The Path Towards Chess Obsession
by Tuirgin on Mar.29, 2009, under Chess
I believe I have finally worked out a plan of sorts which will include reading another general beginner’s book, a tactics fundamentals book, annotated games, and tactics practice software.
Here’s what I’ve ended up with:
- Foundation: Chess for Everyone, Robert Snyder
- Tactics: Chess Tactics, Paul Littlewood
- Annotated Games: Unbeatable Chess Lessons, and Purdy’s Fine Art Of Chess Annotation
- Tactics Practice: Convekta/ChessOK’s Chess Tactics for Beginners
The next hurdle to overcome is some kind of organized approach to all of this. Right now I can dabble as I have time, which considering my family life and responsibilities with work can be pretty slim. More significant is that by the time I have the time to myself, some quiet where I won’t be disturbed, it’s usually getting late and I’m tired, foggy headed, and I’m not entirely sure that my trudging through my studies with one eye open is going to help much. But I should hopefully be able to carve out an hour (give or take 50 mintues 
) to do some chess training every day.
I think the most important things for me to do right now are to do tactics studies and to play through well annotated games. And that’s a lot more fun than theory laden narratives, anyway. I already have a couple collections of annotated games, but would love to hear people’s suggestions for more. Purdy turned me onto playing through annotated games—he practically glows when talking about them.
18 Comments for this entry
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About Tuirgin
Tuirgin is Christopher D. Walborn. Tuirgin has a gaggle of kids and a wife that loves him despite himself. Tuirgin is part of the >14% unemployed in Lee County, FL, but is studying for the CCNA exam in hopes of improved career longevity. Benefactors wishing to enable Tuirgin's dream of being a full-time dilettante should contact him immediately. Tuirgin does not usually refer to himself in the 3rd person. Go figure.- email: christopher@tuirgin.com
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Chess Servers
March 30th, 2009 on 1:37 am
Good luck with your chess!
From personal experience, I’d say it’s common for beginners and intermediate players to focus too much on opening studies. I’d recommend tactical exercises (CT-ART or CTS), and analyzing your own and others’ games. That’s what decides games on the lower levels.
Anyway, I look forward to follow your progress.
March 30th, 2009 on 3:58 pm
CT-Art is doable on the easier levels, but it gets hard quickly for me. I’m breezing through Chess Tactics for Beginners so far, so once I’ve run through it a time or two I think I’ll be ready for CT-Art.
The tactics servers are interesting, but I like the fact that the software like CT-Art is organized into lessons or themes, and I must admit the clock over at Chess Tactics is oppressive! I’m not fast, at all.
After hearing lots of warnings about spending too much time with the openings I’ve been focusing on tactics, mostly. Learning the lines without a deep understanding of positional ideas probably won’t be too helpful, I’m guessing.
Thanks for the comment — and I’ll look into my RSS link issue sometime tomorrow. Thanks for the tip on that, too.
Christopher
March 30th, 2009 on 12:17 pm
Great plan! The book ‘A first book of Morphy’ is a wonderful annotated game collection, where del Rosario uses Purdy’s ideas, Fine’s ’30 rules of chess’, all illustrated with Morphy’s games. It’s a gem.
How often do you plan to play, and in what time controls? (Sorry if you have already discussed this I haven’t seen your blog before, which seems great by the way!)
March 30th, 2009 on 12:32 pm
I’m just getting started, really. To date I’ve only really played web-based correspondence chess. I’ve dropped into a few 10 0 and 5 0 Blitz games and a few standard games over the years, but mostly only when my masochistic impulses are on the rise. The last time I did a few Blitz games I discovered very quickly how little the concepts I’ve learned have become a part of my instincts and vision. The plan right now is to keep with my correspondence games, and as I build confidence in tactics to test myself with Blitz games at some kind of regular interval. I don’t want to get in the habit of just pushing pawns around, though, which is the way it feels right now whenever I play a short time-restricted game.
Much thanks for the book recommendation—it looks great and I’ll be adding it to my wishlist. I’m already happy with the Littlewood book, btw. Clear and helpful with just enough verbiage to carry it through.
March 30th, 2009 on 1:43 pm
In my experience, I profit most from slow OTB games (60+ minutes per player). I can’t seem to get into correspondence chess… there’s something about the mode of interaction that comes with it… the waiting, the having to sit down and stand up again just for one move that makes it difficult to sustain interest after a couple of games. I am, however, very interested in playing slow games with people that are serious about improving; so since we appear to have started our “improvement blogs” at the same time, how about an improvement correspondence game or a slow game (30+) on FICS?
One comment on your improvement plan: I second Jonas’s suggestion to play over games and analyze them. However, I’m sceptical about playing over grandmaster games unless they come with good annotations or are categorised according to theme. Otherwise there’s simply too much to see (or to miss, in my case) for a beginner or even intermediate player. It’s true that you do develop a sense for certain moves by playing over many high-rated games, but it’s a dubious accomplishment because it lacks a clearly formulated idea.
March 30th, 2009 on 3:57 pm
There are two reasons I gravitate towards corr: 1) I’m a plodding slow thinker and whenever I try to speed myself up it has devastating results (my FICS stats for blitz are EMBARRASSING, as in sub 500 last I looked, whereas corr usually ends me up at ~1400); 2) I’ve got 5 kids, including a 9 month old that means I have very little time where I can guarantee 30–60 minutes of uninterrupted attention… unless I’m up until 2am, and even then the 9 month old can be a problem.
That said, if we can work out an amenable time I’d be more than happy to play on FICS. I’m on US Eastern time and my best chances are 9pm or later. Any chance that’d work for you?
Re: playing over grandmaster games—I totally agree with you. I still get very little out of games that are only annotated with variations and Chess Informant symbols. I need a moderate amount of textual narrative to accompany the moves. What I tend to do is find or enter the moves from a game I’m about to read into SCID, turn on the “hide next move” feature, and then read through the text as I play through the game. I’ll stop at interesting bits to check different positions and tactics out to make sure I’m following. Often I’ll have an argument with the text and only discover my glaring oversight of some problem after quite a few minutes of looking. The next step will be to play through the game before reading the annotation. Purdy seems to think that’s important, probably simply to avoid the effects of passive reading.
March 30th, 2009 on 2:51 pm
I’ve just installed SCID and I must check out that “hide next move” feature. The beauty about a 90+15 minute OTB game at the chess club is the way you can delve into the game and for three hours forget about the world. I find that impossible on the screen. Should you come across a chess club or start one yourself, you should definitely give it a try if you are in need of a break
A family of five — first, congratulations; second, of course now I understand why you’d gravitate towards correspondence chess. I have an account on http://www.playtheimmortalgame.com (nickname “Schnoodle”) and I dimly remember registering on another site as well: chessworld.net (perhaps also “Schnoodle”?). If you happen to be registered on either of those sites or are using another one, let me know. My nick on FICS is “Chesterton”; it was supposed to be a playful homage on Chatterton, until I realised that the world of English literature already has its Chesterton. Oh well. Hope to see you on the board at some point.
March 30th, 2009 on 3:56 pm
I’m currently playing my first game at chessworld.net, but don’t intend to stay there after I’ve finished it. The interface is pretty limited and the site in general seems cluttered. I’m “Tuirgin” at both Chess.com and SchemingMind, but I’ll check out Immortal Game.
On FICS I’m also “Tuirgin”. Chesterton will be easy to remember since the author is somewhere in my top 10-15 favorite authors list. A master of religious paradox and a vigorous proponent of “common sense.”
March 30th, 2009 on 2:56 pm
For what it is worth I really enjoyed the following annotated game collections: Logical Chess by Chernev, The Art of Logical Thinking by Neil McDonald, Best Lessons of a Chess Coach by Sunil Weeramantry and My Fifty Years in Chess by Frank Marshall. I am on the outside on this one but I was underwhelmed by the First Book of Morphy by del Rosario. I read and played through every game and got very little from it. It bears repeating that I am in the minority opinion when it comes to that book. I also really enjoyed Capablanca’s Best Chess by Irving Chernev.
I too have become enamored with turn based chess on the internet. Do you play at Chess.com? I much prefer over the board chess but do not get out enough due to schedule concerns.
Tom G
March 30th, 2009 on 3:55 pm
Chess.com—yes, in fact. My nickname there is Tuirgin. I’m still debating whether to pay for annual membership. I paid for a month of their top membership so I could give Chess Mentor a more thorough run through. I don’t think I’ll stick with that level of membership due to the cost of it, but I like the site. It seems to have a good community, and lots of features. For free play, though, SchemingMind is less restrictive for non-paying members.
Thanks for the book recommendations! Adding them to my list of titles to check out. I’m already of fan of Chernev’s from the Winning Chess title I’ve posted here on the site.
March 30th, 2009 on 5:18 pm
Hello Tuirgin.
Greetings and welcome!
This is a great looking blog you have there!
Speaking of cheapskates, yours truly belongs to one of them as well. Okay, I admit to owning a couple of Roman’s Labs DVDs (courtesy of my father-in-law who gave them to me as a present) and a few Chessbase DVDs which I purchased off the Web. I’ve so far only owned 3 chess books.
2 of which I recently acquired at a 20% discount.
Fundamental Chess Endings – Mueller (a terrific encyclopedia on everything about endgames) My Great Predecessors IV Fischer – Kasparov
Chess is a relatively inexpensive game that you don’t need to shell out a lot of $$$ on. There’s also tons of chess material on the web which you can obtain for free (legally naturally).
Two of my favourite websites are:
Chesscafe – http://www.chesscafe.com Chesszone – http://www.chesszone.org
Another great resource is your local library. I’ve managed to save quite a few pennies borrowing chess books from the library again and again and again.
Looking forward to hearing more from you.
Greetings from Down Under. tanc
March 30th, 2009 on 8:17 pm
I can totally relate to your blog’s name.
Thanks for the tip about ChessZone—I wasn’t aware of it. Also, my library is okay—inter-library loan could be the rescue if things get really tight fisted around here. Problem is, I tend to want to keep my books. Sure there’s some that don’t stand up to multiple readings and I’ll eventually toss them—BookMunch, maybe?—but I tend to want to refer back to the things I’ve read. Maybe if I kept better notes, or maybe if I was a scoundrel and scanned everything I read. I think I’m just too lazy for that, though.
Anyway, thanks again for the info!
March 31st, 2009 on 2:50 am
Hi Tuirgin,
Nice Blog! I would like to promote Jonas’ match site a little. A site where you can get in touch with people interested in match series of slow games. Playing and analyzing your own slow games is excellent training. Also, to be able to schedule some slow games in advance is a blessing for a ambitious chess patzer with small kids. Drop Jonas an email and he will add you to the list of interested players.
http://sites.google.com/site/chessmatcheshq/
I have Purdy’s “Fine Art of Annotations” on the to-read list. I am looking forward to hear what you think about the book.
Cheers, farbror
March 31st, 2009 on 6:32 am
A “match series of slow games” does sound right up my alley. I’ll check it out—thanks for the heads up.
I’ll have to review Fine Art at some point. Purdy’s annotations are thorough and frequent without being so heavy as to distract from the actual game.
April 1st, 2009 on 8:31 pm
“I think the most important things for me to do right now are to do tactics studies and to play through well annotated games.”
Welcome to my madness! Does this mean you’ll become a (gasp) Knight erant?
AS for the annotated games… if you are open for a suggestion… get the games “raw” in a pgn format and go over them first without the annotations. Review your results with the book. The process is bound to yeild best results.
April 1st, 2009 on 8:48 pm
I read a bit about the Kights Errant over on BDK’s blog, and while it sounds intriguing 1) I don’t have the time that it sounds like it needs and 2) I’m afraid I’d burn out at that pace. Whenever I tend to get gung ho and give myself a strict regimen I end up feeling like it’s a bunch of work instead of fun. That said, it sounds like there’s a lot to be said for the repetition of the method. I may adapt some of the ideas for my own use, or else just adopt a very lax and laid back version of the method.
Everyone I’ve read has said the same thing about playing over the games and then coming back for round two with the annotations. I think that’s something I’ll start doing soon. I still feel like I need to immerse myself in it with the hand holding and all for just a little longer. Right now the annotations help me stay focused on what’s going on—without them it all gets a bit abstract and the games stop having a logical flow, and I just end up going through the motions. I guess you could say I’m getting ready to get started on learning.
Thanks for the comments!
April 2nd, 2009 on 3:18 am
Welcome to the madness – I’m enjoying reading your blog! My favorite chess blog is BDK’s blog, so I’m glad you’ve discovered it, too. In fact he just posted about the annoyingness of dueling kibitzers so I’m hesitant about throwing more recommendations at you, but after about a year of reading everything I could find on the internet about resources for adult beginners or improving players I think there’s a couple things I could mention quickly. I like your list of books and software that you’re using so far – great stuff there! Tanc (Happy Hippo) mentioned ChessCafe.com, which is an incredible resource of free material by top professional chess writers. The single most valuable and immediately helpful and to-the-point stuff I’ve read there (and he’s already been name-dropped in this thread) is Dan Heisman’s “Novice Nook” column — http://www.chesscafe.com/archives/archives.htm#Novice Nook … He has a better organized index to those columns here: http://danheisman.home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Articles/Novice_Nook_Links.htm … If you want to get an idea of how useful the column can be, check out this amazing compilation of useful tips in this issue: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman31.pdf … And he has his own book recommendations here (which I’ve found very helpful): http://danheisman.home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Events_Books/General_Book_Guide.htm … Also (and BDK has mentioned this on his blog), a great complement to the Littlewood book (for learning tactics) is the “Predator at the Chessboard” site — here’s the table of contents: http://www.bu.edu/dbin/law/chess/toc/toc_right_expanded.php … They also have a very cool random tactical puzzle generator, that I like to use for drilling tactics: http://www.bu.edu/dbin/law/chess/index.php?Type=quiz … Perhaps not as popular or well known as http://chess.emrald.net/ or http://chesstempo.com/ but I like the fact that you can read their well-written explanations of the solutions after working out the solutions to each puzzle. They explain in a straightforward conceptual manner what the elements/preconditions were that made the tactic possible, and how to recognize similar opportunities in your own games… Oops, I took up a lot more space than I meant too, here – sorry for the verbosity! Best, Hank
April 2nd, 2009 on 9:14 am
Thanks for the kind words and the great links! I keep meaning to look up Dan Heisman because I keep hearing his name come up. I’ll have to do that as soon as possible. And the Predator at the Chessboard site looks good—I’ve tried the other two, but think I’d benefit from the explanations.
Also, verbosity is welcomed here. If I’m not careful I get into a sprawling ramble about any number of things.