How to Improve Your Chess?

Well, being just a King's Bishop I am asked on a regular basis: how to improve your chess.
Answer is simple:
1) Play and analyze your games
2) Solve chess excercises (tactics and endgame)
3) Study games of the greatest master of the past

Let's study it deeper:

1)
You play hundreds of games each week. No matter where: www.chessclub.com www.worldchessnetwork.com www.uschesslive.com www.chessplanet.ru www.playchess.com (fritz.de) www.chesspark.com www.bereg.ru/chess www.fics.org www.blitzchessclub.com your local club or a bench in the park... Or a Linares supertournament.
You play a game. But do you look at it after the game? Or you start next game immediately?

I like notepads. Old, good, paper notepad. I write down after most of the games my thoughts and possible improvements, mistakes, reasons why I won or lost. After that I switch on a chess playing engine (Rybka, Fritz, Hiarcs, Shredder, Junior...) and check my game for serious blunders and some missed combinations. You can say that any of abovementioned programs costs money. Don't forget, there are engines that you can download for free (e.g. Fruit or Toga which are as good as Shredder or Junior... and, even Fritz 9).

To abovewritten notes in notepad I add with a different colour newly discovered (thanks to, let's say Rybka 2.1) variations and conclusions.

Analyzing your games is a crucial point of building up an opening repertoire. Don't you agree?


2) You can ask me. Why one should solve excercises?
Why not? By solving puzzles you get acquainted with themes (ideas, drilles, tricks). You sharpen your vision and calculating skills. You train your memory.
After you have solved entire books like M.Blokh "Chess Tactical Art" (also known as a ChessAssistant training program CT-Art 3.0) you will see positive effect.
The same goes to other parts of the game.
Solve just 5 positions per day. But every day. From day to day. From week to week. From months to months... In one year that would be more than 1800 positions! Be consistent and systematic. You will see payback from it.


3) And, what can give me the study of classical games? What old masters can teach me?

First of all study commented classical games. Usually you can find them in old books. Published in pre-computer era. Don't waste your time and money on uncommented collections of games. Or commented just with variations and without words.
Good comments show the reader plans. Poor comments just judge the strength of the move(s).

Studying well commented games you learn what a game of chess really is. In all it's beauty. In it's dynamical development from the beginning till the end.

For now, I have to go.
In future posts I shall give concrete chess examples.
Also, a list of recommended chess books will be given.