The world is going through difficult times. Staying home 24/7 is not easy. Every one of us had a routine. We all had daily activities that we looked forward to. Now we must change and adapt to the situation. Hopefully not for long.
As chess players, we have one advantage over most people when it comes to staying indoors. We have a hobby that we love, and we can use it in times like this. Playing chess online is easy. There are many chess servers where we can play chess for free. And we can always download a free app to play against too. There are many choices, and they will cover your playing time.
But what about learning? What about improving? Many hours of playing online chess will help you to entertain yourself. You will have fun, and possibly you will make a small progress. If you played online for a long time, you probably noticed some people who play on a daily basis, but their rating remain more or less the same. That is because playing and learning should go together. One without the other will not help you to move forward.
Of course, you can take that regular weekly lesson with your coach, and learn few more things. There is still plenty of free time, and you should make the best of it. So here are few suggestions that might be useful to chess parents who would like their kids to spend more time learning chess, but also to advanced chess players of all age.
Books are a good start
Self-study is very important in chess. The coach will help the students raise their level, but ultimately, those kids who will develop a habit to study on their own will go a long way. I would like to give you few recommendations for chess literature. Since the goal is to read something during this crisis, I will only recommend books that also have a Kindle version. Although obviously, Kindle is not the best way to fall in love with a chess book.
“Chess for children” from the authors Murray Chandler and Helen Milligan is a great choice for a first chess book. It is suitable for beginners. It contains tales and illustrations. A parent can easily guide the kids through the book even without previous chess knowledge.
More books from Murray Chandler, only this time for more advanced kids. “How to beat your dad at chess” and “Chess tactics for kids” are books for kids who have been playing chess at least 2-3 years. The puzzles in those books are often challenging even for kids who have FIDE Ratings of 1200-1400 rating points. Once I recommended them to a chess dad. He said – They should write a book that is called “How to beat your son in chess”. Very true. Parents desperately need a book like that.
Moving to more advanced levels, kids who are at least 11-12 years old and have been training and playing chess competitions, might want to try a “heavier literature”. I picked an old and famous book from Alexander Kotov – “Think Like a Grandmaster”. In the book, Kotov explains the thinking process of a chess player, he talks about candidates moves, chess analysis etc.
Finally, for everyone, from a club player to a chess master, there is the “My Great Predecessors” collection of 5 books. A great contribution from the World Champion Garry Kasparov. Lot of great games and interesting facts about the lives and the legacy of the greatest chess players in the history.
You can find all those books on amazon.com. Needless to say, this is not an attempt to make a list of the best books. I believe such task would be impossible. These are only books that come to my mind at the moment, books that I find useful in different stages of chess development.
I hope that you will find this article useful. Stay with us, next week we will write about other chess activities beside reading books.
Have a nice day!