Best chess tips.

[Dewi Jones]

What's the best short, easily understood chess tip you can give to improve someones performance? something a player could implement immediately. I have two for starters that have both helped me improve. I understand that most people on here will know what a loose piece is, but not everyone will, so I have described it.

get a good nights sleep and ensure you are relaxed and focused before the game.

dont leave any pieces loose (that is undefended but not attacked). And look for opponents loose pieces and see of you can take tactical advantage of them.

If anybody submits a good one in the next 5 hours I shall try and implement it for the Frodsham congress

[MJMcCready]

Great players seldom castle helped me the most

[Michael Farthing]

In your particular circumstances:
At least 1 whole match point can be guaranteed by playing GO
Maybe I'll see you there!

[Roger de Coverly]

dont leave any pieces loose (that is undefended but not attacked).

That's not a particularly good tip for openings if you are looking to play aggressively. Think Italian 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4, Spanish 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 or Queen's Gambit Declined 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5.

In these three cases and many others, you attempt to seize the initiative by placing pieces, if not in danger, out in the open on squares where they create threats.

A concept I remember from the days of the Master Game is that of "a tactical weakness". For example a piece that is threatened but guarded but the guard is under attack itself. So scan the board for these particularly when not your move.

An alternative tip would be to hit your opponent before he hits you. So whilst there's every point to the sequence 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 or 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6, there's not so much in favour of 1. d4 d5 2. c3 or 1. d4 d5 2. e3 unless it's with a specific twist later in the opening.

[Dewi Jones]

In your particular circumstances:
At least 1 whole match point can be guaranteed by playing GO
Maybe I'll see you there!

[Jon Mahony]

Are you in the U120’s Dewi? Great little congress Frodsham I managed to win the minor a couple of years ago, haven’t been able to make it back since (and would have to go in the Major now ).

My only advice is have fun - If you try and force improvement the chances are you are going to crash and burn. Stay focused yes, but don’t panic, play your best Chess and enjoy it, eventually the improvement comes.

If you go in there thinking “If I make a mistake, it’s a disaster and life as I know it is over!” you are more likely to drop a Queen. Relax, enjoy.

Oh and coffee is your friend!

[Dewi Jones]

dont leave any pieces loose (that is undefended but not attacked).

That's not a particularly good tip for openings if you are looking to play aggressively. Think Italian 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4, Spanish 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 or Queen's Gambit Declined 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5.

In these three cases and many others, you attempt to seize the initiative by placing pieces, if not in danger, out in the open on squares where they create threats.

Yes. It was a tip that helped me at a particular point on time. When I was a sub 100 graded player and regularly playing 120's or 130's in the league. It made my game more solid so that they had to beat me rather than me beating myself. But like all the other crutches such as "castle early" and such like, you learn them, digest them, then learn that there are exceptions. They're all building blocks aren't they?

[Dewi Jones]

Are you in the U120’s Dewi? Great little congress Frodsham

yes I am. Though 120 isn't U120, so pressure is on .

I'm just going to enjoy the games, whatever results come will come. I won last night having stupidly thrown a piece away in the opening. I'd rather have lost a game I could be prouder of. But I was pleased with how I dug in, and with the endgame I played. Thats how I'm viewing my games at the moment.

[Roger de Coverly]

It made my game more solid so that they had to beat me rather than me beating myself.

One of those nebulous terms used by titled players is co-ordination. It can be quite difficult to use it as a means of deciding moves, but it can mean that almost every square around your pieces and pawns is defended by something. It can be an effective way of playing if playing blitz or short of time, since even if you miss something, it's just an exchange of pieces or pawns rather than a loss of them.

[Jon Mahony]

Are you in the U120’s Dewi? Great little congress Frodsham

yes I am. Though 120 isn't U120, so pressure is on .

I'm just going to enjoy the games, whatever results come will come. I won last night having stupidly thrown a piece away in the opening. I'd rather have lost a game I could be prouder of. But I was pleased with how I dug in, and with the endgame I played. Thats how I'm viewing my games at the moment.

Yes I know what you mean; I’m not keen on playing sections where I’m near or at the top of the grading band, if you play badly it feels like a step back.

That’s the way to think Dewi, enjoy and let us know how you do.

[Dewi Jones]

So far so good. 2/2. one deserved and the other not, but I've really enjoyed both games. And I've been trying to utilise Rogers tip on tactical weaknesses. That's a nice one

[Martin Benjamin]

The best chess tip is to find the secret of eternal youth in order to prevent the decline in speed of thought and intensity of concentration at the key moments, leading to an inexorable decline in results.

Realistically, the best chess tip in my opinion is to practise finding winning combinations from diagrams or playing through games blindfold.

[Francis Fields]

The best chess tip: Before you move a piece to a new square ask where it will move to afterwards.

[Brian Towers]

The one piece of advice I'd give is very simple to state, banal even, sounds easy to implement but at key moments it's where I go wrong most often. It's not just me. When I watch friends screw up a game it's usually because they've let emotion get the better of them and quite deliberately broken this rule. It's this:

Always try and find the objectively best move in your position and then play it.

Here are some common failing scenarios:

1) I'm playing somebody graded 100-200 points lower than me.
Thinks: Pushing that pawn looks really good. He can't really not take it and then the fireworks start. Let me just try and work it out. [2 minutes later] Gosh, it's really complicated. My brain hurts. Why do I even need to take risks? He's not that good. I could just move the knight there. That looks like a good move. I've still got an advantage. += and all that. That's what I'll do.
Of course the pawn sac was an absolute cracker albeit a difficult one to calculate. My weaker opponent didn't try and calculate it out to the end either. He didn't need to because I didn't play it. All he needed to do was see, quite quickly, that he really didn't like the look of it and play a move which stopped me doing it.

2) Same game about 30 moves later. Thanks to my cowardice the game is petering out to a draw but that's not acceptable to me. There's an ancient self-referential computing acronym which describes perfectly what I do next - "mung". It stands for "Mung Until No Good" and that's exactly what I do. I mung my position with stupid moves aimed at winning a dead drawn position until my opponent takes the win. It would be rude of him not to!

3) This time I'm playing somebody graded about 200 points higher. I'm having a really good day and he's having a bad one. It happens.
Thinks: I've got him by the short and curlies, here. That pawn is going to fall in another 2 or 3 moves. After that he doesn't look to have many good moves and I can just increase the pressure. Hang on, though. Remember that game last week against X? [also graded a lot higher than me] I had a cracking position against him too but somehow I managed to blow it. I just couldn't find the win and ended up wasting so much time I got into time trouble and ended up losing! I know. [Makes move and then ...]
Me: "Would you like a draw?"
Opponent: [with a stunned look on his face, grabs my hand] "Certainly! How did you know it was my birthday today? I'm completely lost here."

Sadly I've been through scenarios like this many times in the past and probably will do again. To avoid these embarrassments just try and find the best move and play it. Don't ask your opponent what his rating is. Don't ask. Don't tell. My best games have often been when I don't know my opponent's rating and so I've stopped asking.

My best game ever, a win against somebody rated over 400 points higher came when I was emotionally confused and so just followed the above advice zombie-like. He played a wild opening which prompted me to go to the notice board after about a dozen moves and try and find his rating but I couldn't find his name because I was searching amongst the players weaker than me and couldn't find him. I was convinced he was a weaker player just lashing out and was looking for confirmation. There were a lot of players above me in the list and although I searched a bit higher than me I didn't go much higher because he was moving quickly and I didn't want to lose time. Confused, I still didn't really know how strong he was and so didn't know "how I should play".

As the game progressed his attack became more serious. After we both castled king side he threw a couple of pawns up towards my king and sacrificed them, soon to be followed by an exchange sacrifice. I didn't really have much choice but to accept and for the next 10 or 12 moves I also didn't have much choice as I trod the narrow line of the best defence. Often this is much easier to find than the best line of attack. When the dust settled he hadn't mated me and I was just the exchange and 2 pawns up in a position where his king was badly exposed and my pieces were nearly all gathered on the kingside defending but also well positioned for the counter attack.

All the while I hadn't really had much choice but to try and find the best move and now, very fortunate not to know of the rating difference (that cowardly voice inside my head would have suggested the draw offer and could I have resisted?) and still with a sneaking suspicion that he was a bit of a patzer, I went on trying to find and play the best move until he resigned when it was clear to him that his position was hopeless even against an opponent >400 points weaker.

Nice to know that much stronger players can have the same psychological weakness!

[Barry Sandercock]

Brian Towers wrote:

Always try and find the objectively best move in your position and then play it.

Good advice. I agree it's better not to know your opponents grade. As knowing it, often causes me to make unsound moves I would not normally make against a player with my own grade.