@Manuel2You can read all the manuals on how to build a house but having never built a house you have no idea how to really do it.
Samet thing in chess. All the manuals are out there, but if you have never really done it, you are just a parrot.
For example AMADAN gave relevant advice here, because it was based on personal experience on how to get to a level where he/she currently is.
The prosody of chess: You cannot smoothly play chess, until you are able to pick out pieces to distinguish individual tactics from the rest.
When you understand that a tactic is about to happen, you are well on your way to interpreting some game strategies.
I didnt have any books nor any friends know to play chess nor i did have pc or internet (i am not sure if there was internet in my country) I simply played 3-4 games per week with my father i even dont remember what i was thinking that time. i learned chess at 5-6 i was rated 1500 at 12 in my first tournament only thing i did was playing chess with my father when he has some time for 5-6 years. I asses his strength something like 1200-1300ish but i couldnt beat him once until i enter my first tournament and beat stronger players. After i got my confidence i never lost my father again (but he stopped playing me in few months :( ) I think key factor was our games are rare and valuable, i couldnt play whenever i want although i liked playing very much. So probably i put my best in those games although i even didnt know what was fork mean (of course i knew double attack intuitively) After my father stopped playing with me i simply lost my interest in chess. In high school my friends were no match and when we had yahoo chess first (and internet) it didnt mean much to me) I lost my interest in chess after we stopped playing. Actually i wasnt playing anyone else or i wasnt studying anything in chess so i didnt have any relationship to chess except once a year games with someone random. I lost my wooden chess board before high school when i carry it to school to teach my friends with hope to create someone i can play.
Later in the story in university i was 19 we had a chess club with everyone leagues better than me. i was rated 1550 that time i think (i played 2 tournaments up to that time once in i was 12 other was high school teams event second board i was the only one with full score) Even 1600 players in university was way better than me (probably because they trained endgame and tactics, they analyzed some master games and they never stop playing) It first brought some sparks to my chess attention. I researched on internet things, played some online games solved some tactics on chess.emrald.net it is still open but doesnt function now i think. I didnt feel belong there so i stop going there, but inside i wanted to improve, in 1-2 years micheal de la maza method craziness started. I partially committed to it to lose my interest in chess more. I nearly memorized all problems in my pirate CT-Art 3-0 somehow made my tactical vision much better but made me much worse calculator. I became lazy in calculation stuff although i can see 2-3 move tactics in a moment, in less forced variations i couldnt bother myself anymore. I think it only harmed my chess in the longer term since my worst arena in chess is calculation, and i have %70-80 ratio of blundering at least a piece in OTB games although i win half of them somehow probably with help of my experience (my concentration increases when i get into losing position but not before) 2007-2014 period i cant say anything about improvement, occasionally i did somethings.
In 2014 and 2015 i attended university events in other cities with 2 of my 2200 friends stayed same room. The atmosphere revived something in me long dead. I think 7 February of 2015 i took decision of improving my chess and become a titled player (attempt failed but it wasnt an attempt i regret) In June 2015 i was going to play i a tournament U1700 category, i stopped going to university till then whenever i had some energy i studied chess and saved all my money for tournament expenses (i also was going to starve the summer if i cant be at least 10th (covers half of my expenses)) I secretly also dreamed being 3rd and profiting the event. I studied 6 -7 hours a day, also spent 6-7 hours doing nothing but my brain wasnt ready for doing somehing, i stopped watching movies, playing games, i meet my girlfriend once of twice a week but i was studying chess when i was with her as well she was also studying her own stuff. I studied some part of 3 books. I read capablanca book "chess essentials" i even cant say i studied deeply. I also half finished a book about positional chess named "systematic training in chess" by sergiu samarian (i dont feel silman stuff are real chess book i tried to read it 4-5 times always disgusted by it, i dont like my system much but still it is lots better book comparedly), third book was an opening book. most flexible sicilian by delchev, i only studied tenth of it or something. After 4 months i went into tournament win it suprisingly with 0 loss, 2 agreed draws in strategic rounds (1 of them last round in clearly better position still some risks though i agreed draw since draw would gurantee first place while lose would kick me to 3rd place half the money prize and draw would give the other kid 2nd place guranteed win-win) You might be wondering how i just be able to skim a book, half study a book and study 1/10 of the third book in 700+ hours of serious study plus 700+ looking blank to the board :) I cant say i even study enough the parts i studied, it was mostly reading authors comments and trying to understands what ifs when author doesnt mention. It also accounts for slow progress in opening book since what ifs are harder to understand ( i couldnt understand most of them but a few i managed was joyfull)
It was hard but it worked. My rating went to 1700 i played 2000 ish performance (if i didnt accept draws it could be even better but i am ok with it) Won a great tournament, in 2-3 months after the tournament i played 2 more tournaments i beat some 1900 and 2000s although i lost 1-2 1700s and half of the higher rated players (i also lost %100 to titled players :D i played 2-3 IMs and GMs ) I didnt win money prizes in these events i was bad financially i started as a trainer in a local chess school full weekend + 2hours on mondays + wednesdays for less than 200 usd month. I get my trainer license but i didnt have experience and my selfconfidence is not that high. Following months my boss didnt allow me to play in tournaments because it meant cancellation of 1-2 days of my work. She only allowed me playing in chess championship but i also have to watch my pupils games and analyze them after matches, i was also burdened with lots of questions before and after matches. In that tournament i though about quitting everything just to be able to sleep a bit more :)
Things got a bit more unfair i was fired after my weak tournament performance 5/9 in one of the most strong tournament in my city winner gets title of city champion of 2015 (not a small city but capitol itself) since my 1300 students got 3.5-4/9, 5/9 wasnt respectable in eyes of neither my boss nor parents of my students. (There was some vague statements not slightly related to neither my professionalism nor my training performance but somehow pointing long way to i was weak player nor i could discipline my students which i was blame parents since they even were challenge my homework attempts saying kids have school, nor they came even on time to lessons, even the things i emphasized most strong way i can possible wasnt taken serious at all) But i cant state how i feel that moment. I was angry and relived and happy and broke same time. My boss paid my lessons i did before the day she even paid for the tournament duration although technically i didnt lecture that period.
I dont know why my chess performance goes to deep after the event. I stopped playing and training, and it made my performance even lower. 2 months ago i tried to recreate my 2015 experience i couldnt find myself be able to concentrate at all. Although things are getting a bit better this week.
In 25 years of my chess journey i think i can spot some importants about chess training.
1. Tactics training is very important but it wont make you any better player at all. I dont think you can improve at all even if you solve tactics 10 hours/day for 10 years. But you have to do it like 1-2 hours/day everyday for all your life simply not to start blundering away your pieces. If you do it 1-2 weeks before a tournament it wont help you enough you will definetely blunder in that tournament. If you didnt play chess for a few months and study regularly you will have at least 2-3 months blundering period there is no cure other than training hard and waiting till its over. (And playing serious games with losing some rating have to be included, no artificial way to circumvent it)
2.Computer didnt help me much, puzzle books are for warm-up not the improvement. Working on a board with a good chess book only thing counts in my opinion. There might be some time needed before you get your full discipline and concentration but unless you push hard you go nowhere, otherwise 100-150 elo is attainable (depends on your current rating and strength but i think it shoul be true at least up to 2000 trying for 2100 should be doable in a hard years of work)
3. I trained some kids, my girlfriend and my friends. Faster and easier rating progress early levels is kind of myth. There are some considerations though, some people acquire knowledge and skill for many years but they dont represent it in their games, by help of some clicks (probably with help of a good trainer and hard working for some long time they may achieve 200-300+ rating in year but mostly they are already underrated players already)
4. Ideal chess books are not the ones with full of light comments, fun language, friendly approach with idea of reader is a fool cant spot obvious or needs fake abstract concepts to guide him/her. Best chess books are some game fragments only critical lines are analyzed by very strong players. Some occasional helpfull comments. You know the theme (you know the book is about opening or weak squares, right?) Why analyzed moves are analyzed is your job to figure out also filling the blanks. Which includes lots of calculation, evaluation of positions, grasping new tactical/positional motiffs + learning attacking/ positional techniques, evaluating endgame positions figuring out best possible methods to defend/win the endgame. It also includes free lessons on opening how he improved his pieces, which pieces he traded/why, where did players put their places/why, was their piece placement strategy sound or mistaken.
4a.No engine help! only occasional help from stronger player, you should work it out alone, then you should control your work alone as well, you shouldnt look at answers to in puzzle books etc too.
Physical exercises make you study chess easier*
Some of my chess books recommendations
New to game---
Igor Sukhin - Chess Camp 10/10
Sergey Ivashchenko - Manual of Chess combinations 1a&1b (7/10)
Beginners---
Jose Raul Capablance - Chess Essentials (9/10)
john Nunn - Learning chess tactics (8/10)
John Emss - The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book (4/10)
Yury Averbakh - Chess endings Essential knowledge (6/10)
Steve Giddins - 50 Instructive chess lessons (6/10)
Post beginners---
Tal & Henkin - Tal's Winning chess combinations (10/10) It will be slightly hard for every level but most book is doable at every level same time
Aron Nimzowitsch - My System (5/10)
Jesus de Villa - 100 Endings you must know (8/10)
Sergiu Samarian - Systematic training in chess (9/10)
Alexandar Kotov - Play like a grandmaster (8/10) & Think like a grandmaster (6/10)
David Bronstein - Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 (8/10)
Gary Kasparov - My Great Predecessors (10/10)
Intermediate --- (vague concept how intermediate is determined I think regular tournament player with 1300-1400 elo who learned basics fairly well and having occasional wins against 1600-1700 elo players fall into this category)
Sergey Ivashchenko - Manual of chess combinations 2&3 (9/10)
Any book not studied previous category should be attempted
Alexey Suetin - Three Steps to Chess Mastery (9/10)
Vukovic - Art of Attack (8/10)
Valeri Bein - Chess recipes from grandmaster's kitchen (7/10) , Lesson's in Chess strategy (8/10) i didnt read third book so i cant comment, but also there is another book by being worth reading How to calculate chess tactics (5-6/10)
Igor Stohl - book on kasparov games (8/10)
Anatoly Karpov - My Best Games (8/10)
M. Dvoretsky & A. Jusupow - Opening prepearation (10/10)
Arthur Jusupow - xxx your chess series (the fundamentals) (7/10)
Israel Gelfer - Manual of Positional Chess (9/10)
UpperIntermediate (Elo 1600-1700+)---
Mark Dvoretsky -Endgame Manual (9/10)
Miroslav Chess Academy (8/10)
Russian Manual of Chess Strategy 2.0 (9/10)
Mark Dvoretsky - Studies for practical players (8/10)
John Nunn - Chess Puzzle Book (10+/10)
John Nunn - Endgame Challenge (10/10)
Jacob Aagard - Grandmaster Preperation Positional Play (5/10) & Strategic Play (6/10)
John Watson - Modern Chess Strategy (3/10) & Chess Strategy in Action (6/10)
Encyclopedia of Chess Combinations (4th Edition 5/10) (5th Edition 7/10) There is only slight change but great increase in readibility (in 5th edition combinations are also ordered according to difficulty)
Note*** If i wrote a books name here even if i gave (1/10) ,t means i am still recommending that book my ratings are my opinions. But i listed the books i would strongly recommend.
There are also 2 books by soltis i found helpful to me, they hardly have content shouldnt be missed so i dont recommend but i liked them very much also helped me some ways. They give some insights about chess training and how masters play chess. These are (Chess studying made easy & what it takes to be a chess grandmaster)
Actually it's ChessMaster. If you beat the program chessmaster on your homecomputer three times you are instantly rewarded with the highly-coveted title. ^^
(you can ask wikipedia for example)
