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| Posted by finachetto uskidscompute.com 3/12/2003 20:26:15 Play online chess |  Subject: Chess trainingMessage: Question for all: I'm interested in seriously improving my game, and I'm trying to decide how to create a training program for myself. I am very interested in how other serious players approach this. There are books, computer programs, live teachers, even videos. But I feel an organized approach to improvement will probably produce the best results. Should I just study one book after another, and play as many games as I can? That seems the least complicated way. Or is true improvement only found with a competent teacher? And how much help will Chessmaster, or Fritz provide me? Any suggestions? |
| Posted by judokausa uskidscompute.com 3/12/2003 21:49:20 Play online chess | Ken smith's and other recommendations Message: Until you are at least a high Class A player: Your first name is "Tactics", your middle name is "Tactics", and your last name is "Tactics". and some helpful links web.archive.org/web/19980109020800/chessdigest.com/lssnarch.html www.chesscafe.com/ccr/ccrebooks.htm article on understanding improvement and elements of chess strength www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman02.pdf Recommended books www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf mywebpages.comcast.net/danheisman/Articles/Novice_Nook_Links.htm |
| Posted by finachetto uskidscompute.com 3/13/2003 21:20:00 Play online chess | Chess training help Message: Outstanding! Yes, thank you for the advice. I have always thought of Chess as a Martial Art, every bit as spiritual as Kung Fu. I have looked over your recommended links, and I believe your guidance will help me down the road to the understanding I'm looking for. Thank you again. Your advice has not been wasted. --fin ——— Chess: March of the rook's pawn — White has to stop the h-pawn – but how? DK: Black has just advanced his rook's pawn, one of my favourite attacking strategies. Why? Because it does not compromise my own king, and the lone pawn can often unlock a defensive position. How should White react to the h-pawn's advance? RB: I do not like White's position here at all. Why are his pieces concentrated on the queenside when Black is so clearly intent on making a direct assault on the kingside? White's last move was Nf3-e1, presumably with the idea of transferring to the queenside via d3, but all it has done is to deplete further the defenders around the king. My honest thought here? Play the knight back to ... |
| Posted by brobishkin uskidscompute.com 3/13/2003 22:13:16 Play online chess | Training... Message: Chess study should be accomplished alone (book study), in groups (chess club), and in formal instruction (teacher)... What the chess public needs is a method of winning easily without first mastering the difficult and unnecessary technique of making good moves... The problem is, to many chess players agree with this statement, and are unwilling to put in the work required to master the fundamentals of the game... Actually chess is a lot like reading... The more you do, the better you become... The better you are, the easier it is to do... Time spent learning basic opening and endgame strategies will serve you well throughout your chess career... Study books on the classics, but remember, to study opening variations without referance to the strategy that applies to the middlegameis, in effect, like separating the head from the body... So studying tactics of the individual patterns which often interact to form spectacular combinations is also a must... But by far the hardest aspect of chess to study by yourself is the endgame... Mastering the complexities of the seemingly simple positions that dominate practical endgame play requires discipline and love for the game... But you get the point study study study... To create a training program for ones self, one must ask them self, "is the game worth a life time to master?"... Because that is what it will take... If you answer "yes"... Then the next step is to start a chess library of books on the game... Then look for the closest chess club, introduce yourself and start pushing wood... As your mind starts to sharpen up and you improve, registering at a professional chess club and join a few tournaments and this should bring you closer to some adequate chess teachers... It is there you will see if you have what it takes or not... Good luck on your mission in life... Bro... ——— On Chess: Nakamura just keeps getting better — In a recent chess match in St. Louis against Ruslan Ponomariov, Hikaru Nakamura continued his spectacular run of the past two years. Nakamura, the No. 1-ranked player in the United States, defeated his foe 31/2-21/2 in classical chess and 3-1 in a subsequent rapid match, boosting himself to the No. 6 rating in the world. Both the lofty ranking and his creative, courageous play are dizzying to an American chess public that has hungered for a successor to Bobby Fischer. Nakamura isn't an easy opponent. Like Fischer, he won't acquiesce to draws, as Ponomariov noted at a news conference during the chess match. "Hikaru has a lot of energy," the Ukrainian said, "and is fighting in every position and keeps ... |
| Posted by brobishkin uskidscompute.com 3/15/2003 10:52:50 Play online chess | Judo... Message: It looks like you might have been looking into Rapid Chess Improvement... La Mecca has some real good tips on his thinking method... The seven circles seems to have helped a few club members at my local chess club... When are your inputs to this new thinking technique?... Bro... ——— New York International Event Gives Local Players a Leg Up — In its first three years, the New York International tournament provided local chess players with opportunities to earn norms for titles, sometimes while beating strong grandmasters. This year’s competition, which ended Tuesday at the TriBeCa campus of St. John’s University, was no exception. The winner was Robert Hungaski, an international master from Connecticut. He scored 8 out of 9 points and finished 1 ½ points ahead of his nearest competitor, the grandmaster Jaan Ehlvest. Hungaski’s performance earned him the second of the three norms needed for the grandmaster title. Two young masters from New York, Kassa Korley and Aleksandr Ostrovskiy, earned their first chess ... |
| Posted by caldazar uskidscompute.com 3/15/2003 12:36:55 Play online chess | Some thoughts Message: As an improving amateur myself, I find the greatest weaknesses my peers and I possess in our play are: -a lack of mental discipline (making lazy moves without fully considering the consequences of the move) -a lack of tactical vision (not knowing when to slow down and seriously look for crushing moves) -poor calculation skills (getting easily confused after taking analysis a few moves deep, especially when there are many similar variations to consider). Different people learn differently, but my personal experience is that reading books is extremely unhelpful. I own more than my fair share of chess books, and I've thoroughly read through a number of them, but the problem is that when you're studying positions in books, you know that there's something worth looking for. If you're reading a chapter on weak squares, you'll try to create them from the diagrammed position. If the position says "White to play and win", you'll look for a mating attack or a combination to win material. So you learn all these different ideas, but what you don't learn is when to try to apply them, because the "when" aspect is never taught; it's hand fed to you. Of course, in a real game, there's no master behind you whispering "Okay, this is a critical position. Look very closely, and don't move until you find something great!" These days, I use my chess books primarily as references; if I encounter a concept in one of my games that I didn't quite understand, I'll crack open a book to the appropriate section and read some typical treatments. But I no longer read books cover-to-cover. I've always found that the best way to improve is just to play and then sit down with a player who is significantly stronger than you and go over the game. Chess clubs are great for this, and I strongly recommend joining one if you haven't already done so. Talk to the stronger player about what you were thinking when you made your moves, and he/she will often point out flaws in your perceptions of the positions at hand. Usually, this will be nothing more than the stronger player seeing more elements of the position, and hence being able to come up with more ideas for both sides. The goal is to try to understand what the stronger players see. Go slowly, absorbing one or two new ideas at a time, and then try to implement those ideas in your games. It's better to master one idea than to simply familiarize yourself with ten. Best of luck to you in your chess studies. ——— Magnus Carlsen back at No1 but Sergey Karjakin shines in Romania — Magnus Carlsen won this week's Bazna Kings in Romania unbeaten and regained the No1 spot on the live rankings from the world chess champion, Vishy Anand, yet his performance was eclipsed by a rival. Sergey Karjakin, at 21 only a few months older than Carlsen, also scored 6.5/10 without loss, was fractionally second to the Norwegian on tie-break and, most importantly, jumped to No4 in the rankings to highlight his own world title credentials. Karjakin at 12 was the youngest grandmaster in history before Carlsen outstripped him as a teenager. Then two years ago Karjakin changed nationality from Ukraine to Russia and moved to Moscow in search of harder competition. He chose ... |
| Posted by justice4catz uskidscompute.com 3/15/2003 12:38:49 Play online chess | martial art? Message: I thought they were about hitting people? I've never scratched or bitten anyone during a game of chess. I wait till after, and wee in their beer. Puss ——— Young Leads U.S. Junior Chess Championship — The 2011 U.S. Junior Chess Closed Championship is being held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis from June 15-26. As we hit the halfway mark of the chess tournament, appropriately enough, the leader is Young. That would be Gregory Young, a 16 year old from San Francisco who has started at a blistering pace, winning his first four rounds (4/4). His accomplishments thus far are especially noteworthy because he entered the tournament ranked seventh out of the 10 players by rating. Three competitors are on his heels with three points out of four games (3/4), including pre-tournament favorite and 2011 U.S. Chess Championship participant Daniel Naroditsky, as well as ... |
| Posted by jeffz_2002 uskidscompute.com 3/19/2003 16:33:31 Play online chess | "Wee in their beer" Message: A funny thing ... a few centuries back, people used to actually piss in their own beer, as it would improve the taste. This was called "Lanting". IIRC - I'm pretty sure I'm right, because I found the original reference so funny. (from a book of obsolete words in the English language.) So, you /might/ be doing them a favor... |
| Posted by jeffz_2002 uskidscompute.com 3/19/2003 16:38:38 Play online chess | gotta love Google Message: Lant "the Saxon word for urine, used throughout the 19th century for the stale human urine that was used for a variety of domestic and industrial purposes. Besides its function as a barber's hair wash called lotium, it was mentioned in old recipes as an additive used for moistening pastry and helping the glaze to stick. In the 17th century, it was added to ale apparently for the flavor that it imparted (ummm). The resulting beverage was referred to as single or double-lanted ale, depending on the concentration." Cheers! |