Learning chess as an adult

Hey there everyone!

I have recently decided to start playing chess again at the age of 34. I played at chess clubs and was even the top player at some of them when I was in high school. Due to work, school etc I basically stopped playing. I have since returned and hoping to improve as fast as possible. I have read a couple articles describing one of the best ways to improve is to solve many tactical puzzles, has anyone tried doing this as an adult and does it work? Are there any other very effective ways besides that to improve?

I'm not expecting to be a GM or anything like that but playing in tournaments and maybe getting to Class A would be nice.

Thanks for any advice you can provide!

play

Yep, at your level just playing games would be best for now

play online games so you can take oyur time and make good moves-5 minute blitz games really are not all that great-if you want to learn at normal chess

Define the term "adult?"

Play slow games.  Review every game, find mistakes, look for improvements, etc.

Tactics(chess.com/lichess.org/chesstempo.com)

meant corespondance games on here-the slower games

Somebody in the last year was posting about his plan to best improve your tactical awareness.  Now I've done over 100 puzzles in a day, but that's pushing it for me even in 3 or 4 sessions.  Guy did 1000 puzzles in one day.

Just going by the vaguest of memories as to what the benefits were but (and I may be oh so amazingly wrong on this) I believe he talked about an "ease of awareness" that reminded me of meditation.  So no I'm too old to do 1000, but you're not.  

So my point in all of the above is you have to periodically push yourself with the same intensity and length of time as a typical tournament.  If you don't have stamina you won't have the opportunity to demonstrate your skills.

Thanks for the helpful advice everyone, appreciate it. I have played several games already and really enjoying the game. How accurate is the rating system here? I think I have a provisional rating so I'm not sure what my skill level is at the moment but hoping it will level out soon.

@913Glorax12: I'm 34 at the moment, I have heard and read that most really good players started when they were very young so learning the game when your somewhat older might a little bit out of the norm.

But the guy doing so many puzzles finally improved?

You know you can't eat ice-cream for dinner.

However, knowing this does not necessarily mean you don't do it.

It is 100% correct after about 20 or 30 games.

- play a lot OTB,

- join a chess club,

- analyze with stronger (human) players,

- as for your personal training, have a look at these blogs :

• http://p-r4.blogspot.fr/
• http://www.chess.com/blog/kevinptaylor
• http://www.chess.com/blog/hicetnunc/resources-for-systematic-training

        No, it doesn't work.

You're a youngster. Much the same as you I came back to chess after many years - I was 53.  I can now play a reasonable game (not much below my level at 17) and am thinking of joining a club again.  Class A would be a stretch at my age, but not so much at yours I should think.  Best of luck anyway.

I'd play chess at any speed you want; blitz is fun and a good way to explore opening ideas and just get back in the habit of co-ordinating your pieces.

I agree with most of the advice given here. You might want to focus on slower games, and make sure to analyse them for your mistakes. Also, there a number of great books out there to improve your opening, middle game, and ending. Right here on chess.com there are also some pretty good articles/videos to assist on your improvement.

All the best to you.

Someone who improved as an adult has written a book about how he achieved his improvement, so his experience must be very useful to you. He explains his training methods and helps you by saying how to do the same. I found his book on 3 websites, click if you want to see it here , here or read some pages here.

According to what he says inside you need a good book for tactics like this.

A young musician goes to New York city with a desire to be great someday and play in Carnigie (sp) Hall, a place where only the greatest musicians perform. He stops the first person he meets on the street and asks "How do you get to Carnigie Hall?". The person says "Practice, practice, practice!!". Blitz isn't going to help you. Live standard play with lots of analysis and tactics training will. The chess mentor on this sight is also very good. I would be happy to play you and give whatever advice I can with the basics. My rating isn't that great, but to improve you have to put in the hours and effort. Give me a challenge. I will accept.

About Michael de la Maza:

http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-michael-de-la-maza-story

http://empiricalrabbit.blogspot.pt/2012/06/michael-de-la-maza-verdict.html

and his Ratings Graph:

He never stopped at any level, he just kept going up, until he retired.

You don´t need to buy his book, it´s just an expanded version of this articles:

http://web.archive.org/web/20140709054314/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles148.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20140709012627/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles150.pdf