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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

#41

Post by SubiculumCode »

cyberferret wrote: post #37

I've set out on a similar journey in the past couple of years, but been very much doing it 'in the dark' by focusing on learning and watching a lot of tactical videos on Youtube (mainly agadmator's and GothamChess's channels) which have given me a new insight into various chess theories. I have a paid Chess.com account (same username as my HN handle), but still lack the confidence to really engage a human opponent 1…

I'm a fan of John Bartholomew myself. You've probably encountered his youtube channel. GothamChess is streaming on twitch all the time.

I've also set out to improve my chess, somewhat casually, over the last year. About an 1800 rapid player on Lichess (~1500 on Chess.com), their ratings differ.

As far as openings, I like the courses on chessable.com.

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

#42

Post by gautamcgoel »

hvdfhbj wrote: post #32
tutfbhuf wrote: post #5

Congratulations that's a great achievement. I think that almost everyone should be able to achieve a solid 2000 elo rating, with enough dedication over the years. Doing tactics puzzles is one of the most important factors for fast improvements. > Some day, I want to become a titled player. A candidate master needs an ELO of 2200 2000 and 2200 are completely different skill levels. I have some friends who play chess f…

> I think that almost everyone should be able to achieve a solid 2000 elo rating, with enough dedication over the years I think you are massively underestimating the natural range of human intelligence. I don't think the average IQ 100 individual could ever reach an ELO of 2000 regardless of how much they practice, and half the population has IQs of less than 100.

Don't you mean overestimating?

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

#43

Post by SubiculumCode »

will_pseudonym wrote: post #6

I've been watching a lot of GM Daniel Naroditsky's "Speedrun" series, where he plays games and teaches you why he's making the moves he's making vs alternatives, starting at a very low rating, to get back to a 3000 rating. He's a great teacher, and I've gotten a lot out of watching that series. He streams them live, and then edited videos of the games on stream are uploaded on his YouTube channel. Here's the YT playl…

Do you prefer his youtube channel or his twitch stream?

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

#44

Post by Others »

Fumtumi wrote: post #39

I thought about learning chess and what it actually involes when i watched the new netflix show. i came to the relisation that it actually involes becoming good in a very very big search space by having a lot of experience and being fast in calculating and remembering chess moves. Especially when i see how many people read up on grand masters, i came up with the theory: The normal person is running behind or trying t…

I don’t think this take is quite right. In the early/late game, sure it can end up being memorization. But the game has so many states that the mid game tends to be quite complex and there is a lot of skill (calculation/tactics ect.) which is really not memorization

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

#45

Post by JanecekPetr »

For complete cheers beginners who want to learn and understand the ideas of the game, I highly recommend buying an oldish engine, Chessmaster XI: Grandmaster Edition, as it contains a set of amazing, approachable tutorials by an IM Joshua Waitzkin. You might know him at the author of the Art of Learning book. Some will say that the program is old. It is. Who cares, the engine is strong enough for you, of that I'm sure, and there isn't much else you'd want as a complete beginner.

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

#46

Post by danielskogly »

prune2000 wrote: post #10

You should use lichess.org instead. You would have unlimited tactics per day which come from real games played on the website, endless number of studies made by other players on opening theories, free analysis of your games, and all these statistics about your progress and more! Like "do I win more often or not when Queens are traded?". Good luck!

Seconding this! Lichess is also free/libre and open-source[0], and has a really nice API[1] allowing you to do pretty much anything you could think of wanting to do when it comes to online chess.

[0]: https://github.com/ornicar/lila/

[1]: https://lichess.org/api

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

#47

Post by mroset »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #42
hvdfhbj wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think that almost everyone should be able to achieve a solid 2000 elo rating, with enough dedication over the years I think you are massively underestimating the natural range of human intelligence. I don't think the average IQ 100 individual could ever reach an ELO of 2000 regardless of how much they practice, and half the population has IQs of less than 100.

Don't you mean overestimating?

I think the parent comment does mean underestimating the _range_, but overestimating the IQ, as you point out.

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

#48

Post by shric »

prune2000 wrote: post #10

You should use lichess.org instead. You would have unlimited tactics per day which come from real games played on the website, endless number of studies made by other players on opening theories, free analysis of your games, and all these statistics about your progress and more! Like "do I win more often or not when Queens are traded?". Good luck!

Highly recommend lichess.org too. Completely free, open source, runs on donations, no ads or constant nagging to try premium.

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

#49

Post by ZephyrBlu »

eru wrote: post #22
sgt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be willing to spend 2 hrs per day on any type of game?

If you have the time, and it's fun, why not? Many ordinary people spend more time every day watching TV.

Time alone is not enough to reach the top 5% or better in a game. You need to be focused and put a lot of effort into improving.

It's quite draining, and nothing like watching TV.

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

#50

Post by j4yav »

petepete wrote: post #26
prune2000 wrote: post #10

You should use lichess.org instead. You would have unlimited tactics per day which come from real games played on the website, endless number of studies made by other players on opening theories, free analysis of your games, and all these statistics about your progress and more! Like "do I win more often or not when Queens are traded?". Good luck!

I asked which Chess service to set my dad up with on his iPad a few years ago on here and someone recommended lichess. He's put hundreds and hundreds of hours in since and absolutely loves it. Amazing service.

Open source as well: https://github.com/ornicar/lila
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