I'm bored

I am at the stage of I cannot be bothered with the course anymore. I am sure it is not just me. It may just be midsummer blues & lack of football at the moment that are getting me down.
I feel I am reading the material but nothing is registering.

Any good motivational techniques to get me back into the learning mood.
Any reasonable(legal) suggestions will be attempted. Thanks in advance team.

Take a look at some chess magazines like Chessbase, New in Chess.

There are also Russian magazines like Chesszone or 64 which also have some English material

http://www.64.ru/?/en/
http://www.chesszone.org/magazine/magazine.html

Chesszone has some excellent annotated current games!

Another good website is http://www.chessok.com/

Wow fanat we have the opposite view of what is motivating.

In order of how burnt out you feel:
1. Go over some really well annotated games.
2. Have fun with chess. Play a bunch of blitz.
3. Take a break from chess until your battery is recharged.

Number 3 is key. Every sport has its season, and when the season ends even the best pros take some time off. For me, the World Open was the end of the chess season I haven't touched the game since, and won't for a few more days.

Blue Devil Knight wrote:Wow fanat we have the opposite view of what is motivating.

In order of how burnt out you feel:
1. Go over some really well annotated games.
2. Have fun with chess. Play a bunch of blitz.
3. Take a break from chess until your battery is recharged.

Number 3 is key. Every sport has its season, and when the season ends even the best pros take some time off. For me, the World Open was the end of the chess season I haven't touched the game since, and won't for a few more days.

LOL. I recently lost 2 games when I had them practically won!!!!! Better position and more material and I completely screwed up in the endgame and made some mistakes!

So, I am going to study endings like never before. I will not let it happen to me again! And tactics too!

Hoopy,

What month are you on? Maybe finding some outside book that covers similar material would be motivating? I know you said you won't buy any more books in addition to ICS but there are lots of things available nowadays so let me know and maybe I can help.

Thanks fanat,
On month3 seems to be a lot of material but when I read it, it seems to be stating the obvious and therefore I can't see how I would apply it. I reckon it is just a rest I need. I will give ICS an email to find out if the material is still accessible after month 13 and maybe I'll take a couple of weeks off.

Thanks Fanat, thanks BDK.

I think my mood is closer to that described by BDK. I reckon I need to give my brain a rest. Maybe a couple of Biitz games & a glass or 2 of wine (I don't drink !!) I'll prob play better if the wine comes first.
"Chess?" You are the expert. What wine do you recommend for a quick loss of consciousness.... or do I just have a glass or 2 of that stuff that they produce in my country ( & I don't mean the rubbish they export!!)

Month 3 looks like a lot of work! But don't worry in Month 4 you get lots of exercises to for Month 3 material and it will feel much lighter!

A good positional book that gives great examples for piece play is "Improve your positional chess by Carsten Hansen". I have it and it looks great but I don't have time to go over it yet

Another good book is "Secrets of posotional chess by Marovic".

BDK,

I'm so motivated that I've even started to go over some things in......

Mueller's "Fundamental Chess Endings" which is probably one of the most dry and torturous books in chess!!!!

I'm going to become better in endings even if it kills me!

fanat wrote:BDK,

I'm so motivated that I've even started to go over some things in......

Mueller's "Fundamental Chess Endings" which is probably one of the most dry and torturous books in chess!!!!

I'm going to become better in endings even if it kills me!

I'm Jealous!!

Thanks fanat,
there is a lot of information in the chesszone magazine and it's free!

fanat wrote:Take a look at some chess magazines like Chessbase, New in Chess.

There are also Russian magazines like Chesszone or 64 which also have some English material

http://www.64.ru/?/en/
http://www.chesszone.org/magazine/magazine.html

Chesszone has some excellent annotated current games!

Another good website is http://www.chessok.com/