Reddit mentions of How to Reassess Your Chess: Chess Mastery Through Chess Imbalances

I might suggest some reading material that may help out your chess thinking process.

Silman's The Amateur's Mind and How to Reassess your Chess are both great for any beginner to moderate strength player, as they focus on understandable concepts and fixing common problems in many people's game.

I hope the responses you get put you on the right track. But there are books on this topic such as this excellent one which is 650+ pages. I only say this to point out that anything you read here is only scratching the surface. It just depends how deeply you want to learn.

The best book on strategy I've ever read is called "How to reassess your chess" link.

There are some really key things to be aware of.

1. Imbalances. Each player in magic is playing a different deck. And even if it's the same deck, you will have different opening hands. Know what cards are good and what cards are bad against each deck. Know what cards your opponent can interact with favorably and vice versa.
   
   
2. Come up with a plan. After you know what your opponent is likely to play, look at your initial hand and come up with a plan. A plan can be "Control the game until I get 6 lands to play elspeth on an empty board". Just randomly playing cards, even in a deck like RDW is going to lose you games. Recognize the weakness's and decide on a plan. Sideboarding plays into this a lot. If you are on the play after sideboarding and you feel like the agressor, then be agressive. Sometimes players will often become too passive after sideboard and ruin their opening hand.
   
   
3. Play intentionally. This is a hard one for a lot of players including myself. Everything you do should have a purpose. Take your time and do the math to decide the right decision. Figure out what cards would you lose to and see if you can afford to play around them. Make decisions based on odds and information you have.
   
   
4. Never blame your loss on luck. Although some games are impossible to win, there are always ways you can play better to improve your overall odds.
   
   
5. Mull aggressively. Mulling in draft and sealed is usually devastating, but not so in standard. Getting a chance to mulligan is huge and use it to your advantage.
   
   
6. Live for the game. If you want to be good, or even great then reading articles, brewing, playing daily are all good things. If you want to be the best, then make magic your life. Spend your free time playing it. Think about it as you fall asleep. Become obsessed. Look at Jim Harbaugh. That guy is insane when it comes to football. It's all he thinks about. And it makes him one of the best coaches around. If you aren't looking to go pro, then at least play magic daily and purposefully. Doing Momir dailies is not going to help you (very much).
   
   
7. Pick a competitive deck. It doesn't have to be the best, but as long as it's competitive, then stick with a deck, learn the ins and outs and become an expert.
   
   
   Anyway, even if you don't play chess, I highly recommend that book. It will make you better at games in general.

Dude, good god. LOL. That's an INSANE amount of tactics problems. Definitely props to your discipline and focus; it is impressive.

I make training routines for fun. Right now I'm 1800uscf. (I should be careful talking about myself, people get butthurt if I sound too "great" to them.) but aside from that, I'd like to assure you my latest scalp was a player rated 2051uscf; this is MERELY a reference to tell you what I am doing seems to be working. Now, back to the important thing, YOU!

I would like to suggest to you a plan based on raising your skills in every area of the game.
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Tactics: ChessTempo Everyday. You already do this! so that's really good. You could probably afford to do less than 100... or even 50... lol. I'd probably say around 10-30 problems daily.

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Positional understanding: I'd recommend something like

1. Jeremy Silman's Reassess your chess 4th edition, [http://www.amazon.com/How-Reassess-Your-Chess-Fourth/dp/1890085138/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y/189-2411552-9649030]
   
   
2. or another great one, Jeremy Silman's "The Amatuer's Mind" [http://www.amazon.com/The-Amateurs-Mind-Turning-Misconceptions/dp/1890085022]
   
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   Annotated Games: As far as annotated games are concerned: Logical chess move by move should be serving you well for now. So you're covered there and on tactics.
   
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   Endgame: Now, I swear to God i'm not an advertiser for Jeremy Silman, but I'd also recommend his endgame book: "Jeremy Silman's Complete Endgame Course" [http://www.amazon.com/Silmans-Complete-Endgame-Course-Beginner/dp/1890085103/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z]
   
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   Openings: These are the hardest thing I have recommending to people... I wouldn't get a very serious opening book right now. Training openings on a serious level will probably cause a decline in your overall chess ability for simply not having enough time to spread out your training. I'd recommend checking out some wikipedia sources or maybe even Roman's Lab with white's 1.d4 on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX9Ax29jZ1k). That series served me well vs 1700-2000uscf in tournament play.
   
   As for black I usually just say learn something solid vs e4 and d4. Like Caro-kann and Queen's Gambit Declined. Check it out on Wikipedia and look up games on chessgames.com
   
   1.Caro-Kann [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caro_Kann]
   
   2.Queen's Gambit Declined [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Gambit_Declined]
   
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   Then to wrap this all up into a schedule i'd do
   
   Daily: Mon-Sun, Chess Tempo and 1 annotated game
   
   Every Other day: Mon-Tues-Thurs-Sat, jeremy Silman's Amateur's Mind or Reassess your chess (Which ever you own or buy)
   
   Weekends:Friday-Saturday-Sunday, I'd do opening and endgame studies.
   
   
   
   

Advice for boredom? I find in chess, especially in long time controls, there is always something to look for, except in the exchange french, so it is difficult to get bored. Do blunder checks, look at the number of imbalances on the board, work out your opponents plans, and then formulate your own plan that pushes your own agenda (and not your opponents) based on the imbalances on the board and not based on your emotions ( Silman, Reassess your chess 4th edition ). Keep going through these thought processes and suddenly the boredom subsides to become an appreiation of game's intrinisic beauty!

I gave you some advice for each book at each level. Of course all of these books can be switched around and if you want to read Dvoretsky (A very advanced author) at your level you're welcome to. Although a 1300 rating on lichess.org is still at a beginner level so I suggest you start from that section.

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Beginner:

Play Winning Chess By: Yasser Seirawan

Logical Chess Move by Move By: Irving Chernev

How to Reasses Your Chess By: Jeremy Silman

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Intermediate:

Practical Chess Exercises By: Ray cheng


The Art of Defense in Chess By: Andrew Soltis

Pawn Structure Chess By: Andrew Soltis

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Master:



Fundamental Chess Endings By: Karsten-Müller and Frank Lamprecht.

Art of Attack in Chess By: Vladimir Vukovic

Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual By: Mark Dvoretsky

My point is that if he's truly trying to grasp the basics, the names of all these openings shouldn't matter. Just play basic, solid chess. Follow the opening principles.

Also, you might check out Silman's book [How to Reassess Your Chess] (http://www.amazon.com/How-Reassess-Your-Chess-Fourth/dp/1890085138)
as it may be helpful.

Edit: Oh yeah, that's right. That is the Scandinavian. Thanks.

On a related note, does anyone know what's up with the base book and Amazon Kindle? I find references that it's available on Kindle, but it's not on the store: How to Reassess Your Chess

The availability of chess books on Kindle is weird. This one for black is.

but this one for white isn't.

Many mistakes in this game from both sides. White's first mistake is his third move, 3 g3. Black should have countered with e5! gaining the initiative and an opening advantage.

However, if you prefer a more strategical analysis, black was making threats and white was responding. White had the wrong mindset, as he was not combative enough. IM Silman in his instructive book describes this as pushing your agenda. If you don't push a plan onto the board, you will lose, because you are not making winning attempts.

If you want more detailed analysis, please upload your own first. Then, the community can help you by pointing out what's right and wrong in your thought processes.

Arguably what teaches you what makes a move good or bad at 1300 leve are the tactics puzzles and endgames. The standard for this type of learning is: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1890085138/ and its the standard for good reason. If you don't want a course but more a good book of chess aphorisms and rules of thumb: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1936490323 and somewhat harder: https://www.amazon.com/Wisest-Things-About-Chess-Batsford/dp/1906388008. A good book on theory that will have you learn theory as it develops and is fun to read if you like great games is: https://smile.amazon.com/Masters-Chessboard-Richard-Reti-ebook/dp/B006ZQISDY/

How to Reasses your Chess by Silman is essentially what you're looking for. It goes over the process of finding imbalances in a position and creating a plan around these imbalances. Examples of typical imbalances would be:

1. More or less space
   
2. Bishop vs Knights
   
3. Pawn Structure
   
4. Material difference
   
5. Quality of piece placement
   
6. King Safety
   
7. Initiative
   
   My suggestion would be to go over games by masters in the openings you play. Look for imbalances and take note of how the master uses them to create plans. I would also suggest not changing openings much if at all since plans can differ drastically based on the opening and you don't want to lose any experience you've accrued.

You can eliminate right off the bat How to Reassess Your Chess as your first Silman book to purchase. The FAQ on Silman's site includes a question on the order to read those three books. Here is his answer:

> The answer depends on your strength. However, let’s say you are 1800 or below. In that case read the 4th edition of How to Reassess Your Chess to page 28, next read all of The Amateur’s Mind, then go back to How to Reassess Your Chess and read the whole thing cover to cover. While reading those two books, spend some time going through Silman’s Complete Endgame Course (only reading as far as your rating level).

If you go to amazon.com's page for How to Reassess Your Chess and click the "Look Inside" link it gives you a preview of the Kindle edition. That preview includes more than the first 28 pages. The Kindle Edition doesn't have page numbers, but if I recall correctly page 28 takes you through "Part One/The Concept of Imbalances".

Given that, you only need to consider purchasing How to Reassess Your Chess after you have finished The Amateur's Mind.

I think The Amateur's Mind and How to Reassess Your Chess are staples to any chess player's book collection. Not only is Silman's language friendly, but the content in his books are incredibly thorough without any verbosity when it comes to n lines of notation and the occasional "...and White is better because of their knight on d5."

I own My System but have yet to manage to find myself at the halfway point of the book. From what I've read, it's rather dense (in language) but informative, however, I have a strong bias toward Silman's language because it's more digestible.

To put it simply: if I could employ routinely everything I've learned in How to Reassess Your Chess, I would be a much better player. There's so much content in that particular book that you could find yourself working through it for a couple years, especially if you purchase it's companion workbook.

From reading some reviews on Amazon, Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy seems to appeal to strong club players and up-- but that's not to say that the material isn't educational. You'll have to write back if you decide to pick it up and let us know.

Agree on Silman (link provided). I read Reinfeld first, but this book uses older notation, not the modern algebraic style (think "BxN", rather than "Bxf6"). Silman is a good followup to Reinfeld in my case, but not so much as a first book.