Alrighty! This is the last part of this series...AND I hope you are still following. If you haven't read the previous Improve In Chess articles I have written here, you should check it out.
Now, there is nothing revolutionary with what I have written here. I'm sure other chess players and writers have written about them before. BUT they do serve as a strong and regular reminder concerning the bad habits you need to get rid of to improve in chess.
What I'm about to discuss right now is probably the most important so far in this series. This is precisely the reason why you lose when your opponent plays something out of the book, why you can't make any sense of the position in front of you, why you fail to find tactics despite spending hours on chess tactics training.
In simpler terms, this could be reason why your game hasn't improved yet.
Lack Of GOOD Chess Thought Process Or Having A Flawed One
Chess is a mental sport. It requires a lot of thinking...there's no doubt about that.
We all know that...nothing revealing with the statement above. So why don't you have any structured chess thought process that would guide you through the myriads of possibilities in the board?!
Pattern recognition, memorization of variations - these could only take you too far. One way or another, you would encounter that player who loves to play in an unorthodox manner that would bring up positions that are alien to you.
These messed up positions would render those patterns you know like the back of your hand, those variations that you have memorized, etc. useless. And there is only one thing you have going for yourself during these situations - your chess thought process.
If your thinking process is flawed, then the way you would approach the position would be just as flawed. You would be like a blind man, inching your way to safety through a zigzagging road filled with traps.
If you seriously want to improve in chess, you should fix your chess thought process NOW!
The Antidote
The antidote shouldn't be too elusive for you by now - have a good and structured chess thinking process that would allow you to find the RIGHT move whether you are facing a complicated position where the chess tactics are off the chart or one where you need to play for small advantages and go for slow BUT steady build up.
Jeremy Silman, Igor Smirnov, Dan Heisman - these well known chess trainers all believe that the important thing you to improve in chess is work on your chess thought process...and they are RIGHT.
Knowing how to think no matter what the position in front of you is will bring GREATER chess improvement than knowing the intricacies of the Caro Kann or 20 moves of theory of the ever-sharp Sicilian Najdorf.
One resource that I LOVE and has helped me greatly is Grandmaster's Secrets by GM Igor Sminov. In his chess video lessons, he shows you how to approach both tactical and strategic positions...STEP by STEP.
Moreover, you will also find a lot of tips and tricks on how to train, how to stay in shape for tournaments...in simpler terms, it has a lot of nice and VERY useful information about how to improve in chess.
I highly recommend that you check out this excellent chess course by Smirnov.
Grandmaster's Secrets Chess Video Course Official Website
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