2000+ players always squash me and I always lose speed chess time scrambles. Talk about eking out a win.
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Lmao nice. I’ve been trying to learn chess recently. Any recommendations on resources for improving? I’ve been mostly sifting through videos from Gotham chess
This is a lot longer than I planned.
The key thing is to do things that you can focus on that are also fun - more than at least a little bit fun. If you like/love puzzles - do more. If puzzles aren’t your thing - do as many as you can before you get tired of them.
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Find an app or a site to practice against the computer.
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If you like speed chess - play it. It’s different from regular chess - it’s like a 3 minute super-fast MMA fight.
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Find an app or a site to do puzzles.
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Forums. I hardly ever use them. I find r/chess to be mostly tedious. If I say “Speed chess is like MMA” - I’ll get at least one person being annoying and acting like I’m an idiot. I think r/chess is yet another sub where redditors dream about being good at something but never put in the actual effort.
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Play through famous games. chessgames.com is free but it’s lame in that it’s very barebones with no computer goodies. But see the next list item.
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PGN files are great. You can download a PGN and put that into an app or upload it to chess.com (which has computer goodies).
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Play other people. At chess.com I think the default setting is ±50 points. I changed it to be harder -25/+100.
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Watch games online.
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For games you watch - use the analysis board to help you understand them.
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For games you watch - start at an arbitrary point - say, move 31 and play against the computer at a strength you like. My favorite thing to do is to practice endgames against the computer at the highest setting which is stronger than any human being. When When the evaluation bar shows I have a huge advantage - I start to play. I play from the same starting point usually 10+ times. So times as many as ~25. It’s not boring to me because I learn when my plans are best, good, weaker, bad, or “what the fuck was I thinking?”
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You watch more vids.
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You read books or similar.
I assume sites/apps have exercises where you can learn how to use pieces effectively, learn tricks, etc.
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Pawns. They are the soul of chess. When to move them and when not to move them is no simple thing. Pawn forks.
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Rooks.
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Knights. Knight forks.
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Bishops. They are a long range piece. Learn how they work on the diagonal.
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Queen. Queen sacrifices. See the “sacrifice (chess)” link.
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King. It is often a sort of attacking piece in endgames.
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Openings. Start with a simple opening like the London system.
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Endgames. In my super-fast MMA game analogy - this is equivalent to endurance. Many MMA fighters don’t work hard enough on their endurance so they can suffer as the fight goes on. I think most chess players have weak endgames.
Overall concepts - to study and practice against the computer
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Chess tactics. It’s related to attacking. Mikhail Tal was a genius on tactics and he was one of the greatest attacking players ever. He was famous for his sacrifices. See the “sacrifice (chess)” link.
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Chess strategy is strongly connected to positional play. There’s a strong component of defense. Tigran Petrosian was a genius on positional play and he was one of the greatest defensive players ever.
Tal’s games are amazing but they are easier to understand the logic of than Petrosian’s. Why? It’s easier to “see” an attack than to try to figure out how Petrosian was trying to stop attacks before they even happened. Both of them have a large number of games you can learn from. And they played games against each other too.
A list of some tactics - to study and practice against the computer
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Sacrifice (chess). Shortened to “sac”
One more.
- Stalemate. Playing the computer will help you avoid traps set by your human opponents and it might help you to set your own traps. This can be especially true in speed chess.
Wow! This is so thorough and helpful! Thank you so much!!
I edited that so many times I forgot the very most important thing: practice, practice, practice.
I always forget something. You have to do the work to climb up that hill. There’s no way around it. There’s no magic workaround solution. Wish casting is reddit’s thing which is way r/chess is filled with people who in theory would be good at chess if only they finally got around to practicing but— Look, cat video!
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Check this out this speed chess game I just played.
I’m black. On my 44th move - I played bishop to c5. Why? Notation form…
44…Bc5
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/108351034937?tab=analysis&move=87
Spoiler
It’s a baby simple trap and they work in speed chess. I wanted him to panic and threaten my queen with the fatal 45.Rd1?? and I could get checkmate with 45…Qe3#. And he played it! But…
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/108351034937?tab=analysis&move=88
I couldn’t play the move because my clock ran out and I lost.
Qe3# means queen to e3 checkmate.
For comparison
Qe3+ means queen to e3 check.
Ahh that’s absolutely brilliant. Yeah I think I’m learning a bit, but my biggest flaw at the moment is just getting too impatient and blundering a lot. Not always great and seeing what my opponent is trying to do.
I wish I had great advice for those issues - everybody can face them. It’s a chess Holy Grail. If I did have such advice - I’d have a podcast or something.
Something that might help a little is a form of a puzzle is “guess the best move”. No pressure. No time limit. And sites/apps surehave some kind hint or hints function. It’s amazing how often tactical stuff like pins show up. And sometimes things are counter-intuitive. Check out the elephant trap. The pin is broken by black who ends up a minor piece ahead.
Queen’s Gambit Declined, Elephant Trap
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Ninja edit
The concept of waiting moves is useful. You make a move that seems to leave the situation about the same. You wait and see if you opponent will give you a hint about what his plans might be.
Example - you play a waiting move and he doesn’t move the a pawn - he moves his knight instead. Everything you expected was wrong.
Yeah Ive been doing a lot of puzzles! I’ll try those specific ones out. Ive won a fair amount by noticing that the game has ended up like one of the puzzles I’ve done before. Honestly I think it’s been more helpful than anything else at this point.
A concept I didn’t mention is tempo. And move order when recapturing is another thing that can help you when you do it and hurt you when your opponent does it to you. The computer is a great teacher about tempo and move order.
I think an example explains them both at the same time.
What you expect…
- You take his knight with your bishop.
- He recaptures.
Simple. Easy-peasy. The evaluation of the new position is about the same as before. But that doesn’t happen.
- You take his knight with your bishop.
- He doesn’t immediately recapture. Instead he attacks your queen.
- You move your queen. He gained a tempo.
- Then he takes your bishop.
It’s obvious that move order is critical and it’s complicated. It’s chess after all. But it’s hard to resist an immediate recapture. It just feels right and it’s a siren song even though a better move order should always be considered. Plus it can help you win games quickly or on the spot. Why? Imagine this…
- You take his knight with your bishop.
- He doesn’t immediately recapture. Instead he attacks your queen.
- You make a mistake or a blunder because this entirely unexpected move order wrecks your concentration.
I just won a game. He did move orders that surprised me. I did the same back to him. Neither of us played that well. But luckily for me - he played a bit worse. And then he blundered and it was an easy win for me.
