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Someone who is world class in poker clearly has the intelligence, mental discipline, and work-ethic required to succeed in chess. But GM is a very high bar to cross.
If Novak Djokovic decided to take up baseball, I'm pretty sure he would be playing at a high level with a couple years of practice. But would he make it to the major leagues? I think it's doubtful, but it wouldn't be a total shock. So maybe 10 to 1 is about right.
In the early 1990s, I returned to chess after about a ten year absence. I had been a class B player when I stopped playing and perhaps a low A player. I was probably 33 or 34 at the time I returned. Ray Stone called me to play on the first Windsor team in the Detroit Metro League along with Milan Vukadinov and Brian Profit who now argues about Trump with me. I accepted the challenge and was put on the fourth board.
In parallel, I started reading Tony Robbins books and listening to some of his tapes, specifically the abridged version of Awaken the Giant Within. In that tape which ran a little over an hour and a half I think, Robbins suggest you apply his various ideas in some area of your life to see if it works for you. I chose chess. In about 14 months I went from the low A class and being very rusty to 2200 USCF where I played most of my games at that time. At that point disaster struck and an old back injury asserted itself and it became physically painful to play. I tried but went into physiotherapy for a few years and eventually emerged being able to play again and had a good final tournament in North Bay to raise my CFC rating over 2200 in 1996 or perhaps it was 1995 though 1996 makes more sense as I went from a job at the university which left me lots of time for chess to a job as a software specialist at a factory automation distributor where I had less time for tournaments.
Thanks Vlad. And that's great, but it's still a quarter-century younger. I want a much older example!!
Presumably other than Igor Rausis ... the player who got stronger at an age when most were slowly declining was Korchnoi, but his circumstances were unique.
You might try"Pump up your rating" by Smith. Quite entertaining. and the title is just what you want to achieve :)
As for the "Woodpecker Method" - I'm not a big fan of repeating same positions over and over again (as I will never finish other books :)
Presumably other than Igor Rausis ... the player who got stronger at an age when most were slowly declining was Korchnoi, but his circumstances were unique.
Thanks, but I guess I don't see the applicability of someone like Korchnoi, who was already way better than I ever could be (even if I won the Lotto Max and hired the whole Candidates lineup lol)
You might try"Pump up your rating" by Smith. Quite entertaining. and the title is just what you want to achieve :)
As for the "Woodpecker Method" - I'm not a big fan of repeating same positions over and over again (as I will never finish other books :)
OK, thanks for the idea, lemme check that out. But I don't want to "just" increase my rating, I want to improve my play to achieve that.
Aris, I am getting the impression you are looking for inspiration first before devoted work. My 3 favourites show how removing a few bad habits can really up the game:
1. The 7 Deadly Chess Sins (Rowson)
2. Fundamentals (Capablanca)
3. Understanding Chess Move by Move (Nunn)
Aris, I am getting the impression you are looking for inspiration first before devoted work. My 3 favourites show how removing a few bad habits can really up the game:
1. The 7 Deadly Chess Sins (Rowson)
2. Fundamentals (Capablanca)
3. Understanding Chess Move by Move (Nunn)
Thanks Tony. I don't really get why you get that impression (I'm already inspired and devoting work), I just put a great value on learning from people who have actually achieved something.
Thanks for the recommendations: I absolutely loved #1, and I really agree that #3 can help improvement. However, I've never actually checked out #2, so thanks for adding that to my list.
Aris, I believe in you. Some players peak at 1800, or 1600 or 1400, but you have already been above 2100. You have shown the talent to get there. With your career changes you have shown the intellect to learn new things. Your sports background should be an asset for regular and intense training. I think with hard work by you, and your coach, you can get to 2200. It will take up lots of your time and mental energy.
I’m not a chess teacher so can’t claim to have developed a future chess master. But the following is my theory of education.
Firstly, you need someone to make an assessment of your database. What type of positions are you repeatedly misunderstanding, where do you get confused, and do your opening systems match your strengths. For example, in my games, when I castle queenside I frequently get ripped apart, I don’t see it coming. Also, I frequently lose endgames with knight play.
I don’t think it is enough for chess teachers to only go over student’s games; players need prepared lessons and practice of new ideas. I’m sorry that I didn’t buy Roman Pelts 3-volumes of exercises but I understood that he supported practice, practice, practice. How are you going to retain wonderful ideas from chess books? Practice, practice, practice to it’s boring. With your coach, start a game between you from a certain kind of position, e.g. French pawn structure. Play many speed games from that type of position, maybe from both sides. You propose to make a goal, such as mastering all Rook and pawn versus rook endgames, practice and celebrate when you accomplish that goal. Then on to the next goal and so on. Setup a long-term lesson plan ending at a certain major tournament. Chess learning is endless, so need to choose what are the most important lessons. E.g., I don’t think the Bishop and Knight mate is critical.
Your coach should work with you on tournament preparation. Then have dozens of practice games with your openings. In some events you can browse the other possible opponents and see how they play your openings. I heard from one GM than an intense week of preparation can get one in top shape before a tournament. Daily long game with your coach, daily puzzle rush, spend long time on an endgame problem, and playing over recent GM games in your openings, trying to guess their next moves. Going to sleep with a chess position in your head. I think it’s useful to have a break to listen to classical music and play sudoku, crosswords, or find the matching cards. And watch a funny video.
Chess is also an emotional game, so understanding how you react is important, how to recover from a blunder. Feeling confident is important (self-help books). I love double-edged positions, but it requires much brain work, and I’ve found as I’m older than I can go wacky after 3 hours of thinking. I need to not waste time repeating analysis. I was advised to play “simpler” games, and I have won some positional games. I know one player that knew her openings very well but would have a “brain fart” in the middlegame. I don’t know the cure for that. Exercise, good nutrition, sleep and fresh air may help get oxygen to the brain. But there was always that smoking, alcoholic master.
Every student needs to learn the basics, but also different things. People learn differently. Any course needs to be tailored to keep that student motivated, aware of their goal, and believe that they can get there.
Thank you sincerely Erik for such a thoughtful thorough reply. It's moving that you took such time and effort. And alas, I actually only peaked at 2048 (you mentioned over 2100). Thanks man.
Thank you sincerely Erik for such a thoughtful thorough reply. It's moving that you took such time and effort. And alas, I actually only peaked at 2048 (you mentioned over 2100). Thanks man.
To get that 2048 rating you must have had tournament(s) performance rating of 2100. Don't undersell your strength.
I think that you will easily get to 2048 again. I expect that it will be much harder to go from 2048 to 2200.
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