beat my father at chess

Ok, I played my father twice yesterday. Of course I lost both times, (my father is a B-rank, and I am a novice of novices) but what gets to me is that I lost on completely obvious things. There were in each game times when I was dead even, and then completely missed a piece under attack. I am losing because of a blind spot. But I am encouraged by how close we were in the beginning of the second game until I started making horrible errors.

My conclusion is that it is more important for me to keep playing, and work on that piece awareness, than to study theory; though I’ll try to do both.

I just received the book, How to Beat Your Dad at Chess. It is easy to understand, although written by Grandmaster Murray Chandler. The thesis of the book is that the difference between a novice chess player and a master is type of thought process. Novices think 95% through individual move calculation, and 5% through pattern recognition. Masters think perhaps 40% individual move calculation, 60% pattern recognition. The book then covers fifty common and deadly patterns, with several different boards for each pattern. Once you learn the patterns, your game should improve substantially.

Two other significant books to study are Chess Fundamentals, which is rich with drills and replays; and Mate on the Move, a book that has many, many boards that have a mate on the move, then mate in two, then mate in three. Work on recognizing these improves your board sense.

Of course, actually playing Dad once a week should be a significant piece of the training puzzle.