Chess for Beginners

Tag: Annotated Games

  • Finding the Master Within Pt. 2

    I have finished the exercise I proposed in Pt. 1 of Finding the Master Within, and below are my results:

    1. I played over 3 random games from each of the masters on the list.

    2. I gave myself a 0 for needs work, 1 for average, 2 for good, 3 for very good and 4 for outstanding.

    3. I averaged the scores for the three games, and gave myself an overall score.

    4. I will now begin reviewing  in detail, the games of the master with which I have the most affinity.

     

    Master Exercise Results

    In my case I scored an average of 2.67 when playing over Tarrasch’s games, and the second runner up was Karpov with a score of 2.0. I observed that I did better with the more positional / classical style players than with the more modern / dynamic styles.

    I will continue to go over master games strictly focusing on Tarrasch’s games using Guess the Move, and then compare my annotations with his annotated games collection( Three Hundred Chess Games ).

  • Finding the Master Within

    There is no doubt that reviewing master games is one of the best methods to improve your chess. The question for me has always been which master’s games do I study first? There are schools of thought that answer this by stating that you should review master games starting in chronological order, since this maps to the way a beginner learns chess. Using this method you would begin with Steinitz, and work your way up to modern day masters like Kasparov and Kramnik. While this is a logical approach, the problem I find with it is that it might take a long time before you reach the games of some of the more modern day masters, and these might be the players with whom you have the most affinity in your playing style.

    What I am planning to do, is to review one or two games from a list of masters in chronological order so that I might find the master whose games I would like to delve deeper into. I will be looking for games where the play is clearest and the outcome is artistic.

    Master list:

    1. Paul Morphy
    2. Wilhelm Steinitz
    3. Tarrasch
    4. Emanuel Lasker
    5. Akiba Rubinstein
    6. Jose Raul Capablanca
    7. Alexander Alekhine
    8. Mikhail Botvinnik
    9. Mikhail Tal
    10. Tigran Petrosian
    11. Bobby Fischer
    12. Anatoly Karpov
    13. Garry Kasparov

    I will chose games based on the following criteria:

    1. Won games

    2. Preferrably annotated

    3. In chronological order

    4. Plays my openings

  • The Bishop Pair Versus Bishop and Knight

  • Annotated Game: Winter vs. Capablanca 1918

    Here’s an annotated game by Capablanca from his game Winter vs. Capablanca that took place in Hastings in 1918.

    Winter vs. Capablanca 1918

    NOTE: I am testing a Silverlight chess board, please leave me your feedback.