Chess Help

[BaboonGuy]

I want to get better at chess, fast. I mostly play 30min-1.5hr games (1hr - 3hr total) and want to get better at chess. I know there are some very highly rated players here, so I was wonder if I could get some specific advice as to how I should proceed in getting better. Give me a plan or something, with details!

About me, I am rated like 1150? in real life chess. I play the Giuco Piano as white and know it sort of. I say I play Evans Gambit with it but I hardly know anything about it besides the fact that it is b4. As black I play the sicilian dragon and know a little bit about it. I am decent at longer games (30min+) but really suck hard at speed. My fast tactical game is really lacking. Please help me.

 

[Snapster]

Get chessmaster and enter your rating in it, it's quite a good chess program and will probably kick your ass at some level or another. Put a time limit on each move, or the entire game to force yourself to make moes quicker. There no real way of saying, do this and you'll get better. You only get better from practise, learning from your mistakes so you can recognise moves/openings in games and counter them. Get a few books from the library, there are loads of chess books out there, plenty with opening moves.

 

[BaboonGuy]

^

 

[Nitemare]

^

 

[EagleKeeper]

As Snapster stated, get a coputer game and get going.

Also, get some chess books to understand some more complex moves.

Only other way to get better is to start playing in tournments and be willing to take a whupping against better players (1400 in HS)

 

[Yax]

Yahoo chess really helps. You'll get to play a variety of people and learn lots of new tricks as you go. It'll improve your game greatly.

 

[torpid]

I'm not that high rated but I can give you advice nonetheless.

There are several areas that you can work on in order to improve your "knowledge". After that it's really just about experience and talent.

1. Openings. You will need to do more than know the "right" lines. If somene deviates from the "correct" line you need to know how to respond. The only way I've found to do this is experimentation and (preferably) reading books specific to your opening.

It's important to have at least minor knowledge in most openings, because there is no guarantee that your opponent will play e5 as black or e4 as white. You absolutely will need an opening to play when your opponent plays d4. Some of the more tricky black openings should be looked at to. Such as the French, Caro Kann, Alekhine's, and so forth.

2. Mate patterns. Some come up more often than others, but all are useful. You absolutely MUST learn how to win in king + piece(s) vs king situations. K+Q v K, K+R v K, and K+2B v K are easy to learn in particular. There are tons of books on end game mates, and many books on mid game mates (which are at the least good exercise)

3. End game. This is by far my weak point after being away from the game for a long time. Things are markedly different in the end game, so much so that sometimes your middle game will need to rely on end game knowledge. A lot of this will come from experience playing, but a lot can be learned from books as well.

4. Position. It's important to be able to recognize when your position is good or bad, and what you can do about it. Stranded pawns, dead bishops, etc. can all play key roles in this game. The only useful ways to learn this are experience and books.

5. Analyze your games after they are over. This is important so you not only can look back objectively at certain decisions you made, but also to recognize errors that you or your opponent made, and what you can do about them next time.

In general, books and experience are the only useful ways to learn. I do not personally think that computers are a very good tool beyond answering simple questions about how to respond or play certain lines.

Do you play online? If not, I'd recommend it highly. There are a lot of attitude problems, but it's very good experience. Also, the serious servers will often have lecture bots that are somewhat informative.

 

[marmasatt]

I got real good there for awhile by playing speed chess. Some say it is for wusses who don't know the game, but think about how you get better - experience. And if you play for a couple hours on a Sunday - all 5 minute games - how many games did you just play and how much experience are you going to have after a month or two.... You learn from getting your a$$ kicked, quite frankly. Because you respect the beatdown you just took and you try to learn from it.

I have to warn you though, it gets addicting. Dead serious. I guess there's worse things to be addicted too but.... I would yell at my wife or get in a bad mood, or keep playing like 10 games in a row until I won, etc. It's kind of the nature of the beast. And don't expect everyone to be good sports. There's alot of shite being talked at yahoo, heh heh.

Good luck.

Oliver

 

[Modeps]

I consider myself a master only because I almost beat a Grand Master when he came to my college to play 11 people at once... I've still got the scoresheet. I made one wrong move and he rocked me... after the game he came over and complemented me and told my coach to go over the game and see what I could have done instead.

(ps: I never learned any of those names of opening, closings, gambits or whatever)
(pps: I'm not really a master and I cant offer any advice, but the above story did happen)