AboutChuck Kinzie Expertise I can answer basic chess questions regarding opening, middlegame and endgame strategy and tactics. I cannot answer questions about positions with subtle nuances that require Grandmaster or computer analysis.
Experience I have been playing in chess tournaments for over thirty years.
Organizations United States Chess Federation
Publications I have a chess blog: http://www.chuckychess.blogspot.org
Education/Credentials I earned a United States Chess Federation Expert rating in 1987.
Question Hi, I have played chess for 2 years, but have now reached a point whereby I find it difficult to improve. My rating is around 1250 now.
I read books on tactics, openings, and endings to try to improve. What is the best way to improve in chess in the most enjoyable and fastest way?
Answer Hi, William! Thanks for your question. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. Now that Christmas is over, I can catch up on my e-mails, etc.
The first-ever World's Correspondence Chess Champion and a renowned chess teacher and author, Cecil Purdy, claimed that the only "infallible" (his word) method of improving one's play is to study well-annotated master games. I think he might be right. In fact, the only chess book that I would put in the "must read" category is "Logical Chess: Move by Move" by Irving Chernev. In the book, Chernev annotates EVERY SINGLE MOVE of around thirty master games. With this book, you'll learn how to "think chess."
It's also beneficial to solve tactical puzzles, like "mate-in-3" puzzles, and "White to play and win" type puzzles.
I would recommend that you buy or borrow "303 Tricky Chess Tactics" by Fred Wilson and Bruce Albertson. Try to solve at least six puzzles a day. A great early-20th-century chess master named Richard Teichmann once claimed that "chess is 99% tactics." I think that's an overstatement -- but not by much!
Another way to improve is to play players a bit stronger than yourself, and write down your moves during the game. That way, you can play over the game later and see what you did right and what you did wrong. It is VERY important to study your losses very carefully. You learn more from losses than from wins.
So, in short, I'd recommend the following improvement course:
1. Read "Logical Chess Move by Move"
2. Solve the puzzles in "303 Tricky Chess Tactics" (or some other book of tactical problems).
3. Play against stronger players and write down your moves, to be followed by playing over the game after it's over.
BTW, you can (and probably should) do all of the above at the same time, a little each day. That way you won't get bored studying.
Above all, HAVE FUN! That's why chess exists in the first place: To have fun!
Hope I was able to help you. Thanks again for your patience, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
