Why is it that beginners fail to choose simple plans that are right before their eyes? One answer may be that beginners do not evaluate the position before choosing a candidate move. Beginners briefly scan the board, choose a move they like and quickly analyze and play this move. The problem with this thought process…
A frequent issue confronted by amateurs is wishful thinking when calculating combinations. This propensity to fabricate beneficial scenarios in our analysis is very typical throughout an amateur’s game, but it is most dangerous when calculating combinations. You see a pretty combination worthy of Tal, and you analyze it over and over, after you have finished…
Improving your Thought Process This is the first in a series of posts about faulty thought process tendencies by beginners. Unfortunately, I am the source of inspiration, but hopefully by writing about these errors my thought process will improve. The most important thing that a beginning to intermediate player can do to improve their chess…
I have come to the realization that there comes a time in every improving players game where we try to apply all we have learned yet we end up losing more games than we win. The improving player needs to realize that reading more chess books, learning a new opening or practicing obscure endgames is…
This blog has been around for a while, so I will begin promoting older posts to the front page every once in a while, for the benefit of new readers. In Search for Chess Perfection CJS Purdy details his ‘System’ for for evaluating a position and picking a candidate move. I. My turn to move…
Sometimes the definitions for evaluation and calculation are used interchangeably, but they are quite different things, and understanding what they mean is the first step to improving your thinking process during a game. Evaluation: You evaluate a position to determine the strengths and weaknesses of both sides. Based on your evaluation you develop a short…
In How to Reassess your Chess Jeffery Silman describes how to create a plan in the middle game based on his set of chess imbalances. The list of imbalances includes: Chess Imbalances 1) Superior minor piece 2) pawn structure 3) space 4) material 5) control of key file or square 6) lead in development 7)…
