How is your progress?
Hi all - feel free to post your ideas and your progress so far if you are using the GCTS in any form, and especially if you have other ideas about self-training methods you'd like to share with everyone here!
Book Review: How to Choose a Chess Move - Andrew Soltis
This will be my first book review here at this blog. I hope to review a book once every while to give my readers out there an idea of some of the better chess training books available to the public. Andrew Soltis' "How To Choose A Chess Move" is one such book. Holy Grails, in chess, are like those in real life, unattainable. Improving players constantly search for the 'holy grail' of chess - that one book, method or inspiration that will show them the light and allow them to advance beyond their current level. Every chess player has reached their own personal ceiling at one point. Some teachers shout 'tactics! tactics! tactics!' from the balcony, but for Expert to Class A players, that may be insuffucient. The derelictions in their play is usually not a tactical flaw. I think Andrew Soltis' book is geared very specifically to the Category B/A/Expert level player, or, Club player as Batsford likes to categorize, and comes as close as possible to being ...
Comments
This is how i work. (i am actually 1854 FIDE without seriously working.)
-I learn tactics from the begining cause i need to know well the patterns
---->Material: 5665+1 positions by Polgar. Lot of mat in 2, in 3 and 600 miniature where you can look for attack on the castle king.
-Strategy: Silman book for a first look of the subject, then i pick up a position in " Chess Middlegame" by L. Polgar, work on it without moving the pieces, look at the solution and then play it against fritz 7 (enought strong !)
-Opening: should stop playing blitz to gain time for that !
-Endgame: Karsten Muller Fudamental is great, but i dont have time ! (need a better sheldule).
Conclusion: stop playing blitz and reading blog in order to gain time for study !
My short-term goals are 1. 1200 and 2. to feel comfortable enough playing in an OTB event, so my approach is probably more casual than those aiming for a rating of 2000+.
I'll spend anywhere from 30 min to 2 hrs a day on chess, and use roughly 30 min as a unit of time. 30 min is not strictly enforced, so if I'm really into studying a particular theme, I might spend 60 min on one unit.
I've organized my cycles as follows:
Group 1 - SO1, VT1, SG1, SE1
Group 2 - SO1, VT1, VE1, PL1
Group 3 - SO1, SG1, VT1, VG1
Group 4 - SO1, VT1, VE1, PL1
The order I complete units within a group changes from cycle to cycle depending on what I'm interested in at the time, but to make sure I'm staying balanced, I'll try to finish all units in a group before moving on to the next. I've loosely front loaded S in each group and since I'm tracking rating at the end of each cycle, PL is the last thing I do in group 4.
I keep a spreadsheet and check off units as I complete them, and I record my rating at the end of each cycle.
For me, the biggest benefit of this approach is the balanced approach and the structure.
Been using several of the books suggested on Mark's list. interested to hear what books others have used for VG units.
Blitz Addiction is certainly the bane of good OTB chess. I have *exactly* the opposite problem - I don't play blitz at all, and it shows when I decide to log on and try a few games.
I know for me I need to play more blitz just to see positions in real time so I can improve my instincts...
Brendan,
It's really great to here from a 'noob' who finds the GCTS useful in some sort of way. Glad to here of it, and I think your goals are reasonable and attainable.
Good Luck to All!