Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: The latest truth on chess ?

Author: Otello Gnaramori

Date: 03:54:48 07/09/01

Go up one level in this thread


On July 09, 2001 at 06:28:52, martin fierz wrote:

>
>you are missing something in my opinion: rohde states 'most learning players'...
>i have been involved in chess teaching too, and i have been teaching my kids
>about plans and positional chess etc, and at the end of the course you have them
>play a tournament and they all hang pieces like mad. we changed our curriculum
>after that...
>i sincerely believe that *by far* the best method for any player below 2000 to
>improve is to study tactics, nothing else. at higher levels, the emphasis should
>shift again towards more positional understanding, endgame and opening knowledge
>etc.
>unfortunately rohde is not qualifying his advice - what is a 'learning player'?
>
>cheers
>  martin

I think that he meant in any case to stress the general importance of tactics,
in fact if we read the following answers :

<snip>
WindomEarle: i have seen improvement in my game from systematic study of
tactics, by solving mate problems, as you mentioned, but how can i
systematically learn to calculate quiet moves? that's what really gives me
trouble.
chessADM: (Just a reminder, if you want to ask GM Rohde a question, just type
"?". I'll see it and add you to the speakers list.)
rohde: Aside from calculation, there is evaluation. Lev Alburt's system is to
assign numeric values (like a computer) to a position, like for example, a
position might be "60-40" in favor of White
rohde: then a good move will keep the position 60-40
rohde: so when he is calculating quiet moves, if at the end of the calculation
he cannot reach a 60-40 evaluation, then either he is thinking about the wrong
moves, or the position was not 60-40 to start with
rohde: so you have to combine calculation with evaluation and compare the
evalutation after the possible moves
rohde: this is why computers are becoming stronger - the quicker comparison of
the evalutations
rohde: the most important thing is to examine the various candidate moves so you
dont miss the best moves
chessADM: And how do you find those?
rohde: even with all this, tactics is still much more important than "positional
chess"
rohde: everything starts with your opponents last move
rohde: why did he do it, is he threatening anything
rohde: if he is, how do you repond to threat, or do you have any counterthreats
that might make send
rohde: once you know why he made his last move (even if you have concluded that
it was pointless) then you can develop a list of candidate moves
rohde: this mechanical process is very helpful, probably one of the most
important thinking tools
<snip>





This page took 0 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.