Author: KarinsDad
Date: 09:41:12 01/25/99
Go up one level in this thread
On January 23, 1999 at 13:37:04, Matthew Rittorno wrote:
>I'm a 16 year old tournament player, uscf rating 949 I believe.... I play a lot
>of chess on the internet, but these 10 minute-15 minute games don't seem to be
>getting me very far....and I have quite a few books on chess. Next week I'm
>invited to go to the Indiana State Championships in Terre Haute, IN and I would
>like to know what some of the best things are that I could study before I head
>on down there.....it's the 12th grade and under age group. Thanks
Actually, most of what everyone else told you will not drastically help you
within a week (although it is good advice otherwise).
Here is a limited synopsis of what I try to do within a more regulation time
tournament and my suggestion to you. Attempt to conciously think about each of
the following (in consequtive order). You may know a lot more about chess than
you realize, but it is important not to make the first gut move that comes to
you.
#1c and #3d are especially important and overlooked by us amateur players.
When it is my turn to move:
1. Opponent’s Last Move
a) What squares are threatened (directly or indirectly)?
b) Which squares are no longer (as) protected?
c) Which pieces can move now that this piece has moved (and which pieces can
be moved if another piece is moved next move)?
2. Pieces
a) My king still safe?
b) Opponent’s king still safe?
c) How many times are my pieces attacked/defended?
d) How many times are my opponent’s pieces attacked/defended?
e) Do any pieces need development?
3. My Plan (i.e. analysis)
a) Did opponent meet my last threat?
b) Can plan proceed as before?
c) If new plan required (for example, opponent created threat):
1) Choose area of board (left, middle, right) to concentrate on due to
imbalances. Is the area of the board following the plan from last move?
2) How many pieces protect the square being moved to and how many attack
it?
d) Look at every move the opponent can make. Does it adversely affect the
situation?
4. Move
a) If everything okay, make the move.
b) Hit the clock.
c) Write down the move and the time.
When it is my opponent’s turn to move:
1. Analyze
a) For every square on the board, count how many pieces are attacking
(directly or indirectly) and defending (directly or indirectly) that square.
b) Examine areas of the board that my last move did not directly affect. Are
these areas sufficiently protected to withstand a counter-attack?
2. When my opponent has moved, write down the move and the time.
Like I said, this is a trimmed down list of what I try to do. You may want to
modify it further. It is especially good to get in the habit of immediately
writing down the move and the time. This helps out both in ensuring that time
has been met, and also to help with analysis of your games later (i.e. I took 10
minutes on this move, why?).
Once you have memorized this list, play slower times on the internet or versus a
computer or versus a stronger friend and see if you can FORCE yourself (this is
hard to do) to consciously commit to performing a step by step approach to your
thought processes.
One note: this process takes a little time to get used to. You may discover that
you run into a little time trouble when doing this. Keep at it. It will pay
dividends in the long run, however, if you are running into time trouble, do the
best you can with the time you have (i.e. do not think a long time on each step,
but move to the next one during your move).
KarinsDad
This page took 0.01 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.