Playing Chess: Improve Your Game With Hybrid Chess Playing Sites.

How to improve your chess is a question that many chess players ask. There are many ways to do this. The most difficult is to study chess books. This is a very time consuming process and a chess player really has to be very dedicated to read these types of books as it can be compared to reading a math book. Using a chess computer is another way to improve chess playing strength. Taking lessons can be a good way but it can be very costly. Another good way to improve is by recording all games played and analyze them at a later time. However, you must understand chess notation to do this. Many chess players today are turning to the Internet to improve their chess. Getting results, no matter what you do, will take time and commitment.

Most people, today, play chess online in some form. There are really two ways to play online chess. One way is to play live with another opponent who is online at the same time. The other is to play an opponent who is not online at the same time. There are many sites where you can play chess online live.

However, if you really want to improve your chess the best way is to play on hybrid chess sites that offer a unique solution. Hybrid sites allow players to leave a game and come back to it at a later time without losing the game. This type of chess playing site has many benefits for a chess player that has a very active and busy lifestyle. For example, if you have children it is sometimes difficult to play a full game of chess without being interrupted. If you are playing live chess you must resign your game or lose on time. If you play on a hybrid chess site, where your opponent may or may not be online at the same time, a chess player has more control over how they want to play. For example, a player logs on and has 5 active games. The main benefit is the ability to play many chess games at one time. The chess player makes a move in one game and then moves on to the next game. After making all of their moves they notice that one of their opponents is now online. This gives the chess player an option to continue making moves in that game. They can chat and agree to make a certain number of moves before logging off or agree to finish the game that same day. If a chess player were on a live chess site they would be limited to only playing one game at a time and would have to finish each game in a specified time limit usually between one to two hours. Also, most live sites do not store your past games and are deleted as soon as the game is over.

The hybrid sites like www.chessmaniac.com allow both live and longer time limit games to be played. On most sites like this a chess player's games are saved and can be downloaded for review at a later time. The chess player also has the option to review their games while online. Which can be great as they can review their past games while making moves in other games. Playing chess on a hybrid chess site also allows a chess player to study a game more in depth and to learn openings as they are not rushed by a clock. Chess combinations can also be improved by playing on a hybrid chess site. If you get into a position where you think there is a forced win you can log off and study the game for as long as you need providing you stay within your game time out setting.

There are many ways to improve in chess. Online chess playing offers an easy way to play, study and improve your chess. Hybrid chess sites, by far, allow a chess player the most flexibility to learn and grow their chess abilities.

What You Need to Know BEFORE You Begin Playing Chess

As a chess player, you lose games from time to time-like all chess players.

Naturally you want to improve your play. Is there something special or unique about your problem? I don't think so. Only a few of us can become masters; yet the rest of us can achieve respectable playing strength with a reasonable amount of application.

The first big step-an enormous step-in improving our play is to become aware of the things we do wrong, the bad moves we make. Many of us could never reach that point without personal lessons because we could not previously find in books the kind of material that would enable us to spot our own weaknesses.

That is a pity, for while chess is a lot of fun, win or lose, it's more fun when you win! In my contacts with thousands of chess players for over twenty years, I have often watched them grope and drift and become discouraged in their efforts to improve their game.

It was from these observations that the notion of concentrating on the Eight Bad Moves took shape. Again and again I have seen, in the course of teaching and playing and discussing, that most players commit certain typical errors.

I started to think about these errors and how to describe them in such a way that the reader would exclaim, "At last! That's just why my games go wrong! If only I'd realized this sooner!"

This book has been "on my mind" for several years. What held me back somewhat in writing it, was the influence of the teachers and psychologists who have been insisting that a "negative" approach is all wrong. I finally concluded that my emphasis on the Eight Bad Moves was not really negative at all. Before a player can begin to improve, he must clear away the faults that have been spoiling his games and depriving him of well-earned victories.

In your study of these games and ideas you will not only discover the Eight Bad Moves and how to overcome the faults that produce them, you will also encounter a wealth of new ideas and techniques which you will enjoy using in your own games.

To derive the maximum value from this book, there are two features which you will very likely want to review quickly. One is to check up on the relative values of the chessmen. Expressed in points, their values are as follows:

Queen: 9 points
Rook: 5 points
Bishop: 3 points
Knight: 3 points
Pawn: 1 point

It is important to be absolutely certain of these values, for most games are decided by superiority in force.

Bishops (3 points) and Knights (3 points) are equal in value, but experienced players try to capture a Bishop in return for a Knight.

A Bishop or Knight (3 points) is worth about three Pawns (3 points). If you give up a Knight and get three Pawns in return, you may consider it as more or less an even exchange. If you lose a Knight (3 points) for only a Pawn (1 point), you have lost material and should lose the game, if you are playing against an expert.

If you capture a Rook (5 points) for a Bishop or Knight (3 points), you are said to have "won the Exchange." If you lose a Rook (5 points) for a Bishop or Knight (3 points), you have "lost the Exchange." The other important feature in reading a chess book is to be familiar with chess notation. If you can count up to 8, this presents no problem. You may have heard scare stories to the effect that chess notation is inordinately difficult. This difficulty of chess notation is a myth, circulated by people too lazy to discover how simple and logical it really is.

Although the compact treatment of games and examples makes only slight demands on your knowledge of chess notation, I should like to advise you to master the notation thoroughly; it will open the gates to a lifetime of reading pleasure.

The following are the chief abbreviations used in the chess notation:

King - K
Queen - Q
Rook - R
Bishop - B
Knight - N
Pawn - P
to - -
check - ch
captures - x
discovered check - dis ch
double check - dbl ch
en passant - e.p.
castles, king-side - 0-0
castles, queen-side - 0-0-0
good move - !
very good move - ! !
outstanding move - ! ! !
bad move - ?

Here are some examples of abbreviation: N-KB3 mean's "Knight moves to King Bishop three." Q x B means "Queen takes Bishop." R-K8 ch means "Rook moves to King eight giving check."

Want tons of proven chess tips, techniques & tactics that you can start using today?...

Grab Your Copy of "Chess Success Secrets" Now - visit www.Chess-Success.com

About The Author


James Wilson is the publisher of "Chess Success Secrets" - a brand new guide designed to help chess enthusiasts take their game to the next level. "Chess Success Secrets" reveals tons of proven chess tips & strategies that you can implement today to start winning more games!

Playing Chess: What You Need to Know BEFORE You Begin

As a chess player, you lose games from time to time-like all chess players.

Naturally you want to improve your play. Is there something special or unique about your problem? I don't think so. Only a few of us can become masters; yet the rest of us can achieve respectable playing strength with a reasonable amount of application.

The first big step-an enormous step-in improving our play is to become aware of the things we do wrong, the bad moves we make. Many of us could never reach that point without personal lessons because we could not previously find in books the kind of material that would enable us to spot our own weaknesses.

That is a pity, for while chess is a lot of fun, win or lose, it's more fun when you win! In my contacts with thousands of chess players for over twenty years, I have often watched them grope and drift and become discouraged in their efforts to improve their game.

It was from these observations that the notion of concentrating on the Eight Bad Moves took shape. Again and again I have seen, in the course of teaching and playing and discussing, that most players commit certain typical errors.

I started to think about these errors and how to describe them in such a way that the reader would exclaim, "At last! That's just why my games go wrong! If only I'd realized this sooner!"

This book has been "on my mind" for several years. What held me back somewhat in writing it, was the influence of the teachers and psychologists who have been insisting that a "negative" approach is all wrong. I finally concluded that my emphasis on the Eight Bad Moves was not really negative at all. Before a player can begin to improve, he must clear away the faults that have been spoiling his games and depriving him of well-earned victories.

In your study of these games and ideas you will not only discover the Eight Bad Moves and how to overcome the faults that produce them, you will also encounter a wealth of new ideas and techniques which you will enjoy using in your own games.

To derive the maximum value from this book, there are two features which you will very likely want to review quickly. One is to check up on the relative values of the chessmen. Expressed in points, their values are as follows:

Queen: 9 points
Rook: 5 points
Bishop: 3 points
Knight: 3 points
Pawn: 1 point

It is important to be absolutely certain of these values, for most games are decided by superiority in force.

Bishops (3 points) and Knights (3 points) are equal in value, but experienced players try to capture a Bishop in return for a Knight.

A Bishop or Knight (3 points) is worth about three Pawns (3 points). If you give up a Knight and get three Pawns in return, you may consider it as more or less an even exchange. If you lose a Knight (3 points) for only a Pawn (1 point), you have lost material and should lose the game, if you are playing against an expert.

If you capture a Rook (5 points) for a Bishop or Knight (3 points), you are said to have "won the Exchange." If you lose a Rook (5 points) for a Bishop or Knight (3 points), you have "lost the Exchange." The other important feature in reading a chess book is to be familiar with chess notation. If you can count up to 8, this presents no problem. You may have heard scare stories to the effect that chess notation is inordinately difficult. This difficulty of chess notation is a myth, circulated by people too lazy to discover how simple and logical it really is.

Although the compact treatment of games and examples makes only slight demands on your knowledge of chess notation, I should like to advise you to master the notation thoroughly; it will open the gates to a lifetime of reading pleasure.

The following are the chief abbreviations used in the chess notation:

King - K
Queen - Q
Rook - R
Bishop - B
Knight - N
Pawn - P
to - -
check - ch
captures - x
discovered check - dis ch
double check - dbl ch
en passant - e.p.
castles, king-side - 0-0
castles, queen-side - 0-0-0
good move - !
very good move - ! !
outstanding move - ! ! !
bad move - ?

Here are some examples of abbreviation: N-KB3 mean's "Knight moves to King Bishop three." Q x B means "Queen takes Bishop." R-K8 ch means "Rook moves to King eight giving check."

Want tons of proven chess tips, techniques & tactics that you can start using today?...

Grab Your Copy of "Chess Success Secrets" Now - visit www.Chess-Success.com

About The Author


James Wilson is the publisher of "Chess Success Secrets" - a brand new guide designed to help chess enthusiasts take their game to the next level. "Chess Success Secrets" reveals tons of proven chess tips & strategies that you can implement today to start winning more games!

Playing Chess: Interview with GM Yelena Dembo

Dennis Steele: "Yelena, I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer questions from the ChessManiac community.

Questions from the ChessManiac Community:


Daniel Wayne Snyder: "Who was the most famous person you played?"

Yelena Dembo: "The strongest player I have played with was Garry Kasparov. It happened in a simultaneous display, when I was 9 years old (11 years ago). Of course I lost but actually 5 years later we had a talk about this display and he remembered well both me and our game."

Daniel Wayne Snyder: "How long did it take to become a GM?"

Yelena Dembo: "I became WGM when I was 17 years old and two years later I became men's IM (of course it was more complicated to get the IM-title than the WGM one)."

Maurício Rocancourt Moreira: "I would like to know what you like to do besides playing chess--if you like music, reading, sports, etc. Also, do you have another occupation besides being a grandmaster?"

Yelena Dembo: "Besides chess I like very much to listen to music (Classical, Soul, R&B, Pop, etc), I like to read books, to watch good movies. I like physical training, long walks, to travel to new countries (I have played in about 20 countries but I want to visit more…)."

gumbie: "Why do you change your country of residence so often? You have certainly moved about!"

Yelena Dembo: "It is easy to explain why I had to move from one country to another so often. We moved with my family from USSR to Israel in 1990 because USSR was collapsing. I think everybody understands this. We then moved to Hungary in 1998 because in Israel there were just Open tournaments (and not often!). Being in Budapest I could go to any country in Europe to play any tournament or league (of course men's). I moved to Athens, Greece in Dec 2003 because of a simple reason : I got married to a Greek!"

Alexey Hurricane: "Is it easier to play in person or on the internet?"

Yelena Dembo: "It is easier to play over the board than on the internet."

Daniel Wayne Snyder: "What was your hardest game?"

Yelena Dembo: "The most complicated game in my life was against an FM from USA - N.Castaneda. In the game and its variations I sacrificed a Q, two R, a N and 6 pawns! There were a lot of people watching and I think I lost many kilos during the game!"

Daniel Wayne Snyder: "Could a person get awarded GM Status Honorably?"

Yelena Dembo: "It is possible to get the Honorary GM-title after the age 60 or so due to great achievements but I am sure the level of the player at this age will not be the level of a real GM."

Racter: "How often are you taken by surprise by an opponent's move? Do you ever find that an opponent makes a move you had not considered at all?"

Yelena Dembo: "Of course opponents often make moves which I didn't consider. I don't have to foresee bad moves and variations."

Matthew Romoser: "Most Grandmasters get to where they are today because they spend many hours per week studying the game of chess. However, can you recommend a self-directed chess training method for somebody who can perhaps (on a good week) dedicate 2 to 3 hours to improving his / her game? Where should somebody in that situation focus? How can I get the best use of my limited time?"

zroyalrook: "I would like to know what books, or methods GM Dembo would suggest for a player that wants to make the jump from class b player to class a and beyond."

NewfieKnight: "I have only been playing chess for about7-8 months. I wonder if you could recommend a good book that would help me understand strategies and how to set them up?"

Gaskin: "I've been playing chess for 30 years now and I feel as though I am playing as well as I ever will at an intermediate standard. Ms. Dembo, do you have any advice as to how I can raise my game? I play chess everyday but still I stay at roughly the same level."

Hesham: "I want to improve my rating quickly, do you have any ideas?"

Yelena Dembo: The main question that (naturally!) interests all of us is how to improve. First of all it is necessary to have a very good chess-trainer. To clarify this: not a player (even with a rating of 2500-2600!) but a professional trainer who likes and knows how to teach, and does it using the most modern methods. A trainer who immediately sees what his student does wrong and immediately sets out to improve it! But the most important is that he teaches the student how to think correctly during the game. If the student doesn't know how to think correctly he will never be able to play very good chess. Even if he studies much theory, reads many chess books, etc. To speak about books which might help is also a very complicated question. What can be very useful for one player can be very bad for the other, like medicine! It is necessary to know the level of the player, his style, age and much more, to recommend a particular book which will be useful to this particular player at the given moment!

As a concrete way of improving I can suggest my lessons (this way I can guarantee quick improvement). I teach seriously and quite a lot from the age of 13. Now I have students from about 30 countries and their levels range from beginners (unrated) until IM (about 2450 elo). I give private and group lessons in our family's house, on Playchess.com and on ICC. I am an official trainer on ICC and Playchess.com.

What do we do on our lessons? Modern opening theory (if it is necessary) Serious
analysis of the student's games. I have a big collection of special middlegame and endgame positions (about 10000 - exactly this collection helped me to win 7 medals in European and world championships!). Even studying 10-15 positions from this collection raises the level of all the students. They start thinking differently during the game.

Studying special chess-rules (my students call them "Dembo rules"). These rules are very easy to understand and very useful. These rules are not mentioned in books but the best players use these rules. For example, Garry Kasparov was using them from a very young age. These rules were discovered by my parents (high-level professional trainers) and myself. It is impossible to play chess good without knowledge of these rules. But knowing them it is even possible to become very talented...

By the way, I myself almost finished writing a chess book. It is an unusual book and I am sure it will be very useful for beginners and professionals. And what is good that friends say it is easily readable. This book is about my methods of teaching chess, methods which helped me and many of my students to improve quickly. I suggest to chess players who would like to know more about me to check out my personal website (especially the page "My best games")

Dennis Steele: "Yelena I would like to thank you very much for being a member of the ChessManiac community and for taking the time to do this interview. I would like to invite all the members of the ChessManiac community to visit Yelena's website at www.yelenadembo.com
View Some of Yelena Dembo's Games Here.

CHESS: Leko Won The Corus Chess Tournament in 2005 who will be the winner this year?

Standings after round 8: grandmaster group A

1. V. Topalov
V. Anand 5 1/2
3. S. Karjakin 5
4. B. Gelfand
V. Ivanchuk
M. Adams 4 1/2
7. L. van Wely
L. Aronian
P. Leko 4
10. S. Tiviakov 3 1/2
11. S. Mamedyarov
I. Sokolov 3
13. G. Kamsky
E. Bacrot 2 1/2

View Current Chess Corus 2006 Games
View Games from 2005
View Games from past Corus Touranments (1999-2005)


CHESS: Leko Won The Corus Chess Tournament in 2005
Wijk aan Zee - easily the most exciting chess event in many months. Where chess fans appeared in greater numbers than ever before, and left with a feeling of satisfaction, having seen the stars at their best. Wijk aan Zee, a beautiful summer resort, which at this time of year is cold (just a few degrees above freezing), wet and windy. It drizzles or rains all the time, and just the few hundred metres from the Zeeduin Hotel to the playing hall can become a bone-chilling experience.View pgn of this tournament.

But let us turn to the last round of this event, which was memorable for everybody in spite of coughing and fever. Naturally the key games were Sokolov vs Anand and Leko vs Polgar. Before the final round Peter Leko was leading the field by half a point, so everything was possible: he could win and take victory independent of what happened on the other board; he could draw and watch anxiously how Anand did with black against tail-ender Ivan Sokolov. A victory in this game would make Anand the joint winner. Or Peter could actually lose and Anand could win, taking the title at the very last minute from the Hungarian superstar.

Leko-Polgar: the Hungarian summit ended in a professional 22-move draw which guaranteed Peter at least the joint first place in Wijk. Immediately after it was over he appeared in the press conference, which was broadcast live on Playchess.com, trying not to glance over his shoulder at the monitor with the Sokolov-Anand game. Peter was very gratified to have added this one missing "Grand Slam" victory to his record, having won Dortmund (in 2002) and Linares (2003) but never before Wijk aan Zee. He also revealed his secret for success in this tournament: "You have to stop Vishy. You have to win your game against him, otherwise he will win his share of the games and will be hard or impossible to catch."

About the Author: RUNEL CAGRO WAS A CRIMINOLOGY STUDENT OF UNIVERSITY OF MINDANAO
Source: www.isnare.com

Chess Computers - Should You Get One?

The chess computer is a tool, a skill builder if you will. For
those that truly enjoy the game of chess, there is no better
partner to play with. While many that enjoy playing chess would
like to own one of these computers, it should be said that they
are often costly and often are complicated to use to a beginner
computer user. But, for others, these are the most excellent of
tools for your chess career.

The Good

There are a number of benefits to owning your own chess
computer. For example, you can play whenever the mood strikes
you from early morning to the middle of the night. You don't
have to wait around for your friend to be in the mood. You also
have the ability to use tutorials that can help you to learn to
play or to increase your own playing abilities with these
computers. They are designed to allow for all sorts of play, so
you get to do what you feel is necessary. You can also restart a
game that has gone bad ;-)

The Bad

There are some disadvantages of owning these computers as well.
A chess player that is not human can not make the mistakes that
a human can make. Therefore, the computer is a much more
difficult competitor. Not only that, but they also do not
prepare you for the reactions of human play. And, of course,
they can be quite an investment as well. You can find various
options to choose from, though, from software programs to
complete programs.

The Verdict

It's important to weigh the advantages and the disadvantages
when it comes to computers like these chess computers. For many,
the goal of owning a chess computer is only a dream. You should
realize that they are mainly for those who are advanced players
who are playing chess at the club level. Then again, to get to
this point, many will need a chess coach. The chess computer can
be the chess coach that you need to take your game to the
highest level it can be at. If you have the funds for a chess
computer and a true love of the game, making that purchase can
put you one step ahead of the rest.

About the author:
Mike Singh is a successful webmaster and publisher of
chess-made-ez.com . He provides the basic
chess rules and excellent chess
tips to take your game to the next level.