A Trilogy - Learn from the GREATS

Kramnik to Carlsen...

Traditionally it was considered an old man's game, something to relax over and enjoy. That illusion has vanished over the past few decades and CHESS today is considered a young person's game. 

Gifted teenagers regularly becoming Grandmasters with Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgar spearheading the trend. Now, commonly recognized "chess talents" like Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura, Giri, Karjakin, So – are the new kids on the block and rising stars of the checkered board.

Let's hear from the REAL "Masters of the Chessboard" once again:

Vladimir Kramnik –

" Chess is like body-building. If you train every day, you stay in top shape. It is the same with your brain – chess is a matter of daily training. One needs to devote some ten hours a day to chess and to everything connected with it physical and psychological preparation."

Viswanathan Anand –

" Just before a game, I try to keep a clear mind so that I can focus better. I'm the kind of person who plays fast and relies a lot on intuition, so being at peace with myself is vital. It is important that you don’t let your opponent impose his style of play on you. A part of that begins mentally. At the chessboard if you start blinking every time he challenges you then in a certain sense you are withdrawing. That is very important to avoid."

Magnus Carlsen –

" Self-confidence is very important. If you don’t think you can win, you will take cowardly decisions in the crucial moments, out of sheer respect for your opponent. You see the opportunity but also greater limitations than you should. When you are behind there are two strategies – counter-attack or all men to the defences. I’m good at finding the right balance between those."

Stay tuned for more advice and ideas...

The Sequel – Learn from the GREATS

Then Tal to Kasparov...

Studying games played by masters of the past and thorough analysis of one's own games provide the foundation for the continuous development of chess mastery.

Moving on, one should pay attention to what past "Champions" had remarked.

Mikhail Tal –

" I go over many games collections and pick up something from the style of each player. I believe most definitely that one must not only grapple with the problems on the board, one must also make every effort to combat the thoughts and will of the opponent."

Tigran Petrosian –

" In general I consider that in chess everything rests on tactics. If one thinks of strategy as a block of marble, then tactics are the chisel with which a master operates, in creating works of chess art. The criterion of real strength is a deep penetration into the secrets of a position."

Boris Spassky –

" The best indicator of a chess player's form is his ability to sense the climax of the game. My forte was the middlegame. I had a good feeling for the critical moments of the play. This undoubtedly compensated for my lack of opening preparation and, possibly, not altogether perfect play in the endgame. In my games things often did not reach the endgame!"

Robert James Fischer –

" A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will is required to become a great chess player. Chess is a matter of delicate judgement, knowing when to punch and how to duck. Your body has to be in top condition. Your Chess deteriorates as your body does. You can't separate body from mind."

Anatoly Karpov –

" Chess is everything: art, science, and sport. By all means examine the games of the great chess players, but don't swallow them whole. Their games are valuable not for their separate moves, but for their vision of chess, their way of thinking."

Garry Kasparov –

" Enormous self-belief, intuition, the ability to take a risk at a critical moment and go in for a very dangerous play with counter-chances for the opponent - it is precisely these qualities that distinguish great players. The highest art of the chessplayer lies in not allowing your opponent to show you what he can do."

Stay tuned for more advice and ideas...           

Learn from the GREATS

From Steinitz to Smsylov...

The following quotes are the thoughts and advice of great players that influenced my development and understanding of the chess game. Let's learn from the rich heritage of the past and start where the basis of modern chess begins, continuing the course to present day...

Wilhelm Steinitz –

" Regularity of study and practice very much facilitates making rapid progress. It is much better to devote to chess one hour per day for six consecutive days than six hours one day in the week." 

Emanuel Lasker –

" Education in chess has to be an education in independent thinking and judging. You should keep in mind no names, nor numbers, nor isolated incidents, not even results, but only methods. The method is plastic. It is applicable in every situation."  

Jose Raul Capablanca –

" It would be a grave mistake to study the opening without keeping in mind the subsequent middlegame and ending. In the same way it would be wrong to study the middlegame without considering the endgame. This reasoning clearly proves that in order to improve your game you must study the endgame before anything else; for, whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middlegame and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame."

Alexander Alekhine –

" More than anything else, chess teaches you to be objective. In chess you can only make yourself a great master by becoming aware of your mistakes and deficiencies. One trait more than any other determines one's strength at chess: unshakeable concentration, which has to cut a player off completely from the outside world." 

Max Euwe –

" Strategy requires thought, tactics require observation. Whomever sees no other aim in the game than that of giving checkmate to one's opponent will never become a good chess player."

Mikhail Botvinnik –

" When my opponent's clock is going I discuss general considerations in an internal dialogue with myself. When my own clock is going I analyse concrete variations. Anyone wishing to become an outstanding chess player must also perfect his skills in chess analysis."

Vasily Smyslov –

" A considerable role in the forming of my style was played by an early attraction to study composition. My fascination for studies proved highly beneficial - it assisted my the development of my aesthetic understanding of chess, and improved my endgame play."

Stay tuned for more advice and ideas...

Hand-in-Hand

Master Tactics

"If the student forces himself to examine all the moves that smite, however absurd they look at first glance, he is on the way to becoming a master of tactics." 

- Cecil John Purdy

"Calculate Till Mate"

        – This unique chess course is a COMPLETE 3-in-1 training system that will sharpen your tactics, calculation and visualization skills. 

Three most important things explored:

1. WHAT and HOW exactly you should train.

2. Understand the interrelation between strategy and tactics during a game.

3. Answers to ALL your questions about tactics and calculation.

Plus 4 GREAT BONUSES (video, tasks etc).

Find out more...>> Calculate Till Mate

The amazing practical part consists of 25 main tasks with hundreds of training positions and games – that will definitely take your Tactical Skills to a whole New Level! 

(The images and links will bring you to RCA's Chess Course overview.)