🚀 go-pugleaf

> I have a question that I hope someone out there has an answer
> for. My USCF rating is stuck at 1860, I own over 200 chess books
> that I have read piece meal cover to cover. I would like to get
> my rating to that magical 2200, but am at a loss for where to start.
> I know there are players on this net with ratings above that. (I've
> played a few of you!) Could you please send me (or the net) a quick
> and dirty study method! I promise to employ it and feedback the
> results.
> 
> 	Thanks in Advance,
> 
> 		Dan (Tired of "A" Class!) Webster

Becoming a chess master is no easy task, even if you spend hours and hours
studying the game. I believe that you must have quite a bit of innate ability
in order to reach a Master's rating, something which not many people have.
I know tournament players that have been competing in tournaments for 20
years, yet they cannot break a certain rating barrier no matter how hard
they try. I'm not trying to discourage you, but you must face the statistical
facts that only a very small percentage of players of the many who play are 
capable of playing master level chess.

I finally made it to master a couple years ago, but not without sacrifice. 
I won't go into too much detail on all that I did to make it, but I can give
some general tips based on my experience:

1) Come up with an opening repitiore. In other words, study enough opening books
until you come up with a basic opening system for white and black that you know
well and that you can employ for anything you run across. The key here is to be
prepared and come out of the opening with at least equal chances. You don't
want to be caught in an opening your opponent knows well and you don't know. 
The choice of openings you play should suit your style, I.e., choose gambits or
open lines if you are a tactical player, and choose quiet, sound lines if you 
are more positional. One word of warning though - if you play wild lines all 
the time you are bound to get burned alot, too. Achieving a master's rating 
requires you to be consistent, and this calls for an understanding of positional
chess at some point. Not all games can be steered into tactical lines.

2) Go over master's games. This is a very important practice - easy to do, too.
By seeing what the stonger players play, you can gather a subtle knowledge of
what type of moves to play in common positions that may arise in your games.
And you would be surprised at how often certain themes occur in each game of
chess, whether it be master or novice. It is better to go over current games,
such as the ones in Chess Life each month, or the Chess Informants, but games 
collections of the great players is good also. The more exposure to games you 
have seen, the better the chance you have of using their ideas to your advantage
in your games.

3) Study endgames. This is a key if you want to improve to higher levels, as
many games among masters are won and lost in the ending. It's not even the
endings themselves, but knowing when to simplify a middlegame into a won
endgame, for example. Endgames are some of the toughest positions in chess
to understand and master, but if you can improve your ability here, you are
bound to win more drawn/lost games and draw more lost games just on technique 
alone.

These are the main areas I advocate people to study if they want to improve
their chess. As I mentioned, not everyone is cut out to be a master, but the
only way to find out is to try. I wish you good luck and good chess!
-----
Bruce Kovalsky
..{decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,scdrdcf,ucbvax}!trwrb!trwspp!spp2!kovalsky

"Chess players do it 40 times in 90 minutes!"