Better Your Chess

Drill #4

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:59:36 +0000

[this post contains a video]

Hi all,

Exercise your thinking skills with drill #4!

Drill #3

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:44:46 +0000

[this post contains a video]

Hi all,

Time for some more practice!

Lesson #24: The Planning Approach - Rules For Material Imbalances (2)

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:04:55 +0000

[this post contains a video]

Hi all,

In the previous lesson we looked at the Art Of Trading, this time it is the Art Of Activation!

Master The Mindset #6: Psychological Aspects Of Being Better Or Worse

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:01:48 +0000

[this post contains a video]

Hi all,

In this video I point out some psychological mishaps that are common to our games.
Pay close attention and enjoy

Lesson #23: The Planning Approach - Rules For Material Imbalances (1)

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:58:31 +0000

[this post contains a video]

Hi all,

After so many lessons on the Analytical Approach, is time to start looking at the Positional Approach. Don’t forget they somehow always come together!

Lesson #22: How To Play The Endgame - Some Misconceptions Taken Away

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:46:15 +0000

[this post contains a video]

Hi all,

Many of you are interested on tips on the endgame. You find you don’t know what to do when and endgame arises, find endgames elusive or even scary or even prefer to avoid them at all cost.

Lesson #21: How To Calculate - Which Candidate First?

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:21:43 +0000

[this post contains a video]

Hi all,

It’s back to candidates again!

In this lesson I give some practical tips on spotting and calculating them.

How To Lose In Chess (Or Not Win) #4: The Fixture Of The Mind’s Eye

admin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:29:08 +0000

[this post contains a video]

Hi all,

In this lecture I discuss a peculiar peculiarity…

Question #7: How To Study Chess Games?

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:13:57 +0000

Hi all,

Jerome asks:

Hello,

first of all, thanks for your very nice website and your very instructive videos.

I have a question about studying chess games. What do you think is the best method ?

- go quickly through a lot of games, just to get a feeling of where the pieces go (and maybe improve your intuition).

- go through commented games and try to follow the comments (preferably without moving the pieces on the board)

- look at the game from the point of view of the winning player, and try to guess each of his moves. This is bit difficult to do with printed games, because your eyes may slip to the answer, but it can be done with computer softwares by hiding the next moves.

I guess one could or should do all of them, but what do you think ? How are you doing to prepare your commented game videos ?

A side question: I like very much to watch live games, for two reasons:
- because there I have no choice then trying to guess the next move
- because I find very instructive to see how quickly / slowly the players play, depending on the situation. One can really follow the “tempo” of the games when looking at live games.

Do you know if there exists games recorded with “time tags” and a tool able to replay a game at the real speed ?

Thanks

Jerome

Question #6: How To Deal With Nervousness Prior To And During A Tournament?

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:57:20 +0000

Hi all,

Greg asks:

I am playing in a Swiss System weekend tournament in a few days, and I am concerned about the amount of anxiety I feel before and during competitive events like this. I love chess, but I often become so anxious that I am often unable to think clearly and to play as well as I can. In post mortem analysis, many times I cannot even recall why I played a certain move in a given position. Have you any suggestions to help me overcome this anxiety?