Developing Chess Skill

Chess Tool Kit

In Chess (or just about any subject/activity) there are fundamentals which need to be thoroughly learnt. It has been widely said within the chess community that until a reasonably high skill level is achieved (perhaps as high as 1800 rating) that you will obtain the most benefit from studying tactics. It is this weakness of tactical observation/action that allow more skillful players control over their opponent.

I will be following a study plan inspired by Michael de la Maza's rapid chess improvement, which focuses on over-learning a pool of tactical puzzles until you can complete them all quickly and without much calculation. At that point, one should be able to instantly recognize tactical positions and ideas in-game much more easily and faster, so they can better formulate a strategy and take advantage of tactical opportunities.

My current skill level is that of one around 1050-1100 rating. My first goal is to reach 1300 in as short a time as possible. I will test and create various exercises to see what works and then attempt to reverse-engineer them to find out why they worked. Once we have a clear idea about useful techniques, it should be possible to form a picture about some of the necessary tools required in chess success, and then implement those ideas into improving a general study plan. I am also optimistic that many inspirations from studying how to study chess will also be applicable towards learning any topic in general.

In my next post I'll describe my training schedule in detail.

posted by Board Scholar @ 5:56 PM