Making plans…

In his book How to Reassess Your Chess Jeremy Silman suggests that you should “let the imbalances dictate your plan”.

Very insightful and helpful advise IMO. As a chess player you are still faced with the dilemma: I have a plan, but is it a good one, or will it lead to my demise?

Often, it’s tempting to just come up with a “really good move”. This is often a move that had worked well for you in the past, or that you convince yourself can only lead to good things later in the game.

As your chess improves, you find lots of cases where a “really good move” doesn’t cut it anymore, and without a very explicit plan you are toast. You learn to resist the temptation and do-the-work to find a solid plan that is well thought out.

In chess as in life — “He who fails to plan, plans to fail”.

iPad and Chess

I really like my iPad. I use it all the time.

I just realized that I use my iPad for many chess related activities:

  1. In tournaments, I copy my son’s notation sheets into Shredder Chess — and use it for post-game analysis.
  2. I use the InstantChess, ICC, or LiveChess apps to play online with random people. It’s a lot of fun.
  3. I watch many Youtube videos related to Chess.

And — I use the “WordPress” App to post to my blog.

How do you use your iPad to improve your chess?