You also have to be honest with yourself. Be ready to accept that much of what you are doing is wrong; that is the only way to get it right. The best thing that ever happened to my chess was when I went to the Soviet Union in 1986. I was crushed game after game. It was terrible for my ego but it did illustrate all the weaknesses in my play.
— David Norwood
Sometimes, because of events in other parts of the board, pawns are left on their own against the enemy King. When this happens, knowing one single rule will be enough to decide the game.
Continue Reading…I get asked questions about learning how to play, by parents asking for their kids, and by adults asking for themselves. “Is there a book you’d recommend?” is frequently the “opening gambit” of the conversation.
I don’t like to recommend books without knowing the person I’m recommending them for, because there are several choices and every person is different, so what works best for one might not work for another. But there are a few titles that keep recurring. I’ll reproduce the list here, along with some notes.
Continue Reading…Being a compendium of both Wisdom and Folly gathered by one smitten with Delusions of Improvement
Here we’ll present the lessons we’ve tried to learn as we failed to progress up the chess ladder, in the hopes that you will find some benefit in our struggles. The games presented here will almost always be between class players (as opposed to masters and grandmasters) and we hope will illustrate some typical mistakes from that level. Occasionally we’ll step above that level, and attempt to present some high-level games, just to give you something to strive for.
Pages From A Patzer’s Notebook
It has been said that one of the main differences between higher ranked players (say above Elo 2000) and the rest of us is in the way they handle endgames. This is an attempt to chronicle one player’s journey down this particular path to chessic enlightenment. I’ll try to point out common errors, as I commit them.
Continue Reading…