06 Aug 05
Originally posted by WulebgrFill me in about him not playing chess any more, I haven't heard about this. Even so, he says he reached an expert level rating form working hard at tactics. Actually, I think if you are a relatively weak player you need a grounding in elementary strategy and basic endgames, and then you should move on to thorough practice in tactics.
His point might carry more weight if he still played chess.
07 Aug 05
de la Maza was rated 1393 USCF in 1999. In 2001 he was rated 2041. You can look up his record at the USCF site. I have no idea why he quit playing competitive chess. From his book, it looks like he put a lot of work into studying tactics. According to his book Rapid Chess Improvement, he put in 2-3 hours a day of chess study (presumably tactics) for twenty months to achieve a rating of 1900. de la Maza's single mindedness may not be within the reach of ordinary folk, but there you are. I calculate he was about 35 when he stopped playing competitive chess.