Great thread. I was just doing mate in one puzzles last night and decided to do an ET search today. I have a q for you though. I've been playing casually since I was young, but never really got serious about it. If a person wanted to really get into it,(not tournaments, just get good at it) what would you suggest? Just playing a lot? Chessmaster? Lots of mate in 1,2,3 puzzles? I have a feeling the answer will be along the lines of "all of the above", but that's ok. Thanks.
The only way I know to get better at anything is to completely immerse yourself in it. Most of us cannot do that in adulthood since we have to earn a living, and any spare time is best spent with our families. I am going to assume that is your case, and make the second best suggestions: 1) Take lessons from an experienced chess teacher/trainer/coach. Note that this does not mean the best player you can find. A good chess coach is often nowhere near the best player, but has a gift for making things simple and has field tested methodologies that work. This is expensive, but it is by far the best way to get "good" fast. 2) It is probably not an overstatement to say that more books have been published on chess than any other sport. The amount of information available today is so vast that assuming you understand the 10,000 hour rule, you can become as good as your talent and hard work will take you. My favorite author is John Nunn, but his books are meant for the intermediate player on. It is hard to give advice on specific books because I don't know what level you play at. If you are pretty much a beginner, the Seirawan and Polgar books are actually very good. Chess is an extremely difficult game to play well. If your ego does not bruise easily, get an ICC membership http://www.chessclub.com/ after learning some basics, and start playing against players your strength. The site will save all your games played online on your local disk for later replay, so later you can download your games and replay them on a computer and see what the computer recommends at each stage, as well as it's evaluation of the position. This type of use by a computer to train is highly recommended.
I think it's important to have the right chess board to be properly motivated. Consider mine, for example:
Well, I've done the 10,000 hour thing with trading, but I just don't know if I have it in me for chess. But the game is so damned intriguing, ya just never know. I had no idea there were that many books on chess. I love to read, so that's probably the direction I'll go. Good stuff, Nitro. Thanks much.
I agree about taking lessons from a good teacher. It's sometimes hard to find one, but if you can find someone you click with, it's by far the best way to improve. As far as books go, you can also check out Jeremy Silman if you're a beginner or low intermediate. In the days when I had the time to sit on the porch reading and studying the board, I found his stuff to be well written and helpful.
If you are lucky enough to live in NY(C), this could be an interesting event to attend: http://www.karpov2010.org/2010/04/may-17-fundraiser-party-in-new-york/
I propose an interesting tournament. The top five human players against the top five computers in a round robin tournament. Here is the catch, computers would get no opening book or opening cache whatsoever. Who would win? I am not sure...
I am not convinced. Deep Rybka 4 is playing about 3500 strength. Even if the opening book gives away ELO 700 rating points, it would still be playing world class chess.