10 Secrets of a Chess Master

Every chess player has their own habits and views when it comes to training or chess
in general. What might work for some strong players might be of no use for others and
the other way around. You have to analyze your style of play and create your own
training schedule that will help you improve your overall performance. However,
while the percentage of hours invested in your training weighs most when it comes to
seeing an increase in your rating, we believe that there are also other factors that
influence it. Having a healthy and disciplined lifestyle is of great importance and will
improve your overall performance in tournaments.
Here are some things chess masters do in order to prepare for tournaments and
improve their play and might work for you as well.

1.Accumulated knowledge and intuition

A master can tell when a preparation is coming against him, especially from a less
experienced player [here is some good advice how to succeed at chess]. In such cases,
his previously accumulated knowledge allows him to slightly change the move order
or play a completely different line. A strong chess master can usually play different
types of positions and knows what the correct approach to different structures is.
Even if he doesn’t know or remember the theory move by move, he knows the plans
and ideas and playing something other than his usual lines don’t usually represent an
issue.

2.The ability to resources in difficult positions

Strong chess players have developed a lot of imagination and can sometimes “squeeze
water from a stone”. In positions where most players can agree to a draw, experienced
players find new ideas to put pressure on their opponent.

3.“Sneaky” play
From our own experience, we can say that very strong players don’t usually “jump at
your throat” from the very beginning. In general, they keep the position flexible and
try to improve their position move by move.
They know that the longer the game the higher the chances that they will bring home
the full point. Less experienced players will usually make even a slight error that they
will take advantage of in the long run.

4.Constant learning
Chess masters usually see a lot of games in order to improve their overall
understanding of chess.
They see not only lines that they employ in their games, but also different types of
positions. By understanding how to play a wide range of positions they can keep
flexible during a game and, most importantly, it will be difficult to surprise them over
the board!

5.Understand the ideas behind the moves and the openings

A strong player won’t just play through the game, but also try to understand and
assimilate the plans employed. The same goes with their opening choice; while they
know their theory very well, they also know how to continue once this is over.

6.Opening preparation
A grandmaster prepares against the opponent’s weaknesses. The preparation usually
consists in finding the rival’s soft spots and discovering the positions where the other
feels more uncomfortable to play. Once he has found all this, his choice of opening will
be taken in accordance.

7.Patterns
A strong chess player usually tried to identify the patterns in the position and in
consequence. This allows him to transpose from one opening to the other relying on
schematic thinking. This is something difficult for the average player, but it is one of
the aspects that define a master.

8.Leave space for error

A chess master usually keeps the tension during a game; he doesn’t simplify too early
or get the play into a direction where the moves are forced and the opponent will find
them by calculation. This is rather linked to the pattern understanding stated above;
an average player may find himself in positions where he doesn’t know what to do
and unnecessarily weaken his position.

9.Physical training
More and more strong chess players give a great importance nowadays to
the physical training as well. Besides the “routine” chess training, each has their own
sports routine, from running to going to the gym or pool.

10.Positive thinking
While it is easy to panic in a position for an amateur, a Grandmaster faces the
difficulties with a fighting spirit, keeping a positive approach to every situation. Panic
can make you see ghosts, thus resulting in bad decisions in equal positions.
 Ready to start winning games with Chess Secrets? Check out our store and
articles:
 Positional Chess Mastery with GM Marian Petrov
 5 Steps to Chess Master Decision Making

5 Things for Becoming a Better Chess Player without a Coach

NM Viktor Neustroev
07.08.2017
Category: Training Techniques
Tags: positional chess, tactics, chess training, opening,

It’s hard to imagine that it’s possible to become a master without a coach. But before I
share a few tips and ideas how to work on chess by yourself, I should definitely say
that if you have an option to hire a coach, you should do this. Working together with a
good coach will benefit you the most. A good coach can help you to improve certain
aspects of your play which you can hardly spot by yourself. However, in this article, I
want to tell you how to train most effectively on your own.
The first and the basic tip is that before you get started, you should ask a stronger
chess player (at least 200 points higher) to analyze some of your games and tell what
your weak and strong points are.
The reason why it’s important is that you need to develop your own training program.
For example, you are good at tactics, but always get an inferior position after first 10
moves. What should you do in this case? Of course, spend more time learning
openings, but it doesn’t mean that you should stop working on tactics.
After you specified your own training plan, your next task is following it. Let me
describe what to do and how to work on every aspect of your play.
There are 5 aspects that players usually have to work on to improve:
 Openings
 Tactics
 Positional chess
 Endgames
 Game analysis

1. The Openings
Let’s start with the openings. Knowledge of the openings is very important when you
are over 1800 Elo. I highly recommend that you work on openings with a coach.
However, I have something to advise if you are going to train yourself. First, if you are
learning a new opening, you should decide whether it’s suitable for you or not. For
example, if you are good at positional play, I recommend that you play closed or semi-
closed positions.
If you are a tactical player, you should play open (or semi-open) positions and choose
openings where every move contains a concrete threat like Sicilian or French defense.
For example, look at this position on the diagram. I like to play this position for both
sides because I’m good at calculating variations.
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qc7 7. Qg4 Ne7 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.
Qxh7 cxd4 10. Ne2 dxc3 11. f4 Nbc6 12. h4 Bd7 13. h5 O-O-O 14. Qd3

White is slightly better here, he has a clear plan – to advance the h-pawn, but his
pieces are undeveloped and black can use it.
I recommend learning openings starting with books [or videos] by Masters and
Grandmasters, the main point is that it should be recent [ a current year or a year
before]. For example, currently, I am learning Nimzo-Indian Defense with 2017
edition of the book.
Your task is not only to learn all the lines but to understand all types of the positions
you get in this opening. It takes more time if you study it independently.
Then you should practice – play many blitz and rapid games. It will help you not only
to understand the position better, but also to check what the most popular lines are.
After that, you should find the most recent games in the database and analyze them in
all details. This is how you can work on the openings but bear in mind that the
openings always need a lot of attention and practice.
 2. Tactics
Speaking about tactics, I can tell you about 2 different methods to improve
your calculating skills. In this area, your task is to solve at least 50 puzzles per week.
If you can’t solve that many regular difficulty puzzles every week, try the simpler
ones. A large number of tactics is a key to success.
You should solve challenging puzzles as well.
And if you have already spent about 30 minutes, but still didn’t identify the solution,
check the answers and analyze the puzzle. By the way, for master level players I
recommend solving puzzles from ”Perfect Your Chess” by A.Volokitin and V.Grabinsky.
After you study this book, you will be playing at least 100 points stronger.
There is another way to improve your tactical skills. You can find a lot of puzzles on
the Internet and solve them online. In this exercise, your job is to recognize a tactical
pattern and then calculate few moves ahead to solve the puzzle. You should spend
less than 1 minute on those.
If the puzzle is unsolved, just check the solution and remember the key ideas. Next
time when you encounter a position like that, it will be much easier for you to find the
solution.
Try to memorize at least 4 new tactical patterns a day.

3. Positional Chess
The most difficult in the process of self-learning chess is the strategy or how to
improve your positional play.
What is the major difference between a weak player and a strong player?
A weak player analyzes every possible move, but a strong player has many different
positions [chess patterns] in his mind from grandmasters’ games and using this
knowledge he chooses the best move and the best plan.
It is also important to know how to evaluate the position, which pieces to trade and
how to deal with a certain pawn structure. There are a lot of classical books you can
read on this topic. I’m sure it’s helpful, but there is also one trick that can help you to
become a better at positional play and saves your time.
You should work only on positions you typically get from the opening. For example,
you play Nimzo-Indian Defense as black, you may ask following questions:
 What is vitally important there?
 What pawn structure are you going to get?
 When to trade your bishop on b4?
 What other pieces to trade?
 To learn all these plans you should analyze grandmasters’ games: at least 20-30
games played on this variation. Pay more attention to every move.
Ask questions.
 Why did black play this way?
 What was his plan?
 Is there anything specific?

4. Endgame
As for the endgames, I prefer keeping my queen on the board, but sometimes you have
to play a symmetrical endgame position. In this case, the only way you can train this
aspect is to read classical books or watch video courses.
Besides the basic principles, you will learn some theoretical positions that you should
know and aim for. For example, if you play a rook endgame, it’s Lucena and Philidor
positions. If you have good calculating skills, it also helps in the endgame.

5. Game Analysis
And the last point in our list is your game analysis. Every time when you played a
game (even if it’s online blitz game), analyze it with the computer, check all your
mistakes and think why you decided to make this bad move. It will help you not to
repeat your mistakes many times.
I hope you will follow my advice and your FIDE rating will increase in mo time!
Ready to start winning games? Check out our store and articles:
 Time Saving Tips for the Chess Player Who is Too Busy to Study – IM Andrew
Martin
 5 Bad Habits Every Aspiring Chess Player Should Avoid
 5 Things Every Chess Player Should Start Doing

10 Ways to Improve Your Calculation Skills

WGM Raluca Sgîrcea, IM Renier Castellanos

01.27.2017
Category: Training Techniques
Tags: chess training, calculate moves, grandmaster secrets,
Chess is mostly about tactics. That doesn’t necessarily mean complicated
combinations, but simply minor operations that take place at every instance of the
game. The positional ideas and concepts often have to be backed up with accurate
calculation or in extreme cases they can only be enforced by precise and well-
calculated variations. Therefore, the calculation is the muscle of every chess player.
How many positional players are able to get strong/winning positions and then fail
when the opponent starts shooting desperado moves in order to survive?
In other words, in order to reach a higher level, your calculation needs to be decent
enough to not commit fatal mistakes, whether they are in static or dynamic positions.
In this article, we will give you some useful tips in order to improve your calculation.
They are not only directed at the serious and dedicated player but also at those who
don’t have a lot of time; there are some habits one can practice in order to keep
calculation sharp.
Let’s begin with the most obvious

1. Solving exercises
The key to solving exercises at home is to do them right. This means that it requires
some self-honesty; you can’t be soft on yourself because your opponent won’t be! So if
you’re missing moves in your calculation don’t think that “I would have seen it” or “I
saw this move but missed his answer” etc. Try to do the next one right. You should
also annotate your answers on a piece of paper in order to confront your own
mistakes. Writing down the moves somehow feels like playing the move in a real
game; there are no take-backs.

2. Solve studies
This practice has always been there but it seems it doesn’t quite catch among chess
players. Most of them find them too hard and since it’s a composed position it may
look rather unlikely to happen at the board. However, this is irrelevant; try to solve it
anyway! The studies will expand your imagination to another dimension which can be
applied in your games. Highly recommended practice.

3. Candidate Moves
One big part of the calculation is knowing “what to calculate” in a position. You need to
become familiar with the candidate moves, therefore it is useful to find and solve
exercises where the goal is not to win by some direct combination but to make
practical decisions.

4. Blindfold games
The benefits of this practice are obvious. If you can play a full game without seeing the
board and without making fatal mistakes, it is great news. The visualization of positions
and potential positions that are not on the board is important. Many mistakes occur
because we forget where a piece was after we calculate 3-4 moves ahead.

5. Exercises with time control

Make sure you set a time limit to solve your puzzles. Start with 15-20 min and continue
by using less and less time on the next ones. Nowadays it is not only important to play
well but also to play fast. Precise calculation under time pressure is a huge plus at
tournaments.
6. Blitz
We are not big fans of a blitz games overdose. However, a small number of blitz
games can be a quick way to improve your play. You still need to try your best; instead
of playing for flag you should be trying to outplay your opponent by making good
moves.

Techniques of calculation
There are several techniques when it comes to starting calculating your chosen
candidate moves. We have the preference for two, as they work very well in practice:

7. Elimination process
Instead of looking for the virtues of a move try to work out the flaws it has. If from 4
candidate moves you have refuted three, then your choice is clear. You don’t know the
consequences of the 4th candidate move, but you know the other 3 lead to defeat!

8. Comparison
The most difficult positions to calculate are those in which everything looks like a good
move, as this is very often an illusion. Pick similar moves and compare the differences
between them. In the next diagram you can apply this method:

White to Play and Win

(Answer at the bottom of the article)
 Not everyone has the time to follow a training plan. Many club players and also
masters have jobs but still, have plenty of contact with chess on a daily basis. Here are
a few habits you can add to your day by day ones:

9. Reading chess games without a board

Read a book or magazine with games without the board and see how far you can go
without losing the image of the position in your mind. This can be done anytime and
anywhere but it is easier said than done. It requires deep concentration and yes, it
does work!

10. Following games online

Nowadays it’s quite common that we follow chess games from tournaments all around
the world. Most broadcasting platforms have the possibility of turning on an engine to
tell us in one second what is happening. Do not do it; get used to think for yourself and
find the moves while you’re following. Sometimes your thoughts will match high level
players.
We hope what is written above serves you as a good guide for your personal training.
As usual, please let us know your thoughts in the comments and help us improve as
well.
Solution to the diagram:
1.Qb2!! Black is hopeless as there is no answer to defend the queen and knight
Trap: 1.Qa1?? Black draws with …Ng4! Sacrificing the queen.
Ready to start winning games? Check out our store and articles:
 Better Chess Now! – 20:20 Calculation – GM Daniel King
 Grandmaster Level Calculation with GM Daniel Gormally
 Art of Calculation with IM Andrey Ostrovskiy
 5 Rules for Mastering Chess Calculation
 5 Steps to Calculating Likes a Grandmaster

5 Proven Ways to Improve at Chess

WGM Raluca Sgîrcea, IM Renier Castellanos

01.16.2017
 Category: Training Techniques

Tags: learn chess, improve at chess, chess training, endgame training,

Improving at chess has to be one of the most mysterious things in all sports. The
training of the mind is not as easily measured as the physical training, for example.
While running, lifting weights or swimming will transform you and you will see results in
a short amount of time after doing it, it is not that simple with chess.
There is one phrase by the great Viktor Korchnoi that can resume this: “Chess you
don’t learn, chess you understand”!
Basically, what it means is that it takes a longer time until all the information and
experiences you have of the game start coming together as a whole and you become
a stronger player. This can be seen when people who trained a lot did not achieve
their best results during the period of training, but then, after a while, they start scoring
and their knowledge is finally showing. Training is a very important thing for every
player; it not only improves your actual strength, but it is also a boost for your
confidence when competition begins. There is nothing like going to an exam well
prepared!
In this article, we are going to list 5 methods of training that are proven to give
results in short term if done regularly. Our list is of course not the ultimate word on
it and the order used is not by the level of importance; we consider all five points to be
effective methods of improving yourself.

1.Receive help from a professional coach

Not everyone can afford this but a professional coach will surely help you, a lot. Even
Grandmasters hire seconds and training sessions with strong players. An outsider will
be more critical with your play and point the areas that need to be worked in order to
get better. It can also be very helpful to learn and practice openings as well as to
analyze your own games.

2.Solving exercises
This is perhaps the most effective way of training on your own. Solving all kinds of
exercises – positional, tactical, defensive, will definitely boost your level of confidence
and obviously make you more skilled when it comes to playing the game. Give yourself
a limited amount of time for each exercise and write your answers, take it seriously.
Not only solving puzzles but also studies will improve your imagination. This is a very
effective way of training. However, this alone is not enough.

3.Endgame training
Yes! Capablanca was known as a great endgame player and he was one to say that a
player should start with learning the endgame, but who has listened? Not many. It is
true that today you need to know theory in order to survive the opening, but it should
not take all the time you have for training. Knowing by heart theoretical endgames and
endgame theory (concepts of what to do in certain situations) will make you a stronger
player.

4.Study books
There are several great books out there. We suggest you study the classics – not only
the world champions but also the games of strong Grandmasters who did not become
world champions, for example, Korchnoi, Keres, Geller, Polugaevsky, Portisch. Those
were big names in our chess history and we still can learn a lot from them. Going
through a good collection of annotated games and stopping at the key moments to
calculate options and understand what the author is telling you will also make you play
better.

5.Analysis of your own games

Last but not least! And do not underestimate the importance of this method, if done
right it will make you a better player. In order to learn from your mistakes and see the
faults and highlights of your play one need to review his own games.
The method to do it is without an engine, ideally, a coach or a colleague can add up to
the analysis. Annotate the improvements you find as well as the mistakes, variations,
thoughts, everything. Once you do this, you are free to run the engine and compare its
lines with your suggested moves; you’ll see whether you were right or far from the
truth. It will come a time when your analysis will not be too different from what the
engine is suggesting!
The methods listed above are not the only ways to make you a better player, but they
do work when they are done correctly. Of course, it takes the time to do any of it so we
suggest you to be alternating, doing this and then that depending on your availability.
We hope this guide will serve you well in the future and if you have any other idea for
training feel free to let us know! Thank you for reading.
The Learning Spiral

The Learning Spiral: A New Way to Teach and Study Chess is written by Kevin
Cripe and published by Mongoose Press. Mongoose Press also published two of
my books, Thinking with Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14 and Prepare
With Chess Strategy. I may be biased in favor of Mongoose Press, but the
formatting of its books is outstanding. For example, in The Learning Spiral there
are huge chess diagrams, oversized font, and plenty of white space. You won’t
need your reading glasses or a large-print version, as this book will be pleasing on
your eyes. The general format is diagrams with questions underneath them,
followed by answer-key pages that repeat the diagrams with explanatory words
and variations. A chess set and board are unnecessary, as the variations are short
enough to follow in your head. The excerpt provided shows this format. Take a
look at Diagram 61:
Many beginners have learned what a fork is, when one chessman attacks two or
more enemy chessmen at once.

And they also know that knights are great at forking. 1. Cc7 is a fork, so one’s first instinct
is to play that fork, expecting to win a rook at the cost of one’s knight. But, as the answer
key points out, that would be an error due to 1…Txe5+ 2. Rxe5 (o dxe5) Rxc7. After those
moves, White lost both a knight (worth three pawns) and a bishop (worth three pawns) to
gain a rook (worth five pawns). Then Black will have a king and rook versus White’s king
and pawn, and Black will win. So the answer to the question “Is 1. Nc7 a good move for
White?” is “No.”

Waitzkin, Joshua (2435) - Xie,Jun (2555)

[C54]
San Francisco San Francisco (4), 1995

1.e4 e5 2.Cf3 Cc6 3.Ac4 Ac5 4.c3 Cf6 5.d3 d6 6.0–0 0–0 7.Ab3 a6 8.Te1 Aa7 9.h3 Ae6 10.Cbd2 Axb3
11.Dxb3 Tb8 12.Cf1 Ch5 13.Ag5 Dd7 14.Tad1 De6 15.d4 exd4 16.cxd4 Dxb3 17.axb3 f5 18.d5 Ce5
19.C1h2 fxe4 20.Txe4 Tbe8 21.Tb4 b5 22.Rf1 h6 23.Ac1 g5 24.Ae3 Axe3 25.fxe3 Cxf3 26.Cxf3 Txe3
27.Te1 Txe1+ 28.Rxe1 Cf4 29.Td4 Cxg2+ 30.Re2 Cf4+

0–1