1. Play less blitz games. 2. Be more willing to consider candidate moves that require a Queen sacrifice. 3. Be more vigilant towards tactical opportunities that involve a pinned piece (a king pin in particular). 4. Go over my games (especially losses). 5. Go over annotated master games (Tal & Alekhine come to mind). 6.…
I would like to take an informal poll as to how you learn chess. Some of the options would be: 1. A good book. (feel free to write the book’s title if it has made a difference in your training.) 2. Going over annotated games. 3. Chess videos 4. Chess teacher 5. Anything else that…
The following is a classic pawn breakthrough that creates a passed pawn for the most advanced side. The key things to keep in mind is that this breakthrough will only work for the side that is most advanced and both the breakthrough and defense begin by moving the middle pawn. White to move and win…
According to Pachman, the value of the Bishop can usually be assessed by the following rule: The Bishop has good working power if its own pawns are posted on squares of the opposite color, assuming that the pawn formation cannot easily be altered. As a rule, each side will try to place their pawns on…
Anyone have any advice on how to go about training for a tournament? This would be my first tournament and it would be great to get tips on how to go about preparing for it. The tournament is 1 month away and this would be my first experience in tournament play. A couple of questions…
After a few days using the Generic Training Schedule, I have a few minor modifications to adapt it to better fit the needs of the club level chess player. The original ChessOK article was geared towards 2000+ level players who have different needs than beginners. One major difference between experts and amateurs is the importance…
Opening Research : Hyper Accelerated Dragon
In my quest for chess improvement, I have stumbled upon Markgravitygood’s excellent chess improvement blog. I recommend that you checkout his post on the generic training schedule, which is based on an article by chess trainer GM Irina Mikhailova on chessOk. Mark’s post is exactly what I was looking for when I wrote my post…
TEN OPENING RULES 1. Open with a center pawn. 2. Develop with threats. 3. Knights before Bishops. 4. Don’t move the same piece twice. 5. Make as few pawn moves as possible in the opening. 6. Don’t bring your Queen out too early. 7. Castle as soon as possible, preferably on the Kingside. 8. Always…
Chess Improvement for Beginners Time and cost can sometimes make it impossible for an enthusiastic student of chess to hire a chess coach. I have, through trial and error, began devising a training curriculum to be used by me and others. This plan is in no way meant to take the place of a competent…