Hey all! I've been lurking around this site for awhile now, and I've finally decided to register an acct and participate instead of hiding in the shadows all the time

I've never been serious about chess before, largely due to the fact that I couldn't find many people to play the game with. It was just another one of those things that fell by the wayside as I found other things to focus my efforts on. Ironically, it was Windows Vista that got me seriously into chess. I bought a new laptop, which came with Vista home edition, which comes with Chess Titans. I tried it out and the computer kicked my ass. I decided I would have none of that so I started to do some research into tactics and strategy. With a bit of practice I started to beat the computer. But of course that got boring. I wanted to play real people, so I started playing on FICS and now I'm hooked.

I want to improve my game and maybe even get seriously serious about chess. I still think of myself as a beginner, but I know I can get a lot stronger. The training journal seemed like a good idea, so here I am. I've also started playing around on the chess tactics server and I'm looking for a good book to start reading.

I've already got a few games saved that I thought were pretty good (including my first game against a real human after years of not playings), so I'll post them later and try to analyze them. My hope is that when I look back at them in the future I can see how far I've come since then (er... now)

Welcome to the forums! A training journal is a great way to focus your efforts at chess improvement (and the creative journal name can't hurt either). Good luck on your chess journey .

If you're looking for a chess book to start reading, start with How To Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman. It's one of the best chess books of all time, and one that you can read several times as you improve. You can probably find a used copy for ~$5 or get it from a library.

Welcome

Yeah, Josh' sugessted book seems as the best first book you might have. Also "amateur's mind" deserves atention, by the same author

I've never read Ameteur's Mind, what's it about? Does it have a lot of games in it, or is it a purely philosophical approach?

cool another training journal good luck

It's similar to How to reassess your chess. In fact this book came out after the reassess your chess one.

Silman takes positions, explains how GM handles it and then plays those positions again with his students which are asked to write down their thoughts. The basic idea is to correct faulty thinking. I am almost finished reading it, I really liked it. I also has 25 test positions at the end

I'll definately look into both books. Reading a few things right now (not chess related), but I'm a quick reader and will be looking for more books to pile up next to my bed soon.

Haven't played many games since I first posted, but I did spend quite a bit of time on the tactics server. I seem to hold around 1100 as a guest. I'll probably register and see how long I do over the long run for real.

Anyway, here is a game that I played the a couple nights ago on FICS.



It was a 15min standard game, and it ended with both of us having less than 40 seconds left. I probably spent too much time thinking about moves in the middle, so towards the end I was just rushing around wildly.

During the opening I just kind of tried to setup my pieces as best I could. I don't really know opening theory that well. TBH I didn't really have a plan until 11. dxc5. I was very happy when he played that because suddenly his center was a lot weaker.

I'm pretty happy with my choices from there on, even as time started to become an issue. However I'm not entirely sure about 25... Bxd4+. Looking back I think Qh3+ would have been the better move, but I think at this point time was becoming an issues and I just wanted to keep pushing his king around as much as possible. It worked out in the end, but I'm wondering if there's something white could have done to get some counterplay going after that.

The good news is after 35... Bg4 white resigned (woot). I was honestly thought the game was going to be decided by who ran out of time first. However, it wasn't till after the game when I had a chance to catch my breath that I realized I was in a winning position (I think).

The only thing I can think of that white could do to me in that final position is Rc8+ QC3, but I can get out of that with Rb1+ followed by Qe3.

Of course it's easier to see that now that I'm not stuck with just 30secs to figure it out. TBH I'm not sure I would have won that with so little time left. But I was pretty happy with the results considering my opponent was 1500 and I'm only around 1100-1200.

Congrats on your win

One thing to keep in mind in positions like the one you had in that game, is that often your play is going to involve the move ...f6, intended to undermine white's center. As a result, you generally don't want to play a move like g6 which weakens f6. Also, the fianchettoed bishop is rather passive when white has that massive pawn chain. So I think your bishop might be better of on e7 long term. That being said I don't know the theory here too well, so I'm not entirely certain about specific moves here.

Perhaps 5...Ne7, it looks logical (preparing to put the knight on c6 and pressure white's center). Then you can put your bishop on e7 and castle. The nice thing about when the white queen is on a4 is that you don't have to worry about an immediate kingside attack.

Bookstore didn't have a copy of How to Reassess Your Chess at the time I was in there, but they had a copy of The Amature's Mind:... so I started reading that instead. Good stuff so far. Still just in the first section bishops and knights, but it's already making me rethink how I use the minor pieces. I won't claim it works miracles, but tonight I played 4 games on FICS all against higher rated players and won all of them

Although I was a little disappointed that 2 of those games the other player resigned as soon as I got up in material.

That happens a lot Plastic Spoon. I take it as a compliment. They assume I'm so good I won't blunder something back. (Which I probably would if they gave me the chance. )

I enjoyed that book. In one of the training journals I have posted the recommended order of reading Silman's books. The list can be found on the internet as well. He recommends going through "The Amature's Mind" first

Did a forum search:



What's on page 52? lol

edit: it's late. at first i read it as just read page 52. weee... ok I'm going to bed now. Will still be looking for a copy though

I think the first 52 pages of Reassess Your Chess is an overview of fundamental endgames.

So if you know K+P v. K, the philidor position, and a few others, you can probably skip this step.