I was playing a high volume of 5-minute blitz games on ICC (Internet Chess Club). While these were fun, I really didn't find that my game was improving. I also tend to do much better at slower time controls, but rarely have time to sit for a full hour or two over a game. The answer?
Correspondence chess. Correspondence is a great way to play slow chess when you have a choppy schedule. Quite simply, once it's your move, you can commit to as much time as you need to make your move. I typically take a few seconds (if the move is trivial) to as much as 15 minutes if I think a position is novel/deep, or I sense it's a key point in the game. Once I've spent my time and make my move, I can log off, and return in a day or two and check to see if I have a move waiting. All in all, the best situation!
The biggest challenge was where I was playing. I have a subscription to ICC (the Internet Chess Club). ICC has a lot of great chess resources. But unfortunately, the interface for correspondence chess on ICC is rather archaic. It certainly works, but it doesn't match opponents, and you have to type commands in to see your board and to make your moves.
If I was going to play correspondence chess, I wanted something easier to use than ICC. I recently discovered Chess.com as a wonderful alternative. It has a great interface and matching system that makes correspondence chess easy and enjoyable to play. Note, this site calls correspondence chess "Online Chess". The site is really easy to use and most of the best stuff in it is free. The only thing about chess.com that I don't particularly like as much as ICC is the live chess. It just doesn't seem as quick to respond as ICC - and the matching isn't quite as precise.
So, without much further ado, I'll include a referral link below. Disclaimer: I get a free month if you end up signing up and eventually pay for any of their premium services. The link also has my ID if want to challenge me. Currently my rating for Correspondence is 1712. I don't know how these ratings match to live game ratings (USCF, or CFC in my case), but the site says I'm in the top 10 percentile of players by rating, which is pretty good, I think.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
How to Study Chess Openings
Out of the 5 areas of chess improvement I identified, I have previously covered Tactics. In this post, I will cover the study of Openings. Although openings do not provide the "Bang for your Buck" that tactics provide, they are still a very necessary element in the arsenal of every serious chess player. Openings can give you an edge or an outright win immediately out of the gate. However, openings make for a very different kind of study than tactics.
Compared to tactics, the study of openings depends less on pattern recognition and intuition, and more on raw memorization. This is not to say that you shouldn't understand the ideas behind the chess openings you are studying. In fact, an understanding of the main themes and ideas of an opening will enhance your learning experience, and allow for a more rapid integration into your chess arsenal. The main challenge for the study of openings is the sheer number of them. Because of this, you will need to focus on a subset of all of the available chess openings to make the most of your time.
To narrow down which openings to study, we need to figure out what we want to accomplish and how to go about it. Here are my thoughts on the principles of opening study.
Because opening study depends on memorization, and there is only so much capacity for memorization within a limited amount of time, you can either learn a few moves in a great many openings (breadth of knowledge), or a great many moves in a few openings (depth of knowledge). Given the choice, a depth of knowledge will provide you with more benefit in your games. Therefore it is to your advantage to create a repertoire of openings, and attempt to steer your opponents into specific openings that you know extremely well.
You will need a repertoire of openings for play as both white and black so that you can play and study the same openings consistently. For example, as black, you will definitely need a prefered opening to deal with both 1.e4 and 1.d4, white's two most popular opening moves. Against 1.e4, you may choose the French 1.e4 e6. By playing e6, you no longer need to study openings associated with 1.e4 e5, such as the Ruy Lopez, the King's Gambit, or the Italian Game. An alternate choice to 1.e4 could be 1.e4 c5, firmly putting you into the Sicilian. Likewise the decision to play 1.e4 e5 exclusively precludes the French or Sicilian from your study. The main point is to choose a set of openings that you will use consistently - openings that you have studied and know in depth. These should be openings that give you the kind of game that you like to play and feel comfortable in.
Note that your study of Openings is only beneficial for the first part of any chess game. Once the game moves into the middlegame phase, the use of the openings you've memorized will no longer come to bear. Compare this to the skillset provided by tactics, which can be used in ANY phase of the game. As a result, it has been suggested that the percentage of your study time that you should devote to openings should be only 20%. I tend to agree with that statement, UNLESS you have not already established an opening repertoire for both colours. If you are still undecided about which openings to use, or do not at least know the rudimentary moves and themes of your chosen openings, I think you should devote much more time to openings until you have at least the basics of your repertoire memorized.
In fact, I am at this very point in my journey of learning chess. I have a limited breadth of knowledge of the openings, but I need to acquire a great deal of depth. I need to choose an openings repertoire - and once devoted to one, STUDY!
Playing as black, I typically respond to 1.e4 with the French (1….e6), and to 1.d4 with the Nimzo-Indian. However, playing as White, I found myself wanting to play a King's Gambit, but frequently found myself down unfamiliar paths instead, depending on Black's response. A friend recommended a book for me to read - Chess Openings for White, Explained
. As I found this at my local public library(!) I decided to give it a try. Thus far, I have read and integrated the first 6 chapters, which cover the Scotch Gambit, the Giuoco Piano and the Two Knight's Defense. I like that the repertoire so far allows for fairly similar games with common themes going into the middlegame. The repertoire is focused on open games, which I vastly prefer over closed or semi-closed game. All in all, so far I like this book. The only problem is that I've hit my renewal limit and will have to return it to the library shortly! I may end up buying this book in the end. As time goes on, if I adopt the opening repertoire in Chess Openings for White, Explained, I may purchase books specific to each of the openings presented in the book as I become more proficient in them.
For my openings as black, my books are a bit all over the place. I have a book devoted to the Nimzo-Indian - Play the Nimzo-Indian
, but have not devoted much time to reading it. For the French, I do not have a book devoted to the french, but instead of been using the general opening treatise Mastering the Chess Openings: Volume 1
. As such, my knowledge of the french is more "breadth" than "depth" at this point. I intend to purchase a book such as Play the French
, as I'm sure it will provide a more dedicated treatment.
I will provide reviews of any book that I purchase or use once I've completed that book. If you've read and benefited (or not benefited!) from any book I mention, please feel free to comment on it.
In this post, I covered the study of openings. In my next post on Chess Improvement, I will get into what some consider the bread and butter of chess - Strategy.
Compared to tactics, the study of openings depends less on pattern recognition and intuition, and more on raw memorization. This is not to say that you shouldn't understand the ideas behind the chess openings you are studying. In fact, an understanding of the main themes and ideas of an opening will enhance your learning experience, and allow for a more rapid integration into your chess arsenal. The main challenge for the study of openings is the sheer number of them. Because of this, you will need to focus on a subset of all of the available chess openings to make the most of your time.
To narrow down which openings to study, we need to figure out what we want to accomplish and how to go about it. Here are my thoughts on the principles of opening study.
Because opening study depends on memorization, and there is only so much capacity for memorization within a limited amount of time, you can either learn a few moves in a great many openings (breadth of knowledge), or a great many moves in a few openings (depth of knowledge). Given the choice, a depth of knowledge will provide you with more benefit in your games. Therefore it is to your advantage to create a repertoire of openings, and attempt to steer your opponents into specific openings that you know extremely well.
You will need a repertoire of openings for play as both white and black so that you can play and study the same openings consistently. For example, as black, you will definitely need a prefered opening to deal with both 1.e4 and 1.d4, white's two most popular opening moves. Against 1.e4, you may choose the French 1.e4 e6. By playing e6, you no longer need to study openings associated with 1.e4 e5, such as the Ruy Lopez, the King's Gambit, or the Italian Game. An alternate choice to 1.e4 could be 1.e4 c5, firmly putting you into the Sicilian. Likewise the decision to play 1.e4 e5 exclusively precludes the French or Sicilian from your study. The main point is to choose a set of openings that you will use consistently - openings that you have studied and know in depth. These should be openings that give you the kind of game that you like to play and feel comfortable in.
Note that your study of Openings is only beneficial for the first part of any chess game. Once the game moves into the middlegame phase, the use of the openings you've memorized will no longer come to bear. Compare this to the skillset provided by tactics, which can be used in ANY phase of the game. As a result, it has been suggested that the percentage of your study time that you should devote to openings should be only 20%. I tend to agree with that statement, UNLESS you have not already established an opening repertoire for both colours. If you are still undecided about which openings to use, or do not at least know the rudimentary moves and themes of your chosen openings, I think you should devote much more time to openings until you have at least the basics of your repertoire memorized.
In fact, I am at this very point in my journey of learning chess. I have a limited breadth of knowledge of the openings, but I need to acquire a great deal of depth. I need to choose an openings repertoire - and once devoted to one, STUDY!
Playing as black, I typically respond to 1.e4 with the French (1….e6), and to 1.d4 with the Nimzo-Indian. However, playing as White, I found myself wanting to play a King's Gambit, but frequently found myself down unfamiliar paths instead, depending on Black's response. A friend recommended a book for me to read - Chess Openings for White, Explained
. As I found this at my local public library(!) I decided to give it a try. Thus far, I have read and integrated the first 6 chapters, which cover the Scotch Gambit, the Giuoco Piano and the Two Knight's Defense. I like that the repertoire so far allows for fairly similar games with common themes going into the middlegame. The repertoire is focused on open games, which I vastly prefer over closed or semi-closed game. All in all, so far I like this book. The only problem is that I've hit my renewal limit and will have to return it to the library shortly! I may end up buying this book in the end. As time goes on, if I adopt the opening repertoire in Chess Openings for White, Explained, I may purchase books specific to each of the openings presented in the book as I become more proficient in them.For my openings as black, my books are a bit all over the place. I have a book devoted to the Nimzo-Indian - Play the Nimzo-Indian
, but have not devoted much time to reading it. For the French, I do not have a book devoted to the french, but instead of been using the general opening treatise Mastering the Chess Openings: Volume 1. As such, my knowledge of the french is more "breadth" than "depth" at this point. I intend to purchase a book such as Play the French, as I'm sure it will provide a more dedicated treatment. I will provide reviews of any book that I purchase or use once I've completed that book. If you've read and benefited (or not benefited!) from any book I mention, please feel free to comment on it.
In this post, I covered the study of openings. In my next post on Chess Improvement, I will get into what some consider the bread and butter of chess - Strategy.
Monday, March 28, 2011
A Series of Games
Last week, I played 4-5 games in a bar with my friend who has an expert rating (he peaked at about 2200). I've never won a fair game against him (I won once, but he'd given me a takeback and some advise).
Each time I was white, I played e4. He met it with the French twice (his specialty), and won quite soundly. In another, he played the Sicilian - an opening I don't understand and get frequently lost. In fact, I lost in each and every game I played him, as usual. HOWEVER, I almost won one. He blundered, and I was up a piece. I tried to trade down too quickly, while his Queen was mopping up loose pawns. The endgame saw my Bishop and 4 pawns versus his 7 pawns. With shoulder-to-shoulder passed pawns, and his King on that side to support it, he managed to clear them down to the bottom to promote a Queen and it was game over. It was an exciting game, but a real heartbreaker to lose.
In future, I'll try to write these matches down to show you how I did (good or bad). Be aware though, that these games are casual - played without a clock, usually over a drink or two. So even my "near win" should be put in persective as we're not playing in tournament conditions here.
Each time I was white, I played e4. He met it with the French twice (his specialty), and won quite soundly. In another, he played the Sicilian - an opening I don't understand and get frequently lost. In fact, I lost in each and every game I played him, as usual. HOWEVER, I almost won one. He blundered, and I was up a piece. I tried to trade down too quickly, while his Queen was mopping up loose pawns. The endgame saw my Bishop and 4 pawns versus his 7 pawns. With shoulder-to-shoulder passed pawns, and his King on that side to support it, he managed to clear them down to the bottom to promote a Queen and it was game over. It was an exciting game, but a real heartbreaker to lose.
In future, I'll try to write these matches down to show you how I did (good or bad). Be aware though, that these games are casual - played without a clock, usually over a drink or two. So even my "near win" should be put in persective as we're not playing in tournament conditions here.
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Study of Chess Tactics
“Chess is 99% tactics” - Rudolph Teichmann
To become a serious chess player, you need to begin studying. As players improve, book study becomes an increasingly important path to improvement.
The first question that every chess student must tackle first is what to study! There are general chess treatises which cover the entire game, as well as books for specific topics. As a player improves, the books he or she requires to get better become more and more topic specific. E.g. a beginner would find a book on the Nimzo-Indian opening useless in its complexity. In contrast, a master level player would find value only in books devoted to dealing with an entire sub-variation of the Nimzo-Indian defense.
At my current level of play (roughly a 1400 ELO), books covering the entire game, such as The Mammoth Book of Chess
are of limited use. I know how to move the pieces, I know notation, I know the basic openings, etc.
Much better for me are books dealing in further detail with the topics I mentioned in my last post, which are:
As the quotation at the top of this post indicates, this post will be about Tactics. From a study perspective, Tactics provide the most “Bang for your Buck” at my level of play. Tactics involves the ability to calculate forced move combinations which provide a decisive advantage. It is also the ability to recognize patterns to know when a pre-existing tactic is there to look for.
The best way to study tactics is through the use of chess puzzles. To be honest, this is one of the easiest ways to study chess. As a work-commuter who takes the train, chess puzzles are also “train friendly” in that I generally do not require a chess board in front of me to solve them.
I have recently finished reading through Chess Tactics for Champions
; which was a wonderful tactics book. Each type of tactic was broken down and explained, and then a series of exercises (50 or 25 depending on the topic) was given for each. I will certainly give a full review of this book in a later post. However, after a 2nd read-through, I noticed I had started to memorize the solutions.
So I ordered a new chess puzzle book: Learn Chess Tactics
. This books seems to be along the same line’s as the Polgar book, so I’m looking forward to more of the same. I will let you know how it turns out as I finish more of it.
In my next post, I will cover the importance of Opening study at my level, and the books I am checking out at that level.
To become a serious chess player, you need to begin studying. As players improve, book study becomes an increasingly important path to improvement.
The first question that every chess student must tackle first is what to study! There are general chess treatises which cover the entire game, as well as books for specific topics. As a player improves, the books he or she requires to get better become more and more topic specific. E.g. a beginner would find a book on the Nimzo-Indian opening useless in its complexity. In contrast, a master level player would find value only in books devoted to dealing with an entire sub-variation of the Nimzo-Indian defense.
At my current level of play (roughly a 1400 ELO), books covering the entire game, such as The Mammoth Book of Chess
are of limited use. I know how to move the pieces, I know notation, I know the basic openings, etc.Much better for me are books dealing in further detail with the topics I mentioned in my last post, which are:
1. Openings
2. Strategy (Middlegame)
3. Tactics
4. Endgames
5. Annotated Games
I will deal with the pros and cons of each in a series of posts, along with which books I am currently reading (or thinking about reading).As the quotation at the top of this post indicates, this post will be about Tactics. From a study perspective, Tactics provide the most “Bang for your Buck” at my level of play. Tactics involves the ability to calculate forced move combinations which provide a decisive advantage. It is also the ability to recognize patterns to know when a pre-existing tactic is there to look for.
The best way to study tactics is through the use of chess puzzles. To be honest, this is one of the easiest ways to study chess. As a work-commuter who takes the train, chess puzzles are also “train friendly” in that I generally do not require a chess board in front of me to solve them.
I have recently finished reading through Chess Tactics for Champions
; which was a wonderful tactics book. Each type of tactic was broken down and explained, and then a series of exercises (50 or 25 depending on the topic) was given for each. I will certainly give a full review of this book in a later post. However, after a 2nd read-through, I noticed I had started to memorize the solutions.So I ordered a new chess puzzle book: Learn Chess Tactics
. This books seems to be along the same line’s as the Polgar book, so I’m looking forward to more of the same. I will let you know how it turns out as I finish more of it.In my next post, I will cover the importance of Opening study at my level, and the books I am checking out at that level.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Path to Improvement
There are 2 paths to improvement in chess. Experience and Study.
My improvement in the last year has been weighted too heavily on the "experience", but unfortunately, of the wrong type. I've been playing a lot of 5-minute games on ICC, just because they are easy to play. Unfortunately, these quick games don't allow for much growth in understanding. Games with much longer time controls are preferable for improvement. The only thing 5-minute games train is your ability to think quickly.
To change this, I'll be playing more 15-minute games. These are not long games by any means; but, they provide the wherewithal to think rather than react during each move - and blundering should become less of a factor in each game.
To really improve from where I am though, requires something other than playing games. What I truly need is far more study, and that means more attention to BOOKS. I've divided the types of book study into 5 necessary categories. These are Tactics, Openings, Strategy, Endgames, and Annotated Games.
In my next post, I'll talk more about the relative importance of each category, as well as which books I'm using to deal with each category - and why.
My improvement in the last year has been weighted too heavily on the "experience", but unfortunately, of the wrong type. I've been playing a lot of 5-minute games on ICC, just because they are easy to play. Unfortunately, these quick games don't allow for much growth in understanding. Games with much longer time controls are preferable for improvement. The only thing 5-minute games train is your ability to think quickly.
To change this, I'll be playing more 15-minute games. These are not long games by any means; but, they provide the wherewithal to think rather than react during each move - and blundering should become less of a factor in each game.
To really improve from where I am though, requires something other than playing games. What I truly need is far more study, and that means more attention to BOOKS. I've divided the types of book study into 5 necessary categories. These are Tactics, Openings, Strategy, Endgames, and Annotated Games.
In my next post, I'll talk more about the relative importance of each category, as well as which books I'm using to deal with each category - and why.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
A Lifetime's Journey
This blog will chronicle my growth and improvement as a chess player. I will detail the steps I take to improve.
I have never played in any official event. So I have no official rating. I do play on ICC, and I will provide you those ratings as they currently stand to give you an idea of where I am at in this journey.
15-minute games = 1450
5-minute games = 1075
1-minute games = 800
When playing over a board, I can easily defeat most casual players I encounter. Recently, there have been a few exceptions. I made a friend in the last year who is an expert level player (rated between 2000 and 2200). He has provided me the inspiration to improve -> probably because I don't like to be beaten so badly!
The journey of improvement begins now!
I have never played in any official event. So I have no official rating. I do play on ICC, and I will provide you those ratings as they currently stand to give you an idea of where I am at in this journey.
15-minute games = 1450
5-minute games = 1075
1-minute games = 800
When playing over a board, I can easily defeat most casual players I encounter. Recently, there have been a few exceptions. I made a friend in the last year who is an expert level player (rated between 2000 and 2200). He has provided me the inspiration to improve -> probably because I don't like to be beaten so badly!
The journey of improvement begins now!
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