Information Overload!

Information Overload!
Being a Chess crazed nut, I am very obsessed on collecting anything chess, even watching it. Ever since 1980s, on and off, I have collected over 100 books, databases of 12-15 million games, Videos, programs of various some free some “acquired” I find myself with information overload. I know I am not the only person out there that has done this we all have but trying to study is a nightmare. Access to all this stuff causes me to spend hours trying to find the “right” thing to study because everything looks great. I have in the past, boxed the stuff up and only left out some to study with but finding myself going back into the box. Being the age of the computer, I also cannot tell you how much I acquired because its thousands of PGN files, PDF’s, and stuff.

I mainly grown up in my chess by playing Correspondence chess (basically without clocks) which kind of explains why I have so much stuff. But now my issue is trying to study. Having Fritz 16, Aquarium 2019, Lucas Chess, and play mostly on Lichess I find myself spending more and more time trying to learn the software then study, but I also do not want to relay mainly to online. I really enjoy playing with chess board even with online playing.

Recently, I am now trying to focus on opening repertoire mainly using Lucas Chess for this. Making up multiple lines for each opening and variation, then using its training to learn. Now the other two applications I mentioned above I mainly use for playing against and I do not utilize them fully because If learning curve lol.

I guess the reason for this post is more a venting out on why I have all this “Crap” so to speak. I would like to hear from everyone else on what they do to learn or study as well as what software their using. Looking for both online as well as offline. I know everything is different in their study habits but its nice to what players of my generation as well as current generation are doing. If you have some suggestions on making opening learning etc... that would be wonderful.

Thanks,

WhiteRavenx

You should check out Chessable.com. It is a free site and great for learning openings and tactics.

Like you I have many books and videos and ebooks, etc on chess. Once I found Chessable, that became my primary way of study. It is easy and effective, and there is a lot of quality material available for study. There are loads of free courses, and a large selection of books that have been converted and are for sale.

Thanks for the suggestion ... I'll check it out. Having so many chess software I almost feel that i have redundant programs lol.

Thanks,
WhiteRavenx

Read standard books written by old greats like Botvinnik , Paul Keres etc. Apply ideas in your games. Then run Computer Analysis for your games here at Lichess.

Create a database using ScId software of your computer-analysed games. Then go over those games periodically.

Looked at Chessable.com and it does seem good. Its still lacking in the openings I am working on but i'll keep up the site.

I tried SCID before.. but adding another software is not on my list. I have used SCID for many years but ended up moving away from it. Thanks for the reply.

Hello Whiteravenx,

I found your original post quite amusing and comforting as I now feel the library shelf full of never-read chess books is a testament to my relatively sane relationship with the game.

I can confirm your self-diagnosis: you are indeed nuts! ;D

I am ready to contribute to your healing by taking upon myself part of the burden of owning so much chess-related material: fell free to send me those boxes and I will take care of them for you.

Here, in a nutshell, is my recent experience:

Never more than a casual player, I recently returned to the game after a 20-year hiatus intent upon improving my understanding of the game. After a false start which consisted of playing perhaps 1000 games of blitz - at which I am horrible - on chess.com, I left that form of entertainment behind and got down to the business of studying the game properly.

So, I started playing correspondence chess (on Chessworld) and in a matter of a couple of months had played far, far, more "long" games of chess than in the preceding 45 years. This format lets me study openings as they unfold on the board and deeply immerse myself in a position and try to understand the dynamic aspects within it. I do not think a better format exists for improving as it all but completely evacuates time-pressure from the equation. I am not saying time management skills are not required. Just that at my stage of development the "time factor" does more harm than good as far as the business of reaching my goals is concerned.

That said, I devote very little time to playing per se. Most of my "chess time" is spent studying on Chessable.com which has provided me with countless hours of pure, unadulterated pleasure as it is replete with excellent books and uses a patented Move Trainer technology that takes all of the inconvenience and aggravation I associate with traditional books out of the equation.

Most of my study time over these past few months has been spent studying endgames because I take it as self-evident that studying positions with a few pieces on the board is simpler than when the field of battle is occupied with its full complement of men.

I also firmly believe, as Tarrasch once wrote that by so doing I "will acquire a clearer conception of their pieces". Another reason I have spent so much time studying endgames is that the subject matter is mainly positional in character: this is not really the place for combinative and tactical manoeuvrings, even though they do occur once in a while.

Finally, who has never lost a won game simply because their endgame knowledge was weak? I am not talking about situations like Carlen's where the advantage is non-existent or minute but in which he succeeds in "squeezing water from stones". I am talking about this very database which is replete with examples of winning positions with +3, +5, +8 advantages lost because the stronger side did not know which of the six possible moves was the only one that was not a blunder and could ensure an easy victory.

Now that I am mostly done with my "endgame groundwork", I will very shortly be switching to an intensive study of tactics, starting with checkmating patterns. As you can see, my approach is very foundational. I don't mind working on something for a long time with no apparent benefit when I am convinced I am laying a foundation solid and broad enough to accommodate any building I should choose to put atop of it later, whether that be a Cathedral or a modest bungalow, ha, ha.

Furthermore, under a certain level of play (say, 1800 USCF) I am thoroughly convinced that whatever incremental advantage accrues to a player because of his better command of opening theory is quickly made meaningless either by his opponent's greater tactical abilities should that be the case or the fact that egregious mistakes or blunders are ubiquitous under "Class A" chess, though in inverse proportion to the rating level.

In other words, play is not as consistently good, from one move to the other, as in expert levels and above where the advantage is, more often than not, incremental. This means that for most people who indulge in this wonderful activity, games are most often decided by "seismic" events such as egregious mistakes and blunders or some unsuspected tactical opportunity materializing before one's eyes as he/she realizes the gig is up.

A simple random survey of games in this very database (perhaps even your own games!) will convince anyone reading this that my conclusions are based on fact, not mere fancy. That said, an FM friend of mine (a young Indian prodigy named Ajay Karthikeyan) recently confirmed to me that his astonishing rating boost from 1770 Fide to 2260 Fide in less than a one year period was almost entirely due to tactics. He only really started to study openings when he hit 2000 FIDE, I believe, and just last week wrote me that he was going back to studying tactics as openings bored him.

You can see Ajay’s ratings progress chart here: ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=35011685

You can see his recent comments on my chessable profile page here: www.chessable.com/profile/PixelatedParcel/

Regards,

Pix

Hey there,
Thanks for replying with great story on your study habbits. I have been studying tactics from books and endgame "Silman's Endgame" book. I figured I would get more into the actual openings it seems that i play alot in my Correspondence chess games. I have 1800ish USCF correspondence chess rating.. .yes I know its old School but still love it. I also play on "www.schemingmind.com" which I am around that rating. One thing i have came into realization is, I hate time lol and my online playing is just screwing around. 1/2 the time i play online I can care less if i screw up or not. Most the time its just the thrill of moving around the pieces haha.

I do agree with you on Tactics and use many sites as well as local software playing puzzles, mates, etc ... Anything lower then 90 min is blitz to me right now and even then I lost on time. I have used chessable for sometime but most of the Free books are ok but right now I have to save pennies.

Thanks,
Whiteravenx

<i>Anything lower then 90 min is blitz to me right now.</i>

They do say that longer time controls is very helpful to growing as a player.

Hello Whiteravenx,

You probably know this already but in case you don't there are a few excellent free books on chessable, many of which are dedicated to tactics.

AlanB's "On the Attack" series of free books has received universal praise from the community and I'm confident at least one of them would provide you with a fun and useful learning experience on chessable. Another free book you might enjoy working with is "Olympiad tactics 2018": I haven't worked with it myself but at the price, who can complain? Finally, "dodgy's e4 and e5" tactics should also provide you with a nice little workout.

If you ever have some spare change to spend on a few books, Benedictine's "Common Chess Patterns" is fantastic value for the price (10$, I think). CraftyRaf's "Checkmating patterns" is a real labour of love and a steal (15$, I think).

Regards,

Pix

Thank you for replying to this post again. I am going to start using chessable again because its now 9:30pm and i have spent close to 6 hours on Lucas Chess creating my own opening tree on Caro-Kann Advanced variation. Im building One tree or file for each variation. I maybe doing it wrong and should include one file with everything... but I am not an expert at this.

Now i am unable to actually export that to PGN lol or do anything with it lol. So, I am done learning new software. Lucas chess is nice but lack of documentation and having to hunt down everything... its now Deleted. I may continue with SCID for database, Aquarium 2019 for my correspondence chess software and it opens CB files,and utilize Lichess and Chassable for training. This is the frustration i have been going through and now its late and zero games actual played lol .I may sound mad but I just want to be able to play against certain openings (that i created with my theory) and its to much like doing work .. this is suppose to be fun.