This whole series is very good, worth watching and re-watching:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9iOeK_jvU

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWJ6751RRis

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5o2d9slUCM

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-JGqEiNs-I

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kdjSqNcViw

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45893473)

I don’t think I have a rating. I’ve just played the computer

Thanks

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45893551)

St. Louis Chess Club IM and GM lectures are better if you want rigorous study material.

Open arena on your laptop, or set up a board, and pause the videos and really analyze each position throughout the lecture. Also take notes on things. Have a sheet of notes on different chess topics (e.g. Sicilian theory, closed middle games, rook endgames, etc.) and add to it each time you hear a piece of information that's relevant. Periodically review your notes and you'll start to internalize then so that when you play a Sicilian, you automatically already know the main motifs and goals for each side. You can get pretty far online just knowing what to play for in certain positions.

Also, it's useful in the beginning to have a sheet of paper that you force yourself to review before EVERY move. This trains analysis to become habit. On it, have several questions you have to answer before you can move. Mine looked roughly like this:

1. Is there a possible checkmate on the board?

• how many squares does each king have?

• are there forcing moves available?

- calculate all forcing moves

2. Are there hanging pieces on the board?

- anything free?

- are there any pieces that are trapped (or can be trapped)?

- are there any pieces that are overloaded (defending more than one other piece or square)?

- are there any defenders that can be removed?

3. Are there any tactical tricks on the board?

• enemy:

- forks

- discoveries

- pins

- skewers

- x-rays

• mine:

- forks

- discoveries

- pins

- skewers

- x-rays

4. What are the asymmetries on the board?

• resources:

- material

- space

- development / piece activity

- initiative

- pieces (knights v. bishops, different or same colored bishops)

- king safety

- pawn structure

- pawn promotion potential

- clock time

5. What are the weaknesses in each position (and how can they be attacked)?

- isolated or bad pawns

- weak king

- weakness on particular squares / square colors

6. After I move, what do I expect his move to be?

Open a 30 minute rated game, and before literally every move, review every item on the list. It's extremely tedious at first, but by about the fifth game of this, if done religiously, you start seeing so much more stuff automatically.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45895641)

http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45895680

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45895690)

https://www.amazon.com/How-Reassess-Your-Chess-Imbalances/dp/1890085138

https://www.amazon.com/Silmans-Complete-Endgame-Course-Beginner/dp/1890085103/

And you can probably get better than you will ever want to be

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45893501)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45893602)

2. If you'll poast a throwaway, I'll send you my zip drive of all the chess book PDFs I have lying around.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45895068)

knowtherighthand@gmail.com

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45896720)

Best tactics trainer in the world.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45895680)

- forks

- discoveries

- pins

- skewers

- mate in 1s and 2s, all the mate motifs until you can identify them all

- x-rays

- removing defender

- overloading

- distraction

- simplification

- mate in 3s and 4s

.

With all problems, try not to move until you've calculated the whole sequence, especially for mates and exchanges.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45895769)

nobody is going to care if they lose to someone (bot or not) whose rating blows them out of the water

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45896449)

(ie, i personally am not sure how the algorithms work and assuming you could do it i'm not sure if anyone middling would be mad)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5285055&forum_id=2#45896559)