Chess for Beginners

Blog

  • Endgame Problem

    Here’s the first of many endgame and middlegame problems to come:
    King and pawn endgame problem

  • Chess Training Schedule

    Day 1
    Study endings (1hr)
    Solve tactics (30min)

    Day 2
    Study strategy (1hr)
    Solve endings (30min)

    Day 3
    Play long game (1hr)
    Solve tactics (30min)

    Day 4
    Solve strategy (1hr)
    Solve tactics (30min)

    Day 5
    Study openings (1hr)
    Solve endings (30min)

    Day 6
    Play long game (1hr)
    Solve tactics (30min)

    Day 7
    Off day

  • These Things Take Time : The Challenges Adults Face When Learning Chess

    (first in a series of adult learning posts)

    “These things take time.” the grand master explained to his young pupil. Ten years and nearly one thousand rating points later, the student now finally realized the truth in the words of his teacher. One must realize that there is no quick fix to becoming an expert in any field, you need to pay your dues and in time you will reach one of many “a-ha” moments as your skills improve.

    Cognitive psychologists Chase & Simon in 1973 studied chess experts and found that they had often spent as many as 50,000 hours practicing chess. That means that a 35 year old master who has spent 50,000 hours playing chess must have spent 4-5 hours everyday for thirty years on the chessboard starting at the age of 5.

    Good heuristics on the time it takes to improve and reach certain milestones in your chess development could go like this (Note that results may vary based on the amount of time you spend, and the intensity of your training sessions):

    • The average adult will need to invest approximately 5 years of practice to become a decent player (ELO 1600)
    • The average adult will need to invest approximately 10 years to become an expert (ELO 1900-2000).
    • Because time is against them, the average adult learner will have an extraordinarily difficulty time in surpassing the 2000 ELO rating.
    • Measureable progress comes in 6-12 month periods.

    (more…)

  • Chess Board Visualization Exercise 2

    After repeating exercise 1 for the first 2-3 sessions you can then move on to exercise 2.

    Board Visualization Exercise #2

    Same concept as in exercise #1 but this time you do not look at the board.

    – note where the four knights normally develop
    – note where the four bishops normally develop
    – note the four squares for the fianchettoed bishops
    – note the squares where the King and rook are placed after castling

  • Recommended Chess Books by Rating

    Recommended Chess Books by Rating

    Best Chess Books by Rating

    Chess Rating: 1200-1400

    1) Chess Tactics for Students by John Bain

    2) Logical Chess Move by Move by Irving Chernev

    3) Back to Basics: Tactics (ChessCafe Back to Basics Chess) by Dan Heisman

    4) Winning Chess Tactics, revised (Winning Chess – Everyman Chess) by Seirawan

    5) Silman’s Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman

     

    Chess Rating: 1400-1600
    1) Modern Chess Strategy by Ludek Pachman

    2) The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev

    3) Chess Training Pocket Book by Lev alburt

    4) Chess Exam and Training Guide By Igor Khelmenitsky




    Chess Rating: 1600-1700 1) The Amateur's Mind by J. Silman 2) Alekhine's Best Games 3) Practical Chess Exercises by Cheng 4) Capablanca's Best Chess Endings 5) Chess Praxis by Nimozwitch Chess Rating: 1700-1800 1) Art of Attack in Chess by Victor Vukovic 2) My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer 3) One Hundred Selected Games by Botnnivik 4) Understanding Chess Move by Move by Nunn Chess Rating: 1800-2000 1) How to Reassess Your Chess by J. Silman 2) Fire On Board by Alexei Shirov 3) Fundamental Chess Endings by Mueller 4) Improve your Chess Now By Johnathan Tillman 5) Dvoretsky's Analytical Manual by Dvoretsky 6)  Chess Strategy for Club Players by Grooten 7) Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953 8. Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual by Dvoretsky 9) My System by Nimzowitch 11) Think Like a Grandmaster by Kotov

  • Twitter on Sidebar

    Added a feed of my Twitter posts on the right sidebar.

  • Chess Tweets

    I haven’t had much time to devote to blogging, so I am trying a new method. I am posting my chess training notebook using Twitter. If the post requires more than the 140 character limit, then I will expand on the topic via the blog.

  • Chess Board Visualization Exercises

    Chess board visualization training is necessary in order to not miss tactics, see more combinations and to become a better overall chess player. Chess board visualization does not come naturally to all chess players. Chess visualization is something that must be trained, and should be part of a regular chess training regimen.

    Chess board visualization training will improve your ability to calculate long variations. Visualization training should take place 3-4 times per week in 5-10 minute sessions.

    Board Visualization Exercise #1

    Arrange the pieces on a board and look at the normal developing move for all the pieces. The White knights develop to c3 and f3, while the Black knights develop to c6 and f6. The light squared bishop develops to e2,d3,c4,b5, etc. Once you have studied the knights, bishops (regular and fianchetto positions) the castled King and rook and the four central squares (e4,d4,e5,d5) you remove all of the pieces and point and name out loud all of the normal developing squares for the pieces.

  • The New Begin(ning) Chess

    This post marks a new beginning for this blog. After a long hiatus from blogging and chess, I return reinvigorated and refreshed.

    The new purpose of this blog is exploring how adults learn (chess). It has become obvious to me after four years of my chess journey, that the adult learning experience is clumsy, slow and inefficient. This flaw in the way adults learn is at the root of why it takes us so long to improve and why we reach frequent and lengthy plateaus.

    While the blog will continue to focus on the “what” to learn, it will also address the “how” we learn aspects of learning chess. Perhaps by better understanding the learning process, we can better focus our time and energy and see true improvement as if we were eight years old again.

    Stay tuned…

  • On hiatus

    Other things have taken my attention away from chess, and I have neglected posting for several months now. One interesting observation, is that while I have not been training other than playing 1 G30 game a few times per week, my chess has not sufferred as much as I would have thought, and I think this has to do with not playing any blitz whatsoever.

    I do plan on returning to returning to chess within the next few weeks, hopefully refreshed and invigorated due to my chess break.