Monday, April 13, 2009

Chess Basics: Want to become a GM? Analyze your games

It has been and will be the aspiration of a chess player to become a Grand Master. It is of course very easy to learn the game of chess. A study of the basic elements of chess, including the various pieces, such as King, Queen, Bishops, Rooks, Knights and Pawns, their relative strengths and weaknesses and their values, will be more than enough to start playing the game.

"Easy to Learn, difficult to master" goes the dictum. Chess is one such game that needs constant practice and perseverance - be it a grand master or a novice who has just learned about chess. Sheer practice and perseverance is required for one to excel in this game. Why is it so? It is so, because the game requires serious thinking and there is no luck or chance. You, using your mind and thinking, will have to decide the fate of the game. If you make a mistake, you stand to lose and if you are shrewd, the other person will obviously lose.

Chess has been here for more than 300 years in its current version while it is being said that it is as old as 3000 years if not more, though i have my own doubts. A lot of material has been published and the latest computer technology has taken the game to a new level. However, it is only sheer practice and commitment that can make you step up the ladder of expertise and gain the level of grandmaster.

Herewith, i provide you with some simple tips which will help you become a grandmaster. This is not a difficult task at all provided you take the initiative and work towards that goal with determination and dedication.

Most of us, in our earlier days, might have learnt to drive a bicylce with the assistance of our father or any relative for that matter. Whatever may be the technical advice we get about driving the bicycle, you tend to fall down from the cycle and hurt yourself. But over a period you will learn it and become an expert rider of bicycle. Practical mistakes committed by you and overcome by you are the best teachers that can take you to higher levels.

Same is the case with chess as well. The simple way to improve your chess skills and become a GM one day is to write down the notations for all your games you play with your opponent. As soon as you completed the game, irrespective of the result, do one thing immediately. Write down in a piece of paper three new things that you learned from this particular game. That is not a difficult task at all.

Then compare your moves, especially opening moves made, with the ones suggested in the books such as Ruy Lopez opening, King's Gambit etc., and find out where you made a mistake.

As a third step, recollect the critical point of the game, that one move or one blunder which changed the course of the game. This is the reason I suggested that you should do this exercise as soon as you complete the game. If you delay it, you might forget the sequence that happened in the game.

Fourthly, take out the notation paper where you had recorded the moves. Go through each and every move of yours, and explain the reason behind the move, the idea of the move and the tactic behind that move. While recollecting these points, it is quite possible that different ideas might come to you. Then, in the light of the new ideas, your moves will also come into play and a critical analysis of each such move will be the best lesson for you than any number of books or any number of advices from your mentor or any other chess player.

If you can do this critically for yourself in good faith, i am sure you will become a wonderful chess player.

No comments:

Post a Comment