TIP #3:
Learn some opening basics, but don't
spend hours memorizing variations
• GM Evans asserted that no player rated lower than 2000 Elo (USCF)
should worry about studying openings. I agree with him in general
principle, but I disagree on the specifics. I think that every chess
player (including beginners) should know the basic ideas behind
the chess openings they regularly play, as well as one to three main
variations. But no untitled (below Expert level) chess player needs to
spend countless hours memorizing dozens upon dozens of opening
variations; most of your opponents are going to play something weird
around move 8 anyway, and all of that careful “opening preparation”
just becomes wasted time. And just because a chess opening
encyclopedia says you have a “winning position” at the end of your
“pet” variation doesn't mean that you have an “insta-win” -- the game
doesn't play itself, and you still have to prove you have a win by
actually winning the danged game. The only short “insta-wins” I've ever
enjoyed were in correspondence games, and with three days to ponder
a move plus chess library access allowed by the rules, those wins were
gifts from poor opponents, not the result of my “brilliant” opening play
from hours of preparation and memorization. Take that time you spend
on memorizing openings and use it to study tactics and endgames
instead; you'll thank me (and GM Evans) later.
TIP #4:
Study positional chess
(e.g. chess strategy)
• Some wiseguy once said that tactics are what you do when there's
something to do, while strategy is what you do when there's nothing
to do. That's wrong, but not by much. A tactic is typically a series of
moves which end in a demonstrable material gain. Strategy, on the
other hand, involves long range planning, getting your pieces to good
squares, making sure your pawn structure is sound, placing your
chess men on squares where they act harmoniously to give you a
strong position. It's also the process by which your moves cause your
opponent to weaken his position a bit at a time, and to the mental
process by which you can recognize those weaknesses. It sounds
complicated, but studying chess strategy can really improve your
game. Until I learned some fundamentals of strategy and long-term
planning, I was really just hacking around with chess, playing at the
game instead of really playing it. After I learned a number of strategic
themes (through the books of Ludek Pachman, as well as through some
other good sources), my games became easier; it was more simple for
me to not only play with a plan, but to play with a good plan.
61
chessking.com