200 ELO Points in 6 Months

USChess.org has a great article on how Christian Galwe  increased 200 rating points in 6 months! Here are a few of the recommendations from the article: * Study your own games with an instructor * Don’t study openings…study structures and plans instead. * If you play blitz, play with a 5...

Connecting the Dots in Chess

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....

The Three Things That Have Improved My Chess

1. Practising tactics – I cannot stress enough the importance of tactics at the sub 1800 level. If your time is limited, tactics training would be the one thing that would give you the greatest return on investment. 2. Playing and reviewing my games – This allows you to learn from your mistakes,...

Secrets of Zen Chess

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 not, but that he had briefly spoken to a monk...

Analyzing Your Games

According to Mark Dvoretsky the analysis of one’s own games is the main means of self-improvement.  In Secrets of Chess Training Dvoretsky offers the following guidelines: Find the turning points – Decide where mistakes were made, where the evaluation of the position changed or an opportunity...