Monday, January 09, 2006

Improving My Game

One of the usual things one who is excited about chess does is to plunge into games without much concern to the principles behind the game. This has been my case when I started playing correspondence chess. I plunged into the maximum allowed in one site (for nonpaying members) and opened up additional games in another site. I ended up with a lot of games that I hardly think through when making my moves, thereby defeating the primary purpose of correspondence chess: to improve one's game by playing relatively slower games that one can analyze as the game progresses, consulting opening books during the opening part and reviewing and analyzing principles of good play during the middlegame and endgame.

Another thing that novices like me tend to do is to experiment with a lot of opening repertoire. So in one game, I may do the Dutch, with another the English, with another the Sicilian, etc. etc. What I ended up with is a shallow understanding of each particular opening, with very little regard for the logic and the reason for the moves that constitute a particular opening. Plus, undue concentration on opening lines gave me little time to understand the various common traps for unsuspecting players.

So, with the new year (so trite hehe), I decided to develop a strategy. The objective is the same: improve my game to the point that I can play high-quality faster games, like the one required in OTB (on the board) events. I still don't know if I should aim for a particular rating, since I am still finding out what's a typically high rating, if that means anything. Anyway, the lifelong goal is to reach a level of expertise that I am good enough for the GMs :-) To reach this ultimate goal, I need to develop skills, and this is how I plan to do it.

If I am playing white, I have the opportunity of making the first move. For now, I can concentrate on the standard king or queen openings. The usual response from black would usually be a symmetrical move, or a sicilian defense. Of course, there will be other responses from black, but the point is that if I concentrate on this line, I will be able to understand the various responses from black, and play them as well with understanding on its effect on white.

After some time, I can start analyzing variations on white's opening moves, like the reverse sicilian. It seems obvious that what I will be missing out is how to respond as black to non e4 or d4 openings. In these situations that I believe would be minimal, I would need more help from opening books.

Of course, tactical plays and an understanding of traps would always be a separate component so as not to squander the wealth from what the preceding plans could yield for my benefit. Read More......