How to improve?

[Nicky Chorley]

I've just joined this forum and am just looking for some advice really. I played my first season of league chess this year with my university club and managed to lose all my games. I have been told that my main problem is tactics, but I'm wondering if there are other things I should also be working on. For example, should I also work on openings? I don't really know any in depth, but am playing 1. d4 as a club player suggested it might suit my style of play more. I know very little about chess it seems, besides the basic rules, material value, simple tactics (like forks and pins) and I'd like to get better and know what I should be studying. Unfortunately, I'll be leaving the university soon and I know clubs kind of shut down for summer. I will be trying to get to some rapid tournaments, though (I prefer over-the-board chess to online chess).

So, any suggestions on things I should work on (and any good material to use) would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Joey Stewart]

Where do you like to live? Most clubs are shut down in terms of league play but they tend to have friendly nights running up until at least june, if not july, so you ought to be able to get a bit of play there.

Also tactics are quite handy to learn and there are a few websites that have tactical puzzles - try typing in chess tactics to a search engine and see what comes up.

As for openings, I wouldnt worry too much yet - play a load of blitz games and you will get to see a bit more of what sort of thing you might like to play - if you put lots of effort into learning them now you will only be disappointed every time your opponent deviates from your system.

[Arshad Ali]

I don't really know any in depth, but am playing 1. d4 as a club player suggested it might suit my style of play more.

He told you wrong. I think as Blackburn indicated over a century ago, a beginning player should always play 1.e4. The foundation of King's Gambit, Guioco Piano, Evans Gambit, Scotch Game and Gambit is what you will develop your chess on: open games of cut-and-thrust, slash-and-burn. One good book may be The Alterman Gambit Guide, by Boris Alterman, published by Quality Chess. I liked it, though I've read negative reviews.

When you become an old-to-elderly nincompoop like myself, who can't remember the first twenty moves in sharp lines of the Najdorf and Sveshnikov, or French Winawer, and get regularly trounced by young punks who can, then you can switch to 1.d4 (and then get trounced in equally sharp lines of the Grunfeld, Benko, and King's Indian).

[Roger de Coverly]

a beginning player should always play 1.e4. The foundation of King's Gambit, Guioco Piano, Evans Gambit, Scotch Game and Gambit is what you will develop your chess on: open games of cut-and-thrust, slash-and-burn.

Personally I disagree. Whilst it's certainly necessary to be able to spot tactical ideas and calculate them properly, I would suggest that tactics flow from a superior position. So it's important to learn how to retain initiative, build pawn structures and get your pieces to sensible squares. Once you know how normal positions work, you go back and look at madhouses like the Kings Gambit.

[Arshad Ali]

Personally I disagree. Whilst it's certainly necessary to be able to spot tactical ideas and calculate them properly, I would suggest that tactics flow from a superior position. So it's important to learn how to retain initiative, build pawn structures and get your pieces to sensible squares. Once you know how normal positions work, you go back and look at madhouses like the Kings Gambit.

Much, much, much later. Initiative is a difficult and elusive notion, and something even strong players often cannot satisfactorily handle but one of the best places to get introduced to it is in open games resulting from King's gambit, Scotch gambit etc., positions. Pawn structure and quality of development (rather than rapid development) also occur past the beginner stage. You've doubtless comes across players who've been introduced to all this but whose chess playing just didn't evolve organically and so their game is stilted and barren.

[Geoff Chandler]

I love these threads.

I've seen 100's just like them. The OP gets so much conflicting advice he goes dizzy.
(The only bit missing so far is "Learn and study endings.")

It usually descends into an argument about the best books and DVD's to get.
Meanwhile the OP has gone away none the wiser except in his conviction
that all chess players are nutcases.

Hi Nick.

I have been told my dress sense is awful, can you help?
Of course you can't, you need a picture of me and my awful dress sense.

So......

Post three of these losses (no comments, just the moves).

We need to see what's going on before we can offer real advice.

Meanwhile off to your local library and get a book on tactics.
(Always worth beefing up this area - chess is 99% tactics)
You play on a full size set, then one should study on a full sized set.

Study? Yes! You are not going to start gaining points for a league team
as the result of a few conflicting comments (no matter how well meant)
on a chess forum. A bit of board graft will be required.

We await with eager anticiption your games.

[Neill Cooper]

I have been told that my main problem is tactics ...

Try doing http://www.shredderchess.com/weekly-chess-problems.html every day.

[Nicky Chorley]

Thanks for all the comments so far. I don't have much time to reply in detail right now, but will do so soon (probably tomorrow). I will post some of my games as requested.

Yes, lots of advice can be confusing, but I suppose everyone's just trying to be helpful .

Thanks again.

[Geoff Chandler]

Cheers.

And I'll post a picture of me displaying my dress sense.

[Arshad Ali]

The OP gets so much conflicting advice he goes dizzy.
.... It usually descends into an argument about the best books and DVD's to get.

The original question is but a pretext for us to start arguing and quibbling.

[Geoff Chandler]

No it's not.

[PeterTurland]

So you will be wearing a kilt then?

[Geoff Chandler]

Yes...on my head. (I need help).

[PeterTurland]

The first thing to be learned about chess is, what a cultural asset it is when taught to the very young, start in the nursery, chess shaped nursery toys and such.

The thing is, what a school wants to teach its pupils is how to read, write and describe reality with mathematical symbols.

Some symbol manipulation systems are very cultural, this is why there are so many languages, mountain people speak a different language to desert people.

Universal languages are more profound, mathematics is of such, chess is the first glimpse of mathematics in terms of universal semantics, termed in one word 'semiotics'.

If any of you have watched Cesear Milan AKA the dog whisperer, his ability to change a dog's behaviour is extraordinary, this is because he can speak 'dog' if Milan had have been taught chess from a young age he would probably be a GM by now.

To be able to teach a child, you have to be able teach them how to learn, the problem is as I stated before is language is not universal, how come when we live on only one planet, we speak so many different languages, is the tower of Babel the tower of Babble?

So we seek to teach the brains of the young, how they will they program their own minds?

Learning chess is far simpler than learning to read, write or describe the universe mathematically.
What percentage of our species can read and write?

Teaching a very young child how to juggle symbols, is the second step after the first step!

When we have taught the young how to play, the next step is teaching the openings, the most beautiful thing about chess is, it introduces complexity to the emerging mind.

Learning openings, teaches why the academic study of history is important.

Once you have taught them chess you will find it easier to teach them the three 'r's

My daughter is an assistant principle and I having been suggesting that she introduces chess to her minions and the other day they put a play ground sized set up in the playground, apparently one lad was playing someone else, when another lad who obviously disagreed with this playground activity, ran across and kicked all the pieces over, the upshot of this was, the lad who was playing chess went over to the lad who had kicked the pieces over and kicked the s--t out of him

[Andrew Stone]

Chess Tactics Server is an excellent website which is very addictive- well I think it is anyway- I've done 72,000 of their problems! http://chess.emrald.net/index.php