Better Chess Without Spending 8 Hours a Day!

Every chess player wants to play better chess.

That's for sure. HOWEVER, with our personal lives in the way - our profession, our families, friends, etc., not a lot of 'wood pushers' have the time or the inclination to spend FULL 8 hours a day on:

- Studying the latest developments in the Sicilian Defense and Spanish Game.
- Cutting our teeth...memorizing a 30-move win in a king and pawns endgame.
- Understanding the 'out of this world' moves of Grandmasters Alexei Shirov and Mikhail Tal.
- Discovering the mysteries behind the positional masterpieces of Aaron Nimzovich, Jose Capablanca, etc.

And on top of it all, we need to play chess on the internet or on REAL tournaments regularly to make sure we stay in good shape! 


 [/HR]Unless you are a professional or a grandmaster, there has to be a way to play better chess without spending as much time, right? Well, different coaches and chess players have different 'short cuts' for improving chess. Some focus MORE on tactics. After all, many amateur chess games are decided with 'one movers' or simple tactical motifs. Some choose to play only the openings that lead to positions they are comfortable with. There are coaches who want their students to start with the endgame... claiming that it will help them understand the pieces and their coordination better. And this ultimately teaches them how to play better chess.


These 'fast' and short cuts to chess improvement do have merits and they bring benefit. HOWEVER, the improvement they bring is only good at a certain point.

For example, studying tactics EXCLUSIVELY is good until you reach the 1800-mark. As for positional ideas, they do help...BUT it won't help you win games if you constantly leave your pieces en prise and fall for simple tactics. In the same way, studying endgames won't bring you much if you slaughtered in the first 10 moves of a chess game.

So how should one try to improve and play better chess effectively???

Here are 3 tips that should help you:

Play Better Chess - Tip 1# Play on slow time controls. 
A LOT of benefit can be derived on playing slow chess games alone. You get to REALLY think about your move. You get to apply the ideas you have learned from chess books and from studying master games. And those are just some of them!
2 to 3 slow chess games a week done regularly should help A LOT. Preferably, you want to play against stronger players - those who are 100 to 200 rating points ahead of you. This way, your mistakes won't go unpunished and you get to learn about your errors and proceed to correct them.
That's something you don't enjoy when playing against weaker opposition.
You can even play chess against computer to make sure your play is strong enough so you don't fall for basic tactical shots. Just don't misinterpret the results since, chances are, you will lose all the time.


Play Better Chess - Tip 2 # Study your losses. 
When you are trying to improve chess playing skills, it's important that you know where to start and where you are at. Guess what: your losses do a good job of notifying you of your weak points. You just have to study them.
Standing pride and looking at our winning efforts is nice. BUT studying your losses to make sure you don't repeat them again is even better and MORE beneficial.



Play Better Chess - Tip 3# Have a solid chess thought process!
Chess is a thinking game. We all know that. BUT why is it that only a handful of players focus on streamlining their thinking techniques when playing chess?! I'm not sure why. BUT one thing I'm sure of: if you want to play chess better, starting with your thought process is the way to go!