Watching Chess Videos = Reading Chess Books?

@kindaspongey said in #27:
> ... qualitychess.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/PlayingtheTrompowsky-excerpt.pdf ...
@kindaspongey said in #40:
> ... Here is a fraction of page 132, commenting on 11...exd5, in the position after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 Ne4 3 Bf4 c5 4 f3 Qa5+ 5 c3 Nf6 6 d5 Qb6 7 e4 Qxb2 8 Nd2 Qxc3 9 Bc7 e6 10 Ne2 Qa3 11 Rb1:
> "[a dubious move]
> Black should probably prefer 11...c4 12.dxe6 and:
> a) 12...fxe6 13.Nxc4 Qc5 14.Nd6+ [White stands slightly better]
> b) 12...Qc5 13.exf7+ Kxf7 14.Bf4 c3 [(a mistake)] 15.Nxc3 Qxc3 16.Rc1 Qd4 17.Rxc8 [White has a decisive advantage]
> c) 12...dxe6 13.Nxc4 Bb4+ 14.Kf2 Bc5+ 15.Nd4 Qc3 16.Nd6+ Ke7 17.N6b5 ..." ...
@MatthewLikesChess said in #48:
> ... there's no n6b5 since the knight on d4 is pinned, the algebric notation is simply Nb5.
On that one, I was simply quoting the text on page 132 (apart from the book using the knight symbol instead of "N").

@MatthewLikesChess said in #49:
> @ThunderClap In your opinion, what's better between a good chess book or a good chess video (not both)? ...
"... [annotated games are] infinitely more useful than bare game scores. However, annotated games vary widely in quality. Some are excellent study material. Others are poor. But the most numerous fall into a third category - good-but-wrong-for-you. ... You want games with annotations that answer the questions that baffle you the most. ..." - GM Andrew Soltis (2010)
"... Just because a book contains lots of information that you don’t know, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be extremely helpful in making you better at this point in your chess development. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2001)
web.archive.org/web/20140626180930/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf
"... The books that are most highly thought of are not necessarily the most useful. Go with those that you find to be readable. ..." - GM Nigel Davies (2010)
A lot depends on the player and the circumstances. For many players, it may not be worth the time to understand why 11...exd5 would be a dubious move in the position after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 Ne4 3 Bf4 c5 4 f3 Qa5+ 5 c3 Nf6 6 d5 Qb6 7 e4 Qxb2 8 Nd2 Qxc3 9 Bc7 e6 10 Ne2 Qa3 11 Rb1. For another player such details may be of interest. If your goal is just to "Take in the first few moves and the key ideas, and then try it out in your games", a video might be just the right thing for you, provided that there is one that does what you want. For any book or video, a lot depends on how energetic the user is.
For me, the main use of one book turned out to be something to stand on when changing a light bulb.

@ThunderClap said in #50:
> Just watched GM Igor Smirnov free video on u tube called learn the English opening in 15 minutes then his grand prix attack video . I would suggest watching the video after ordering a chess book as well on positional complete games like Capablanca's Best Chess Endings in 60 complete games . If you want a nore comprehensive English opening book you can go over complete games in The English Opening by A Karpov where he covers many games against players like Jan Tinman & G Kasparov . with both colors & sometimes even losses he examines . Then you might consider two middlegame chess books as well like Modern Chess Strategy by L Pachman & or another Chess Book by Boris Zlotnik called Zlotnik's Middlegame Manual or Plan Like a GM by A Suetin which didn't get great reviews many years ago but I found helpful for ME or Three Steps to Chess Mastery by Suetin as well I liked . Of course I woud say watch the video then go over the Capablanca book by Irving Chernev first . There are so many ways to go' for example u could choose some GM like Illescases Miguel Cordoba (Spain0 or Ulf Andersen (Sweden) & go through many COMPLETE Games of theirs or even look at & experiment with trying new ideas against stockfish & see why they are ok or not' @MatthewLikesChess Since you like Chess u should Study Play Play Play Study Chess & Enjoy the ride Good Luck If I may' "Ideas & Playing over Complete Games " Is a good way to go

@ThunderClap so chess vids can be used as introductions and books for a more in depht study?

Don't know who else has this: For me there are some video presenters (who have excellent material) that I just cannot stay aware 5 minutes in their video. Others have mannerisms that distract. One otherwise-excellent video was recorded when the GM had bad allergies. He is sniffling the whole time. Another rubs his nose every 15 seconds. I made it through but it takes a while to tune out the distractions.

Most video's just go far, far too fast for me. The presenter gives 1 move in a position and I think ''Oh really !?! What about these other 3 moves that also look strong??'' but by the time the thought is there, the video is 5 moves down the line! I've tried printing the chessbase file that comes with them but it doesn't help much as I really want the file to include their comments.

With books I read, move the pieces on a board, stop often to try to prove the comment wrong, can mark a place and go back to it.

With a good video I hear a GM describing how they think about the position and giving some small bit of their most recent ideas. This is great and worth some suffering, described above, to get. But still, for me video's are passive -like sleep learning- and books are active.

Bill

@swimmerBill said in #54:
> Don't know who else has this: For me there are some video presenters (who have excellent material) that I just cannot stay aware 5 minutes in their video. Others have mannerisms that distract. One otherwise-excellent video was recorded when the GM had bad allergies. He is sniffling the whole time. Another rubs his nose every 15 seconds. I made it through but it takes a while to tune out the distractions.
>
> Most video's just go far, far too fast for me. The presenter gives 1 move in a position and I think ''Oh really !?! What about these other 3 moves that also look strong??'' but by the time the thought is there, the video is 5 moves down the line! I've tried printing the chessbase file that comes with them but it doesn't help much as I really want the file to include their comments.
>
> With books I read, move the pieces on a board, stop often to try to prove the comment wrong, can mark a place and go back to it.
>
> With a good video I hear a GM describing how they think about the position and giving some small bit of their most recent ideas. This is great and worth some suffering, described above, to get. But still, for me video's are passive -like sleep learning- and books are active.
>
> Bill

Right, when you watch vids, all you do is stand there and listening. Meanwhile, when you're reading, you do the analysis yourself.