Where do I start with my chess education? - Chess Forums

SlovakainSnypaX

Jul 2, 2011

0

#1

I've been a member here for only a little while. I always play chess whenever my uncle or cousin visit, so I'd guess I play 20-30 games of chess a year, not including some chess games here on chess.com. I've been using an online chess tactics trainer where it presents you with a game situation and you have to make the best move possible. So my question is: How do I begin my chess education? I see everybody on forums writing about strategy, tactics, chess theory, openings and don't know where to start. I honestly don't know what my ranking is, but what website should I be reading? What books should I download and read? How do I get better in a systematic way?

kwaloffer

Jul 2, 2011

0

#2

You mostly need to play a lot more, and spend time after the game figuring out what went wrong (ask your opponent for tips!)

But if you wish to study more...

Follow chess news -- here on chess.com, chessbase.com, chessvibes.com, chesscafe.com -- and read the articles. Play through the annotated games.

Download Scid (http://scid.sf.net), download this week's harvest of games played around the world at TWIC (http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/twic.html) and play through them very quickly at random.

The goal is to get a feel for what a normal game of chess looks like, what is a normal move and what isn't.

That, but again, the most important thing is figuring out what went wrong in the games you lose. If you're still dropping queens, or missing your opponent's mate in one threat, then you need to work on recognizing those before all else. Work on endgames when they're you're weakest point left.

ground-zero

Jul 2, 2011

0

#3

I'm not going to write an essay on this, but one thing I find extremely helpful is videos going over tactics, GM games, openings, ect.

I'd recommend checking out TheChessWebsite and JrobiChess on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/thechesswebsite

http://www.youtube.com/user/jrobichess

SlovakainSnypaX

Jul 3, 2011

0

#4

Thanks a lot guys, I'll probably start by playing more games and finding out what I did wrong.

puppylover107

Jul 3, 2011

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#5

Study endgame first, follow by middlegame. Openings last, learn priniciples do not memorise variations

NimzoRoy

Jul 3, 2011

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#6

Study endgames. First learn all the basic checkmates including K+Q vs K, K+R vs R, K+2Bs vs K and eventually K+B+N vs K, ignore anyone who says it's too esoteric or difficult if I could learn how so can you. Next start studying K+P vs K, K+2Ps vs K+P etc. Next move on to Rook and Pawn endings which are the most common endings in chess.

For opening, middlegame and/or endgame principles try reading a few of the following, see if your library has a copy of any if not look for used copies at bookstores, amazon or eBay

Common Sense in Chess by Dr Lasker

Chess Fundamentals, My Chess Career and Last Lectures by J R Capablanca

Logical Chess Move by Move, The Most Instuctive Games of Chess Ever Played and/or 1000 Best Short Games of Chess all by Irving Chernev

Practical Chess Endings by Paul Keres or A Guide to Chess Endings by Dr Euwe

Other players will probably recommend works by Jeremy Silman or Bruce Pandolfini - I haven't read any of their works but I doubt if you could go wrong by reading one or more of their books. If you make it through 3 or 4 beginners books and want more study material Nimzovitch's My System is excellent for learning what all the most important principles of chess strategy and tactics consist of: ie, open files, control of the 7th-8th ranks, exchanging pieces, endgame basics, etc.

mateologist

Jul 3, 2011

0

#7

Jaglavak wrote:

Twice in my life I have made great leaps in chess ability. I was mired at 1500, my firsdt published rating, for three years. I played every passive opening I could find to avoid being crushed tactically. I spent one summer playing stronger players (1800-2100 ELO) and studying two and three move tactics. That November I won the C prize at the American Open in Los Angeles with 4 wins and 4 draws and every player I played was higher rated than me. My rating shot to 1790 ELO in that one tournament. The next tournament, two weeks later sent me over 1800. I steadily improved over the next three years but I could not make expert (2000 ELO). I went over my tournament games and noticed I lost drawn endgames or traded down into lost endgames I thought were drawn. Again, I spent a summer learning basic endgame techiques and this improved my evaluation ability enough to shoot from 1860 straight to 2040 ELO over three or so tournaments.

What I did in retrospect, was eliminate my greatest weaknesses. I found out why I LOST games and studied only that until I no longer lost that way. I did not enjoy going over tactics, but I was disgusted at my fear of 1800 players and so it was quit chess, bully 1300 ELO players, or study and face my nemesis. I HATED endgames because I thought they were all drawn if material was equal. But I wanted that expert title and so I studied, and add two new weapons: better middlegame evaluation and learning how to win from "equal" positions.

You should start your chess studying by PLAYING. Play Slow games (slow enough that you can record them start to finish). Let your losses determine each step of your improvement plan. Try to be as specific as possible. If you lose an endgame, don't study endgames, study that Bishop endgame that you lost. If you got forked, study forks--not all tactics. This way each loss serves as a mini lesson, you wil not get bored, since your next loss will ideally be for another reason.

You'll notice that hardly anyone ever uses this method of improvement, but every person that is great at anything does. If you read most posts you will see that we have a natural aversion to doing something at which we have no skill. But we are very good at rationalizing so for example, people who drop pieces in the opening will change their openings as a solution instead of studying the disc overd check that was the proximate cause of theior defeat. They concentrate only on remote causes such as the opening, plateau, and never improve.

Don't become one of them. When you see what you are good at, you will gravitate to and from certain openings. When you are good at most things you will be able to play most openings. Tal for example, the greatest tactician of our age, played every main line opening in tournament play.

The only way to improve quickly is to improve the worst things first and thus the only sure way start your chess education is to go over your losses and fix what is broke. This is painful work. Since only the very best do this, you will improve in leaps and bounds over the vast majority of your peers. The more time you have, the more weaknesses you can eliminate from your play simultaneously. But you should at least work on one weakness until your next serous tournement and let results show you have improved.

If you have trouble determining what you are doing wrong, then ask a player a class or two above you to go over your lossess. He are she should be able to recognize weaknesses that what might be a fog to you.

Finally, if you LIKE going over your weanknesses, it is a sure sign that it isn't your greatest weakness. You should feel some dread when you go to study. The joy comes from your over the board results, not the fixing per se. You'll know that you are improving when your normal opponents seem to have suddenly forgotton how to play chess.

Hope this helps.

As i am looking to return to OTB tournament play thanks for the road-map, To the OP this post is excellant advice for any playing level and you would be wise to heed these words !!

nigelzub

Jun 11, 2012

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#8

the more you loos the better you get

DylanLeapman

Nov 3, 2021

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#9

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MisterWindUpBird

Feb 20, 2022

0

#10

Further strange necromancy.