Another recommendation that make a big difference. Record and review your games. Either by yourself or better with your opponents if possible. Try to do this to all of your games. I also go back and re-analyzed older games after I have more experiences. Often, I see things I've missed.

No need to read the entire article but it gives a good introduction of the complexity of chess..
watching speed chess fascinates the heck of me..
https://www.liverpoolmuseums.o...s-moves-big-question

quote:

Originally posted by TXLe:
The order I would recommend:
[LIST]

***My System, Nimzovich; the authoritative book on hypermodern positional chess but buy the version with the new translation with the modern chess notation - Quality Chess ISBN 13:978-91-976005-3-8

Play Winning Chess, Y. Seirawan; short book introduces you to the concepts of Force, Time, Space and Pawn Structure in more structured presentation then the conversational method by The Am. Mind

The Am. Mind, Silman; focus on the common misconceptions of the lower rate player in preparation for HTRYC. You can skip this if you have alread read Play Winning Chess and plan to read HTRYC afterward.

One book I originally recommended that is not on your list but I highly recommend you put it at the top of your list - My First Book of Morphy by Frisco Del Rosario.

Thanks! Very helpful. I'll start with My System - suggestion consistency in this thread and in the reviews. I missed the Morphy suggestion above - I'll start that too. I like being presented with concepts and guidelines / rules; prefer that over memorizing moves (although I'm sure some of that will come).

BTW, thank you for pointing this out - ISBN 13:978-91-976005-3-8. Excellent tip as I would have bought the older version.

I've been reading most of the day. I can follow the text but a little slow in keeping up with moves in notation, trying to visualize with each step (the book generally shows a pic of an end state, not the moves in between).

I found out I can use lichess tools to follow along graphically. Nice tool! So, now I'm reading the book and following along with the moves on the computer board. Yes, I could use a real board but it was tedious resetting the board each time. On the computer, it's just a click.

And, there is a sidebar panel that provides names, background, suggested moves (and moves not to make) and other great info. It's actually too much info for now but it's good to know.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
I've been reading most of the day. I can follow the text but a little slow in keeping up with moves in notation, trying to visualize with each step (the book generally shows a pic of an end state, not the moves in between).

I found out I can use lichess tools to follow along graphically. Nice tool! So, now I'm reading the book and following along with the moves on the computer board. Yes, I could use a real board but it was tedious resetting the board each time. On the computer, it's just a click.

And, there is a sidebar panel that provides names, background, suggested moves (and moves not to make) and other great info. It's actually too much info for now but it's good to know.

You have the right approach! Keep at it! One day in the next few months you will be able to see that you have made significant progress. Good luck!

Also don't forget that chess is 99% tactics. This is especially true for players up to Master strength. Don't ignore your tactical puzzles.

Thanks. I wasn't really sure exactly what chess tactics were until I looked up examples. Forks and pinning seem to be basic examples. Will pay more attention to them. Still working my way through the first book.

A good book that I went through decades ago was "1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations" by Fred Reinfeld. It has chapters on pins, forks, double attack, etc. That was written in descriptive notation. The new one is as above with the addition of "21st Century Edition" meaning it's in algebraic notation, which is the same as lichess uses.

I have many chess books, I especially like the Seirawan "Winning Chess" series, the newer versions of Reinfeld and many others.

I will say one piece of chess software I like to go back to from time to time is my old copy of Chessmaster 10 with its tutorials, exercises, drills, openings discussions and such...particularly since you can set the board to different 3d views, which I find helpful.

Once you get really good be careful about going down the Chessbase rabbit hole of offerings.

quote:

Once you get really good be careful about going down the Chessbase rabbit hole of offerings. Big Grin

Indeed! My last ChessBase purchase was with ChessBase 13. I have quit after that. It does come in handy though! Wissen ist Matt.

Okay, I'm starting to read My System or Morphy (not sure which one yet). Both seem to have considerable notation and I'm not yet able to visualize notation in my head (how long does this take?).

I've been replicating moves using the tool in lichess which works pretty well. And one advantage may be that it seems to allow one to continue a game against the computer after setup.

However, since actual game play will be OTB(?), I'm wondering if it may be better to use a physical board. Learnings may seem more familiar during actual game play - train like real life (so to speak).

In your opinion, for learning and following along System / Morphy, does it matter if I replicate moves on the computer vs on a physical board? Or it's both the same? Or don't do either and work on visualizing (which is hard right now - I would focus on the visual and less on the tactic/strategic concept).

I enjoyed Winning Chess - Play. I wish I could get the Tactics and Strategy books.

If you are going to play primarily over the board, then you would be best off setting up the pieces on a real board. However, that is very time consuming and I just don't do that anymore. Then again, I haven't played a serious tournament game for almost 10 years.

I was kinda leaning that way. Okay, I'll set up a board. Maybe I can find a cheap small one; the regulation size board and pieces I have takes up my entire desk.

OTB or on the PC doesn't matter for studying. Each has its on pros and cons. PC is quicker to set up and move back and forth through the moves. You can also look up historical games referenced in the book. You can also use the chess engine to help you analyze the moves as well. The drawback, you can become over reliant on the engine and miss out doing the heavy lift required to really learn that subject.

OTB has a quality of its own and those hours can't be replicated on a computer screen. If you plan to play in clubs, meet-up and competitive F2F matches, try to get as much OTB time as you can. The setting up and repetitively moving the pieces can be a pro or a con depending on how you look at it. I consider it as part of the learning g process.

US Chess Federation Store currently have a 25% off discount code. Chess House is another e-retailer I've used.

Use the link above to look into smaller chess sets call analysis boards or traveling set. I used a clamshell magnetic set for a awhile as my learning set. If those are appealing for you use, be aware they come on 8", 10" & 12" width IIRC. I eventually ended up with a few analyze sets since they were so cheap. Starting around $10/set but the pieces are unweighted so easily knocked over. For an analysis set, that is ok.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TXLe,

Thanks! Appreciate the tip on the discount code. Will poke around. I'm thinking a 12" set may be good (20" board I have for playing). 8" looks kinda cramped....

YW. Anytime.

Look at these two. See if they fit your need: Anaylsis Set

12" Magnetic Travel Set

Visualization is tough and it is a use or lose it skill for me. I never was good at it. Best I was able to do is 4-5 moves in. It comes with more experience and time. I noticed this with the club players I played with - the longer they've played chess, the deeper they can visualized (and remembered) the moves.

As a funny aside, my wife plays Mahjong with her teachers friends. The husband of one is a very good chess player. We played a game at one of the meeting. Let's just say I have never been so solidly manhandled in a game. He want to play again soon. Looks like I will be dusting off my books and notes....not to beat him (I think he is Master level) but to not to lose so badly. LOL

It's a little spendy, but I really like my 10" wooden magnetic board from Chessusa.com. I really like wood pieces and strong magnetic board. This is what I haul out when I want to set up a position when reading. One of these days I'll put some letter decals along the borders.

Thanks. I'll take a look. 10" isn't too cramped? It'd be a nice size for my small desk but it seems a little cramped. I kinda feel that the 15" we use at the 'club' is a little small even. But it's what they have; I have my 20" rollup but kinda shy to suggest using it - seems pretentious for a beginner when the experts are using the 15" for some reason.

I had the 10" magnetic. It was just enough for its purpose and to be portable, but the 12 is nice if you have the space. It is approximately 44% bigger. Use whatever works for you. I personally wont worry too much as to what others think. Chess is nerdy anyways. Nerds are going to do nerdy things.

Played a few games today. Lost them all

One game, I was one move away from putting him in checkmate. But then he made a move that put me into check, and then chased me around for every move after that putting me in check until finally checkmated. If he only made one move where I wasn't in check, I could have checkmated him.

I think what happened is that I was so focused on my tactics to put him into checkmate that I missed what he was doing to put me into check. I'm not smart enough to think about what I'm doing and what he is doing. I need one of these things to be more intuitive - hoping this comes as I start to become more familiar w/ patterns.

The Winning Chess - Play book suggested that as a beginner, I should try to play with an open board and attack aggressively. I'll learn more about something called timing that way. I'm finding it leads to a lot of mistakes for me as well.