How do you develop strategy and aggression?

[Mike S.]

My approach to this is: With or without a so called plan, you need to make good moves anyway. - If you have a plan but make bad moves (or even blunders), your plan won't help much. If you do NOT have a particular plan but manage to make "fairly good moves" and no tactical mistakes, pay attention to what the opponent might threat etc. this will give a much better game than with plans & blunders.

I am not a strong player and I usually don't have much of a plan in my games, but I follow basic principles, like developement, improve position of pieces (like "rook to open files" and many others things like that which every basic chess book teaches), look out for threats to make, can I create an attack...? Etc.

Also, what you want to do is only 50% of the game anyway. The first aspect should always be to take a close look what the opponent is doing, his threats and how to respond properly. We can say, one typical general plan is to ruin the opponent's plans, or prevent them from becoming dangerous.

For me, the bigger question really isn't "plan or no plan", but simply "good move or bad move", most of the time.

The enormous strength of computer chess programs can be seen as a proof that plans aren't crucial to achieve strength in chess, because these chess engines don't make human-like plans. Of course, humans calculate much slower and think quite differently. I think it is important to distuingish between "plan" and "pattern". Typical patterns (or motifs) are very important to know! For example, a typical white knight outpost on d6: Some people will call it a plan if a player goes for that, with a sequence of a few(!) moves. I'd rather call it a positional maneuvre, and a plan should be something bigger. (The wording in chess literature is not very standardized; "positional" vs. "strategical" is a similar problem of definition.)

[stwils]

I think your way of playing sounds very sound. Good playing habits are foremost and so are tactics. I make blunders and shudder at what I have just done.

I worry because I have no plan, though, and I'm always sure my opponent does! Therefore I don't push forward with energy because I'm afraid of what the consequences might be.

Thanks for your post. It is helpful.

S.

[Nimzovik]

I studied the endgame via very intense study of the opening. A Zen Koan? Meant to be. After you learn where the correctly played opening pattern leaves you at the endgame then you learn the endgame by playing the endgame of YOUR expertise. Play a lot of blitz with a lot of different players. You learn this game by playing. Period. Alternate with some slow chess. Slow chess helps you learn to calculate. Blitz helps one to get the big picture because you can try out a lot of 'What if...." scenarios. Don't worry about losing at blitz. It is learning. Remember -"You are truly growing as a player when your rating drops" This is because you are implementing new ideas. It also helps to have an unresolved sibling rivalry conflict person for a training partner

[swami]

"How do you develop strategy and aggression?"

Simple answer: Read books, books and books!

Or learn from annotated games.

[mhull]

I spend most of my time in games trying to stay out of harm's way. I want to have a plan and go forward, but it seems there are so many "others" (ie chessmen) out there, ready to pounce on me, that I can't seem to find a way to go forward.

I have ordered Seirawan's Winning Chess Strategy. And now I have Fritz 10. What else do I need to bolster me into planning moves and going forward with a bit of confidence?

I saw on Amazon a software called Strategy 2.0 put out by Convekta. Do any of you have this and if so, would this help?

Chess is such a wonderful game. And I know I am impatient with myself as I haven't been playing that long. But I want to move forward and start winning some games!

I am working on tactics, but I need to learn how to implemant a plan of action.

S.

The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery by Jeremy Silman is a good book to help players who haven't been playing that long to get on the right track toward planning and winning.

[Albert Silver]

I spend most of my time in games trying to stay out of harm's way. I want to have a plan and go forward, but it seems there are so many "others" (ie chessmen) out there, ready to pounce on me, that I can't seem to find a way to go forward.

I have ordered Seirawan's Winning Chess Strategy. And now I have Fritz 10. What else do I need to bolster me into planning moves and going forward with a bit of confidence?

I saw on Amazon a software called Strategy 2.0 put out by Convekta. Do any of you have this and if so, would this help?

Chess is such a wonderful game. And I know I am impatient with myself as I haven't been playing that long. But I want to move forward and start winning some games!

I am working on tactics, but I need to learn how to implemant a plan of action.

S.

To bolster confidence, avoid playing players that are too far above your league. If you play online, then play players who aren't over 200 rating points above you.

Study tactics. It will be the biggest boost to your game in the beginning.

Strategy 2.0 is a remarkable instructional program, but is not designed for the beginner. Choose instead Chess Tactics for Beginners, also by Convekta. Very good, and well constructed. I have used it to teach my nephews, and approve of it.

Avoid many blitz games. Try to find slower time controls, or better yet, seek a club and find someone to play with no time controls. You want to learn to think out your moves, not play as many as possible within 5 minutes or less (which is what blitz is about).

[stwils]

Thanks, Albert. I think my problem, (well not my ONLY problem) is that I am in a correspondence tournament with 4 people who do out rank me by at least 200-400 points!

That said, I have just gotten Convekta's Tactics for Beginners, and also Strategy 2.0 (which I know will be too hard for me. But I got it anyway...)

I am trying to get on board with Sierawan's Winning Chess and Winning Chess Strategies. Sometimes I feel bogged down in them... And everyone says they are so easy to read...

Today I bought Chess Exam and Training Guide - Tactics by Igor Khmelnitsky. It is a different approach. Instead of the usual tactic book that says "Black to mate in one move" he gives a diagram and asks questions about it; such as, "After 1...Bb1-f5

A Black is winning
B Black is better
C The position is nearly equal
D White is winning. "

And you are graded by your answer, and on the next page he gives the diagram and all the deep information about it. and the score for the answers.

This is so different from the usual tactics book. I find that I am having to really think, look ahead, and evaluate what may happen.

I am surprised at all the different possibilities.

Then he asks on another diagram, "Which is black's best move?" And lists four possibilities.

It is not an easy book for me, but I plan to stick with it. He has another book by almost the same title put out in 2004 not just on tactics.

Thanks for writing me.

S.

[Mike S.]

Ok, if you are into correspondence chess competition, we are going to make you champion.

1. go to, and download the free engine from:

http://www.rybkachess.com/free/Rybka22n2.zip

(I hope you are computer fit in a way that you know how to handle zip files and the files which come up from decompression. Put these files in a directory of your choice, and remember where you have put them.)

2. Now, you have an UCI engine. In your Fritz, go to "Engine/Create UCI Engine..." (blah blah blah) and do that for Rybka 2.2n2.

After doing this, defeat your correspondence chess opponent by using Rybka 2.2n2 for your analyses. Congratulations!

[Albert Silver]

Correspondence chess is good, just realize that most players will use computers to complement their play. It is the single reason I do not play it.

The method by Khmelnitsky you described is not ideal for someone struggling to get their bearings. The reason is that by asking you to judge a position, you are presumed to have the tools and knowledge to render that judgment. Short of a material count, or clear win or draw, I will tell you right out you aren't ready yet. This is not meant to discourage you. It is like being a white belt in a martial art, set up against an advanced fighter. If you insist, you *will* get there, but you're not there yet.

Strategy 2.0 is a great program, but it presumes a large set of skills and essential knowledge. It is designed for OTB (over-the-board) players rated 1800-1900 or more.

A better basic strategy primer would be Basic Strategy 1-2-3 by Bartashnikov, published by Chessbase. You will find it far more accessible. Strategy 2.0 would be more a post-BS123 work.

Nevertheless, tactics are the heart and soul of chess. The best made plans are for naught if you drop a piece somewhere along the line. Learn the basic patterns. Practice them until 1-2 move combinations or mates (composed problems are a different matter and don't count) are second nature and almost instant. Practice visualizing ahead. Do it with few pieces. Such as just a pawn to be queened. Resist the temptation to move the pieces with your hands. Only do so after you think you've seen what you could, and only to confirm what you practiced in your mind. In your first year or two of play, tactics above all, accompanied by basic principles (not full plans) will serve you best.

I will make one suggestion as a book, as I think you will greatly enjoy it, and learn a lot from it: Masters of the Board by Richard Reti. It is a timeless classic, and a wonderful book.

Work your way through the Chess Tactics program, and read Reti, and I assure you, you will make a great leap forward.

Above all, and all the advice will be moot otherwise: HAVE FUN!

Chess is a sport, it is science, and it is art. But above all these things, it is a GAME. And games are meant to be fun. Never lose that perspective.

[Bill Rogers]

Susan
I realize that you have been given lots of useful information but in the mean time I will give you an overly simplified answer.
The quest in chess is to be able to capture your opponents king so that can be a long term goal, however, in a most cases you have to set a bunch of shorter goals in able to reach the capturing of a king. As a starter I would set a goal to say capture the enemy queen if possible then go after some of the other major pieces. Also a very helpful tool would be to record all the moves in a game so you can play it again and study what happened. I would recommend using the format of e2e4, the form - to cordinates for each move. In doing this you can start playing the same game again but maybe make one or two small changes and analyze the difference in the outcome. One thing you must always so no matter how you start your game and that is to protect your king.
Hope you find this information useful.
Bill