Hypocrite
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Hi I found this article really nice
Ok but I have watched long courses now should I stick on them or should I change to sth else
And if I want to understand the ideas of a variation more how can I do it
Ok but I have watched long courses now should I stick on them or should I change to sth else
And if I want to understand the ideas of a variation more how can I do it
@Vicky2013 said in #5:
> What He Is Trying To Say Is That Most Amateurs Are Mostly Hobby Improvers Emphasis On Hobby It Means That They Use It For Spare Time He Is saying that Most People Dont Have That Much Time
WHITTSITHMAAMHIEOHIMETTUIFSTHISMPDHTMT
interesting...
> What He Is Trying To Say Is That Most Amateurs Are Mostly Hobby Improvers Emphasis On Hobby It Means That They Use It For Spare Time He Is saying that Most People Dont Have That Much Time
WHITTSITHMAAMHIEOHIMETTUIFSTHISMPDHTMT
interesting...
This essay is too long, in short if you don't have money problem then go for it, otherwise like me just use the Lichess study tools. Thank you.
Well, this is ironic.
Ah yes the good old.
Is x worth it. Well only if you've got good x. If you got bad x then no.
Here are a few examples of good courses that are irrelevant for you and another few that pay me a commission because it's mine or I'm affiliated.
Anyway, I've bought into several opening repertoires and have come to the one singular conclusion.
Opening "repertoire" courses are irrelevant and should be avoiding. Opening "principles" course (typically offered as part of a "beginner/intermediate" chess improvement style pack) are not. And the typical chess player will get infinite more value from a 30 - 1 hour youtube video on an opening and just playing and analysing from there onwards or even just toying with stockfish and the masters database than they will from trawling through any several hour long repertoire course. Reason being they don't teach you how to play the opening, just give you an example of an opening for you to copy.
Obviously this is excluding towards people who get the courses to explore openings and their theory rather than improve and those who are already around the master level so already have the level of foundational understanding and just need the ideal moves to give the best chances at victory.
All my playing strength improvement over the years with chess as a hobby have come from an increase in understanding of chess itself or strengthening calculation skills and pattern recognition from puzzles/games. The why certain moves in the opening are played has been infinitely more important than the what moves are played and quite frankly I've never seen am opening course that goes into enough detail on that because their goal is to give you the skeleton of a repertoire to build on and memorise and not teach you how to play the opening and leverage what the point of said opening was.
And learning through reasons rather than moves makes chess infinitely more fun aswell, since it feels more like you are genuinely playing and strategising rather than being a hand for someone elses analysis.
And the closest to what I've wanted on explanation of ideas in openings to what would make a good opening course has come from books and other material on pawn structures (stuff like Rios a grandmasters guide, hellstens pawn structure explained and such). I do truly believe it to be possible that an opening course could work, if done right. But I'm yet to see that.
I will say chess moods aren't as bad as many others, but that's more due to the format of their website integrating it in with all the other drills of chess improvement rather than the opening courses they have themselves.
Is x worth it. Well only if you've got good x. If you got bad x then no.
Here are a few examples of good courses that are irrelevant for you and another few that pay me a commission because it's mine or I'm affiliated.
Anyway, I've bought into several opening repertoires and have come to the one singular conclusion.
Opening "repertoire" courses are irrelevant and should be avoiding. Opening "principles" course (typically offered as part of a "beginner/intermediate" chess improvement style pack) are not. And the typical chess player will get infinite more value from a 30 - 1 hour youtube video on an opening and just playing and analysing from there onwards or even just toying with stockfish and the masters database than they will from trawling through any several hour long repertoire course. Reason being they don't teach you how to play the opening, just give you an example of an opening for you to copy.
Obviously this is excluding towards people who get the courses to explore openings and their theory rather than improve and those who are already around the master level so already have the level of foundational understanding and just need the ideal moves to give the best chances at victory.
All my playing strength improvement over the years with chess as a hobby have come from an increase in understanding of chess itself or strengthening calculation skills and pattern recognition from puzzles/games. The why certain moves in the opening are played has been infinitely more important than the what moves are played and quite frankly I've never seen am opening course that goes into enough detail on that because their goal is to give you the skeleton of a repertoire to build on and memorise and not teach you how to play the opening and leverage what the point of said opening was.
And learning through reasons rather than moves makes chess infinitely more fun aswell, since it feels more like you are genuinely playing and strategising rather than being a hand for someone elses analysis.
And the closest to what I've wanted on explanation of ideas in openings to what would make a good opening course has come from books and other material on pawn structures (stuff like Rios a grandmasters guide, hellstens pawn structure explained and such). I do truly believe it to be possible that an opening course could work, if done right. But I'm yet to see that.
I will say chess moods aren't as bad as many others, but that's more due to the format of their website integrating it in with all the other drills of chess improvement rather than the opening courses they have themselves.
tldr:
- Course Size: Choose courses under 10 hours to avoid overwhelming content.
- Specificity: Select courses tailored to your skill level, avoiding ones that are too advanced or general.
- Understanding Over Memorization: Focus on courses that teach the ideas and plans behind the moves, not just move sequences.
- Limit the Number of Openings: Stick to one opening to maximize learning and improvement in other chess areas.
- Course Size: Choose courses under 10 hours to avoid overwhelming content.
- Specificity: Select courses tailored to your skill level, avoiding ones that are too advanced or general.
- Understanding Over Memorization: Focus on courses that teach the ideas and plans behind the moves, not just move sequences.
- Limit the Number of Openings: Stick to one opening to maximize learning and improvement in other chess areas.
I believe I can agree with the author to a large extend.
Earlier I as well just spent little time on openings because I followed the basic advice of better focussing on other areas.
Today however I find it quite worthwile to also study opening courses because I learn a lot about positional understanding and planning.
I learn what is the core theme of resulting positions and why.
My major causes of my losses however are still the lack of tactical awareness, fatal endgame blunders and the lack of deeper calculation capabilities.
Hence, I agree that sharing most of my time on the latter topics should hopefully result in a better improvement.
Earlier I as well just spent little time on openings because I followed the basic advice of better focussing on other areas.
Today however I find it quite worthwile to also study opening courses because I learn a lot about positional understanding and planning.
I learn what is the core theme of resulting positions and why.
My major causes of my losses however are still the lack of tactical awareness, fatal endgame blunders and the lack of deeper calculation capabilities.
Hence, I agree that sharing most of my time on the latter topics should hopefully result in a better improvement.
Not the worst, not the best but I still like it but can you make it shorter?
The following seems to be contradicting statements:
"Opening courses get old quickly." and thus he has no recommendations for good opening courses. And also:
"Without plans and ideas as their guiding compass, they feel lost and make big mistakes." But plans and ideas do not really change in openings as the pawn structures do not really change, e.g. no matter the novelty found in the French defence, it will always have the same pawn structure and thus the ideas will always be the same. No?
The opening books that come to mind for me, are the "Mastering the ..." series by Pietro Ponzetto, e.g. Mastering the King's indian defence or Mastering the Spanish. Those books are about 30 years old by now but I doubt they are really outdated (I haven't read those books though).
"Opening courses get old quickly." and thus he has no recommendations for good opening courses. And also:
"Without plans and ideas as their guiding compass, they feel lost and make big mistakes." But plans and ideas do not really change in openings as the pawn structures do not really change, e.g. no matter the novelty found in the French defence, it will always have the same pawn structure and thus the ideas will always be the same. No?
The opening books that come to mind for me, are the "Mastering the ..." series by Pietro Ponzetto, e.g. Mastering the King's indian defence or Mastering the Spanish. Those books are about 30 years old by now but I doubt they are really outdated (I haven't read those books though).