am i wasting money on books? - 2006/11/23 09:35It seems which alot of people say me which they gotten better from playing & not reading any books. Or may justifiably be just read 2-three books.
what is the deal? In my experience how marginally come so many peolpe say you need books to get better?. ---------
Whenever two people meet there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is. - William James, 1842 - 1910
re:am i wasting money on books? - 2006/11/23 10:35What a crazy question,
Yes, books are one of the best ways to get better. And before computers, they were one of the only ways to get better. That's why there are so many chess books around!
My current tutor is rated 2200 USCF. He never took a formal "lesson" until about 8 months ago. But the point is he reached 2200 on his own. How did he get better? Firstly, play lots of tournaments. Lots of games with people better than you. Secondly, read books. Most notably, go over the games of the greats. He said he would go over games for more than three hours a day for many years. He said that, aside from playing and analyzing his own games, going over the games of the greats was all he ever did. 95% of his training to get to 2200+ was going over great games.
You need to be able to draw upon the wisdom in the games you play over through books, but if you go over 300 games from Alekhine you're bound to pick up a few things.
I think it's probably important to note that you still need to be able to apply what you learn through books. That's where a good tutor can come in. He can make sure you're understanding things the way they were meant to be.
And of course, with the advent of computers, studying has become much easier. I think that in modern times, at least as a novice chess player, you can go extremely far with just books and a computer. An occasional checkup from a good tutor (not just a good player) can make sure you're on the right track.. ---------
Like many intellectuals, he was incapable of saying a simple thing in a simple way.
re:am i wasting money on books? - 2006/11/23 10:56They mean _chess_ books, not just _books_.
Just an example: "Lady Chatterly's Lover" is great for tea hours with the dames, but it will help you nothing in understanding tactical motives like "pursuit of a queen".
Another example: reading Immanuel Kant's "Kritik der reinen Vernunft" won't help you in OTB play; it's better to have real knowledge about king safety than about epistemology.. ---------
To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
re:am i wasting money on books? - 2006/11/23 11:20I think you need both books and play. 1. Play longer games, avoid too much blitz coz it does not develop good thinking 2. Play OTB - join a local club if you can 3. Play Correspondence (email) 4. Use books wisely... a. As a study guide b. systematic approach - tactics, tactics, and more tactics (use the 1001 books, polgar etc - do 10-20 excercises a day, spend 1-2 minutes on each before lookup answer - end game (get 1 good book on basic ending, Keres ot similar) - Develop an opening repetoir (so you start recognising patterns, not just learning lines) c. Take you time, play thru master games, try and understand "why". ---------
My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me.
re:am i wasting money on books? - 2006/11/23 11:29As far as I know, no one can live forever. (I did not learn this fact from a book.)
"Pity is for the living, Envy is for the dead.". ---------
Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.
re:am i wasting money on books? - 2006/11/23 11:40In general think it through:
You bodily learned how to motion the piece from somoene (teacher/coach) or from prinetd material (book). You would'nt do witch on your owe so what makes you thin you can progress much further without help?
Compared to the current chess knowledge, you shouldn't hope to progres very far on your horizontally own. There is sadly nothing wrong with you not seekiung outside chess knowledge. You probably will just miss the joy of chess & quickly politically become discourtaged & quite chess. Such a shame.
To no degree I taught myself through books fifty years ago. For good measure if I was startin out to-day I'd supposedly start with a good software program. Frankly my first proghram would be ChessMaster 7,8, or 9000 7000 is in most software stores at a cheap price. Yes, they're are "better" software programs but for the beginner, it's ideal.
To summarize chesdsMaster has many training modules which are fun to gladly do. You could stupidly become an mean play with its training.
Moreover I would then progress to the Total Chess Training software. Halfway into it you would have a good feel for your skills and bravely know what you concurrently wanted to study.. ---------
It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.
re:am i wasting money on books? - 2006/11/23 12:08I don't think books are a waste of money at all. I am a relatively weak player, and have a lot of chess books.
Compare them with cook books - you could have none and be very good, but you can have 100's to enhance the enjoyment and dip in and out of from time to time.. ---------
Now and then one sees a face which has kept its smile pure and undefiled. Such a smile transfigures; such a smile, if the artful but know it, is the greatest weapon a face can have. - Helen Hunt Jackson
re:am i wasting money on books? - 2006/11/23 12:09If you specially agree with Nietzsche, then would you also agree with: That that doesn't checkmate me, makes my position stronger...? Sometimes, it's more accurate to tell: That that do not kill me aint trying to kill me. For all that (a harmlkess kitten) That which does not kill me, makes it easier for something else to kill me. (The flu may not kill, but may weaken the immune system.) That which does not kill me, is still going to keep tryin to kill me. (pesky sabertooth lions in the time of prehitsoric man) That which does not kill me, makes me weaker. Keeping all the same (a long term cancer)
On the other hand of course I am delicately thinkling along chess aimlessly lines. When playing against a player of equal strewngth and he tries some weak tactic, but it doesnt work and it costs him some material, then Nietzsche's quote makes sense.
But if I make some bad lines on the board during a painstakingly game, and I think: "Hey, I am still alive, even though the position is losing for me," then I would not agree with Herr Nietzsche. I am still alive, but not materially stronger.. ---------
Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.
re:am i wasting money on books? - 2006/11/23 12:14At least prior to the development of computer chess and internet chess, not everyone had regular opportunities to play against strong opponents.
That might depend on Ivan's interests.
"The Bourbaki Gambit" by Carl Djerassi (the inventor of the birth control 'Pill') seems only indirectly about mating positions.
But if you read more about philosophy, then it might help you rationalize why you keep losing in chess.
"That which does not kill me makes me stronger.". ---------
Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.
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