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Posted by bananaman1
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1/18/2005
17:03:55

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Subject: good chess books?

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I'm a begginer looking for my first chess book. I need some suggestions you could
look at my games and tell me what you think I'm bad at. Most say I need a good
openings book and suggestions?


Posted by soikins
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1/19/2005
03:36:54

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Opening book?

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That is the last thing you need!

1) you need an introductory book or article that simply states the main rules or opening play (development, don't move the same piece twice etc.). Actually such things are easy to find on the internet.

2) You need a good tactics book. Read these two de la Maza's articles and you will understand what sort of a book:
www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles148.pdf
www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles150.pdf

Some dicussion about the method is found on GameKnot too:
gameknot.com/fmsg/chess/3118.shtml

3) After some time, when you worked on point 2), you should also pick up some endgame book and work with examples form it in the same way de la Maza teaches workink with tactics.

4) Whan you have developed your "muscles" (calculating skill, tactical pattern recognition skill, elementary endgames) you can start working on positional principles. Here Jeremy Silman is a good author to start with.


Posted by thalagor
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1/19/2005
05:46:10

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I believe that soikings suggestions are too much meat on the bones, I feel that if you're new to this game that seems to be a bit much. I'd suggest that you go through the drills and tests in Chessmaster 9000/10th edition, after which you should practise simple tactics (ie dejascacchi.altervista.org/exercises.htm easy level).
But that's just my personal opinion, could very well be proven worse than soikins suggestions.
———
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Posted by snakeplissken
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1/19/2005
06:17:51

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the finest all-round manual on the game

Message:
The Game of Chess
by Siegbert Tarrasch

The finest all-round manual on the game.

snake

———
Aficionados picky about chess board, pieces — Playing conditions are important in baseball, football and basketball. In chess, how can they matter? It would seem that a decent chess board and pieces are all you need. Yet concentration can be affected if the chair is uncomfortable, the chess pieces are poorly designed, the lighting is inadequate or the environment is noisy. When he played IBM’s Deep Blue in 1996, Garry Kasparov made the following pre-match demands, according to computer expert Monty Newborn: “The board must be perfectly flat and produce no glare. Each square must measure 2.25 inches on a side and be colored brown and cream. The pieces must be wooden, seamless, glareless, well-weighted and also colored brown and ...
Posted by bananaman1
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1/19/2005
06:59:54

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rephrasing

Message:
When I said beginner that was probbaly the wrong word. It should be something
like intermediate player. I've played ever since I was little and now I've only lost 5
out of close to 100 chess games at school this year.
———
Anish Giri boosts world title prospects by winning elite tournament — Anish Giri, just 17 years old from the Netherlands, scored a historic result last week when he won the elite chess tournament at Reggio Emilia, Italy, to boost his credentials as a future world title contender. Only current world No 1 Magnus Carlsen at Wijk 2008 has won a top contest at a younger age. Giri's victory looked most unlikely when he was last after four of the ten rounds while the favourites, Russia's Alex Morozevich and America's Hikaru Nakamura, vied for the lead. But Moro suffered two late defeats while Naka crashed and lost his final three games. The Italian chess champion Fabiano Caruana, 19, was joint second and he and Giri are now the highest ranked teenagers on the planet. Norway's Carlsen, ...
Posted by migchess20
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1/19/2005
07:21:49

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Good Book

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You must study My Sistem of Nimzowish. It is very interesting
So long
———
New Year's resolution: more chess — It is 2012, and everyone has a resolution or two. I recommend playing more chess! Improving your chess game is a great resolution because it is beneficial for your mind, and it can be a lot of fun as well. Here are a few steps to help you along your path to chess success in 2012: 1. Play, play, play! The best way to improve your game is to play chess more often. You can play friends, relatives, online, or at the chess club! The Chess Club and Scholastic Center has a tournament for beginners and unrated players once a month, usually the last Sunday. There also are a number of great classes at the club each week including adult beginner classes on Tuesdays, classes for kids on Sundays and ladies' beginner classes on ...
Posted by peppe_l
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1/19/2005
07:31:38

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IMO

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If you are an intermediate player, simply forget part 1) from an excellent advice posted by soikins and continue to parts 2-4 (book on tactics, book on endgames, book on positional play). Before "completing" parts 2-4 buying opening book(s) is pretty much waste of time.

"I've played ever since I was little and now I've only lost 5 out of close to 100 chess games at school this year."

It sounds like you need to find stronger opponents :-) You can learn much more from losses than from wins...



———
The great escape — In the final instalment of Ronan Bennett and Daniel King's chess masterclass, can you work out how Black extricates himself from this hopeless-looking position? RB: Some years ago I suggested that the Guardian approach Nigel Short, who had just parted company with the Sunday Telegraph. The Guardian, I pointed out, was the only national broadsheet without a daily chess column. Short started to write in G2, not daily, but, with Leonard Barden and a new column from Stephen Moss, chess started to appear three times a week instead of just once. After the Short and Moss contributions finished, I wrote to the then-new editor of G2 to suggest a different and – as far as I am aware – unique kind of chess column ...
Posted by apastpawn
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1/19/2005
11:17:07

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I differ somewhat

Message:
Having coached quite a few intermediate level players and many advanced beginners 1200 or so Elo. What I see is a lack of opening awareness.

It is usually not enough to simply understand developement and opening principles. What they want and can understand next is an opening system where they comprehend what to do next. In other words "ok I've done the opening - now what?" This is where the should strive to learn what the concept of the opening is and what its strenghts and weaknesses are. Thus tactics come into play.

I know I'll get some flack for this opinion, but this is the way I learned as I almost memorized Horowitz's book - Chess Openings, Theory and Practice as a teen. If you can't hold your own in the opening then its tough thereafter.

I do agree with Soikins that general chess principles and tactics are paramount for a good chess knowledge base. Also knowledge of basic endgames will be usefull.

A basic book on openings I suggest would be Winning Chess Openings by Bill Robertie [available at most libraries]. Review this and see what openings appeal to you. The opening "bible" I like is Stardard Chess Openings by Eric Schiller. Next the Everyman Chess (publisher) books on Starting Out:The _____ . These cover all the major lines for the opening chosen.

My Humble Opinion,

apastpawn



Posted by i_play_slowly
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1/19/2005
15:54:06

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For immediate results

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I took a look at some of your games and agree with those people who suggested that the opening is a potential growth area for you. There are two steps you could take that would result in immediate improvement, if you cared to take them. Firstly, at the bottom of the page for each of your active games, you will see "Game DB." I strongly suggest that you let this database guide you until you can navigate the opening on your own. Using a database is not considered to be cheating. Chesslab.com offers another database that might be even more reliable, although not nearly as convenient.
*
However, blindly following other people's footsteps will not make you a better chess player. It is important to understand the ideas behind the moves. Secondly, then, I would suggest using the Game DB in conjunction with Reuben Fine's classic rules for the opening:
*
1) Open with either the e-pawn or the d-pawn.
2) Wherever possible, make a good developing move which threatens something or adds to the pressure on the centre.
3) Develop knights before bishops.
4) Pick the most suitable square for a piece and develop it there once and for all.
5) Make one or two pawn moves in the opening, not more.
6) Do not bring your queen out too early.
7) Castle as soon as possible, preferably on the king's side.
8) Play to get control of the centre.
9) Always try to maintain at least one pawn in the centre.
10) Do not sacrifice without a clear and adequate reason, eg.:
it secures a tangible advantage in development
it deflects the opponent's queen
it prevents the opponent from castling
it enables a strong attack to be developed
*
These rules will usually illustrate the reasons why some moves in the Game DB are both more popular and more successful than others. If you see a move in the Game DB that appears to illustrate or demonstrate any of Fine's guidelines, it is likely to be a sure choice. Of course, Fine's rules also work well independently of any database. Whenever your position is not to be found in a database, let them guide you. At some future point in your development you might well scoff at them, but I would suggest that following them for now would be a strong intermediary step.
*
Regarding books: If you're the sort of person who hates wasting money(!), I would recommend browsing any book for a long time before you bought it. Perhaps a chess book spoke very strongly to someone here at Gameknot, but it might not speak clearly to you. The quarrels that have erupted among the people who have responded to your post gives some indication of what I'm talking about. Nimzowitsch's "My System," for what it's worth, struck me as an extremely dry and disorganized collection of ideas, like a chess almanac
*
If you see Chernev's "Logical Chess" anywhere, I recommend that you include it among the books you browse. This book is regarded as one of the classics, and it has been the first serious chess book for many aspiring chess players--it is practically a rite of passage. The book is very clearly written and gives a wonderful demonstration of everything a chess player needs to know if he or she is to begin playing well.
*
"So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (1Jo 4:16).


Posted by peppe_l
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1/20/2005
07:55:33

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Let´s take

Message:
Some examples from your recent games here at GK.



Let´s begin with this one:

1.d4 b6 2.c4 Bb7 3.d5 e6 4.e4 exd5 5.cxd5 c6 6.d6? c5?

6...Qf6, winning a pawn.

7.e5 f6 8.Nf3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Nc6 10.exf6

What has happened? IMO you failed to follow general opening principles - develop your pieces, make sure your King is safe (!). Still, thanks to some inaccurate moves by your opponent, after 10...Qf6 IMO the position is unclear. But...

10...Nxf6?? 11.Qe3+ Be7 12.dxe7

Losing a piece (11...Kf7 12.Bc4+ leads to mate). And 12.Bc4! first was even stronger. Sure, you resisted till move 49 but the point is against any intermediate tournament player you need a miracle to survive after move 10. Studying openings won´t help, if you overlook a loss of piece in move 10, you can play 20 theory moves and overlook a loss of piece in move 21. The result will be the same.

Ok, here´s another example:

1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e6

2.Bc4 wasn´t so good but 2...e6 was a good response.

3.d3 d5 4.exd5 exd5

Very good so far. You opted for Sicilian and played a strong pawn break (3...d5). General principles are more than sufficient here, 3...d5 is rather obvious move for ALL chess players :-) No need for opening theory.

5.Bb3 b5

Dangerous threat - c4, winning a piece. But once again, developing your pieces (according to general opening principles) was good. No need for opening theory here either.

6.Qe2+ Qe7?? 7.Bxd5

Leaving d5 hanging and losing a piece (there is no way to save the rook!).

What happened here? Your opponent won by playing an INFERIOR move and seeing the pawn you left en prise. Imagine studying latest Sicilian theory till move 25. Then your opponent will deviate before move 5 and you are on your own again...

One more game:

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5

Scandivavian opening.

3.Nc3 Qc6??

Not seeing one move ahead. Classical tactical motif (pin) wins your Queen. I know there are people who claim the best way to stay out of harms way is to memorize 3...Qa5 is "theory" - but you will only survive one move longer. Sooner or later theory ends and chess begins.

You DON´T need to know 3...Qa5 is better than 3...Qc6. You need to SEE one-move threats like the next move. And IMHO studying tactics (pins, forks, etc) is the best way to see them in your future games.

4.Bb5

What is your biggest weakness? IMHO not seeing this move coming.



Yours sincerely,

Peppe


Posted by bananaman1
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1/20/2005
10:37:15

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Thanx

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soikins_id thank you very much for the links under number 2 they are very helpful to
me. i_play_slowly_id thank you for the advice from Ruebon Fine I am considering
buying one of his books "The Ideas behind the Chess Openings." Thank you also for
the encouragement in the end.


Posted by bananaman1
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1/20/2005
10:37:46

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Test

Message:
id=bananaman1_id

Posted by bananaman1
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1/20/2005
10:38:11

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?

Message:
how do you link someone's name

Posted by thunker
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1/20/2005
11:16:39

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I'm just an average

Message:
player, but I like Fine's "Ideas Behind the Chess Openings" very much for opening theory. For general theory I like J.R.Capablanca's "Fundementals of Chess" and "A Primer of Chess", and for more advanced theory I like Hans Berliner's "The System"
For pawn structure theory, I think Kmoch's "Pawn Power in Chess"
Now, if only I could put the principles in PRACTICE! :-)


Posted by chilliman
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1/22/2005
02:01:43

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I have never read it but...

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maybe I should.

"Catalog of Chess Mistakes" by Andy Soltis. Available now on ebay:

cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2554&item=5950916563&rd=1


Posted by crazycanuck
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1/23/2005
18:49:37

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Chess books ...............

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to read. An absolute must is Basic Chess Endings by Reuben Fine. Almost any player can pick up any where's from 25 to 100 points on the ELO rating system. Everyone reads the opening theory but guess what, they forget that to win the game it almost always requires you to go to the endgame. That is where a lot of players are lacking in theoritcal knowledge. I for one will be reviewing my endgame practices. I know that I can play a much better endgame then Ihave been lately. IMHO

Posted by cairo
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1/26/2005
05:13:24

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I

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have the following recommandations for chessbooks:

The System - A world Champion's Approach to Chess by Hans Berliner / ISBN 1 901983 10 2 / Published by Gambit.

Pawn Power in Chess by Hans Kmoch / ISBN 0 486264 86 6 / Published by Dover Publications.

Die Endspiel Universität by Mark Dvoretsky / ISBN 3-935748-02-7 / Published by Chessgate 2002. (The book is in German, but most likely you can get in English as well)

Best wishes
Cairo