I lost attention during the last portion of the article lol. I can only care so much about it, I'm already fair as a chess player but I am unfortunately at the average point of ranking.
I love the Benoni too but play it nowadays only with the 1d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3.g3 move order.
Strangely I'll always felt on the edge playing it, though some 20 years ago it was still playable at my level (2100 FIDE). Now my rating is experiencing the typical 40+ years old curve and on top of that I thnk Benoni is in terrible shape.
You can't live with the bishop on c8 for ever. And if your best play is, in some lines, giving away the bishop pair on f3 (while having given the central majority previously) go wonder why we don't see more Benonis at GM levels.
Do you have a few lines/games that made you relate Benoni and Najdorf ? Problems are quintessencetially not the same. Black has a central majoirty in the Najdorf. Helps a bit.
Strangely I'll always felt on the edge playing it, though some 20 years ago it was still playable at my level (2100 FIDE). Now my rating is experiencing the typical 40+ years old curve and on top of that I thnk Benoni is in terrible shape.
You can't live with the bishop on c8 for ever. And if your best play is, in some lines, giving away the bishop pair on f3 (while having given the central majority previously) go wonder why we don't see more Benonis at GM levels.
Do you have a few lines/games that made you relate Benoni and Najdorf ? Problems are quintessencetially not the same. Black has a central majoirty in the Najdorf. Helps a bit.
@RyanVelez your most important link (and also the last one in the post) is broken (I mean the patreon one)
you may want to fix that :)
you may want to fix that :)
@SilentGhost3625 said in #18:
> Okay, thank you for your excellent opinion. I already own chessable, which is a plot twist. I used to use it and had a 30 day streak or so, but unfortunately learned nothing from all those wasted hours because I may have failed to understand what the moves were trying to tell me. I find the opening phase of the game more important than endgame principles because you don't want to lose right out of the opening. Endgame principles are for players rated higher than 1700 in my opinion. I really want to develop an opening repertoire but I find it extremely difficult retaining information I learn for actual games. I think that is because I don't take the time to understand why the moves are made. I am also increasingly frustrated by the fact that the only opening I am faced with at the 1550 level is the Ruy Lopez. Can we play something else please lol. My puzzle rating is 2247 if that means anything at all.
1. Endgames are probably more important than openings early on. Endgames teach you PRECISELY WHERE to put your pieces for MAXIMUM EFFECT, a skill very useful for understanding openings. In the endgame, if you cannot put your pieces on excellent squares, then you will lose because you don't have OTHER pieces to compensate for the issues (like you do in the opening.
2. When you purchase anything on chessable, remember that you are purchasing research from someone. The act of doing the research yourself is a powerful learning tool. It is not bad or wrong to purchase books / courses from chessable or elsewhere, but that is always the trade off. When learning from a book or course, you really have to invest time into learning moves. Your brain wants you to memorize things, because that is easy to do and you know how to try to memorize something. Trying to understand something is harder, and you will yawn a bit. But it is better for you.
> Okay, thank you for your excellent opinion. I already own chessable, which is a plot twist. I used to use it and had a 30 day streak or so, but unfortunately learned nothing from all those wasted hours because I may have failed to understand what the moves were trying to tell me. I find the opening phase of the game more important than endgame principles because you don't want to lose right out of the opening. Endgame principles are for players rated higher than 1700 in my opinion. I really want to develop an opening repertoire but I find it extremely difficult retaining information I learn for actual games. I think that is because I don't take the time to understand why the moves are made. I am also increasingly frustrated by the fact that the only opening I am faced with at the 1550 level is the Ruy Lopez. Can we play something else please lol. My puzzle rating is 2247 if that means anything at all.
1. Endgames are probably more important than openings early on. Endgames teach you PRECISELY WHERE to put your pieces for MAXIMUM EFFECT, a skill very useful for understanding openings. In the endgame, if you cannot put your pieces on excellent squares, then you will lose because you don't have OTHER pieces to compensate for the issues (like you do in the opening.
2. When you purchase anything on chessable, remember that you are purchasing research from someone. The act of doing the research yourself is a powerful learning tool. It is not bad or wrong to purchase books / courses from chessable or elsewhere, but that is always the trade off. When learning from a book or course, you really have to invest time into learning moves. Your brain wants you to memorize things, because that is easy to do and you know how to try to memorize something. Trying to understand something is harder, and you will yawn a bit. But it is better for you.
i like Italian
@SilentGhost3625 said in #20:
> Yeah I think you should try chessable because it does allow you to recognize positions but then you become confused because so many positions are so similar that you don't know which move to play anymore without a hint. How do I use chessable or books? I think I should use a notebook. Actually a better question is, how do I use notebooks for the game?
Using notebooks is fine. If I get to the point of doing videos, I'll show people how to use a notebook. Basically, you need to have a writing convention for how to write moves and text without confusing yourself on formatting. A simple to describe method would be to write moves on the left of the red line, and circle moves that you're discussing, then discuss those moves on the right.
In terms of using chess books or chessable, I always tell people to do the following:
1. Read the bold faced moves first (ie: the mainline).
2. Then go back through, read 1 variation at a time.
3. Each time you finish a variation, reset the board and start over until you get to the next variation you haven't gone through yet.
This allows you to repeatedly play through moves (memorization) while you are trying to understand moves. Playing through the bold faced moved first allows you to understand the trajectory of the game, which will put a lot of the comments into context.
> Yeah I think you should try chessable because it does allow you to recognize positions but then you become confused because so many positions are so similar that you don't know which move to play anymore without a hint. How do I use chessable or books? I think I should use a notebook. Actually a better question is, how do I use notebooks for the game?
Using notebooks is fine. If I get to the point of doing videos, I'll show people how to use a notebook. Basically, you need to have a writing convention for how to write moves and text without confusing yourself on formatting. A simple to describe method would be to write moves on the left of the red line, and circle moves that you're discussing, then discuss those moves on the right.
In terms of using chess books or chessable, I always tell people to do the following:
1. Read the bold faced moves first (ie: the mainline).
2. Then go back through, read 1 variation at a time.
3. Each time you finish a variation, reset the board and start over until you get to the next variation you haven't gone through yet.
This allows you to repeatedly play through moves (memorization) while you are trying to understand moves. Playing through the bold faced moved first allows you to understand the trajectory of the game, which will put a lot of the comments into context.
@SilentGhost3625 said in #21:
> I lost attention during the last portion of the article lol. I can only care so much about it, I'm already fair as a chess player but I am unfortunately at the average point of ranking.
That's fine - the article is there if you wish to re-read the last part when your mind is more fresh. And besides, not everything I have to say will help everyone fully.
> I lost attention during the last portion of the article lol. I can only care so much about it, I'm already fair as a chess player but I am unfortunately at the average point of ranking.
That's fine - the article is there if you wish to re-read the last part when your mind is more fresh. And besides, not everything I have to say will help everyone fully.
@VojFromMars said in #22:
> I love the Benoni too but play it nowadays only with the 1d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3.g3 move order.
>
> Strangely I'll always felt on the edge playing it, though some 20 years ago it was still playable at my level (2100 FIDE). Now my rating is experiencing the typical 40+ years old curve and on top of that I thnk Benoni is in terrible shape.
>
> You can't live with the bishop on c8 for ever. And if your best play is, in some lines, giving away the bishop pair on f3 (while having given the central majority previously) go wonder why we don't see more Benonis at GM levels.
>
> Do you have a few lines/games that made you relate Benoni and Najdorf ? Problems are quintessencetially not the same. Black has a central majoirty in the Najdorf. Helps a bit.
Nope, I don't have any games or lines off the top of my head to offer. This was over 10 years ago, maybe longer, but I remember feeling the Najdorf and Benoni had some similarities I liked. It is also possible I am entirely wrong in that I believed there were similarities and maybe others would disagree. But you often have Qd8, Be7 in both, and you have Nf6 that can have some similar roles, too. One could argue that the Philidor: Exchange Variation has those things in common, too (all of which also have a d6-pawn).
But in the g6 Benoni Lines, I felt it was more like a King's Indian, and the g6 lines are more what I played. On the queenside, the Benoni is like the Najdorf more because if you CAN get a6 and b5 in, then it is closer to some Najdorf structures. But as I said, if white understands the Benoni just a little bit, they won't allow this to happen. I feel like the dream Benoni position merges the KID kingside and a Najdorf queenside (ie: a6>b5 expansion). It's a loose argument, but when I studied these helped me along.
> I love the Benoni too but play it nowadays only with the 1d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3.g3 move order.
>
> Strangely I'll always felt on the edge playing it, though some 20 years ago it was still playable at my level (2100 FIDE). Now my rating is experiencing the typical 40+ years old curve and on top of that I thnk Benoni is in terrible shape.
>
> You can't live with the bishop on c8 for ever. And if your best play is, in some lines, giving away the bishop pair on f3 (while having given the central majority previously) go wonder why we don't see more Benonis at GM levels.
>
> Do you have a few lines/games that made you relate Benoni and Najdorf ? Problems are quintessencetially not the same. Black has a central majoirty in the Najdorf. Helps a bit.
Nope, I don't have any games or lines off the top of my head to offer. This was over 10 years ago, maybe longer, but I remember feeling the Najdorf and Benoni had some similarities I liked. It is also possible I am entirely wrong in that I believed there were similarities and maybe others would disagree. But you often have Qd8, Be7 in both, and you have Nf6 that can have some similar roles, too. One could argue that the Philidor: Exchange Variation has those things in common, too (all of which also have a d6-pawn).
But in the g6 Benoni Lines, I felt it was more like a King's Indian, and the g6 lines are more what I played. On the queenside, the Benoni is like the Najdorf more because if you CAN get a6 and b5 in, then it is closer to some Najdorf structures. But as I said, if white understands the Benoni just a little bit, they won't allow this to happen. I feel like the dream Benoni position merges the KID kingside and a Najdorf queenside (ie: a6>b5 expansion). It's a loose argument, but when I studied these helped me along.
@Nikodimonius said in #23:
> @RyanVelez your most important link (and also the last one in the post) is broken (I mean the patreon one)
> you may want to fix that :)
Yea it is weird... sometimes Lichess likes the patreon link, and sometimes it doesn't. It is kind of frustrating not understanding why it works sometimes and not other times. I'll copy and paste one of the links that did work. That usually fixes it.
Thanks for the heads up.
> @RyanVelez your most important link (and also the last one in the post) is broken (I mean the patreon one)
> you may want to fix that :)
Yea it is weird... sometimes Lichess likes the patreon link, and sometimes it doesn't. It is kind of frustrating not understanding why it works sometimes and not other times. I'll copy and paste one of the links that did work. That usually fixes it.
Thanks for the heads up.
@RyanVelez said in #29:
> Yea it is weird... sometimes Lichess likes the patreon link, and sometimes it doesn't. It is kind of frustrating not understanding why it works sometimes and not other times. I'll copy and paste one of the links that did work. That usually fixes it.
>
> Thanks for the heads up.
Fixed it. I think Lichess cuts off the www and then the link fails. I added it in and it seems fine again.
> Yea it is weird... sometimes Lichess likes the patreon link, and sometimes it doesn't. It is kind of frustrating not understanding why it works sometimes and not other times. I'll copy and paste one of the links that did work. That usually fixes it.
>
> Thanks for the heads up.
Fixed it. I think Lichess cuts off the www and then the link fails. I added it in and it seems fine again.