If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Policy / Politique
The fee for tournament organizers advertising on ChessTalk is $20/event or $100/yearly unlimited for the year.
Les frais d'inscription des organisateurs de tournoi sur ChessTalk sont de 20 $/événement ou de 100 $/année illimitée.
You can etransfer to Henry Lam at chesstalkforum at gmail dot com
Transfér à Henry Lam à chesstalkforum@gmail.com
Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
General Guidelines
---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
Some Basics
1. Under Board "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) there are 3 sections dealing with General Forum Usage, User Profile Features, and Reading and Posting Messages. These deal with everything from Avatars to Your Notifications. Most general technical questions are covered there. Here is a link to the FAQs. https://forum.chesstalk.com/help
2. Consider using the SEARCH button if you are looking for information. You may find your question has already been answered in a previous thread.
3. If you've looked for an answer to a question, and not found one, then you should consider asking your question in a new thread. For example, there have already been questions and discussion regarding: how to do chess diagrams (FENs); crosstables that line up properly; and the numerous little “glitches” that every new site will have.
4. Read pinned or sticky threads, like this one, if they look important. This applies especially to newcomers.
5. Read the thread you're posting in before you post. There are a variety of ways to look at a thread. These are covered under “Display Modes”.
6. Thread titles: please provide some details in your thread title. This is useful for a number of reasons. It helps ChessTalk members to quickly skim the threads. It prevents duplication of threads. And so on.
7. Unnecessary thread proliferation (e.g., deliberately creating a new thread that duplicates existing discussion) is discouraged. Look to see if a thread on your topic may have already been started and, if so, consider adding your contribution to the pre-existing thread. However, starting new threads to explore side-issues that are not relevant to the original subject is strongly encouraged. A single thread on the Canadian Open, with hundreds of posts on multiple sub-topics, is no better than a dozen threads on the Open covering only a few topics. Use your good judgment when starting a new thread.
8. If and/or when sub-forums are created, please make sure to create threads in the proper place.
Debate
9. Give an opinion and back it up with a reason. Throwaway comments such as "Game X pwnz because my friend and I think so!" could be considered pointless at best, and inflammatory at worst.
10. Try to give your own opinions, not simply those copied and pasted from reviews or opinions of your friends.
Unacceptable behavior and warnings
11. In registering here at ChessTalk please note that the same or similar rules apply here as applied at the previous Boardhost message board. In particular, the following content is not permitted to appear in any messages:
* Racism
* Hatred
* Harassment
* Adult content
* Obscene material
* Nudity or pornography
* Material that infringes intellectual property or other proprietary rights of any party
* Material the posting of which is tortious or violates a contractual or fiduciary obligation you or we owe to another party
* Piracy, hacking, viruses, worms, or warez
* Spam
* Any illegal content
* unapproved Commercial banner advertisements or revenue-generating links
* Any link to or any images from a site containing any material outlined in these restrictions
* Any material deemed offensive or inappropriate by the Board staff
12. Users are welcome to challenge other points of view and opinions, but should do so respectfully. Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Posts and threads with unacceptable content can be closed or deleted altogether. Furthermore, a range of sanctions are possible - from a simple warning to a temporary or even a permanent banning from ChessTalk.
Helping to Moderate
13. 'Report' links (an exclamation mark inside a triangle) can be found in many places throughout the board. These links allow users to alert the board staff to anything which is offensive, objectionable or illegal. Please consider using this feature if the need arises.
Advice for free
14. You should exercise the same caution with Private Messages as you would with any public posting.
Out of curiosity, what odds would all of you give me to reach 2200 in the next 10 years ? 41 years old. On chess.com, rapid = 998, slow = 1466, from rather infrequent play.
Not trolling, and no disrespect to much-stronger players like Aris.
Out of curiosity, what odds would all of you give me to reach 2200 in the next 10 years ? 41 years old. On chess.com, rapid = 998, slow = 1466, from rather infrequent play.
In general - low. Then go all kind of ifs.
Just for the start of this journey, start a new thread :)
Several years ago a prodigy - Jeff Sarwer - surfaced back. He was a poker player too. In several interviews he mentioned about a GM title - several years for him with a serious intention. His FIDE page shows that he was indeed active and peaked ~2350, though dropped later to 2200, again started to climb 2260, and then stopped playing three years ago.
In principle, chess requires a lot of dedication and concentration. A talent will give you a start at a higher height or acceleration.
I could recommend a ton of bits of books ... such as how Rashid Nezhmetdinov deals with the d4 square when meeting the French highlighted in the book Super Nezh: Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Chess Assassin. But the book I learnt a ton from was Elements of Positional Chess by Dan Heisman. I have a well worn 1990 edition but checking online it now seems that the book is well into its 4th edition!
And if I could be a little bolder ... I recommend playing as much blitz as you possibly can online and look for pattern recognition ... especially pawn structure. See why and how they fail ... I think there's a few books on that too.
There is not one single way to chess improvement. A balanced approach is probably the best way.
Play and analyze your games.
Study the games of strong players especially those with annotations by strong players
Endings
Tactics
Openings for a long time I would not have included this but now that I have been using chessable, I see that there is some benefit to training this as well. Tools like chess opening wizard, chessable, chess position trainer and chessbase along with some databases of high level annotated games can really help patch over any gaps and leaks in your understanding.
Blitz is good for learning openings. Practice games are good for learning openings. Study an opening, look at some games, play some blitz games, look at your games and figure out where you went wrong. Make adjustments.
You do have to analyze every one of your games and understand why you lost that particular game. In understanding the why, you need to know the tactical, strategic, psychological errors that led to your result. Often you play well and lose and play poorly and win so you need to deeply understand what happened in each game. In the end, it is a search for truth and understanding. In the last few years I have played a game each week with a youngster who was an A class player when we started. We would often practice a particular opening to help him to prepare for various tournaments. There are some openings that we have played over 100 times over the years. In one of my last tournaments I played a nominally higher rated player who played that same opening. We were both looking at the same position. She thought she was better in the position. The position was actually difficult for her. Not realizing the danger and without the experience of playing and analyzing the positions that arose hundreds of times she floundered and ultimately lost. In the analysis, she admitted that she had misevaluated the situation and only truly understood that she was slightly worse and not much better as she had mistakenly believed.
As a chess coach you can tailor your lessons to teach the kids what you want to learn yourself. Obviously you have to learn it before you can teach it.
You are competing with yourself of yesterday. If each day you can improve a little these improvements add up.
There is not one single way to chess improvement. A balanced approach is probably the best way.
Play and analyze your games.
Study the games of strong players especially those with annotations by strong players
Endings
Tactics
Openings for a long time I would not have included this but now that I have been using chessable, I see that there is some benefit to training this as well. Tools like chess opening wizard, chessable, chess position trainer and chessbase along with some databases of high level annotated games can really help patch over any gaps and leaks in your understanding.
Blitz is good for learning openings. Practice games are good for learning openings. Study an opening, look at some games, play some blitz games, look at your games and figure out where you went wrong. Make adjustments.
You do have to analyze every one of your games and understand why you lost that particular game. In understanding the why, you need to know the tactical, strategic, psychological errors that led to your result. Often you play well and lose and play poorly and win so you need to deeply understand what happened in each game. In the end, it is a search for truth and understanding. In the last few years I have played a game each week with a youngster who was an A class player when we started. We would often practice a particular opening to help him to prepare for various tournaments. There are some openings that we have played over 100 times over the years. In one of my last tournaments I played a nominally higher rated player who played that same opening. We were both looking at the same position. She thought she was better in the position. The position was actually difficult for her. Not realizing the danger and without the experience of playing and analyzing the positions that arose hundreds of times she floundered and ultimately lost. In the analysis, she admitted that she had misevaluated the situation and only truly understood that she was slightly worse and not much better as she had mistakenly believed.
As a chess coach you can tailor your lessons to teach the kids what you want to learn yourself. Obviously you have to learn it before you can teach it.
You are competing with yourself of yesterday. If each day you can improve a little these improvements add up.
Thank you Vlad, a lot of good ideas that I'm already trying. I must admit though that I don't "feel good" w/blitz?!
Thank you Vlad, a lot of good ideas that I'm already trying. I must admit though that I don't "feel good" w/blitz?!
Use blitz to practice openings and get used to making the opening moves and the positions that you get out of your openings. You can play six games in an hour. Get all the losing out of your system in those blitz games. Blitz is good when you have limited time. Longer games are preferable but it doesn't mean you can't include blitz in your practice. Also these days faster time controls are used in playoff games so it is good to get used to playing quickly when it is required. Blitz cannot be the only games you are playing.
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.
I understand you are looking for a precedent - but you do have favourable conditions. Your physical energy, unprecedented access to health care, and your profession should give you an advantage over most in their 50s.
I am currently working through the orange Yusupov books and find it encouraging. Their market audience is way too low - I am finding there are a ton of basic things I don't know that would allow me to go on "autopilot". Saving some energy for the endgame wouldn't be a bad thing for us adults.
Tweet
Comment