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 works for you.
Hopefully this will help beginners get ideas on resources to use for training.
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
1.b6! The breakthrough works for the side that is most advanced, in this case White. 1…cxb6 [1…axb6 2.c6 bxc6 3.a6] 2.a6 This move removes the b7 pawn. 2…bxa6 3.c6 and the c-pawn promotes, because the Black King is too far away to stop it. If Black had the move he could have defended with 1…b6! preventing the breakthrough.
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 a color opposite of that of his Bishop; this makes it easier to block the opponent’s pawn on squares accessible to the Bishop. When the position has become simplified and the pawn formation fairly rigid, both sides will try to rid themselves of a bad Bishop and keep a good one.
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 I have are:
Any advice would be appreciated.
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 of opening preparation at the expert class, and this focus can be seen throughout the original GTS plan. Another feature of this new version of the schedule is that the play time is spaced in such a way as to allow you to try out new ideas and openings that were covered on previous days.
In this new adaptation I have halved the opening study time and focused on endgame and tactical study time which will better address the needs of amateurs.
The end result would look something like this:
Day 1
Study Openings 1U
Solve Tactics 1U
Study Endings 1U
Study Strategy 1U
Day 2
Study Endings 1U
Solve Tactics 1U
Play 1U
Study Strategy 1U
Day 3
Study Strategy 1U
Solve Tactics 1U
Solve Endings 1U
Study Openings 1U
Day 4
Solve Tactics 1U
Study Endings 1U
Study Strategy 1U
Play 1U
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 on ‘My Chess Education’. I was so impressed by this training schedule, that I am going adopt it as part of my chess study routine.
Since I only have at most 2 hours per day to dedicate to chess, here is my adaptation of the schedule. If I cannot complete the daily curriculum,any topic not covered will be tackled on the next day:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
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 play to gain control, of the center.
9. Try to maintain at least one pawn in the center.
10. Don’t sacrifice without a clear and adequate reason. For a sacrificed pawn you must:
A. Gain three tempi, or
B. Deflect the enemy Queen, or
C. Prevent castling, or
D. Build up a strong attack.
(more…)
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 chess coach, but hopefully it will aid those who are unable to hire one.
In the next series of posts I will describe how the curriculum has come to be as well as my experience in using the plan. In creating this chess improvement plan, I have researched book and online content focusing on chess improvement and education. I have also made it as generic as possible so that it may be used not just by me but by others including children. I have much to learn both about chess and learning about chess, but the exercise of writing about it will not only assist me in mastering both of these elements, but will allow me to share my experiences with others so that they might benefit as well.
Our newest annotated game contains Paul Morphy’s most famous combination.