5 Tips Taken From The Best Chess Course On The Internet

his article contains 5 important tips that will facilitate your chess learning and advancing. The material is prepared by a student of our Remote Chess Academy. He summarized the ideas that worked well for him. There’s a great chance that these tips will be helpful for you just as well.

Without further ado let me present an article of Louis Holtzhausen.

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The tips are from the chess courses of GM Igor Smirnov

Chess Course Tip 1: The main idea of a chess game is activity

Isn’t it strange that even after studying a chess course – many chess players still can’t tell you what the main idea of a chess game is?

This is bad because how are you supposed to make good moves if you are not even sure what the main goals are? Once you know that you need to maximize the activity of your pieces, everything else will start to make a lot more sense.

Chess Course Tip 2: Study the middle game plans that relate to your opening

It is a common training mistake that many chess players make – they memorize many opening moves. To play the opening moves from memory can hardly give you any advantage over your opponent. But if you know the typical plans that arise from the opening you play, you can be much better prepared for the game!

When you train your opening moves – focus to understand the middle game plans that are typical to your opening. Training your opening moves in this way makes more sense and is also a lot more enjoyable than simply trying to memorize a lot of moves.

Chess Course Tip 3: Focus to improve your thinking process

Your knowledge about chess is not the factor that will give you the edge in your games! Instead, knowing how to apply every bit of knowledge you have is the skill that will give you the edge.

In fact, too much knowledge will only confuse you if you don’t have a clear thinking system to help you apply all the things you have learnt.

Chess Course Tip 4: A master outplays his opponent with better positional understanding

Chess masters often avoid complications! Yes sure they are good even in complicated positions, but they also know that their main advantage is their deep understanding of chess positions.

A master will outplay their opponent. It will look as if the master wins easily without even doing anything special. This is simply because they have a deep understanding of the game and outplay their weaker opponent slowly but surely.

Chess Course Tip 5: Focus on the quality of your training instead of the quantity

I have been guilty of this training mistake myself too. Often chess players feel that they will improve by spending a lot of time training a whole lot of chess information. They will even spend hours solving tactical puzzle without seeing any real improvement in their results.

You will benefit more from studying one topic well (QUALITY) than to study many topics superficially (QUANTITY).

You can find more tips and information on his high quality chess courses by clicking this link: GM Smirnov’s chess courses (I only recommend chess courses that I have worked with myself and can highly recommend).

5 Key Reasons You're Not a Chess Master

All chess players want to become masters, but only 1% succeed and the other 99% fail. Is that because they don’t have talent, necessary IQ level or some other master traits? Nope. The 99%don't reach the master level for a completely different set of reasons. Curious to find out why? 

Most chess players don’t reach the master level for the following reasons:

1. They Don't Set Goals

Setting goals is very important part of achieving them. By setting a goal and a deadline for when it should be achieved you will keep yourself motivated and increase your chances of success by as much as 500%. Keep in mind that the goals should be realistic, meaning you shouldn't set a goal of becoming a Grandmaster in 3 month if you're currently 1400 rated. Nor should you set a goal of learning all 1000 endgames from the endgame manual by heart in a week or two.

The goal is there to motivate you, not to kill you. That's why picking an achievable goal is a very important step. After you have picked a realistic goal, you should document it. Take a piece of paper and write what your goal is, when you will achieve it and what happens if you don't achieve it on time.

For example, you can write that your goal is to solve no less than 3 tactics problems per day, every day for one month of time, starting month/day/year.

If you don't do that you will donate an extra 100$ (if that does not motivate you, you can go for 500 or 1000$) to the charity of your choice, won't be able to use your phone for specified number of day, watch your favorite TV show or some similar “punishment”.

By simply having a realistic, written goal, deadline and consequences in case you fail to achieve it you will set yourself for success.

2. They Don't Plan Their Training

Most chess players are training spontaneously, by randomly working on different aspects of chess that they feel comfortable with. Nothing is wrong with this approach, except that it usually doesn't lead to improvement.

Wouldn't it be great to improve your tactical vision so that you could see all of the threats 10 moves ahead?

Wouldn't it be nice to study the endgames so that you don't have to take chances when playing those Rook and Pawn endings?

Wouldn't it be helpful to learn some positional game ideas as well as some attacking techniques? And indeed it would be nice to brush off your opening preparation, so that you don't end up in these losing middlegames.

Surprisingly most chess players know what they need to be doing, but somehow they don't do it. Having a precise study plan, that will keep you motivated and focused while providing you with the right resources will help you to become a better player.

3. They Don't Schedule Their Time

Once you have the goal and the training plan it does not mean that you will automatically improve your game. You need to put the work first. And in order to do that, you need to schedule your day, so that you always have time to stick to the plan.

You will be much more likely to commit to a certain activity like jogging, weight-lifting or becoming a chess master if you schedule when you will do that. For example, you may train for 5 days per week from 8 to 9 am. Being consistent and working on chess in step-by-step manner will get you where you need to be.

4. They Don't Track Progress

Having some sort of analytics or in other words tracking your chess improvement progress is very important if you want to become a stronger player. Writing down what problems you did, which ones you've solved correctly and which ones you didn't is very important for realizing what you understand and what you don't.

The same goes to the games you play. You need to track in what kind of openings/middlegames/endgames you perform best and worst at. Then, you need to make appropriate adjustments to fix your weaknesses and build on your strengths.

5. They Don't Make Changes

Last, but not least, alternating your training routine once a month or so will help you to avoid the plateau in your chess. Have you noticed how easy it is to improve at first? While you're lower rated, you can easily pickup as many as 200-300 points in matter of months.

Then, when you get stronger at chess, improving tends to become more difficult, partly because your brain gets used to the exercises you typically perform. Therefore, alternating your routine is crucial to avoid plateauing on the certain level.

If you want to improve your chess level, you need to have a clear study plan. If you aim for a dramatic improvement at chessyou need to work on all of the elements of the game in a systematic way:

• tactics
• positional play
• attacking skills
• endgame technique
• classical games analysis
• psychological preparation
• and much more

That seems to be like a lot of things, and that is. But no worries, we have made it easy for you. Our comprehensive training course covers it all and much more. Sign up for 21 Day Training right now!

7 Signs You Have a Potential for Becoming Grandmaster

Many chess players wish to know if they will ever become Grandmasters. There are many exams available that can estimate your current strength, but none can tell you whether you can become a GM or not. Today we have compiled a short list of very important signs that may suggest you have a real potential for obtaining the highest chess title. Curious to find out if that’s about you? Read on!

1. Well-developed chess intuition

All grandmasters have a well-developed chess intuition. That means even without analyzing the position, GMs already know what's happening on the board, what side is winning and what move each player should play.

That won't be a 100% accurate analysis, like you will get if you calculate all of the variations or plug in the position into an engine. Nevertheless, it is a fairly accurate evaluation that can be used to make decisions during the game.

Another sign that you have a well-developed chess intuition is ability of guessing GM's moves during the game. It is very easy to check. Start watching any high level chess game and try guessing what moves one or another player will make. If the percentage of the moves you’ve guessed correctly is high, congratulations, you already may have a well-developed chess intuition.

2. Great memory for chess positions and patterns

Another very important thing for a strong player is a good memory for chess positions and patterns. Many grandmasters keep 100s if not 1000s of classical games in their heads.

Ability to memorize positions and games is extremely useful when it comes to preparation of openings, endgames or playing a typical middlegames. Grandmasters remember many classical games dealing with all sorts of pawn structures, endgames, tactical motifs, weaknesses, attacking schemes and so on.

If you have a good chess memory, you can put yourself a big plus on the potential grandmasters' checklist.

 

3. Superior visualization skills

Visualization is probably the single most important skill that a grandmaster needs because it is directly related to tactics. Without the ability to visualize positions, after certain moves are made and some pieces are captures, it is next to impossible to become a strong tactical player.

Visualization skills help tremendously at finding the correct tactics, calculating lines, planning the game and even finishing off the simple endgames. If you have strong visualization skills, your chances of becoming a grandmaster are much higher than for those who don't.

4. Ability to work on chess for hours

Even if you have all necessary prerequisites for becoming a grandmaster, you won't become one unless you spend a lot of time working on chess and perfecting your game. You see, even the most gifted chess players such as Magnus Carlsen, need to spend years to develop their talent.

That's why the ability to work on the game consistently, without getting bored and tired is crucial for becoming an elite chess player.

5. High level of competitiveness

Without a high level of competitiveness and a strong drive for becoming a better chess player it is not possible to progress. Some of the most competitive chess players such as Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov are also the most successful ones in history of the game.

If you want to become a grandmaster you must be competitive, you must try to win every single position against every single opponent you face. You should take each defeat as an opportunity to patch your preparation holes, to return and win.

6. Ability to stay focused for extended periods of time

Chess matches can be long, extremely long. Any grandmaster has played games which lasted for 6-7 hours non-stop. These kinds of games are exhausting and drain you both mentally and physically. In order to win such games you need to preserve energy and stay focused for the whole time. Any mistake can end the game not in your favor.

If you want to become a grandmaster you should be able to stay focused for very long periods of time. You need to learn making the best moves, even when you're tired or totally exhausted. Only then you can win games against stronger competition and be on your way to breaking that magical 2500.

7. Ability to perform well under pressure

It is a fact that defending in chess is much harder than attacking. There is a lot more at stake when your king is under pressure. You can get checkmated and the game will be over instantly. Any chess player ends up in terrible position sooner or later. It takes a true talent and courage not to give up and to pull yourself out of the losing position.

It is not possible to become a grandmaster without the ability to save lost games. You need to learn playing your best chess under pressure, even when you are down in material or under a serious attack. That will save you many games, and will gain you plenty of rating points.

Is it enough for becoming a grandmaster? It is no way to know. But if you can do it, the chances are you can become a GM someday.

If you want to improve your chess level, you need to have a clear study plan. If you aim for a dramatic improvement at chess you need to work on all of the elements of the game in a systematic way:

• tactics
• positional play
• attacking skills
• endgame technique
• classical games analysis
• psychological preparation
• and much more...

This book is not about how I became a Grandmaster..

Click to preview book

10 Reasons Why Adult Players Fail to Improve at Chess

Many players are asking me the same question, is it possible to improve at chess in their 30s, 40s or 50s? Is it possible to start playing at 30 or 40 and make it to at least a FIDE master’s level? What are the main obstacles that prevent the majority of adult players to make progress at chess and reach their goals? Let’s take a closer look.

1. Lack of Motivation

Surprisingly, lack of motivation, is the biggest progress stopper at chess and life alike. Many adult players are simply not motivated enough to get better at chess. They want to improve their game, but they don’t want it bad enough that they are willing to give up something valuable for it.

How many adults are willing to give up their TV time, newspaper reading time, socializing time or in favor of chess? They have spent years to develop a habit to watch that TV-show every day at 7 pm. Trust me not many people can break that habit easily or even at all.

The only way to break an old habit is to replace it with a new one, for example to study chess at 7 pm (or any other time) for 1 hour, 3 weeks in a row. Commitment is a key to success.

2. Bad Memory

Memory is not as crucial at amateur level chess, but if you want to achieve something more, then it may be a problem. Many adults have flaws in their memory which will make it difficult to remember certain things that are important for succeeding at chess.

Opening preparation, typical endgame positions and even pattern recognition are all heavily relying on good memorization skills.

Many adults cannot even remember an important phone number or a license plate of their own car. How are they expected to remember the game that was played in 2007 between Anand and Kramnik or a way to draw a certain rook and pawn endgame? You don’t need to have a Carlsen-like photographic memory to achieve the master’s title, but it always helps to improve it a bit.

3. Inability to Calculate Variations

This is another huge problem that many adult chess players are facing. It seems like they cannot visualize the position well enough that they can see what will happen further than 3 moves ahead.

How should you train the ability to calculate chess variations? Solving chess tactics without moving pieces on the board, practicing in finding candidate moves, calculating a certain line as far as possible and evaluating the final position are some the most common techniques in calculation training.

Another method you can try is to play a blindfold chess against a very weak opponent. The goal of this exercise is to train visualization and position memorization rather than look for tactics, etc.

4. Absence of a Study Plan

Most adult chess players have plenty of training materials. Often these materials are not what they need to study to take their chess to the next level. These training materials are like pieces of puzzle. In order to improve at chess you need to combine these pieces into the full picture, or rather a complete training routine. Quite often, when you have too many choices it is hard to make a decision.

Let me give you one example. Just imagine you’ve just signed up for a gym membership, but you don’t know exactly what to do in the gym. You don’t know what exercises work what muscle groups, you not exactly sure how to use the gym equipment, you have no idea how often to exercise, what to eat, and how much to sleep. Sure you can come to the gym from time to time, lift some weights and you will train something.

The question is: will you have an overall well developed muscles and a good physique after such training? Of course not. It will take you good few years of time and couple of injuries to learn these things by yourself, assuming you know what to read and whom to ask.

Would you rather try figuring out everything yourself or would you rather  follow a day-by-day training course that tell you exactly what muscle group to train, how to train it, what weights to use, what to eat and how much to sleep?

I’m pretty sure you would agree that the outcome in this case will be totally different.

The same goes for chess. You can try improving by yourself, reading something, studying some games, figuring out some openings, solving some tactics. But it is a very long road and most adult players are simply not ready to take it.

Most players need to have a clear guidance in order to improve. They need to be shown what to train, how much time to spend on it and what to expect. Studying goes much easier if you follow guidelines of a training program on a day-by-day basis rather than if you do everything on your own.

                                                      

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5. Psychological Instability

Psychological instability is something that many adult players have and it is something that can ruin their winning chances. How many times have you seen a player that after looking at the pairings table says something like “I’m playing against somebody 400 points higher, there is no way I will win this round”.

Well of course, you won’t win. Even before the game started you already pre-program yourself that the opponent is superior and you will lose simply based on the rating difference.

For players like that I always recommend not paying too much attention to the ratings. It may not be easy at first, but you need to be confident enough to play against anyone, without that fear of losing.

6. Low Chess Stamina

Many adult chess players suffer from a low chess stamina. That means they can pay full attention to what’s going on in the game for first couple of hours, but later on towards the end of the game their attention gets distorted and they start losing focus. This is a very dangerous situation for a chess player. Just imagine you have been playing your best for 2 or 3 hours and then make an inaccuracy and lose the game.

Even in case of 44 year old Vishy Anand who first tried to defend and then to win the World Championship Title back from Magnus Carlsen we can easily notice that most of his game-losing mistakes were made in the later stage of the game.

What can you do to increase your chess stamina? Physical fitness as very essential for playing at the high level. By staying fit and playing sports consistently on top of chess training, you will be able to keep both your mind and body at top condition.

7. “Fear of Ghosts”

Some chess players especially adults, suffer from a phenomena called “fear of ghosts”. These players are afraid to make a mistake so much that they worry more about how not to make one rather than fully focusing on the game. That behavior puts them under a severe pressure, increases stress level and reduces stamina.

To fight this problem, you need to increase your self-confidence level. The only way to do that I to work on your chess and to win more games.

8. Lack of Competiveness

Oddly enough, lack of competitiveness is also one of the reasons why adult chess players have problems improving their game. Unlike younger players, they think that chess is “just a game” and that “winning is not that important”.

With this kind of attitude it is very hard to perform at your best and have motivation and drive to work hard and to win games.

9. Inability to Handle Pressure

Surprisingly enough, many adult chess players cannot handle pressure as well as their younger counterparts. When they arebeing attacked they lose focus and collapse quickly. In order to succeed at chess, adult players need to pay specific attention to this problem.

This problem can be addressed by playing high pressure positions in practice games, when you’re a piece down or under serious attack. By surviving in practice games you will be able to survive when it matters as well.

10. Time Management Choices

Many adult chess players, in fact, can improve their chess as fast as younger players do. In order to do that an adult player needs to dedicate himself to chess by working consistently, participating in tournaments, playing practice games and so on.

In order to make  serious progress, such as becoming at least an international master, an adult player needs to spend 4-5 hours on chess daily, which is very problematic for many who have day job, family, friends and other responsibilities. That only applies if you are looking to becoming a professional chess player.

If you are just striving for a class A (candidate-master) or master’s level, there is no need to give up a lot of things you enjoy in life. Most adult players can achieve that goal from 1200 elo in 2-3 maximum 4 years working on chess consistently, following the right advice and playing tournament chess.

How to become a Blitz Master and offers on the new course

First, let me ask you a few questions – have you ever played blitz chesstournaments in your club or on the Internet? Have you won some good gamesand tournaments in blitz? Were you finding a steady increase in your progress?

 

If your answer is “No” or uncertain – then your results will be unstable.

That is because you need to have a sharp mind to calculate a lot of moves within a few seconds. And this can be done only by repetitive practice and experience.

 

Not even all grandmasters have stable results – there are only few GMs like Fischer, Morphy, Tal, Capablanca and Anand who can be recognised as a ‘Blitz Master’.

Only the person who has more knowledge on a certain topic, an expert on that topic, can teach it. Therefore, we’ve invited a ‘Blitz Master’ to teach you thoseskills; you can learn and, more importantly, incorporate them into your games and become a ‘Blitz Master’ too! 

I’m very glad to announce that the next webinar will be conducted by GM Maxim Dlugy (the main author of the new course) on Friday 30 Jan. at 3 p.m. GMT (check timings here: LINK).

Yes, GM Dlugy is an extraordinary blitz player – he has an incredible top rating of 2731 in blitz! Also, GM Dlugy was the world’s highest ranked in blitz, according to WBCA ratings, a ranking he held for four consecutive years!

<<Sign up for the webinar now>>

In Friday’s webinar, “How to become a Blitz Master?”, GM Dlugy will teach you the 26 secrets of playing blitz well, while analysing his victories against the best players in the world.

In the previous article, I shared with you a short introductory video on the new course, “Unlocking the Grandmaster’s Mind”, and revealed almost everything about the course (if you missed that, check it now: LINK).

Today, I’ve something exciting for you. As I promised that the new course would be ready this month, I’m very glad to announce that it will be released on 29^thJan! 

But wait, I still have something good for you – yes, I’m going to provide you with some great discounts and special offers to celebrate this special occasion! :)

DISCOUNT:

I’m going to provide you with two discount coupons this time!

The first 100 buyers will be offered a 30% DISCOUNT on the new course! Subsequent buyers will get a 20% DISCOUNT only. 

Also, a few hours in advance I’ll reveal the discount coupon to those students who have subscribed to our newsletter – Quick Success in Chess (LINK). So if you are asubscriber, you have more chances to be among the first 100 buyers and get a30% discount!

If you haven’t yet subscribed to us, you can surely do so now: LINK

NOTE: the discount coupon is valid from 29^th Jan. to 1^st Feb. (inclusive) only. To learn how to use a discount code, see here: LINK

SPECIAL OFFER:

Do you want to attend the above-mentioned GM Dlugy’s webinar on Friday 30 Jan for FREE? Yes, you can get FREE attendance for the webinar! 

 

If you buy the course, “Unlocking the Grandmaster’s Mind”, on 29 Jan., you can attend GM Dlugy’s webinar, “How to become a ‘Blitz Master?”, on the 30^th forFREE!

I’ve also prepared a video explaining the offers in detail. You can watch it below: 

Top 5 Types of Forks that Every Chess Player Must Know

Today we will talk in detail about one of the most important elements of chess tactics, a fork. A fork is a type of tactics when one piece attacks two or more of the opponent's pieces at the same time. As a result, usually, one of these pieces is won.  It is one of the most common tactical elements in chess, and many games are lost by those who have missed one little fork. After studying this article you won't be one of them 

1. Knight Fork

Knight is a truly unique piece due to its ability to jump over other pieces. It is impossible to stop the knight's check, without capturing the knight or moving the king itself. That feature makes the knight a perfect forking piece. Take a look on the example below, where the black knight forks white's king and bishop. This type of fork is especially forcing due to the check by a knight. The king has to move and the knight is lost.

You may feel that knight forks are easy to find, but it's not always the case. Take a look at the example below. There is no immediate fork, but it can be constructed. Let me show you how to think in cases like that.

Notice how white knight attacks the f6-pawn which can be captured with a check. Also notice that it is being defended by the black's knight, which in turn is protected by the bishop and threatened by the white's rook. Now imaging that instead of the knight there is a bishop on e7.

Then you can capture the f6-pawn with a knight, forking the king and bishop and winning it. Do you see a way to achieve that? Exactly, you need to play 1.Rxd7 and after Bxd7 2. Nxf6+ and 3. Nxd7 winning the bishop.

White to move and win

2. Rook Fork

Rook is not only can be used to control the ranks and files but also to fork opponent's pieces. In the example below black's rook is forking white's king and knight resulting in capturing of the minor piece and winning the game. 

3. Queen Fork

Queen is the most powerful piece, since it combines powers of both the rook and the bishop. That makes it a very good attacker. In the example below black's queen forks three of the white's pieces at the same time ultimately winning the game. 

In order to be proficient at finding tactics such as forks, smothered mates, checkmates, pins, and skewers you need to solve problems on daily bases. If you are aiming for a serious progress, consistency is the key. Sure you may skip a day or two here and there, but the point is to work on tactics at least for 20 minutes a day everyday.

Once you're doing that, you should throw positional training, endgames training, and attacking training into the equation and the success is almost guaranteed for you! Things can be a little confusing though, but don't worry we tried to make learning chess as easy as possible, by creating a step-by-step, day-by-day training program that will help to take your chess to the next level.

4. Pawn Fork

Even though the pawn is the least valuable unit, it can surely deliver a fork. In the example below, the pawn is forking white's bishop and knight, drawing the game. 

5. Bishop Fork

Bishop is a great long range piece, and it can fork pieces located on the same diagonal. In the example below the bishop forks white's king and rook. 

Let's take a look at the example from real game. We notice that the black's bishop is interposing the attack on the rook and king via d5 square. It is protected by both the queen and the knight. Is there way to get rid of both defender in one move? Here it is: 1. Qxe7! Qex7 2. Bxd5+ Kf8 3. Bxa8 and white is winning after he exchanges his queen for 2 minor pieces and a rook. 

White to move and win

Extra: King Fork

Yes, the king is also an attacking piece and can deliver a fork winning a piece, if someone does not know how to checkmate with a knight and bishop correctly.