U.S. Chess Mates - Article # 6
U.S. Chess Mates
Professional Chess Instruction for Children of all Ages.
| "Bringing Chess Instruction to as many Children as Possible" |
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How To Improve at Chess
By: Mark Weeks
Want to play chess better? Of course you do! Every chess player's
favorite topic is how to improve. It's hard to know where to go after
learning the basics. Motivation is an important factor and just asking the
question -- 'How can I improve?' -- is a first step.
Time Required: 10 min. to read, a lifetime to master!
Here's How:
1. Learn chess notation : It's not difficult. See the link to the right of
this page under 'Suggested Reading'.
2. Solve tactical puzzles : Get a book of tactical puzzles for offline
practice and work on them when you
have a few spare minutes. Try to solve
them from the diagrams.
3. Develop an opening repertoire : It doesn't matter how creative
you may be in the middle game or
endgame if you lose most of your games
in the opening.
4. Learn positional principles : If your tactics are bad, you'll lose
quickly. If your strategies are bad, you'll
lose slowly. In either case you'll lose, but
you'll suffer longer if you lose strategically.
Positional play and strategic thinking are
first cousins.
5. Study endgames : If you like to study (not everyone does), tackle
a good book on the endgames. An hour spent
on the endgame is worth more than an hour
spent on the openings.
6. Play! : No surprise here. Play as much as you can, including
face-to-face and online. Try to find a few opponents who
are significantly better than you are. You'll probably lose to
them, but you'll learn.
7. Record the moves of your games : Analyze your losses and try
to determine why you lost. If you play online,
your moves are recorded automatically and
you can retrieve the game score afterwards.
8. Play some games at a slower pace, like using email :
Correspondence chess gives you the time to
research the opening in depth and to study
each position in a way that is impossible
during a fast game. You can play chess by
email at very little extra cost beyond what you
pay now for your Internet connection.
9. Teach someone else to play : There's nothing like someone
asking simple questions to expose your own
weaknesses.
10. Hire your own teacher, if you can afford it : A good teacher is
worth the money. Great players aren't
necessarily good teachers, but great
teachers are generally good players.
Tips:
1. Balance all of these techniques. Don't be surprised if you progress
in one area but seem to regress in another.
2. Analyze an occasional game with your favorite opponent. It will help
you determine how much you are seeing during the game.
3. Play against your computer. Don't be too discouraged if you lose
consistently. Computers have different strengths and weaknesses
than human players do.