Thoughts of Chess players please.................

I do not know whether you will ever be good, but you can certainly get better.

I suggest you perform the following exercise to visualize the relative values of the pieces.

Get a sheet of paper and rule it with four columns and six rows. Mark the columns as follows: 1. piece, 2. center, 3. edge, 4. corner. Mark the rows in the first column as follows: K, Q, R, B, N, P.

Now get a real board (not a digital one), clear it of all pieces but one. Put that piece in one of the center squares and set a bean or a penny on every square to which it can move, count them, and enter the number in the appropriate cell of your chart. Move the piece to an edge of the board, count the beans, move it to a corner, count the beans. Etc.

Compare the numbers for each piece and each location (center, edge, corner). The value of a piece is the number of squares it can control.

This chart will show you at a glance why the Q is the strongest piece. It will show you at a glance why a R is stronger than a B--this may not otherwise seem obvious, since both are straight-line pieces. You will note that a R looses none of its power in a corner. You will note that a N is hobbled in a corner. Etc.

You may perhaps have been mis-taught that a N moves in an "L" shape. It does not. It moves in a CIRCLE (which is obvious when you put beans on the squares to which it can move). Never forget that !

Play all you can bear to (sequentially, not simultaneously). That is how you acquire experience of tactics. The more you play, the better you will get; the better you get, the more you will find to enjoy in it. It is truly endlessly complicated.

Hi Paul,

I see I've been mentioned. I hate getting mentioned.
I feel obliged to comment and sometimes I do not want to comment
because I shoot from the hip and people take it all the wrong way.

OK let's have a look at a game where you played this lad.

Sirdubalot you have far too many games on the go, far too many.
Cut them down to 6 (3 White and 3 Blacks) and take your time.
You are playing far too quickly and dropping pieces all over the place.

Do not make a screen move in any of these games.
Take it to a full board and look at the game, study it.
Then move the bits about, look for tactical ideas and outright blunders.
Work out plans instead of jumping about and moving pieces anywhere just
because it is your move and you have 40+ games waiting for a move.

And don't worry because you cannot figure why Kasparov played a certain move.
None of us on here can and only a very few players in the world could.

Paul it's our duty to whack these lads in the most instructive way possible.
I cannot see why you never won the piece on move 8.
There is some play for White but I cannot see a line that gives Black
any trouble. Is there something in there for White or did you just miss it?

And 12 b4 would have won a piece. Sirdubalot would have walked right into it.
He is (hopefully now I can say 'was' ) moving too quickly and has no sense of danger.
At the very worse it would have given White a totally wretched position.

Geoff,y our advice and analysis are exellent (as usual) and I think the most important point in all of this is managing your games so you have time to think about every move before you make it.
There's nothing wrong with 40+ games if you can avoid timeout pressure.
I now only play 7:7 games or longer and have never lost a timeout game.When I played 3:7's I found I was rushing the moves as you say.
Also a valuable lesson to learn is you do not have to "clear your board" on every visit to the site.
If I find I have had enough(my eyes start aching with the concentration) I just go away or come onto the forums.Not being under any time pressure allows me to do this.
Also a good player do not make moves without a reason.
I go to analyze board as tjhe first option for every game and try to work out (not always successfully!!) what my opponent is up to.
I then make MY move on analyze board and check it before I commit
Hope this helps.

Dave

Well, one can see why chess and this site are so enjoyable, I never thought that so much help would come my way.

Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to reply I have read, digested, mulled and considered every word and I know that they are all true. I have no objection to be told how it is, or how bad my game is, ill take it all on the chin and I will take it on board and learn from it. That's one of the reasons for my original post.

Actions so far are as follows:

Laptop acquired.
Laptop fixed.
Lucas Chess downloaded.
Chesstempo registered.
Irving Chernev ordered.
Moonbus's exercise will be undertaken this evening.

Greenpawn's post read and the lad has started to analyse the words and the game you have kindly made comments on.

I have taken on too many games on and with life being so busy I do exactly as you have mentioned, move too quickly to get through all the games.

Point taken and I will get my games down from now on and carry out what you have recommended, I have never played a game of chess on a board I have only ever played online.

I really do not mind being whacked especially in an instructive way!!

I've also just realised I do not know how to use the analyse board function on this site, its on the to do list.

Once again many thanks to everyone who has replied with help, advice and some excellent comments on my game, I really appreciate it.

Willy..................
🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Hi Paul,

I see I've been mentioned. I hate getting mentioned.
I feel obliged to comment and sometimes I do not want to comment
because I shoot from the hip and people take it all the wrong way.

OK let's have a look at a game where you played this lad.

Sirdubalot you have far too many games on the go, far too many.
Cut them down to 6 (3 White ...[text shortened]... 1. Kg1 {Black could played 21...Bf3 here with Nh3 mate in the air.} 21... Qg4 22. gxf4 Bf3[/pgn]

Hi Paul

When I first started playing, the computer on handicap levels would just aim for this setup:



My results picked up when I stopped playing random crap in openings (like 3.b3) and just aimed for this every time. It can't be that bad, right? Just try to control the center.

Heck, you'd do better just going for this:



That's right. Just play 1.g3, 2.Bg2, 3.Nf3, and castles against practically anything. It's not ambitious, but it will avoid a lot of trouble in the opening.

Originally posted by Sirdubalot
Well I started playing chess when I joined Red Hot Pawn, and to be honest all bar just a handful of days I have visited the site, I suppose one could say that chess is something that I really enjoy. From day one I’ve tried to improve however this seems to have evaded me, so I thought Id ask a few fundamental questions that I have been mulling over in my m ...[text shortened]... nd sharing your thoughts, Id be very interested to hear them.

Thanks everyone.

Willy………………

Originally posted by SwissGambit
When I first started playing, the computer on handicap levels would just aim for this setup:

[fen]8/8/8/8/3PP3/2NBBN2/8/8[/fen]

My results picked up when I stopped playing random crap in openings (like 3.b3) and just aimed for this every time. It can't be that bad, right? Just try to control the center.

Heck, you'd do better just going for this: ...[text shortened]... nst practically anything. It's not ambitious, but it will avoid a lot of trouble in the opening.

Hi Willy,

Get these two books and read them, starting with Chernev. Just play through one game a day, but do it every day until you finish the books. The games are great, the writing is excellent, and you can learn a lot about chess, and a lot about enjoying chess.

http://www.amazon.com/Logical-Chess-Every-Explained-Algebraic/dp/0713484640/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386205641&sr=1-1&keywords=chernev+chess

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Chess-Move-John-Nunn/dp/1901983412/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386205127&sr=1-3&keywords=john+nunn

At the risk of being coarse, chess is like sex in that you do not have to be good at it to enjoy it.

Paul

One sad note that I'd like to make is that getting better at chess takes time for most people. It could take a year or even longer before you see improvement that you'd consider significant.

Then you will get to a point where you just don't get better no matter what you do. You wonder how do I get better?

Then you'll come to the realization that studying chess and getting better just means that you have made the pool of players that give you a challenge smaller but you still lose just to better players.

I thought it might also be worth mentioning that chesscafe.com has an incredible amount of high quality chess content. The information and the writing itself is at a very high standard.

Hello again everyone,

Sorry I have not responded sooner just been busy with work.

I've had a few hours this afternoon to look through the replies and have an in-depth look at the game analysis that greenpawn34 kindly posted up.

My games are reducing slowly and I have ordered the two books that Paul recommended.

I was thinking if its worth while looking for a chess club locally or maybe someone who can provide tuition, but I wonder if this is anymore beneficial that what can be found on the internet or studying on your own.

I am going to attempt to set aside some time each day to work through the books and the advice in this thread, I wanted to thank everyone for their replies and advice, I appreciate it.

Willy.............

hi guys

haven't been playing for a couple of years, and don't plan to restart at least not now. just passing by.

but as I'm here...

I see all the important things have been mentioned already, logical chess move by move, importance of training, and that there are no shortcuts. none.

but back when I started learning chess, at the tender age of 30yo, one thing that I searched for was honest personal account of learning chess. and it turned out there simply aren't any. people forget their humble beginnings or flat out lie. most masters seem to love to give the impression of false humility, that it all came somewhat easy for them. which of course is a blatant lie, ALL of them had NO LIFE whatsoever, and obsessed over chess day and night. they sweat blood, sweat and tears for decades to get where they are. more than a few of them are playing with less than 'full set of pieces'. being obsessed and a little crazy is a big advantage when you want to train something HARD for a decade or more. but I digress..

what I meant to say, is that for a normal adult learner, getting pretty good is totally doable. it just requires a lot of work, hard work. but it's also simple work, the main thing is to keep grinding, day in day out. intellect is NOT required, just focus and the ability to push yourself. repeat simple easy things until you CAN'T get them wrong. then repeat them some more.

"so what works and what doesn't?" I hear you ask. well, it's a bit different for different people. but for me and 99% of people it was drilling tactics. I tried a lot of things, documented it ALL in my chess diary as I went along, and in the end tactics was what always made the difference. I put the diary online after losing first 6 months in computer crash, so it's there if you want to see exactly what worked for another adult beginner. (I'm not updating it as I'm not playing, and there will never be a single 'mood piece' as that's not why the diary exists. it's just the facts ma'am, nothing else. the address is in my profile.)

okeydokey, hope this helps. see you guys.

oh, one more thing: don't get lost into the world of books. it's mostly a distraction, entertainment and fuel for procrastination. same with openings, pick one and stick with it. they're all good enough (or as useless until 2000+).

but read the logical chess move by move. that one is both easy and necessary .