THE PATH TO IMPROVEMENT IS A CIRCLE
Before we start to consider the general ways to use chess software as
a tool to become a better chess player, we need to look at a road map
first. I've spent the best part of two decades teaching other chess players
how to use computer chess programs and, along the way, I've learned
something too: I've learned how people learn about chess.
Don't rush for a scorecard to try to figure that one out. I can explain it
to you pretty simply. The path to chess improvement has three steps:
study, practice, and analysis. You study chess to learn new concepts,
you then play games to put those ideas and concepts into practice, then
you analyze your performance – to learn what you need to study.
Every step of the process leads to another step. So the path
to improvement is actually a circle:
...with the steps following each other in clockwise order around the ring
shown above.
You might be saying, “But that never ends!”; if so, you're correct. Chess
is a lifetime pursuit, and there's always something new to be learned no
matter how good a player you become.
That's exactly why chess is so cool. You never stop learning.
Let's look at each step of the learning process and figure out how it
works; trust me, understanding the process will help you use it to your
advantage later.
67
chessking.com