Context and subtle differences build understanding, on top of raw memory. To learn the pattern of 'mate in one with a queen', test yourself on lots of them in series, with instructive commentary. We process facial expressions and complex sentences in milliseconds - why not chess positions? Remember, we're trying to train your automatic pattern recognition and chunking, not your calculation or knowledge. You need to be capable of independently deriving the patterns your testing. You'll learn more efficiently using Active Recall than Passive Recall. Which begs the question, if tactical fluency is your goal, how should you train? They find better moves, right away, in more relevant positions. If fluency in a language is measured in accuracy, speed, and prosody, then stronger players are more tactically fluent in chess. Capablanca's famous adage "I see only one move ahead, but always the best move" turns out to be true. Strong players recognise tactics like you recognise faces, or words, or tastes. They don't see individual pieces, they see chunks. So what? The stronger the player, the more automatic the recognition of tactical patterns. And, fascinatingly, both strong and weak players improve decision making at similar rates given more time. In a position with a tactical opportunity, this study found that the first move that pops into a 2500 players head is as strong as the move that a 1548 player takes 5 minutes to find. Well, the simpler the tactic, the more likely a strong player is to consider the best move immediately. This classic De La Maza article has more.īut what is tactical skill? Let's check the science. It means tactical skill is chess’s foundational skill, which they’ve (modestly) transcended. Sadly this doesn't mean GMs don't do tactics. GMs Axel and Hans didn’t review my games. In the Woodpecker Method, GMs Axel Smith & Hans Tikkanen estimated what percentage of games are won or lost by tactical mistakes at different ratings: You can play openings like Magnus Carlsen, but play endings like Carlos Magnussen and you’re still going to lose. So, if you too are an adult who sucks at chess, and want to improve, here's how.Īnd if you can't spot tactics, you can't win games. Since almost every chess Grandmaster became strong mostly during childhood, most strong players never had to do it! Adult chess improvement is especially controversial. Only about 10% of players ever gain more than 100 points, and only about 1% of players gain more than 200 rating points given years. And, it turns out, in chess, almost no-one improves. Third, the way I did this probably isn't fun for most people.īut, I did improve meaningfully. These ratings can't be compared precisely and from my just-had-a-few-beers-and-am-sitting-on-the-bus/train/toilet Blitz games my Blitz rating seems to lag by as much as 200 points. Second, I now play almost exclusively Rapid (fast) games, instead of Blitz (faster). It's empirically harder to improve the stronger you are, and I have no evidence my methods will work for other people. First, I'm no Beth Harmon: 1500 is not going to impress strong chess players. More importantly for you, dear reader: I now understand how adults can meaningfully improve at chess. So, what's that mean? It means I went from being in the bottom 5% to pushing the top 5% of players on in around 9 months. After the second tournament, my Rapid rating was 1508, about the same as my recent online ratings. In early September/October I played two Over The Board (physical) chess tournaments. After a bit of research, I started a 20-30 minute a day practice routine. Given the size of my aforementioned ego, I wouldn't be writing about this if I hadn't made some progress. I'd fallen in love with chess, but chess didn't love me back: it was starting to prove that I wasn't so smart after all. I slumped to 328 on January 1st 2021, after my month of Blitz. Worse still, I wasn't improving, I was getting worse. AKA, 95% of players on were better than me. Out of the regulars on, 11 million players, I wasn’t even 5th percentile. I was not even bad for a beginner, I was one of the worst people in the world.Īfter 500 Blitz games my ELO rating (the number that shows how strong you are) was 328. What did I learn? I suck at chess! Fucking. That's around an hour a day - it was lockdown after all. In December I played about 500 games of 'Blitz' (fast) chess. If I just brushed up on the rules and played a few games I'd be beating Bobby Fischer in no time. But I'm a smart guy (hi white male privilege). Unfortunately, more than literally almost everyone, I sucked at chess.Īt first, this was unsurprising: I only vaguely knew what the pieces did, and didn't know more complicated rules like castling. Like most people, I made a account assuming I’d become the new Beth Harmon. Like most people, late last year I watched the Queen's Gambit.
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