I mostly got into chess away from the board - the personalities, history, interviews..
Most great chess players start out as children. I think I learned how to play in my teens, but my brother didn’t want to play, so after a few games, I never played until about 2 months ago. Even Grandmasters seem to go downhill after 30.
I play one game every day. If I lose the first game, I’ll play until I win, and then I’m done.. I now avoid playing chess before night because my dreams are always chess-related.
However, I don’t seem to be improving at all. I hate losing, but I won’t go as far as reading anything and would rather play games as a way to learn. I’m not even going to post my ELO rating!
I didn’t set out to improve my chess game at the age of 43, but my six year old son started a few months ago, promptly became obsessed, and is now kicking my ass. He’s got a very good chess book that I found really accessible, I’ll see if I can get the title for you when I get home. Rather than teaching all the specific plays, it focuses on core concepts, and I’ve learned from it, to at least marginally improve my chances of winning.
I’m not great at strategy games and chess is the ultimate example so I doubt I’ll ever get really good. But since I started playing regularly, I’m definitely getting better.
Have you ever been trash talked by a six year old?
“Thanks for the free knight.”
“Did you mean to do that?”
“Are you going to lose now?”
He’s tough because if you make a mistake, he will pounce on it. And I make mistakes.
My cousin also started at 29, and I won the first 100+ games, but he has improved a lot, while I haven’t… Of course when he first beat me (or even the last win he did - rare), he celebrates, talks smack, celebrates like he won a million dollars, but I gave him tips, how I play, because I wanted them to be competitive.
The only tips I know is to control the center… Moving knights and bishops first, castling.. The rest, I just do on instinct.
Sometimes my son asks, “What’s your strategy right now?”
There’s no strategy, kid. I’m just trying to win.
I did learn “control the center” from the book. My son will go gunning for my queen immediately. His biggest weakness is that he doesn’t leave an escape route for his king. But he plays extremely good defense, so good luck getting to the king anyway.
I’d say we’re about 50/50 for wins. The games are getting longer and longer. We do take notation. Sometimes we get in end-game situations where I’m not even sure he can win (as opposed to draw.) In those cases I look it up online and we walk through the solution together.
My father, a very good chess player, taught me when I was six. All through childhood he kept encouraging me to read the books, learn about the different openings and gambits, etc. This was entirely the wrong approach for a kid playing just to have some alone time with his father, but it would probably help someone in their 40’s.
But if you want to get better simply by playing other people remember two things:
Slow down. Always focus on the whole board, not just the move you want to make. And keep considering, “if I move A, they can move A2, and then I’ll do A3; BUT if I move B, they can move B2, and then I can move B3.”
Dad’s best advice to me was that most chess players can’t think past the move they make after their next move, so try to think at least one more move, or one alternate move, past that.
If you don’t study chess (books, teachers, study programs) you are going to be self limited by your “inherent talent”. But you should be able to become incrementally better and eventually become an “average” player by just playing as long as you learn from all four phases of the game. I have never encountered a good player who did no study (though some had a teacher they spent weekly tutorial sessions with as their main source of improvement).
The four phases of the game are 1) Opening, 2) Middle Game, 3) Endgame, and 4) Analysis. To get better, you need to spend time after each game on Phase 4, preferably with your opponent, going over the game and working through the decisions you made, why you made them, and what was good and bad about the decisions. Gradually, you will absorb this analysis and use it in similar game situations.
If, in fact, you only want to play a game and somehow be better playing the next game, I don’t think that is realistic.
This is the hardest part for me. It may be a working memory issue. But if I can think about it conceptually, like “Okay, if take out that rook I will have the clear advantage,” then I work backward trying to figure out how to take out the rook. Then by the time I do take out the rook I’ll have positioned my pieces so the king can’t escape. But it’s not quite the same as thinking out several moves in advance. It’s more like working toward a goal.
Wow - that’s quite a score. Thank you for responding..
Korchnoi seemed to be an exception, no? Seems to me chess was at it’s peak in the 60s with so many great players, while the period before/after had only a few legendary players. I’ve read 21 chess books in the last couple of months!
I’ve tried to read a little, and the algebraic formulas and that kind of language takes me a while. I’ve been playing every day for 2 months, and actually have gone down to about a 320… Part of me just wants something more productive to do in my spare time.
I’ll check out the book he recommends… I do try to fork, pin, skewer… I’ve re-watched my games (once a day, I get advice, but I don’t think it’s the best. Hanging pawn is nice, but the Judit Polgar character doesn’t consider the combination to get a Queen, which couldn’t been without sacrificing a pawn).. I even check out “The Game of the Century” and different styles – Tal for attack, for example.. Petrosian for defense, and other legends. I don’t think I’m versed enough to learn.
I’ve also enjoyed reading the stories about chess, especially the beginnings and the modern day. My dad taught me the game as well, and I actually beat him for the first time a week ago in classical game (I won a game playing 960 a month ago), but he’s beat me about 40 times, but he’s been playing for 65 years.
One thing I think is hella cool about it is that due to chess notation there is a record of games played throughout history. We plan to find a game played during a famous chess match and go through the whole thing with him in real time. I’m looking forward to that.
After all your nice responses, I tried to change a few things…
I won’t ever play sober, but in the last two days, I turn the music off, and instead of browsing the web, checking NBA scores, etc., I patiently wait and study the board of possible future moves, what my opponent will do, and I’ve improved instantly. I lost one game out of the last five, but I still played real well (even though I sometimes play bad and make up for it later) considering playing someone 200 points higher than me.
I beat my father a few minutes ago, but he made a phone mistake and made a obvious wrong move, and I won after 80 moves, but I don’t feel like I won, but he (surprisingly) said I played much better, even though he keeps rushing me (despite the 30 minute time, which I reduced to 60 so he wouldn’t refuse a game).
I hope others start or learn from someone who gave tips earlier… I couldn’t wait until I woke up today to play.