Expert: Len Molden - 7/16/2006

Question
hello sir,
iam from India.iam 15 y old now.i have a fide rating of 2094.My question is that How to train at home?how to use chessbase effectievely?how to use the books?is it necessary to analayse my own games?any training tips?
I expect a good advise from you sir

 thanks sreeji

Answer
Hi Sreeji - The best way to train at home is to divide your chess study time into the following format (based on 20 hours a week):

Tactics - 9
Endgame - 6
Strategy - 3
Opening - 2

To use ChessBase effectively, you should consider buying the following CDs: Squares Strategy, Vols. 1-3 by Alexander Bangiev.  The Bangiev-method is a strategy based on squares. This means that before every move, the piece set-up is checked out against quite specific pre-defined criteria.

As for books, if I had to choose just one chess book to own, it would be Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953 by David Bronstein.  Playing over games is an excellent way to learn all phases of chess at once.

Analyzing and annotating one's own games is a good way of improving as you learn from your mistakes.  One training tip I can offer you is after every one hour of chess study, take a 10 minute break before resuming.

Regards,

Len Molden