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Date: 15 Dec 2004 12:38:13
From:
Subject: Improving the overall game
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Hello All,
I'm currently rated around 1500. I want to improve my tactical
abilities and reduce errors. I make blunders when I play real tight
games against higher rated player. may be the lower rated players just
dont spot those mistakes!
I want to improve my game and reach a 1800 level in 6 months. What
would your advice be to me?
I put in 2 to 4 hours a day for chess. Any pointers to useful books,
articles and web links will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks and regards,
-Sabareesh
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Date: 16 Dec 2004 15:12:09
From: Ron
Subject: Re: Improving the overall game
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The conventional wisdom for a 1500-ish player looking to improve is a
steady diet of tactics and endgames, combined with analysis of your own
games.
It probably doesn't matter which book you use to study tactics -- the
concept of solving lots and lots of puzzles is basically the same. I'm
personally fond of livshitz's "Test Your Chess IQ: First Challenge"
which is geared to a player of about your strength.
Dan Heisman has suggested that it's not only important to be able to
solve puzzles, but to solve them quickly. The idea is that if you can't
solve them quickly, you won't find them in your games (when you don't
know to spend a long time looking for a tactical solution.) I found his
argument (in a novice nook article on the chesscafe.com website) to be
fairly compelling.
Ergo, it may not be enough to solve problems when you can solve 95% of
them -- if it takes you several minutes to solve each one.
As for endgames, focus on practical endgames. "Rate Your Engame" by
Mednis and Crouch, "Fundamental Chess Endings" by Howell. "Grandmaster
Secrets: Endings" by Soltis. These books include the essential
theoretical stuff, but focus on how to fight in an unclear ending.
And then, of course, playing as often as you can, against the strongest
opposition you can, and going over your loses in as much detail as you
can stand.
-Ron
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Date: 16 Dec 2004 13:06:12
From: Henri Arsenault
Subject: Re: Improving the overall game
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In article <[email protected] >,
[email protected] wrote:
>I'm currently rated around 1500. I want to improve my tactical
>abilities and reduce errors. I make blunders when I play real tight
>games against higher rated player. may be the lower rated players just
>dont spot those mistakes!
>I want to improve my game and reach a 1800 level in 6 months. What
>would your advice be to me?
>
>I put in 2 to 4 hours a day for chess. Any pointers to useful books,
>articles and web links will be greatly appreciated.
>Thanks and regards,
By far the best I know is Convekta's CT-Art 3.0 CD. You can train for
various types of tactics in various ways and the program makes it easy to
spot exactly where your weaknesses are, in addition to exposing you to an
incredibly rich array of tactical positions.
You will no doubt find that in addition to unfamiliarity with certain
tactical motifs, your main weakness lies in not being able to accurately
analyze a position even when you know that a win is there. Then you can
train yourself to play over the positions, but forcing yourself to analyze
each position deeply before you make a move. Each mistake (and believe me
there will be a lot) is an indication that you are still making moves with
superficial analysis.
When you find that you have trouble with certain tactical mmotifs, you can
train only on those until you improve, but when you want to spot your
analysis weaknesses, the program allows you to train on all motifs at the
same time so that you are unsure of which tactical motif a position
belongs to. You can also tell the program to show you only positions on
which you made mistakes, or contrarywise, to show only positions that you
haven't seen yet.
You will quickly find that your strength, as measured by the program and
by over-the-board play will significantly improve. The rating given by the
program may not be an accurate predictor of your true rating, but it is
very good for charting your progress. Over time, you will sometimes see
that your curve drops down instead of continuing to increase, which is an
indication that you are getting sloppy or that you have hit upon some
tactical motifs that need work.
I have bought a number of other tactical CDs and books, but this one is
better than all the rest put together.
There is a demo, so you can see for yourself.
Henri
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Date: 16 Dec 2004 00:26:12
From: Oliver Maas
Subject: Re: Improving the overall game
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Hello,
my personal recommendations:
1) "Max Euwe: positional and combinatorial play" (i translated the title
from German
"Positions und Kombinationsspiel", de Gruyter, 1st edition is from 1949, 4th
edition from 1971)
It�s a classic, i liked especially Euwes explanations of pawn structures and
strategical ideas based on pawn structures.
2) "Sergiu Saian: systematic chess training" (i translated the title from
German "Das systematische Schachtraining", Olms, 1995). It�s a newer book,
covering a lot of different themes. Main themes are pawn structures and
piece mobility (N vs. B, the pair of bishops, open lines, technique of
calculation).I liked especially that it�s a clear and systematic book.
3) From the newer books, i like "Jonathan Rowson: The seven deadly chess
sins" (i have the English edition).
He gives also some psychological hints (he tries to answer the question: why
do we make mistakes at the chessboard?). Also he criticizes the counting of
"points" attributed to pieces.
kind regards
Oliver
<[email protected] > schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:[email protected]...
> Hello All,
>
> I'm currently rated around 1500. I want to improve my tactical
> abilities and reduce errors. I make blunders when I play real tight
> games against higher rated player. may be the lower rated players just
> dont spot those mistakes!
> I want to improve my game and reach a 1800 level in 6 months. What
> would your advice be to me?
>
> I put in 2 to 4 hours a day for chess. Any pointers to useful books,
> articles and web links will be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks and regards,
> -Sabareesh
>
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