified at least at the intermediate level. ... A good beginner endgame book is Pandolfini’s Endgame Course. ... There are lots of chess books - and many more types! ..."

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626180930/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf

I skip Play Winning Chess becuase I think he already know most of the things that book will teach. I skip Winning Chess Opening, because from what I have seen from reviews, it's superficial. Winning Chess Combinations does not have positive review.

Thank you your advices, they gave me a lot, and a basic idea as well, how a training process should look like :)

For tactics I already have Maxim Blokh's Combination art, and another book somewhere between tactics and master's games review is Kotow's Das Schacherbe Aljechins (a german translation). I bought Sterren's FCO, which I think is a bit too much in my level, but since it is quite interesting as a topic, it's good just to read it, even if it's quite exhaustive.

The reason why I realised, that I need systematic learning is 1. I lost games, and I couldn't specify why, I just saw, that from move to move my opponents had better position, and 2. I tried out some closed and semi-closed openings, where it came out, that I simply not good enough to play these... so I derived the consequence, that it would be better and more useful to start at the basics (ok, let me say, it's quite obvious from a teoretic point of view) than try to juggle with chess I've seen on higher level.

I believe in order to be a better chess player you need to improve in all 3 phases of the game.

Opening phase

Middle Game phase

End Game phase

The systematic approach I used I believe worked for me.

Opening Phase - For the Opening Phase of the game I picked a opening line which I liked.

The opening I choses was the Kings Indian Attack and Italian Game.

Once I picked them I than went and found information only for those Opening.

Youtube video's, Books, Articles, Forums, and Blogs on only those lines.

I didn't get chess principle books and I didn't worry about getting broad opening books simply because I felt it wasnt effective.

I played 2 specific lines and wanted 2 specific opening guides.

I played the KIA and Italian Game until I was about 1500 ranking than I started mixing in other lines.

I felt getting stuff on broad openings in a way made no sense to me.

Simply because I was never planning to play other lines.

As of now I still have never played some of those other lines lol.

If you want to improve you have to improve in the opening line you are playing etc.

Middle Game phase - In the middle game you have to come up with plans.

I love the way Jerry Silman book came up with plans.

He calls it deciphering the board.

I think it is the best.

Reading the chess board looking at the imbalances etc.

I wouldn't chose any other book.

Pick a nice opening and get a guide on how to play that opening.

Once you do that than get Jerry Silman's book.

It will help you further your understanding of what to do in the middle game.

End Game phase - Rook and Pawn endgames are the bread and butter of chess.

If you can play a Rook and Pawn endgame you will make Grand Master.

It is not easy though.

Even I haven't finished endgame study.

Rook and Pawn endgames are so hard.

Thanks for recommneding these books!!

If you can send me a PM, I can send you a list of the books I have in PDF and other digital forms. Mostly older titles, but they're at least worth checking out if nothing else.

They're all either originally English or were translated to English.
If that's not a problem to you, we can work it out. 

my pa sed reed     so I didder

see      see spot      see spot run  

thin I klozd the book

that feller in #14     he like gurils or not?

In a 2006 GM John Nunn book, in connection with opening study, it is stated that, if a "book contains illustrative games, it is worth playing these over first".

Won't find many illustrative games in FCO.

"... [Fundamental Chess Openings] is not particularly suited for players who are just starting out. I would imagine players rated at least 1400-1500 would get the most benefit from this volume. This book can serve as a good guide, helping players pick openings that suit them, as well as give them some basic idea what each opening is about. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626173432/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen128.pdf

All depends on how much time you have to put into the study plan.  How many hours per day are you looking to put in?

PLAY THIS GUY.  

MichealAngeloMBelloc