As most of my fellow chess players know, Chess Day is rapidly approaching. That being said, there are tournaments all over the country, one in particular located in Milwaukee Wisconsin. This tournament is "National Chess Day - Hales Corner Challenge XVII" which happens to be one of the great tournaments of the year where players that you haven't seen in a long time shake off the rust and duke it out with every level of player. In the open section we already have 3 Master level players signed up along with some experts. This tournament also offers a "reserve" section where players rated under 1600 can safely play against people in their strength range. Hales Corners Challenge events are also 1 day tournaments, so you don't have to rent a room and spend the night (for most people anyhow).
Taking this information into consideration, some of you might be asking yourself "This looks like an awesome opportunity to play some chess and talk with friends that I haven't seen in a long time, but where should I start to study...openings...theory....endings?". While a lot of people would find a question like that overwhelming (it seems like your in the ocean with a one person life raft with no land in sight) there is one thing that everyone should study when they first start back into the game, and that one thing is Tactics. You, of course, need to know what openings you are going to play, but if you're going to play in a tournament that is only 2 weeks out and want to get the most bang out of your time-buck, this is the rout to go. Tactics will not only help you to see the board better, but you'll come across tactics that will be from openings that you play. If you have access to ICC (The Internet Chess Club) there are two different bots that offer a great tactics database. The first bot is called TrainingBot. This bot has some of the best tactics from 2 to 4 moves deep and is very, very helpful. The second bot is ProblemBot. This bot has much harder, deeper problems, although very instructive. CT Art is another great tactics program that has training/instruction "Classes" which you can start. If you prefer to play it "old school" and use a book (I still do) just ask me and I'll help you find a book that will work for your playing level (I'm always on the search for harder/better tactics books, so I have many). I will take the tactics route to study up for this tournament, which I know will give me the best return for my money. Also, please take into consideration any one of the different links that I have on this blog. They will give you even more help. As usual, if you have any questions, please ask and I'll do my best to help out.
Taking this information into consideration, some of you might be asking yourself "This looks like an awesome opportunity to play some chess and talk with friends that I haven't seen in a long time, but where should I start to study...openings...theory....endings?". While a lot of people would find a question like that overwhelming (it seems like your in the ocean with a one person life raft with no land in sight) there is one thing that everyone should study when they first start back into the game, and that one thing is Tactics. You, of course, need to know what openings you are going to play, but if you're going to play in a tournament that is only 2 weeks out and want to get the most bang out of your time-buck, this is the rout to go. Tactics will not only help you to see the board better, but you'll come across tactics that will be from openings that you play. If you have access to ICC (The Internet Chess Club) there are two different bots that offer a great tactics database. The first bot is called TrainingBot. This bot has some of the best tactics from 2 to 4 moves deep and is very, very helpful. The second bot is ProblemBot. This bot has much harder, deeper problems, although very instructive. CT Art is another great tactics program that has training/instruction "Classes" which you can start. If you prefer to play it "old school" and use a book (I still do) just ask me and I'll help you find a book that will work for your playing level (I'm always on the search for harder/better tactics books, so I have many). I will take the tactics route to study up for this tournament, which I know will give me the best return for my money. Also, please take into consideration any one of the different links that I have on this blog. They will give you even more help. As usual, if you have any questions, please ask and I'll do my best to help out.
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