I've been following the Corus chess tournament and one fellow observer at chessgames.com noticed the following statistic:

Jan-30-09

al wazir: More than two thirds of the games in Group C so far have ended in wins; half of those in Group B have; but in Group A fewer than one third. Make of that what you will.

As I've said countless times before, I believe chess games are lost, not won. The higher the calibre of players, the more likely a draw will result. To illustrate this point, look at the results of games between players of equal rating. The lower the rating, the more likelihood of an error that the other player can seize on to win. But the higher the rating, the likelhood of major errors goes down sharply. I think this is what is shown by the above statistic from Corus. To improve your game, eliminiate your mistakes.

As I tell all my chess kids, chess games are almost always lost, not won. Of course the winner has to see how the game was lost by the other player, but the point is that "The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake. - Tartakover". The key to improving your game is to become more tactically aware, and this is hardly ground-breaking advice. But even so, I've been playing a lot of speed games online lately (mostly G/2 +12 or so) and this is a lesson I still need to learn.

I always immediately put my games into Hiarcs 10 and study the missed tactics. When I lose, it is of course due to missing my opponent's tactics. When I win, it's because they've missed mine. But that amazes me is the nature of the tactics I miss even in games that I win:

My opponent just played d5, failing to see my reply of Qc5+, winning the pawn. But look at what I missed after winning the pawn:

I played Qc1+ and went after the h2 pawn, a fine plan. However Bc4 wins the queen! It's incredible the number of such tactics I miss, and I've spent some time trying to understand why I miss them.

Typically the reason is because I'm already focused on some other target, and when my opponent doesn't stop me from going after that target I fail to see what new target might be even better. It's a common failing and stems from not reassessing the entire board after every move - something I've told my green-band chess kids more times than I can count.

I follow chess daily, and try to play at least every week these days - which is up from my traditional never. I love Mig Greengard's Daily Dirt chess blog, which recently commented on the ongoing row between some top players over FIDE not treating all top players alike. The quote that really caught my eye - and not for any reasons related to chess - was this:

A holier-than-thou attitude just makes useful, pragmatic solidarity that much harder to reach. We only need enough players to stick together on enough of the big things to make a difference.

I'm involved with the early stages of a parent's group fighting to change the HHS, juvenile, and related care systems in Nebraska, and this quote is fantastic advice to keep in mind at all times when working within a large group of diverse people, even those with similar experience, motivations, and goals.

The school we teach chess at, Everett Elementary in Lincoln, is changing the CLC program to a quarterly basis from a semester basis, so chess doesn't start until November this year. Since I'm out of vacation, that helps a little, but I'd really rather be there teaching with Melanie from the first day on if I can find a way to make that happen. At least next year I get 3 weeks of vacation, that should help.

If I could, I retire and teach chess full time to kids!

I just finished the audio book of Josh Waitzkin's The Art of Learning. I really enjoyed it, and while it seems more autobiographical than instructional, the way in which Josh ties the threads from the stories he tells with the lessons he learned from them is worth the price alone.

I found many reinforcements of some ideas and concepts that I've long held, and even some reminders of ones I used to think were so important when I was younger. I want to listen to it again soon and make specific notes of these items so I can include them in my own chess sessions with my students.

My next lesson with Pujaa is on Saturday, and I can hardly wait to work some of these ideas into our session!

A few days ago I got a call from a 13-year old who was hoping I could help train her to be ready for the Cornhusker State Games chess tournament . I've watched Pujaa grow up in chess playing halls for a few years now, and I was absolutely thrilled to be able to work with her. She's a great kid with a really wonderful attitude about the game so I'm looking forward to our sessions over the next 4 weeks before the tournament.

Our first session was yesterday, and I have to admit to loving first sessions more than any other. So many kids are taught the wrong things when studying chess, in my opinion. Pujaa had two chess books with her - one on the openings and one on tactics. I told her to read the tactics book as many times as she could and to leave the openings book on the shelf - for the next few years. She was taken aback by that comment, since openings are taught so universally as important. But for anyone at her level (about USCF 1000), and even at my level (about USCF 1600), chess games are not won, they are lost. They aren't won by knowing the latest in the Catalan- they're won because you didn't hang a bishop and your opponent did. Eliminating tactical mistakes over the board is the single most important consideration upon which all other chess training is built.

What I find particularly effective to be taught alongside building tactical awareness is what I call listening to the board. As I am fond of saying to my students, if you know how to read the board, how to listen and interpret what it tells you, you'll never be stumped trying to figure how what you should be doing - what your plan should be. I also refer to this as asking the board the right questions - to become a board whisperer.

Becoming a board whisperer involves asking yourself a few simple questions and then being able to examine the answers the board gives to you from a tactical perspective. Questions like: Which of your opponent's pieces are not defended? What are the strengths in your position, and how can you use them? Are there pieces of my opponent that are in my way, and how can I get rid of them? There are many, many questions to master - tactical questions like looking for undefended pieces should be asked every move, while other questions are more subtle and take time to learn when the position is begging you to ask them.

But it always comes back to the board - learning to listen to what it is trying to tell you. Become a board whisperer and you'll see your games in a whole new light.