Chessville - Fun and Productive Way to Prepare for a Game (especially for casual players) - Chess Lesson of the Month from IM Igor Khmelnitsky - chess training, chess instruction, chess middlegames, chess theory

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A Fun and Productive Way
to Prepare for a Game
(especially for casual players)

Level - beginner through advanced

Many years ago I recall myself traveling across the country to junior chess tournaments. I had category 2 (approx. Class A, using the USCF rating scale) and improving. Tournaments lasted 10 days, and no computers were available to get the info, store games and analyze.

The bi-annual issues of Chess Informant were the only source for opening preparation, and we only had one copy in our club's library. Everyone had to share. Moreover, with no copy-machines available, if you found a relevant game, you had to record it in your notebook or on index cards...

As a kid you had to travel light, as no one was there to carry your bags. Hence, you had to plan carefully what chess books to take with you.

My favorite book was Neishtadt's "Po Sledam Debutnih Katastrof" ("Following Opening Accidents.") This was an opening reference book with collections of fairly common openings and examples of typical tricks in these openings.

I used it both to prepare for my games (to learn specific lines and to get a general feel for the opening) as well as to sharpen my tactics.

IM Igor Khmelnitsky

Igor is a winner of many national and international tournaments in Europe and the United States.

At various points during his career, he has won individual encounters with many of the game’s best players - including Lev Alburt, Boris Alterman, Viorel Bologan, Roman Dzindzikhashvili, Vasily Ivanchuk, Alexander Ivanov, Oleg Romanishin, Alexander Shabalov, Evgeniy Sveshnikov, Patrick Wolff, and Alex Yermolinsky.

In total, Igor has beaten over 30 different Grandmasters. He has been a participant in the Ukrainian National Championship as well as a three times contestant in the US National Championship.

I had a great experience with that book!

Fast forward to present time - many train with computers, even carry them to the tournaments. Hence, it seem like a completely different environment and methods should apply. You can easily buy 100 different opening books before you feel completely secure in every opening.

Or you can buy a repertoire book (like Alburt's "Chess Openings for White & Black, Explained (A Complete Repertoire)) to get a comfortable in various openings, although not all lines picked by authors would suit you. I certainly would vouch for the latter, but ... I prefer to mix old proven methods with the newer tools.

Here is a 'little' book (it weighs 4 pounds) that I find both enjoyable and indispensable - basically 800 pages, 4000 games from all openings played by masters all the way through world champions, that ended in 13 moves or less. You can read my review here. The book is in English / Russian. All openings are classified.

About three weeks ago my 1100-rated student, B (a happily retired gentleman), came for a lesson in the afternoon and told me that in about six hours he has a rated game to play. So, I pulled the above mentioned book and we started going over games from some openings that he was likely to see that night.

We spend the entire two hours reviewing 10-15 games, trying to replay them from memory, and considering possible variations that didn't happen in the games. He enjoyed the lesson and told me that he learned a lot as well felt shaper tactically. I was glad to hear that.

I felt even better when the next day I got this e-mail:

Igor, Thank you. Played best ever and beat J. K., 1646. It was cool and now in the running for the upset prize of 50 dollars. - B.

When I am working with aspiring junior rated 2000+, our goal is to win tournaments and earn titles. And based on that, we determine how successful is our work together. When I am working with causal players, e-mails like this is the best indicator of our success.

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Check out IM Khmelnitsky's Special-of-the Month

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Chess Exam - Matches Against Chess Legends:
You vs. Bobby Fischer

by Igor Khmelnitsky, International Master

Some free samples, in PDF format:

Table of Contents

Preface

Rating Report

Sample Game

Best-selling and award-winning author Igor Khmelnitsky gathers examples from Bobby Fischer's games that are educational, entertaining, and can be studied without a board.

In each of the examples you will take a seat of Fischer's opponent and be asked to come up with an assessment and a move. Based on your response you are assigned points towards your rating evaluation and a game score towards your "match."

Once finished, you will learn how well you have done in the "match," have an estimate of your rating, and know what you need to work on to improve your game.

In this book, you will discover:

60 diagrams with multiple-choice questions of varied complexity.
Comprehensive answers with diagrams to make reviewing easier.
Distributions of answers and other statistical reports by rating.
Ratings are assigned Overall and by 13 distinct categories.
Bonus section: 20-exercise warm-up, tie-breaker, tips and training suggestions.

Ordering information:

Order direct from
IM Khmelnitsky
and get an autographed
or even personalized copy!

More on chess training (serious and enlightening):

Chess Exam and Training Guide
$24.95 + shipping

Chess Training Services

Chess Exam and
Training Guide: Tactics

Read our review

60 diagrams & 120 total questions of various difficulty.
Comprehensive answers includes diagrams for easy reading away from the chessboard.
Distributions of answers, percentiles and other statistical reports by rating group from unrated to 2400+. Match yourself against players of all levels, up to grandmaster and see how you stock up.
Results evaluated and Rating assigned overall & by 29 distinct categories: Motive: Misplaced Piece, Advanced Pawn, Lack of Protection, Back Rank Mate, Mating Net, Simplification. Theme: In-Between Move, Decoy, Interference, Clearance, Deflection, Discovered Attack, Double Attack, Removal of the Guard, Pin, Skewer, Trap. Objective: Checkmate, Force a Draw, Win Material, Pawn Promotion, Reaching Standard Endgame. Stage: Opening vs. Middlegame vs. Endgame Situation: Attack vs. Defense Result: Win vs. Draw
Comprehensive reports on each of the categories with examples, training recommendations and book/materials suggestions.

$19.95 + shipping.

Buy both together
and $ave!

Chess Exam and Training Guide:
Rate Yourself and Learn How to Improve

IM Igor Khmelnitsky's book, Chess Exam and Training Guide: Rate Yourself and Learn How to Improve (2004, IamCoach Press) - winner of Book of the Year from CJA - Chess Journalists of America (2005).

"...will quickly and accurately test your combinational ability, positional judgment and endgame expertise... Instructive and Entertaining!" - Alex Yermolinsky, Grandmaster, former US Champion and Olympic team member.