A Guide to Chess Improvement: The Best of Novice Nook Book

Acknowledgements 5

Introduction 7

1 General Improvement 11

1.1 The Theory of Chess Improvement 12

1.2 An Improvement Plan 21

1.2.1 Practice (The Road to Carnegie Hall) 21

1.2.2 Theory 26

1.2.3 Chess Books and Prerequisites 33

1.3 Reviewing Chess Games 35

1.4 The Big Five 42

1.5 Getting the Edge 54

1.6 Finding a Good Instructor 64

2 Thought Process 71

2.1 Making Chess Simple 72

2.2 The Goal Each Move 84

2.3 Real Chess, Time Management, and Care 92

2.4 Analysis and Evaluation 95

2.5 Improving Analysis Skills 107

2.6 The Principle of Tactical Dominance 119

2.7 The Fun of Pros and Cons 127

2.8 Ask the Right Questions 140

3 Time Management 149

3.1 The Case for Time Management 150

3.2 The Two Move Triggers 158

4 Skills and Psychology 168

4.1 Traits of a Good Chess Player 169

4.2 Chess, Learning, and Fun 175

4.3 Breaking Down Barriers 181

4.4 The Three Types of Chess Vision 187

5 Tactics and Safety 193

5.1 A Different Approach to Studying Tactics 194

5.2 When is a King Safe? 199

5.3 Is it Safe? 209

5.4 Is it Safe? Quiz 237

5.5 The Two Types of Counting Problems 243

6 Openings 250

6.1 Learning Opening Lines and Ideas 251

7 Endgames and Technique 265

7.1 Trading Pawns When Ahead 266

7.2 The Endgame Bind 272

7.3 When You're Winning, It's a Whole Different Game 279

7.4 The Margin for Error 291

8 Strategy and Positional Play 299

8.1 Strong Principles vs. Important Principles 300

8.2 The Most Important Strategic Decisions 311

8.3 The Six Common Chess States 319

8.4 Break Moves: Opening Lines to Create Mobility 323

8.5 It's Not Really Winning a Tempo! 332

8.6 The Principle of Symmetry 346

9 Shorter, Lesson Material 355

9.1 A Fistful of Lessons 356

9.2 Examples of Chess Logic 365

9.3 Odds and Ends 374