Today I will present you 5 the most common chess myths about getting better at chess.

Is it true that reading chess books will increase your ELO?

Do you think playing enormous number of chess games will make you a master strength player? Let's find out!

Myth 1: If you play chess as much as you can, you will become a master.
Although playing regular chess games is one of the elements of success , it is definitely not the

only one. Maybe not even the most important one. It does not matter how many games you play, it

matters how well you play: quality over quantity concept.

Playing many games and making the same mistakes over and over again will not lead you to

becoming a better player. Maybe you will learn a thing or two here and there but globally, quality of

your chess will not change just from playing games.

In order to improve at chess a systematic training approach is necessary, I have covered it here:

3 Things That Will Increase Your Chess Rating:

Every chess player wants to increase his or her ELO rating. They spend many hours studying

without much of the result.

They read books, study long opening variation, accumulate chess knowledge but the rating

seems not to go up. Sounds familiar?

Then you should read about 3 things that will increase your ELO:

1. Calculating Moves
This is the very reason why computer plays the best chess on the planet. It may not be the

smartest player, but if it can calculate 20 moves deep in 10 lines and do it quickly, winning chess

games is a no brainer. The point I'm trying to make is simple, if you calculate better that you

opponent, you will most likely win the game.

What does it mean when we say calculating 'better' than your opponent? It means two things:

deeper and quicker. All grandmasters have exceptional calculating abilities, and can analyze up

to 15-20 moves deep in some positions. How do they do that? Magnus Carlsen pointed out that

the trick is to visualize and to evaluate the just final position.

How to train your calculating ability?

As GM Alexander Kotov pointed out in his book 'Think Like a Grandmaster' the most important

part of calculating long variations is to actually know what lines to calculate.

You shouldn't calculate every variation you see on the board for two reasons:

1. You're not a computer.

2. Therefore, cannot calculate all lines sufficiently fast.

If you do that you will either get tired and lose or your clock will expire.

What should you do?

Kotov suggested to pick few (2-3) best moves that are possible in the position. These are called

candidate moves. Then, we only need to calculate 2-3 lines that arise after one of the candidate

moves is played. This approach simplifies the calculation complexity and saves time. Instead of

calculating some random variations, you will only focus on the strongest, thus the most important

continuations.

How deep you can calculate the variation depends on your calculation ability. That can also be

improved by training. Solving tactics problems (5-7 movers) in your head, just looking at the initial

position without moving the pieces is one of the most effective approaches. First find the

candidate moves and then try calculating the variations in your head. Think of each problems

as a position that arose in a tournament game.

2. Fundamentals of Strategy
Calculating ability is a very important skill to possess for a chess player of any level. But, it's not

the only weapon grandmasters have. Aaron Nimzovich was a positional game expert. He

analyzed many of the typical middle game positions in the great detail.

For example, he analyzed positions where one side had a king's/queen's side attack, while

the other side had a play in the center of the board. Nimzovich analyzed many asymmetrical

positions, became an expert in such and have won many games on that territory.

Capablanca also worked in a similar fashion as Nimzovich did but, with a main focus shifted

towards Queen endings and Rook endings. He had became an endgame expert and scored

many points at the final phase of the game.

What should you do to improve positional play?

Analyze and study typical middle game positions that frequently arise in the game:

1. Pawn majority on one side of the board

2. Isolated pawn (playing with and against)

3. Closed center positions

4. Pawn sacrifice (both tactical and positional)

5. Weak pawns positions

Analyze and study typical endgame positions that frequently arise in the game:

1. Bishop vs. pawns

2. Opposite color bishops

3. Knight vs. pawns

4. Same color bishops

5. Bishop vs. knight

6. Rook endgames

7. Queen endgames

3. Attack on the King
Checkmate is the final goal of chess. It does not matter how much you're down in material or how

short on time. Once the checkmate is delivered the game is over. Therefore, it makes a lot of

sense to work on the attacking chess, and primarily on the attack on the king.

Many players like to play aggressively and to attack their opponent, but they rarely work on their

attacking skills.

How to work on the attack on the king?

1. Analyze games of attacking players: Alekhine, Fischer, Botvinnik (part 1, part 2, part 3), etc.

By doing that you will learn many attacking themes and ideas that can be used in your own

games. No need reinventing the wheel here.

2. Sharpen your tactical skills and calculating skills. These are crucial instruments of an

attacking player. The more you work on these, the more success you will have as an attacking

player.

3. Study basic themes of the attack on the king:

Same side castled king attack

Opposite side castled king attack

Un-castled king attack

King in the center of the board attack

Recommended for further reading:

Finding Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Chess

What Chess Move to Play When You Don't Know What to Play?

5 Simple Things That Will Help You Win More Chess Games

11 Things I Wish I Knew About Chess When I First Started

Rapid Chess Improvement: Evaluation of Positions

10 Chess Improvement Rules Most Players Forget

Myth 2: Reading chess books will increase your ELO
Chess books are a great source of information and are definitely very important for chess

players of all levels. The main problem with chess books or any chess materials for that matter

is that there are so many of them, it is hard to decide which one to study.

In order for your ELO to increase, you need not only to learn the information presented in the book,

but also to be able to apply it in your own games. If you cannot apply your knew knowledge in real

games, the book is no good for increasing your chess performance. This is what will increase

your ELO.

Myth 3: Strongest chess engine will help you with game analysis
The problem with chess engines is that many people are not using them in the right way.

Many players assume that plugging in the game into a chess engine and looking at changing

+ and - scores in the analysis window after each move is a sufficient enough analysis, the

one that will lead to learning from your own mistakes and improving quickly.

Unfortunately, it's not the case. The only analysis that will help you to learn from your mistakes

is your own, move-by-move, scrupulous one. The point I'm trying to make is simple, chess

engines should help with the analysis not do it for you. After you finish with your own game

analysis, you can check with the engine for the things you might have missed.

Myth 4: Studying more openings is what most chess players need to become stronger
Many chess players totally love studying openings. It's almost like training biceps in the gym

(for the ones who don't know, this is the most favorite muscle group to train for most people).

Day by day, chess players sit down and study long variations of their most favorite opening line

20 moves deep. They are almost experts in these lines, if they manage to remember them.

The problem comes if somebody does not follow the line they have studied.

Then fiasco comes. One grandmaster said that a chess player needs to start studying chess

openings only when he reaches about 1800 ELO. Since most chess players are below that

level, there is no need for them to spend time on the initial phase of the game. If they want to

improve, they should focus on tactics, endgames and the attack.

Myth 5: Winning chess games is what makes you a stronger player
We learn the most from lost games. The games that hurt us the most are the most effective

teachers. We remember won games for few days, but we can remember that game we lost for

months. So actually, losing games and learning from your mistakes is what makes us stronger

chess player. One chess master once said, I have lost more games that you have played in

your life, after defeating his opponents

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