Top Ten Tips to Winning Chess (Tip 2)

 Make the best possible move:

When you are considering a move, ask yourself these questions:

1. Will the piece I'm moving go to a better square than the one it's on now?
2. Can I improve my position even more by increasing the effectiveness of a different piece?
3. Does this move help to defend against my opponent's threats?
4. Will the piece I move be safe on its new square?
1. If it's a pawn, consider: Can I keep it protected from attack?
2. If it's another piece, consider: Can the enemy drive itaway, thus making me lose valuable time?

Even if your intended move has good points, it may not be the best move at that moment. Emanuel Lasker, a former world champion, said: "When you see a good move, wait---look for a better one!" Following this advice is bound to improve your chess.

White to move

You're white in this position. Black has just played cxd4 and is temporarily a pawn ahead. What's the best move you can make? Don't be too hasty!

Answer:

White can win his pawn back immediately with a move like 1. Nbxd4. But did you look for a better move? By playing 1. Nc7+, you can win black's queen!

by International Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier

How to convert “a better position” into a WIN?

Google+

While playing a chess game, quite often you can obtain a SUPERIOR position.

• It could happen thanks to your good opening preparation.
• Sometimes your opponent plays badly.

After that you face the famous question in chess: “How to win a won game?”

This is not as simple as it seems. An opponent gets tricky and tries to mix the things up. Often you have to play precise moves under time pressure. Then you can spoil a good game, not getting a well-deserved win.

Of course you can blame “that lucky guy” (your opponent) for that, or grieve for“an oversight in time trouble”. That’s what most players do in such cases 

However, obviously there’s a better option. You can learn appropriate techniques and always finish your opponents off! Look at “chess killers” like Topalov, Carlsen, Adams etc. In a worse position, nobody can escape from them.

If your wish to acquire those skills of “a chess killer” – you are welcome to join my webinar on Saturday 27 September (4p.m., BST). You can get all the details and sign up for the webinar here:

<< Sign up for GM Smirnov’s webinar >>

Good News: join the webinar for FREE!

The webinar’s price is really small compared to the skills and results you’ll obtain. However, I know that some of the students live in developing countries and can’t afford any additional expenses.

I’ve thought about what I can do for such students and have come up with a good idea! Help us spread the word about Remote Chess Academy, and you’ll get your ticket FOR FREE.

That’s really easy, and I hope that this time everyone will be happy! 

<< Join GM Smirnov’s webinar FOR FREE >>

Now let’s check how you should NOT play in won positions 

Caruana – NakamuraWhite’s turn

White is a pawn up and is pressuring Black’s position hardly. It’s almost winning.How to turn that “almost winning” into a real full score? What would you play as White?

Actually there are even a few ways for a quick win. You might be surprised to know that Caruana (rated 2801!) – managed to drew it!

After you came up with your own solution, please, check the actual game here:LINK

P.S. This time I allow FREE entry for my webinar, while there are only 100 seats available. It’s not that much compared to around 25,000 of my subscribers  Hurry up!

Planning, Evaluation & Fortress

When you don’t have any gaps in your chess education, your results will becomeGOOD and STABLE.

From my side, I do compare the results of different coaches, and select only the best ones for you.

So far there was a “guest coach” who got the biggest quantity of “Likes” from the students – this is Valeri Lilov with his lecture about Karpov’s Prophylaxis: LINK

With that said, I’m pleased to inform you that Lilov will conduct the next webinar for you on Sunday, 14 September. In this closed webinar, you’ll learn the practical hints for a proper middlegame play.

You can read the detailed info about the event, and sign yourself into this webinar here:

<< Webinar “Planning, Evaluation & Fortress”>>

In the meanwhile, if you missed any of the past Lilov’s lessons, you may check them here:

• Karpov’s prophylaxis: LINK
• Typical mistakes: LINK

Finally you can enjoy a few nice positions from Valeri’s games.

Lilov – TodorovWhite’s turn

White has a clear positional advantage: he controls more space and has more active pieces. How to realize this advantage?

Note: you’ll find the answer in the end of the article.

Lilov – ChatalbashevWhite’s turn

White’s f7-rook has invaded into Black’s position, but how to continue the attack?

Once you came up with your solution, please, observe the above 2 examples with my comments here: LINK

On Sunday you’ll be able to talk to Lilov personally during his webinar, and to know how he manages to find such great moves.

Please, note that in this webinar we let EVERY participant to submit his/her games and questions. Hence, if you want YOUR questions to be answered – please, sign up at earliest: LINK

How to find a good chess coach?

I now have huge experience both as a chess student and as a teacher. So let me give you some hints.

A private chess coach should perform the following things for you:

1. Analyse your games and detect what you need to work on.
2. Develop your training plan.
3. Make on-line or real lessons.
4. Give you home tasks.
5. Answer your questions that arise via e-mails.
6. Check your last home task and provide feedback on your work.
7. Prepare a next on-line/real lesson based on your training plan and the current needs (that have been detected during items 1 and 5-6).
8. Think about your overall progress; make necessary corrections in your training plan.
9. Plan your participation in tournaments.
10. Keep track of the current situation in chess (read chess news, observe main tournaments, notice new tendencies, popular openings, etc.).

A private chess coach should perform all of these tasks regularly, even if you have only one chess class a week!

By using the above list of items, it will be easier for you to evaluate a certain coach and to decide if he/she is a suitable one for you.

Nowadays there are many web-sites which offer you the services of various chess coaches. Recently I visited one such site and read coaches’ descriptions. Some of them write something like “I am a very popular coach and I have 50+ private students”. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this…

Take a look at our list above. Is that possible to perform it for 50 students? Of course NOT!

In fact “50+ students” means that this person teaches all his students extremely superficially, and he spits upon them all! Does he really think this is his positive side? LOL

Let’s move on to the next piece of advice:

A private chess teacher should be a COACH

It’s not a joke. 

A strong player (IM or GM) can show you some opening lines, can play with you, BUT he can’t be your teacher.

Is he going to perform the coach’s duties (see our list above)? Of course not! He is not even aware of these duties…

Can a GM really understand your current problems and needs? Well, he was in your situation; HOWEVER, maybe it was 50 years ago!!

Another example is that a chess coach must collect useful games/positions that are suitable for training in a certain topic. Does a chess player have such collections for every important topic? No! He simply doesn’t need it.

There is a HUGE difference between being a chess player and a chess teacher. It requires different skills and knowledge. That’s why quite a lot of chess “coaches”, unfortunately, have no idea of how to teach.

So when you are looking for a private coach – select a real COACH.

————————>

We’ve been talking about chess coaches, and I hope you are now much wiser about such matters. Now let’s take a look at a STUDENT. There’s one important thing that I’d like to emphasise here.

A student usually does NOT know what he/she really needs.

“To know the road ahead, ask those coming back”.

How can you know what you need in order to advance to the next level,

if you have never even been on that next level?

Naturally, you enjoy those parts of the game in which you perform well. And you may dislike those parts of the game that you are failing in. This is normal for all chess players.

Now, if you dislike defence, and you don’t know this topic well and it seems hard and uncomfortable for you – you’ll never master it. So here is where a coach should come and force you to do what you don’t want to do (the things he knows you NEED and MUST do). This will eliminate your weakness, will bring you nice victories and… you’ll start enjoying  defence! 

A student usually does NOT know what he/she really needs.

This is reality. You can admit it and go forward, or stick with your delusions. The choice is yours.

I recommend that you find a good coach and then rely on him.

Otherwise you’ll end up being in the same situation as most of other chess players. Here’s the most typical scenario: a coach who doesn’t know how to teach, satisfies the wishes of a student who doesn’t know what he needs.

Sadly, this is the most precise description of most chess lessons out there;, and it is also why a majority of players suffer from little and unstable progress.

However, now you have a better alternative!  You can follow the advice from this article and be ahead of the crowd!

If you don’t have good coaches in your area (or if they are simply too expensive for you) – you may also use my course “Self-taught Grandmaster”. It will act as a substitute for your coach and will allow you to organise for yourself an effective self-training process.

<<  Get The Course Now!  >>

TYPICAL ATTACKING IDEAS

Recently a student played a nice game that illustrates TYPICAL ATTACKING IDEAS. 

 I’ve asked him to comment the game for you. Now you can learn it, and adopt these attacking methods into your games! Before you start observing the game, test your skills in a position below.How would you play here as White? As usual, you should detect the right move and calculate its consequences.After that, please observe the actual game with comments here 

Webinar: “Typical Mistakes in Practical Middle game and Endings”

Today I have some good news for you. IM ValeriLilov will conduct a live webinar“Typical mistakes in practical middle game and endings” on Sunday, 17 August.

1.      What “a webinar” is?

It’s a live TRAINING session with a coach. During this event you can communicate with a teacher via chat, perform the tasks, and ultimately, develop necessary SKILLS. Thus it’s a really effective way of training that brings you immediate results.

2.     “Typical Mistakes in Practical Middlegame and Endings”

If your chess progress is not as fast as you want (or if you stuck on some level) – this is caused by some errors in your games.

It’s hard to get rid of our weaknesses. Moreover, sometimes we can’t even realize exactly what’s wrong. You just keep learning chess, but don’t get the desired results…

In Remote Chess Academy we interact with thousands of students. Hence we know the most common weaknesses of chess players. We’ll be glad to help you eliminate the weak sides of your play, and to unleash your movement forward.

• Event: IM Lilov’s webinar “Typical Mistakes in Practical Middlegame and Endings“
• Date: Sunday, 17 August at 4pm(16:00) BST (London time, you can check it here: LINK)

• Price: 5usd.
• Seats: seats are limited to 100.

Click here to Sign yourself into the webinar now