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On Learning Chess as an Adult – From 650 to 1750 in Two Years

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Re: On Learning Chess as an Adult – From 650 to 1750 in Two Years

#271

Post by developer2 »

sedivy94 wrote: post #31

Highly, highly recommend "The Queen's Gambit" on Netflix. Like wow.

Just watched it over the past week. I enjoyed it immensely. I don't care whether its depiction of chess is realistic. The lead actress is superb in her role. Its depiction of addiction and depression was spot-on with my experience; many of the scenes gave me chills, particularly when the adoptive mother is involved (whether directly or indirectly).

Highly recommended: "The Queen's Gambit", 7-episode miniseries on Netflix.

Re: On Learning Chess as an Adult – From 650 to 1750 in Two Years

#272

Post by karmakaze »

I don't know if I have the patience to learn chess to a high level as an adult. Also mentioned here, I too have been replaying Starcraft2 ladder as a way to keep up my 'fast' thinking skills.

The other pastime I used to engage in is Go. It's a good alternative to chess because for a long while you can choose to improve on your high-level strategy vs detailed tactics and playouts. At some point, I suppose it becomes like playing a few chess games that leak into each other.

Re: On Learning Chess as an Adult – From 650 to 1750 in Two Years

#273

Post by hannofcart »

caffeine wrote: post #162
hannofcart wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I advocate the same (teaching kids) Poker for the same reasons you mentioned (certain self-control and tactical/strategy concepts) but this is often greeted with controversy anytime I voice it. Learning to weigh the odds, exercising patience, taking calculated risks in the face of incomplete information, making allowance for the vagaries/emotions of your opponent all seem like great skills that would help one in life…

I am a grown up, but I'd love to hear your recommendations for how to learn poker for a beginner? Say I can dedicate about 3 hrs / week to this, what is the most efficient way to spend that time?

I had the good fortune of being introduced to it by someone who was steeped in Poker theory (a colleague at work).

Following that I picked up some more formalism from the book by David Sklansky that features prominently in the other comment in response to your question.

However, the person I mentioned before had already given me a head start on most of the practical aspects mentioned in the book. I also benefited from having him to practice against and learn from.

Re: On Learning Chess as an Adult – From 650 to 1750 in Two Years

#274

Post by cambalache »

thom wrote: post #266
cambalache wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fair. Do you know whose story would have been awesome, the Polgar sister's, specially Judit. Their story demonstrates 2 things. Within an specific limited discipline, "genius" can be manufactured if specialized long training and time is invested since childhood. Individual variability still matters a lot. Out of all the 3 sisters, Judit was the only who went to become a truly world-class player.

I've always found the Polgar story a bit weird, despite the way their father obviously characterised it. Was their chess education really that different from any other resulting chess pro?

Well,his method is not that different of what I have seen other parents have done with their talented kids. Tiger Woods, Ichiro Suzuki, Son Heung-min, Andre Agassi, the Williams sisters, among others, were coached relentlessly since they were almost babies. You can discuss how healthy it is, but the results are there. Judit is by a ridiculous margin the strongest female player in the history.

Re: On Learning Chess as an Adult – From 650 to 1750 in Two Years

#275

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

unholiness wrote: post #248
mpol wrote: post #74

Two small notes, this seems not to be an official rating. The 1750 is reached at chess.com it seems. I play at lichess, where I am around 1700. My official rating is currently 1437, my highest rating ever was 1583 two years ago. So there is definitely inflation at lichess, and I would assume there is inflation at chess.com. So claiming 1750 ELO when it is not an official rating seems somewhat risky. Another note, he…

chess.com ratings are much less inflated than lichess ratings (partially because its new users start at 1200 ELO, not 1500). Not sure if there's a more exact conversion to FIDE ratings, especially because it looks like he's playing exclusively 3+0 blitz games, which play out much differently online than they do over the board.

Why would new users start at 1200? Aren't most beginners below 900?

Re: On Learning Chess as an Adult – From 650 to 1750 in Two Years

#277

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

nandreev wrote: post #222

Some "suggestions" that helped me get from 1000 to 1300 very quickly: - Castle very early - Resist taking pieces for no reason. To take is a mistake - Use your opponent's time to plan your next move - If you stop hanging pieces you will automatically be >1200 - Save your bishops, bishops > knights in most endgames - For every hour you spend analyzing your past games your rating will go up by 10 - You won't improve by…

For the most beginner of beginners - I would say that the best advice is to control the center of the board, play aggressively / make an attacking move whenever possible, and DON'T be afraid to trade pieces.

If you don't have a move that attacks your opponent and forces them to play defense, develop your least active piece.

Also, learn the King's Indian opening. You can use it as black or white, and it's one of the easiest openings. I also think it's a good opening against beginners, because they make a lot of mistakes against this. So, 1) you'll be able to beat beginners - and winning is always more fun than losing; and 2) you'll learn to watch for your opponents to make mistakes - and that will help you learn to avoid making common mistakes.

[1] Controlling the center of the board and making attacking moves - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5jTMqdYXWM&t=1100s

[2] King's Indian opening - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK0cq6UBt1Y

These two videos got me from ~700 to ~1000 in about a week. And they got me to the point where Chess was actually fun instead of a being a frustrating minefield I tried to navigate until I inevitably made a blunder and self-imploded.

Re: On Learning Chess as an Adult – From 650 to 1750 in Two Years

#278

Post by Raidion »

caffeine wrote: post #162
hannofcart wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I advocate the same (teaching kids) Poker for the same reasons you mentioned (certain self-control and tactical/strategy concepts) but this is often greeted with controversy anytime I voice it. Learning to weigh the odds, exercising patience, taking calculated risks in the face of incomplete information, making allowance for the vagaries/emotions of your opponent all seem like great skills that would help one in life…

I am a grown up, but I'd love to hear your recommendations for how to learn poker for a beginner? Say I can dedicate about 3 hrs / week to this, what is the most efficient way to spend that time?

Winning 50NL poker player (US) here. That's basically as good as you're gonna get without spending a ton of time. I've probably played somewhere around 3k hours of poker, with about 1k hours live and 2k online.

You will be a top 20% poker player if you can do two things right. 1) Play the hands you should preflop. This is the poker equivalent of learning blackjack strategy. "Starting hand ranges poker" will start you down that rabbit hole. 2) Figure out pot odds. If you have a straight draw, how often will it hit and is that worth calling a bet? That takes a bit of math that seems hard at first, but gets a lot easier as you start to cache common scenarios. Google "Pot odds poker" to go down that rabbit hole. Review interesting hands and share them online. twoplustwo is the "main" poker forum. Good luck!

Re: On Learning Chess as an Adult – From 650 to 1750 in Two Years

#279

Post by tmp5690 »

llarsson wrote: post #4

Cool that the author does this, and has found a method that works for them! However, to be able to spend 2 hours a day on this seems like an indescribable luxury to me. And the quote about netting about 1.5 ELO per day sounds like a linear growth is assumed, which I can assure will not be the case past the initial massive improvements one gets from "not knowing the rules" to "actually starting to get it". I love solv…

I recently became a tenure-track prof, new father with a partner that works full time and I can get about 1-2 hours of chess in a day.

Re: On Learning Chess as an Adult – From 650 to 1750 in Two Years

#280

Post by khrbrt »

spurgu wrote: post #268
rubidium wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Played and followed the AoE scene many times: 2002-2004, 2013-2014, and now playing again on AOE 2: DE. The new training scenarios in DE are quite helpful and I'd recommend them to new or returning players. DE has led to a massive resurgence of interest and a 3rd generation of players. First gen was AoE2 (CD), 2nd gen was the forgotten empires continuing things, 3rd is DE. Some players have spanned all 3. My current…

Is DE (or AoE in general) available on Mac and/or Linux?

I play AoE2 (non-DE) on Linux with Steam and its compatibility tool.
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