Chess for Beginners

Month: June 2011

  • Thought Process Checklist

    Thought Process Checklist

    Core Evaluation

    1. How has the opponent’s last move changed the position? Has your opponent made a blunder?
    2. What is he trying to achieve?
    3. Has he weakened his position (positional concession, piece en prise, open to a tactic) ?
    4. Are there any threats?

    Tactical Evaluation

    If 1 or more of the following exist, then perform a tactical evaluation if none exist proceed to the Positional Evaluation section:
    1. Loose (unguarded) pieces : Loose pieces drop off LDPO
    2. Weak back rank
    3. Pieces that can be easily attacked by enemy pieces of lesser value
    4. Pieces that can be attacked via discovery
    5. Pinned or skewerable pieces along the same rank, file or diagonal
    6. Pieces (or squares) vulnerable to knight forks
    7. Overworked pieces (pieces guarding more than one piece or square)
    8. Inadequately guarded pieces
    9. Falling way behind in development
    10. uncastled King or lost pawn protection with Queens on the board
    11. Open enemy lines for Rooks, Queens and bishops to your King
    12. Pieces that have little mobility and might easily be trapped if attacked
    13. A large domination of one side’s forces in one area of the board
    14. Advanced passed pawns

    Positional Evaluation

    1. What is the material balance?
    2. Are there any direct threats?
    3. How is the safety of both Kings?
    4. Pawn structure questions:
    a. Where are the open lines and diagonals?
    b. Are there any strong squares?
    c. Who is controlling the center?
    d. Who has more space and where on the board do they have it?
    5. Which pieces are active and which are not?
    a. Are there any weaknesses in my position?
    b. Are there any weaknesses in my opponent’s position?
    c. Are there any strengths in my opponent’s position?
    d. What are the strengths in my position?
    e. Which is my weakest placed piece? How can I improve it?

     

    Candidate Move Selection

    1. based on above select 2-4 candidates

    2. Begin analyzing the most forcing candidate first

     

     

    NOTE: When analyzing look for opponent’s best response and look 2 1/2 moves (5 ply ahead).
    If there is a combination, then you need to calculate until quiesence.
    3. Double check that at the end of your analysis your opponent doesn’t have a killer move (deadly in-between move or tactic)
    4. Evaluate the position at the end of your analysis:
    Even, W / B is slightly better, W / B is better, W/B is winning, unclear
    5. Rank your candidate move based on evaluation.
    6. Depending on time constraints and the quality of your recently analyzed candidate move go to step 2.
    a. if your candidate’s analysis weakens your position (leaves you better when winning or even when slightly better, then analyze the next candidate on your list)
    b. If your candidate leaves you in the same position (even when even, winning when winning), then decide whether you want to take additional time to analyze the next candidate on your list. The next candidate might take you from even to winning, so even if you found a good move, look for a better one if time allows.

     

     

     

     

    Blunder Check

    7. Write down your move.
    8. Perform a blunder check
    a. are you leaving a piece en prise?
    b. Are you missing a killer tactic?
    c. Are you missing a killer in-between move?
    d. Are you positionally weakening your position?
    9. PLAY the move

     

     

  • The (Long) Road to Chess Mastery

    According to experts it takes approximately 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in any field. So the following is my attempt to gauge my chess progress based on the 10,000 hour rule.

    Assumptions

    • 10,000 hours of practice = expert
    • A chess expert is a player with a 2000 USCF rating.
    • Your starting chess rating is approximately 1000 USCF.
    • Halfway through your training or 5,000 hours of practice later you should be rated approximately 1500.
    • Average chess level in ELO is about 1400.
    Variables
    • I have been playing chess for approximately 6 years.
    • I spend an average of 2 hours per day on chess which comes out to 730 hours of chess practice per year.
    Calculations
    • 6 years * 730 hours / year = 4,380 hours of study so far, so I am 43% on my road to chess mastery.
    • I still need 5,620 hours to become an expert.
    • At the current rate of 2 hours, I will reach a 2000 USCF rating in approximately 7.7 years.
    Results
    • Since I have completed 44% of the 10,000 hours my rating should be at around 1440* ( I am currently FICS standard 1684 – 250 (USCF adjustment) =  1434 USCF equivalent)
    • If I increase my study time to 3 hours per day, I will decrease the time required to reach 200 from 7.7 to 5.1 years.
    • Increasing study time to 4 hours / day I will reach 2000 in 3.8 more years.
    • Increasing study time to 5 hours / day I will reach 2000 in 3 years (huge drop off and not worth it).

    It seems that the optimal number of hours to spend on practicing / studying chess per day is 3 hours.

    * I figured 1440 by multiplying 1000 * 44% (which is the total gain required from 1000 – 2000).