Things may seem to have gone quiet here at Chess Book Reviews, but this is not the case. Much has been afoot behind the scenes, most notably the drafting and submission of a longer-than-usual review to Chess Life on opening videos. I’ve been watching a lot of video from a number of providers, including ICC, chess24.com, chesslecture.com, chess.com and Chessbase. Combine that with a lovely trip to see family and friends, and it’s not hard to see why there have been relatively few reviews in recent weeks.
In three weeks time I make my second appearance at the US Open. Attentive readers will recall that last year I ‘live-blogged’ my experience and games there, and it is my intention to do so again. I began last year’s bloggery with a description of what I’d been doing to prepare. I will do so again in this post.
My chess has been miserable this past year. After an abysmal showing at the Nebraska State Closed Championship, I decided that I had to do something radical to improve my game. That radical step was, in truth, six steps – the six steps of the Dutch Stappenmethode (available in the States at Chess Steps and in an Amazon storefront) program for learning chess.
I will give an in-depth description and review of the Steps in the near future, but for now, let me say that the idea of the Steps is to offer users a systematic course for learning and improving one’s chess. It is designed for children – my wife, in fact, asked me why I was so busy with children’s workbooks at the start of my project – but I find it equally ideal for the adult self-learner. I have been busy solving all of the puzzles, including those in the Plus books, since the spring, and am now in the midst of Step 4. My idea was to finally learn the basic grammar of chess, seeing as I, like most Americans, had a rather slapdash chess education. I think it’s helping, but it’s too early to know what the long-term benefits (if any) will be.
I will continue moving through the Steps as I prepare for the US Open, and I will also be looking at a couple of other books, namely Chess Training for Post-Beginners by Yaroslav Srokovski and Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual by Mark Dvoretsky. Dvoretsky’s book is a classic, but Srokovski’s book is new, and it will also (not coincidentally) be half of the subject of a review in Chess Life by yours truly later this year.
I will also try to get some practice in, both in set endgame positions against the computer and in solving middlegame problems on a board. The middlegame problems will come from Krasenkow’s new book Finding Chess Jewels: Improve your Imagination and Calculation. The endgame positions will come from Dvoretsky and from Aagaard’s GM Prep: Endgame Play.
What about openings? Openings are not such a big part of my preparation this year, and for a couple of reasons. I did a lot of opening work for the Nebraska Closed, and I did just watch a lot of videos on the opening. Mainly I hope to review what I already play and fill in gaps where needed.
So ‘tune in’ during the Open for daily updates, and watch the British Chess Magazine later this year for a report by this foreign correspondent on the event. And stand by for some new reviews before the Open!
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