I have made an observation while solving puzzles, that I feel will improve my tactical puzzle solving skills, and might have direct application during actual games. When solving a tactical puzzle of intermediate to advanced level I either: 1. Have no clue how to go about solving it and get it wrong. 2. Have multiple ideas that…
Before we get started let’s define what a ply is in chess: A ply is a half move and a move is equivalent to 2 ply or a turn by each player. For example, 1. e4 is one ply and 1…e5 would be the 2nd ply, together these two plys make one move. Getting close to the truth of…
White to move from Spielmann – Tartakower, 1925 Highlight for answer: 1.Qh6! Qxe1+ 2.Bf1 (2.Kg2? Ne3+), and Black must give away his Queen with 2. …Qe#+
Secrets of Zen Chess During my chess break, I ran into a friend of mine who loves chess and who had been in Japan doing a 4 week Seshin at a Japanese Zen Monestary.I asked him if he had time to practice his chess while at the monestary, and he told me that he had…
I have started to evaluate tactical positions a bit differently than quiet strategic ones. For this purpose, I am using a tactical checklist, which is based on Heisman’s seeds of tactical destruction. I assessed the position in the using the checklist, and my evaluation is below. You can download a copy of the check list here.…
I am working on creating a Chessbase notebook (more on this in a much future post), and I am working out a way to effectively categorize my chess content. Below is a draft of the taxonomy I plan on using. For example pins would be categorized as Middlegame – Tactics – Pins, whereas King and pawn endgame…
Monday 12.07.09 Played G/15 game and drew against opponent rated 1826 in a winning position (I was up a minor piece), but opponent had counterplay and I was down to 4 1/2 minutes on the clock. Tuesday 12.08.09 Reviewed game. Confirmed that position was won. Opponent made a tactical mistake where he lost the exchange.…
Monday 11.30.09 Played G/20 20 game against opponent rated 1865. Played the Sicilian Grand Prix and lost in a rook endgame where I was a pawn down. Tuesday 12.01.09 Reviewed game. Made an interesting observation that I would not have picked up on if I had not reviewed game. I lost 2 pawns during the…
Started new program mid week, so entries will be from Wednesday through Sunday. Wednesday 11.26.09 Played G/15 5 game against an opponent rated 1687 on ICC (I am provisionally rated 1781 after this game). I plan on playing all of my standard games on ICC so that I can maintain continuity in tracking my ELO rating.…
Making it Difficult After several years of working on my chess improvement and from talking to both amateurs and masters it appears that adult amateurs tend to complicate their chess improvement by reading books and tackling concepts that are far too advanced for their level. So, here is my attempt to simplify my chess training…