Tony Palmer

The universal question from juniors and students: "How can I get better at chess?" Sometimes the easy questions are the hardest, yet anyone can create a successful strategy for improvement, no matter what your present level. Here are some ideas to become stronger at chess:

1) PLAY. The first step is to play – play play play play play. This should be easy, because you already enjoy chess. Try to play serious games (taking notation, using clocks, touch move, no takebacks) on a regular basis. Your local chess club is a great place to find training games against quality opposition, and don't feel uneasy about recording the moves. (We'll cover that next.) The Internet features around-the-clock opportunity to play serious games at time controls from g/5 (blitz) up to 3-7 days/move (correspondence/slow chess). Free playing sites include the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS), ChessAnyTime and Yahoo for live play, or GameKnot and Queen Alice for correspondence. Note Internet chess carries the inherent drawback that your opponent might be using computer help, and you won't know for sure, yet it's still good practice for you. If you do play on the Internet, don't ever cheat, as you will never learn anything.

Many beginning players will improve dramatically just through frequent play. Of course, this will only take you so far, since at some point you have to understand why you lose. Moreover, one might easily overestimate their own ability until facing more experienced opposition. It can be an unpleasant surprise to visit a club or tournament packed with serious players who can exploit unsound tactics or risky strategy. This is the juncture where many enthusiasts drop out of competitive chess permanently, but you can and will improve if you just stick with it through this phase. You should aim for games with longer time controls if you want to improve, as blitz chess is typically won or lost based on blunders and oversights, or else it can degenerate into an unfair win/loss on time.

2) REVIEW. The analysis session between both players immediately following a game is called a post mortem. This practice is often overlooked or minimized, but reviewing your games with your opponent right afterwards is incredibly helpful. You can discuss opening play, alternate variations, missed tactics, quicker wins, drawing resources, all at your leisure with no time pressure. It's best to replay that game following your written scoresheet, thus you should record the moves during play instead of trying to reconstruct everything later. One word of caution: this is not the time to tell your opponent how lucky they are, or how bad they were, or any other confrontational posing. Even if they really were lucky during the game, do not say that. The post mortem should be a positive exchange of ideas for next time, with definite mutual benefit and no sour aftertaste. Be polite and gracious toward your opponent. And if they don't want to go over your game for whatever reason, then don't press the issue.

Another helpful way to review your game involves using a computer to analyze the moves on both sides. There is a small learning curve from a terminology standpoint (nodes, ply), also the clunky phrases plugged into the software can be jarring ("the Knight feels good on f4" & "Rxg8 doesn't get the bull off the ice" & such). But computers are extremely sharp at picking up missed tactics and finding quicker winning sequences. I have Fritz 7 which is very user friendly, but any engine you choose will quickly become indispensable to your improvement. To this end, don't feel obligated to find the latest, greatest, and most expensive product; just find one and use it.

3) ANNOTATE. After you have reviewed the game with your opponent, and ideally before you run it through an engine, write down your own comments and variations for your game, as thoroughly and completely as possible, and then add your annotations to the gamescore. Greater detail is always better, however this process takes some practice to limit stating the obvious ("White develops the Bishop" & "Black attacks the Queen" & such). Your first attempts might be quite shaky, but we all have to start somewhere. Ultimately your favorite efforts should go into a Best Games Collection that you keep in a notebook or else post on an Internet blog for future reference.

Botvinnik wrote, "It is vital to check one's analyses thoroughly, including those that have already been published." Indeed, World Champions from Steinitz to Anand have all strongly recommended that amateurs should annotate their own games as a crucial means to understand their own play and improve for next time. Note Alekhine, Botvinnik and Fischer were particularly outstanding annotators, mostly due to their blunt honesty and sincere attitude regarding mistakes, so studying their annotated games would be highly instructive. Remember that annotations could always be edited and corrected later, as sometimes an outside reviewer would find a suggestion or hole in your analysis.

4) STUDY. Botvinnik again: "To broaden one's chess outlook it is useful to study the game collections of the leading chess players. To improve one's accuracy of calculation, one should solve endgame studies and analyze games abounding in tactical ideas." One easy way to start would be finding reference games with the same opening as one of your games, to compare how a master handles their middlegame and endgame versus your example. Then you could cite that reference into your annotations for later. Naturally chess books contain a wealth of information, even though the opening theory becomes quickly dated, and there are several magazines devoted to chess. A serious student should visit their library or search the Internet before purchasing any books or magazines, as there is literally unlimited wordage to be found out there. The Exeter Chess Club is a popular Web site with lots of useful instruction at the student/junior level. I frequently visit chessgames.com which features a large database of master games along the ability to kibitz (post comments) on specific games within that database, plus other message boards on specific openings and famous players. As you find games and information, consider writing an article on an opening variation you like, or else create a tactics quiz, or cover an endgame subject. Whenever you read an article, you may learn a lot, but whenever you write an article, you will learn a ton.

Remember no study time is wasted if you're learning something. At the same time, try to concentrate your time on openings you play, common endgames, and solving puzzles. In my opinion, the five most common ways for beginners to win or lose is 1) tactics 2) tactics 3) tactics 4) tactics 5) missed tactics. So study tactics already. On the Internet, the Emrald Chess Tactics Server offers free timed puzzles to solve, so you can truly test yourself against the clock which is great practice. Like anything else, the more practice, the better you'll get. Beyond that, the more you know about tactics, the better your annotations will be, and thus the better player you'll become.

5) COACH. The best way to learn is to teach. Whatever your present level, you still know an immense amount about chess, and therefore you could use your knowledge to teach and instruct less experienced players. Showing up at chess club to play against a beginner and then reviewing that game with them is one form of coaching. Any school with a chess program would welcome your help and guidance, for as much time as you have to spare. And the age factor is irrelevant; the teacher is usually older than the student, but it could easily go the other way so both can learn together.

Don't put any pressure on yourself to develop structured teaching plans or detailed study schedules for students, although it does help to be systematic and organized. You could spend an hour reviewing the Ruy Lopez or the Sicilian or any other standard opening, sharing ideas and preferences and traps. Maybe you could study Rook and Pawn endgames together (a common area for improvement that we all need), or play through one classic game at length. Some folks create study groups to review the latest "Chess Life" cover to cover, going over games and content together. Another good idea is to present one of your games as a puzzle for your student to solve, and vice versa. The possibilities are truly endless.

Hopefully these guidelines will give you some ideas and inspiration to improve your own chess, and to help others improve as well. Good luck!