intro

Hi all I came across this forum a while back but work has kept me from both here and playing as much chess as I would like. I played chess alot in the early/mid 90's but haven't played any real tournament chess in over 10 years. About a year ago I found a active chess club in my city and decided to take it up again. I used the ICS material to get me back into form. I'm currently on month 11.

Holy crap, you have kept up 11 months that is impressive!!! Thanks for joining the forum.

Sometime it would be great to hear your story of your experience with the material.

well seeing as I'm 38 years old now, I had hoped to have both the time and the patience to at least maintain the rating I had in my youth. Back then I was not able to break the 2000 USCF rating. But I have found myself being not as aggressive as I should (or once was). That coupled with years of inactivity have taken there toll. I think right now i'm playing at a rated strength of about 1500 uscf. Needless to say with a rating floor of 1800 I give away alot of points at tournaments

As far as the ICS material goes It's persentation and structure are excellent. The majority of it was how I was taught by stronger players. I think if you have enough time and self motivation you can go far with it. Like a few other have said already this is advanced stuff and assumes that your tactics/calculation skills are fully developed. The material on weak squares, piece play, and how to think at the board is all top notch. One thing which I see all the time is in the middle/end game you should ask yourself do I have mate?? I see alot of people defending a piece when they should in fact let it go. If can can force mate and don't need the rook that's under attack to do it let him have it. Mate trumps all other threats. Don't get so caught up in your opponent's threats that you miss a win. Make sure this is in your thinking cycle. I know they talk about it under the section "what are my threats" but I always ask myself can I force a mate in this position.

I'll read some more on this forum to see what others have already covered so i'm not repeating things and do what I can to give you the good and bad points I have found along with my thoughts.

Wow, month 11!

I keep redoing month 1 since after awhile work needs lots more attention then i would like. Guess its time to really put the gear in a higher speed.

phoenix7187 wrote: One thing which I see all the time is in the middle/end game you should ask yourself do I have mate?? I see alot of people defending a piece when they should in fact let it go. If can can force mate and don't need the rook that's under attack to do it let him have it. Mate trumps all other threats. Don't get so caught up in your opponent's threats that you miss a win. Make sure this is in your thinking cycle. I know they talk about it under the section "what are my threats" but I always ask myself can I force a mate in this position.

Great stuff, so true!