Re:To get good, go after the metagame
by derangedHorse on Wednesday February 26, 2020 @08:01AM
(#22422491)
This kind of remind me of the argument of deliberate practice presented in the book "Talent Is Overrated". The biggest improvements can just be made by deliberately learning and practicing the things that good players take for granted.
Do you recall these rules? I'm rather curious about them.
There are zillions of them, but it's normally some combination of:
1) Initially develop your pieces in the center rather than threaten or capture the opponent's pieces (this avoids most traps where opponents pull you out of position).
2) Castle by move 8-10
3) Don't leave your king where it can be checked
4) Don't hang pieces
Executing these, however, is the problem. Number 4, in particular, is just something that requires a lot of practice. Most games below 2000 rating seem to be lost because somebody hangs a piece.
Yeah, these were some of them. I think 'put your horseys in the middle' was another specific one. Well, not worded that way of course.
I found John Bartholowmew's[1] videos extremely helpful when I was playing a lot of chess. Definitely saw a huge improvement.
And sure enough, when my obsession quickly waned, and without having played much chess at all, I found myself consistently winning from novices who had a lot more experience than I did. In hindsight, I suspect what happened is that they played a better game but were more likely to make catastrophic mistakes.
Of course, I suspect any player with any training probably applies these basic rules already, and would easily defeat me.