wschmidt
♡ 112 ( +1 | -1 ) Novice Nook # 69Heisman is up to Article 85 and we'd be a little closer if I hadn't skipped a few weeks over the long haul. Nevertheless, we're closing in.
This week's article is entitled "Breaking Down Barriers" and is a very useful look at the barriers to improvement, how to think about them and how to break them down. I'm finding over at the Chess Coaching Club I run into this sort of thing often. Folks want to be coached, but they don't really want to put the effort into it. I can point out tactical errors in a game or two, but unless someone is really ready to sit down and study tactics, well....there's only so much coaching can do. I can say play fewer games and take more times on the games you're playing, but....
Also some good comments at the end in response to a reader question about blitz. I'm a big believer in using blitz games as a way to learn a new opening. Lots of moves that don't show up in the opening books but get thrown at you anyway. Heisman apparently concurs.
cascadejames
♡ 38 ( +1 | -1 ) inspirationThis article has given me a little push to go back to the Hans Kmoch book, "Pawn Power in Chess." I started but did not finish it. Right now I really need to work on the pawn part of my game. Of course some of my recent opponents could point out that I need to work on everything :-) , but study of pawn matters seems most needed at the present.
jstevens1
♡ 60 ( +1 | -1 ) QueenplayI think that the biggest stumbling blocks I have seems to be that I end up in passive positions and this is underlined by the use of my queen - she is either swapped off early or she usually ends up in a defensive role of pawns, other pieces, mate threats while her counterpart is in an attacking pose - attacking pawns, generating mate threats etc.
Some of the time, against players of similar rating, I get away with it. Other times, against 1600+ players I do not.
In order to avoid my rating slipping back below the 1600 mark I need to work on this fast!