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Date: 23 Nov 2004 07:55:41
From: Tigran
Subject: difficult to improve
Hi
I have spend the last few months analizing my games to find where my
game lacks. It has been a long process and now I want to apply
solutions. This is the reason I post here, to find the best proposals
to improve my game, because I don't exactly know what can I do or what
is the best solution.
I am a 2055 FIDE ELO player and 30 years old with a lot of motivation
to continue learning. I have a good tactical ability. I solve a few
tacticals exercises all day and I have found in my games that there
are no many tactical blunders, and the few ones that exits, as I say,
I am trying to solve doing tactical problems.
But what I have discovered is that in strategic undestanding is where
I must improve, because is where I have noted I have more errors.
In my games, I found that when I enter into the middlegame I have a
very good understanding of the position (because I have all the
concepts of the openings I play). It is when I enter into "unexplored
terrain" or let say "late middlegame" which have no tactics, even
positions and where I have to choose a correct plan, when I make bad
"quiet moves". Even more, I tend to go wrong when there are a lot of
pieces on unsound positions on the board. When there are fewer pieces
I usually choose sound and good plans.
The problem now is I have no idea where to start to solve this
problem. I suspect there are a lot to learn but need and order and
correct plan. What your suggestion? The majority of the books out
there looks very "generalistics", "typical" theory. maybe I need a
more "advanced approach"
Althought I will be grategull to all answers I would prefer answers
from strong players than me.
Thanks all in advance. I hope this question and answers could help
other people too.




 
Date: 24 Nov 2004 15:42:08
From: Tom Barnes
Subject: Re: difficult to improve
[email protected] (Tigran) wrote in message news:<[email protected] >...
> Hi
> I have spend the last few months analizing my games to find where my
> game lacks. It has been a long process and now I want to apply
> solutions. This is the reason I post here, to find the best proposals
> to improve my game, because I don't exactly know what can I do or what
> is the best solution.
> [...]

I think you should take lessons from a strong player (at least an IM).


 
Date: 24 Nov 2004 02:11:42
From: Randy Bauer
Subject: Re: difficult to improve

"Tigran" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi
> I have spend the last few months analizing my games to find where my
> game lacks. It has been a long process and now I want to apply
> solutions. This is the reason I post here, to find the best proposals
> to improve my game, because I don't exactly know what can I do or what
> is the best solution.
> I am a 2055 FIDE ELO player and 30 years old with a lot of motivation
> to continue learning. I have a good tactical ability. I solve a few
> tacticals exercises all day and I have found in my games that there
> are no many tactical blunders, and the few ones that exits, as I say,
> I am trying to solve doing tactical problems.
> But what I have discovered is that in strategic undestanding is where
> I must improve, because is where I have noted I have more errors.
> In my games, I found that when I enter into the middlegame I have a
> very good understanding of the position (because I have all the
> concepts of the openings I play). It is when I enter into "unexplored
> terrain" or let say "late middlegame" which have no tactics, even
> positions and where I have to choose a correct plan, when I make bad
> "quiet moves". Even more, I tend to go wrong when there are a lot of
> pieces on unsound positions on the board. When there are fewer pieces
> I usually choose sound and good plans.
> The problem now is I have no idea where to start to solve this
> problem. I suspect there are a lot to learn but need and order and
> correct plan. What your suggestion? The majority of the books out
> there looks very "generalistics", "typical" theory. maybe I need a
> more "advanced approach"
> Althought I will be grategull to all answers I would prefer answers
> from strong players than me.
> Thanks all in advance. I hope this question and answers could help
> other people too.

The last two responses have discussed practical methods, and they are both
good. Because I review a lot of books, I will suggest an approach that
touches on that subject. I would look for books that have a high degree of
"chess thought" built into them -- the ones that can challenge you to
stretch your mind. First off, I would recommend IM John Watson's series,
"Modern Chess Strategy" and "Chess Strategy in Action." While these aren't
necessarily books that touch on the part of the game you find a concern,
they will definitely make you think and reassess, and those are good things.

In the area of the game you mention, I found Mednis' "From the Middlegame
into the Endgame" and Shereshevsky's "Endgame Strategy" to be very useful.
Both deal with that phase between the middlegame and the endgame, although
the latter work also deals with more typical endgame issues.

Above all else, keep analyzing!

Randy Bauer




 
Date: 23 Nov 2004 21:38:40
From: Antonio Torrecillas
Subject: Re: difficult to improve
En/na Tigran ha escrit:
> Hi
> I have spend the last few months analizing my games to find where my
> game lacks. It has been a long process and now I want to apply
> solutions. This is the reason I post here, to find the best proposals
> to improve my game, because I don't exactly know what can I do or what
> is the best solution.

We will enjoy to see here some of your analized games.
Reading what do you think we can help more.
And proposing (we) another moves or plans you can learn new ideas.

> I am a 2055 FIDE ELO player and 30 years old with a lot of motivation
> to continue learning. I have a good tactical ability. I solve a few
> tacticals exercises all day and I have found in my games that there
> are no many tactical blunders, and the few ones that exits, as I say,
> I am trying to solve doing tactical problems.
> But what I have discovered is that in strategic undestanding is where
> I must improve, because is where I have noted I have more errors.
> In my games, I found that when I enter into the middlegame I have a
> very good understanding of the position (because I have all the
> concepts of the openings I play). It is when I enter into "unexplored
> terrain" or let say "late middlegame" which have no tactics, even
> positions and where I have to choose a correct plan, when I make bad
> "quiet moves". Even more, I tend to go wrong when there are a lot of
> pieces on unsound positions on the board. When there are fewer pieces
> I usually choose sound and good plans.
> The problem now is I have no idea where to start to solve this
> problem. I suspect there are a lot to learn but need and order and
> correct plan. What your suggestion? The majority of the books out
> there looks very "generalistics", "typical" theory. maybe I need a
> more "advanced approach"

To "learn/improve" strategic understanding you can read some interesting
books (there are a lot of interesting ones, for example Botvinnik's
selected games) and you can also work analizing games and posting them
here (as I proposed in my first line).

> Althought I will be grategull to all answers I would prefer answers
> from strong players than me.
> Thanks all in advance. I hope this question and answers could help
> other people too.

AT



 
Date: 23 Nov 2004 18:40:06
From: Henri Arsenault
Subject: Re: difficult to improve
In article <[email protected] >,
[email protected] (Tigran) wrote:
i
>I have spend the last few months analizing my games to find where my
>game lacks. It has been a long process and now I want to apply
>solutions. This is the reason I post here, to find the best proposals
>to improve my game, because I don't exactly know what can I do or what
>is the best solution.

Even grandmasters like Kotov have had the same problem, and the solution
proposed by Kotov (which is probably as good as any other) in his book
"Think like a grandmaster" is to take a complicated unknown position, and
anlyze it for at least 30 minutes, writing down all the variations that
you see, then compare that with published analysis or with a program like
Fritz to see what you missed (you will be flabbergasted at how much you
missed). Repeat this exercise often, forcing yourself to analyze
accurately, and you analytical ability should improve significantly.In
real games, of course, you will have to ake time constraints into account,
but not when you practice - analyze the position until you think that you
understand all of the variations.

The next step, which separates the grandmasters from the fold, is to
develop the ability to choose the right candidate moves, which seems to
contradict the above but which does not, because time constraints do not
allow analyzing every line fully. This is a matter of experience and
talent. Those who devvelop the ability to do it efficiently have ratings
of 2600, and those who do not consistently lose games that they should
win.

Henri