Resiny to move and mate in three
January 6, 2011 8:05 AM Subscribe
I am an intermediate/ advanced beginner chess player. How can I best improve? And what software, if any, should I buy?
So in the last year I've gotten really into chess, and in the last few months I've tried to actively improve. I play with friends and on chess.com.
(I play a lot of bullet and blitz because I don't have time for longer games. My ratings, for reference, are about 1580 and 1400 respectively.)
I get frustrated when reading analysis of chess games, because if it's on paper it will often have seven or eight move variations in algebraic, which I simply can't, at this point, follow in my mind. My formal study has mostly been limited to trying to memorize some openings. I'm not bad at the Ruy Lopez and Sicilian, but my repertoire is fairly limited outside of that. I have a good instinct in endgames, but good players can come back from a pawn down against me. My attacks are often mediocre.
What books/software/other would be the most beneficial to me, and how should I go about studying?
So in the last year I've gotten really into chess, and in the last few months I've tried to actively improve. I play with friends and on chess.com.
(I play a lot of bullet and blitz because I don't have time for longer games. My ratings, for reference, are about 1580 and 1400 respectively.)
I get frustrated when reading analysis of chess games, because if it's on paper it will often have seven or eight move variations in algebraic, which I simply can't, at this point, follow in my mind. My formal study has mostly been limited to trying to memorize some openings. I'm not bad at the Ruy Lopez and Sicilian, but my repertoire is fairly limited outside of that. I have a good instinct in endgames, but good players can come back from a pawn down against me. My attacks are often mediocre.
What books/software/other would be the most beneficial to me, and how should I go about studying?
First, stop playing bullet and blitz chess, or at least spend most of your chess time playing slow games. Definitely have a look at Dan Heisman's Novice Nook articles, originally appearing at ChessCafe, which are excellent reading for improvement-minded adult players and give some concrete improvement plans, as well as discussing the amateur's thought processes and how to overcome deficiencies.
Use a database program like ChessBase or (open-source) scid to keep track of your games and analyze them.
Do lots of tactics problems. One way to do this is at the Chess Tactics Server. I have read that it's best to do 15-20 minutes of tactics a day, with the goal of storing tactical patterns in your memory (rather than an exhaustive quest to "beat" every problem), and more doesn't necessarily help.
If you've been playing a lot of fast games, you probably need to bone up on your endgames. A good book on endgames is invaluable. I would recommend Jeremy Silman's Complete Endgame Course. It groups endgame discussions by rating level, and is a fun read.
Study of the opening should be the last priority. Find a couple you like and learn the main lines (and traps), but don't put too much time into it, and don't worry too much about memorizing variations. People like opening study because it's straightforward and seems like powerful knowledge, but there's not much pointing in poring over chess books for hours in order to be able to sometimes extract a small advantage out of the opening, when you're just going to blunder or miss tactics later.
posted by Maximian at 8:29 AM on January 6, 2011
Use a database program like ChessBase or (open-source) scid to keep track of your games and analyze them.
Do lots of tactics problems. One way to do this is at the Chess Tactics Server. I have read that it's best to do 15-20 minutes of tactics a day, with the goal of storing tactical patterns in your memory (rather than an exhaustive quest to "beat" every problem), and more doesn't necessarily help.
If you've been playing a lot of fast games, you probably need to bone up on your endgames. A good book on endgames is invaluable. I would recommend Jeremy Silman's Complete Endgame Course. It groups endgame discussions by rating level, and is a fun read.
Study of the opening should be the last priority. Find a couple you like and learn the main lines (and traps), but don't put too much time into it, and don't worry too much about memorizing variations. People like opening study because it's straightforward and seems like powerful knowledge, but there's not much pointing in poring over chess books for hours in order to be able to sometimes extract a small advantage out of the opening, when you're just going to blunder or miss tactics later.
posted by Maximian at 8:29 AM on January 6, 2011
Seconding chesstempo. The best way you can get better at your level is to train tactics.
If you like learning from books, the "Winning" books by Yasser Seirawan are a fine place to start to get a broad base of knowledge.
posted by dfan at 8:36 AM on January 6, 2011
If you like learning from books, the "Winning" books by Yasser Seirawan are a fine place to start to get a broad base of knowledge.
posted by dfan at 8:36 AM on January 6, 2011
Heisman has written rather a lot of articles -- I should have linked to this convenient sub-list of articles to read first.
Silman also recommends going over lots of grandmaster games. Many can be found on chessgames.com, but for serious study, books of game collections may be better. Also, most coaching articles I've read hold to the view that individual chess players come to understand chess ideas in roughly the order the larger chess world discovered them, so they recommend starting from players like Paul Morphy and working one's way up.
Heisman and Silman both imply (indepedently) that going over tons of master-level games in and of itself will boost one's skills considerably. But I haven't had time to put that to the test myself. YMMV.
posted by Maximian at 8:50 AM on January 6, 2011
Silman also recommends going over lots of grandmaster games. Many can be found on chessgames.com, but for serious study, books of game collections may be better. Also, most coaching articles I've read hold to the view that individual chess players come to understand chess ideas in roughly the order the larger chess world discovered them, so they recommend starting from players like Paul Morphy and working one's way up.
Heisman and Silman both imply (indepedently) that going over tons of master-level games in and of itself will boost one's skills considerably. But I haven't had time to put that to the test myself. YMMV.
posted by Maximian at 8:50 AM on January 6, 2011
I get frustrated when reading analysis of chess games, because if it's on paper it will often have seven or eight move variations in algebraic, which I simply can't, at this point, follow in my mind.
Most of the chess people I know read those books with a chessboard in front of them, acting out the moves as they read so they can visually follow the instructions.
posted by CathyG at 9:12 AM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Most of the chess people I know read those books with a chessboard in front of them, acting out the moves as they read so they can visually follow the instructions.
posted by CathyG at 9:12 AM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Definitely have a look at Dan Heisman's Novice Nook articles, originally appearing at ChessCafe, which are excellent reading for improvement-minded adult players and give some concrete improvement plans, as well as discussing the amateur's thought processes and how to overcome deficiencies.
Oh yeah, Heisman is great for anyone pretty much all the way up to 2000, despite the name of the column.
Those articles are free, of course, but they've also been collated (many of them) and revised in his recent book A Guide to Chess Improvement.
posted by dfan at 9:44 AM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh yeah, Heisman is great for anyone pretty much all the way up to 2000, despite the name of the column.
Those articles are free, of course, but they've also been collated (many of them) and revised in his recent book A Guide to Chess Improvement.
posted by dfan at 9:44 AM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
I used to play chess casually in the past and found Chess Master (or check here for a download, albeit of a previous version) to be a good way to get up to speed on basic terms, concepts, strategies and openings in the game. You can also use it to play against opponents of various skill levels. For my purposes, this was a great buy, but I am not a dedicated player and haven't played in a long time, so take this with a grain of salt.
posted by adahn at 9:45 AM on January 6, 2011
posted by adahn at 9:45 AM on January 6, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks for the advice so far. What software would you all recommend? I find Chess Titans (the windows free program) to be totally useless, and there seem to be a number of competitors from among which it is difficult to choose (rybka, fritz, etc.)
posted by resiny at 10:10 AM on January 6, 2011
posted by resiny at 10:10 AM on January 6, 2011
> ... I don't have time for longer games
The way to get better is to make more time.
Bookmark this: http://www.shredderchess.com/weekly-chess-problems.html
Nthing the above STOP PLAYING BULLET. If you don't have time to sit through a longer game, go slower and play some correspondence speed games. I play on redhotpawn.com with a 3 day time limit per move.
I don't care for playing against a computer. Play against people.
You've identified some weaknesses you see in your own game. There's no "one book" to fix it. Go buy a book, any book, and see if it helps. Lather, rinse, repeat.
My game was strongest when I'd taught myself to play blindfold. One of the highlights of playing chess was when I first played an entire game through, start to end, without touching a piece, and was able to recite the game perfectly afterwards. You really need a willing, local, in person friend to learn with if you want to do this, and I'd highly recommend it.
posted by devbrain at 10:10 AM on January 6, 2011
The way to get better is to make more time.
Bookmark this: http://www.shredderchess.com/weekly-chess-problems.html
Nthing the above STOP PLAYING BULLET. If you don't have time to sit through a longer game, go slower and play some correspondence speed games. I play on redhotpawn.com with a 3 day time limit per move.
I don't care for playing against a computer. Play against people.
You've identified some weaknesses you see in your own game. There's no "one book" to fix it. Go buy a book, any book, and see if it helps. Lather, rinse, repeat.
My game was strongest when I'd taught myself to play blindfold. One of the highlights of playing chess was when I first played an entire game through, start to end, without touching a piece, and was able to recite the game perfectly afterwards. You really need a willing, local, in person friend to learn with if you want to do this, and I'd highly recommend it.
posted by devbrain at 10:10 AM on January 6, 2011
What software would you all recommend?
Any decent chess engine is fine. Many people seem to like Fritz, which (I think) comes with ChessBase. I use scid (mentioned earlier) plus the open-source chess engine Crafty. I mostly use Crafty for analysis, as I don't find playing against computer engines to be all that useful (or fun). They play very differently from humans, and their god-like tactical strength can be frustrating. On the plus side, you can configure them to play certain positions, give you hints, and so on.
posted by Maximian at 10:23 AM on January 6, 2011
Any decent chess engine is fine. Many people seem to like Fritz, which (I think) comes with ChessBase. I use scid (mentioned earlier) plus the open-source chess engine Crafty. I mostly use Crafty for analysis, as I don't find playing against computer engines to be all that useful (or fun). They play very differently from humans, and their god-like tactical strength can be frustrating. On the plus side, you can configure them to play certain positions, give you hints, and so on.
posted by Maximian at 10:23 AM on January 6, 2011
Thirding chesstempo.com, seconding chessgames.com, adding www.freechess.org/
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:06 PM on January 6, 2011
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:06 PM on January 6, 2011
Don't stop playing blitz. It's fun. Just don't consider it training.
I can't follow book analysis very far either. I use Winboard (free) for quick analysis or following a book if I don't have a board handy. A board is best for going over games, but doesn't provide analysis. As far as software goes, any program nowadays will kick you butt, so get a free one.
Record your games. People say you learn by losing, but not if you don't know what you did wrong. Run the games through an analyzer. (I use an old version of Chess Assistant, but scid looks fine.) I think Fritz comes with Chessbase, not the other way around. My CA came with Crafty, Tiger and others..
Your rating indicates to me you know the importance of tactics, but more practice always helps. If you're losing endgames you should win, a basic book on endgames should help. Seirawan's is OK. I haven't seen Silman's. There's important basic stuff every chess player should know.
If you want to see where you need improvement most, you might consider Khmelnitsky's book. I's designed to test your skill in several different areas and show you where you might need to improve.
...and what everyone else said.
posted by MtDewd at 8:02 AM on January 7, 2011
I can't follow book analysis very far either. I use Winboard (free) for quick analysis or following a book if I don't have a board handy. A board is best for going over games, but doesn't provide analysis. As far as software goes, any program nowadays will kick you butt, so get a free one.
Record your games. People say you learn by losing, but not if you don't know what you did wrong. Run the games through an analyzer. (I use an old version of Chess Assistant, but scid looks fine.) I think Fritz comes with Chessbase, not the other way around. My CA came with Crafty, Tiger and others..
Your rating indicates to me you know the importance of tactics, but more practice always helps. If you're losing endgames you should win, a basic book on endgames should help. Seirawan's is OK. I haven't seen Silman's. There's important basic stuff every chess player should know.
If you want to see where you need improvement most, you might consider Khmelnitsky's book. I's designed to test your skill in several different areas and show you where you might need to improve.
...and what everyone else said.
posted by MtDewd at 8:02 AM on January 7, 2011
Great advice from everyone. I'll add my support for studying tactics. I've since gone downhill with my chess skills (not enough time!), but my peak ability was achieved (~1550-1600 USCF) when I was studying tactics consistently (almost everyday for 15-30 minutes). I was using the CT-Art program, although it is by no means the only option.
Dan Heisman also recommends the book "Chess Tactics for Students" by Bain. It's at a fairly easy level, but Dan maintains that you need to be able to spot these types of tactics instantly. At one point I photocopied the problems and put them on 3x5 cards, so I had some chess flash cards.
One last item, which I haven't seen mentioned. Do a search for "400 points 400 days". A few years ago this guy (de La Maza?) jumped 400 rating points in 400 days by studying almost exclusively tactics. The program has had its detractors and supporters, but I think the underlying concept is sound - at class level tactics almost always determine who will win.
posted by aarondesk at 6:41 AM on January 8, 2011
Dan Heisman also recommends the book "Chess Tactics for Students" by Bain. It's at a fairly easy level, but Dan maintains that you need to be able to spot these types of tactics instantly. At one point I photocopied the problems and put them on 3x5 cards, so I had some chess flash cards.
One last item, which I haven't seen mentioned. Do a search for "400 points 400 days". A few years ago this guy (de La Maza?) jumped 400 rating points in 400 days by studying almost exclusively tactics. The program has had its detractors and supporters, but I think the underlying concept is sound - at class level tactics almost always determine who will win.
posted by aarondesk at 6:41 AM on January 8, 2011
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A really great, well designed, awesome site:
chesstempo.com
Love it. Really fun.
Explore the site. Buy a gold membership. Read chess notation until you can follow it in your head.
Also see the tips on how to train tactics. Always count up material, always understand the why of your mistake and not just the how.
You can also play against the computer and train endgames here.
posted by 3FLryan at 8:29 AM on January 6, 2011