Improve Your Chess Play in Several Ways

Improve Your Chess Play in Several Ways
By Harkon Harkonen

Chess players are constantly looking for the optimal way to improve their chess play. Thus, there have been debates throughout the years for the best way to achieve this. While some study the chess theory, learning each opening intimately, others are solving a limitless number of puzzles or playing as many games per day as their free time allows. No single best method for optimal improvement of the chess play has been found, unfortunately. I'm going to present to you a few activities that trainers, coaches and players agree will prove most effective at improving your chess skills.

1. Increase the Number of Games

A necessary and important part of one's improvement at chess, this advice, though obvious, is recognized by many players. Without prompts from a puzzle book, it gives you the opportunity to apply into practice the knowledge accumulated by studying and solving real games' problems. For improving your play, some games are more valuable than others. Long games, for example, with an hour or more time for thinking, prove to allow for a better analysis of a position and better management of the remaining time. Playing blitz is helpful for heightening chess intuition or learning openings quickly. Long games, on the other hand, prove superior for training purposes.

2. Study Master Games That Have Been Annotated

It's certainly a great way for improving your chess skills as it allows for a better placement of pieces, plan formulation, and endgame strategy. The collections of annotated games you can choose from are numerous. You can even opt for studying the game collection of your favorite player. The tournament books are another possibility to indulge in, presenting to you game analysis from a particular event.

3. Own Games Review

Although it is helpful to learn from the games of masters, gaining chess experience from your own games proves superior. For improving your play, chess practice is crucial. It allows for a thorough examination of both your weaknesses and strengths and helps determine where your greatest flaws occur. In order to study from your past mistakes, create a habit for recording your games so that you can review them later. Having a stronger player analyze your games is a good asset towards chess improvement. He will easily spot your weaknesses and provide better alternatives for a given position. Another way for determining tactical flaws is by taking advantage of chess software. It spots your mistakes faster and easier but is unable to produce the human feedback that a player stronger than you can.

4. Tactics are Decisive

The results of most chess games are determined by tactics. The tactical skills should be carefully cultivated in a player. They will show you the way for capturing pieces that are badly defended or forcing an unsuspecting opponent with a surprise checkmate. Apart from this, the learned tactical patterns help defend against threats during play.

Prove yourself on my chess test!


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