Upping my game: Go and Chess

Wash

I've come to appreciate the strategy behind a very well-played game of chess, and have realized that, as much as I like the game, I've never taken the time to get any good at it. I suck. I really, really suck at chess. So what I'd like are the names of decent books by decent players on how to improve my game, or even just advice from PAers here who fancy they're pretty good. I've checked online for books, but there seem to be a lot of them out there, yet no information to help me separate the good from the bad. I'd much rather pick up a copy of something people have vouched for then just walk into the nearest Chapters with a list of randomly assorted Chess texts.

Aside from chess, I've also looked into go. Basically, I've gotten into strategy board games, and go has always looked like this fantastic, complex game to me, despite the fact the pieces are all the same. Same with my request regarding chess, I'd love the names (or links) to any good resources (books preferred), and any advice on getting good at it.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Edgie

I feel like Chessmaster has improved my chess game. It has tutorials ranging from never played to expert. I really like it because it has visual text, the chessboard with hands-on learning, and the text is spoken as well.

Retox

I'm about halfway through "Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess" and it has improved my game quite a bit. The book is in sort of an odd format (a conversation between a fictional student and teacher) but it explains things very well and progresses through the game pretty naturally, starting with tactics, tempo and pawn structure and then going into opening moves for both sides and then into more strategy stuff. It uses lots of diagrams in the beginning until you get used to the move notations and can remember where all the squares are. It's fairly well written and occasionally funny (for a chess book anyway) so it never really drags or gets boring, at least it hasn't yet. All in all I'd recommend it for a beginner like myself, but if you're already pretty familiar with the game beyond just the basics it might be a lot of redundant information.

iostream

I second Chessmaster. I'm currently playing Chessmaster 10th Edition. Lots of tutorials, a huge library of opening moves, even a section just for players learning the rules of the game. But more importantly, it provides an always there playing partner to try your new strats on. After all you don't get good by reading strats, you get good by playing lots of games against better opponents.

darthmix

Jeremy Silman is an easy chess author to recommend, particularly The Amateur's Mind. Good primer on how to think when you're playing.

Really, nothing will improve your game like experience, particularly the experience of playing against other human beings. Computers just don't make the kinds of mistakes that humans do, and a big part of getting better is learning to spot mistakes and exploit them. Plus there's no real pressure in playing against a computer. Playing against people online was the biggest help to me.

I know nothing about Go.

Raziel

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess will refresh you on the fundamentals and get your brain to recognize checkmate and material-winning combinations.

Same with Josh Waitzkin's Attacking Chess.

Best bet though is to play and play and play. I know losing at chess is the worst kind of losing, but the practise will help you hone your instincts.

wasted pixels

Before I rattle off any Go book recommendations, what's your approximate ranking (either from an IGF body or KGS)?

mrcheesypants

Make sure to get a good exercise book that's above Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess.
This is my favorite back when I used to play
This one is by the same author, but I've never used it so I can't recommend it.

Wash

wasted pixels wrote: »

Before I rattle off any Go book recommendations, what's your approximate ranking (either from an IGF body or KGS)?

I suppose 30 kyu, since I'm a beginner when it comes to it. I've played online several times, and I've played with a buddy of mine whose school had a Go club, but not once have I ever won a game.

Vic

I second the go question! At my strongest I was around 15 kyu, though I fear I have become weaker since.

Hahnsoo1

Ugh. You can't get markedly better by just "practicing chess". That's a one-way ticket to losing repeatedly with very little, if any, gain in skill (hey, the pawn a2-a4 didn't work again! Let's try the next pawn down the line). I remember many kids in my old Chess clubs who kept "practicing" chess and getting nowhere, because they never sat down with a good Chess book and figured out why certain moves were more important, or the concept of material exchange (and when to throw those material rules out), or why it is important to have a good pawn formation (and when to open it up). You can't get better by just memorizing openings from books, either (at some point, the openings become the Middle game, and you'll flounder). Again, many kids in Chess clubs knew what to do in the first 10-15 moves, but then get crushed as they give up tempo and territory in the middle game, or make foolish exchanges based on their Opening principles. Or they use book knowledge to shortcut analysis without figuring out if their book move is worthwhile in a particular situation. Both live games and books can only take you so far, and while the live game portion is much more interesting (even the Chessmaster computer opponent), you need the books and analysis.

There are a hojillion books based on the opening game, and quite a few books based on the endgame, but the middle game often gets glazed over. Any book on openings will probably get you by, regardless of author. You'll know you're getting better at openings when you feel like you are ready to start reading books based on a specific opening (The Ruy Lopez for Dummies!). The book that I used for the middle game is Reuben Fine's "The Middlegame in Chess", but it's a bit dated.

The reason you play against live human opponents is because they provide variety. They will do things that a computer might not do. They will make mistakes at the most brilliant of times. They will also make brilliant moves at the most catastrophic at times. But this does not improve your "skill". How you react to these mistakes (which you must capitalize) and these !!! moves (which you must recover from) is determined by how well you have trained your mind to see them. For the most part, the only way to get this training is either a book (and actually physically setting up the examples in the book... if the book is any good, it will provide theoretical board setups and analyze them) or a chess coach.

Keep notating your games. I have a stack of chess games that I played back in middle school (over a decade ago, now *sigh*), and every time I played a game, I analyzed it. If you can't see the ! and the ? moves yourself, then you need to keep reading and keep going over the old games once in a while. A played game is worthless unless you have a record of it and mull over it.

wasted pixels

Disclaimer: At my strongest, I was maybe 5k, and after a few years' hiatus, I recently got my clock cleaned by a 12k, so don't take my word as gospel here or anything.

A good first book is Teach Yourself Go by Charles Matthews. It's a solid crash course on basic theory and strategy. I would supplement this with Graded Go problems for Beginners.

At around 20k or so, Life and Death is a good book to further your grasp of the game, and Tesuji is worth cracking open once you're a solid 15k. At around 15k, you should also have a strong enough grasp of the game that learning joseki won't hurt you (I'd strongly suggest avoiding the study of joseki prior to 15k, as it'll actually weaken you in the short term).

edit: And also, always have a board in front of you when you read Go books. Playing through a sequence of moves and seeing how the situation evolved will do much more good than simply looking at the charts in the books.

Rohan

The best way to get better at Go is to find someone near to if not first Dan to teach you, then find someone else starting off like you and play, play, play. The books recommended above are also helpful.