Month Three General Discussion

I just started month 3 and it seems a bit overwhelming. So much material!

For people who already went through month 3 or going through it - what do you think of the material and are you keeping up?

hi fanat,
what is included in month 3?

Looks like Month 3 has to do with "Piece Play" just like the outline said.

It has theory related to every minor and major piece and some annotated games related to each.

Also, there is lots of theory and games for:
lead in development
piece out of play
piece corroboration
local force superiority

So, lots of good material and lots of games. Looks like it's going to be a busy month!

For openings in ONLY has "Najdorf Sicilian". 5 files related to Najdorf. Looks like a good introduction.

thx!

Anybody started month 3 yet?

The amount of material seems a bit overwhelming!

Just checked what month 3 gives (not checked content since i am only in month one) and it seems it's about the same amount as month two. Maybe it's more pages, that i didn't, wanted, check.

Im with you on the overwhelming fanat. I am working on month two and I find it a bit nuts. I have just completed all the first annotated games and I am now working on the King Safety theory 1. Great stuff and I am loving it, but I wish I didn't have a job at this point.

fanat wrote:Anybody started month 3 yet?

The amount of material seems a bit overwhelming!

nope, still on month one.

sorry make that month 2!

5.1 I just finished! I can't believe the amount of material. A 12 page paper on Development Theory. Then 15 annotated games to prove the point. I took me 6 days to cover it all.

On to part 5.2. It looks like much the same. Is it me or is there a ton of material?

The amount of material does seem a bit overwhelming.

I went through almost everything once but fairly fast. I'm not going over everything again so the ideas stick but still, it's a lot of games!

yohoo! Month 3 - 5.3 is done.

Month 4 thins out a bit. If you look at the overview, it just basically fleshes out the material in Month 3. So I imagine the same holds for months 5 and 6. And we already heard that the last months are basically exercises and sample games.
Which begs the question -- is it worth the hundred or so dollars to finish out the last 3 months?

M3-Opening preparation:
I just finished 6.Bg5. I have to say I loved it. I used my mini board and played it out. On move 9...Qc7. I am sure I wouldn't use this. In the game as you will and have seen it went.
10.Qe2.
I looked at:
10.Bxf6 gxf6
11.exf6 Qe5+
12.Be2 and I think white looks better. But that is just me.

Which begs the question -- is it worth the hundred or so dollars to finish out the last 3 months?

I actually see this completely the opposite way. For me it's not the theory and annotated games that take ages to work through but rather the exercises. I can go through an annotated game in an hour or so and then maybe go over it again a couple more times to make sure I grasp everything but working through a set of exercises takes me ages and ages.

Also I learnt far more from working through the practical exercises in Month 1 than I did from just reading the theory and annotated games and I imagine that was the same for most of us.

The last 4 months or so of the course will probably be the most valuable in terms of gaining real understanding providing we put the work in and do all the exercises and tests.

I agree with Mr Baggins here. The Months 10 to 13 are critical to getting the full value of the course. I personally think it is great value (but why they didn't get someone from a country where English is the first language, to correct the material is beyond me).

I am actually doing Month 10 now and this is where it all comes together. It seems to me very important to do many of these excercises so the thinking process they offer becomes routine during a real game.

The end of the course is the entire reason I joined. I look at the first eight months or sor as mere preparation for the real course.

As I insinuated at this post where I summarize some of Rowson's views, I joined this course because of those problems, and I want to tackle those problems because of something Rowson said:
"I believe that the surest way to improve our results is to practice solving complex problems at home, and to do this as often as possible, in a timed and disciplined manner. This helps to make concentrating more habitual and therefore makes it easier for us to focus at critical points in our own games."

Rowson feels very strongly about this technique, saying "One exercise completed with full application for 20 minutes is easily worth an hour of playing through games."

Rowson is very critical of the overreliance in adult players of thinking in terms of words, stories, narratives. When we do that we end up imposing our pet theories on the position, rather than letting the position tell us what is the best move by doing concrete analysis.

If you believe Rowson, then the final months are the real key to ICS.

Just started month 3, and i always feel surprised of learning basic things despite the fact i'm 1700 elo. I wonder how i could have ignored such principle before.

Just take the "rooks" pdf, for example i did'nt know the R+N perpetual check.

With rooks on the 7th rank case II, i almost post an errata, thinking Ra7 last move was incorrect because a1=Q, to notice later that Rxa8, Qxa8, Rh8 was winning the queen also.

Same for interposing a piece on the rook opened file to have tempo to double the rooks.

And so on, with the other "pieces quality" documents...

So for sure the exercises are a good plus, but the theory for players of my level is of great value.
Most of the time, just seeing something i knew or guessed, written black on white on the paper, is pertinent.

HangingKing wrote:With rooks on the 7th rank case II, i almost post an errata, thinking Ra7 last move was incorrect because a1=Q, to notice later that Rxa8, Qxa8, Rh8 was winning the queen also.

Not good either, because of Qa8+ is a check.
Ok good sequence is Ra7, a1=Q, Rh8# (if king moves or rook take, i just take back the rook).

I'm sure they did this Ra7 move with no explanations, on purpose ;-)

WOW, i am done month 3. Again for the 3rd time.

Blue Devil Knight wrote:The end of the course is the entire reason I joined. I look at the first eight months or sor as mere preparation for the real course.

As I insinuated at this post where I summarize some of Rowson's views, I joined this course because of those problems, and I want to tackle those problems because of something Rowson said:
"I believe that the surest way to improve our results is to practice solving complex problems at home, and to do this as often as possible, in a timed and disciplined manner. This helps to make concentrating more habitual and therefore makes it easier for us to focus at critical points in our own games."

Rowson feels very strongly about this technique, saying "One exercise completed with full application for 20 minutes is easily worth an hour of playing through games."

Rowson is very critical of the overreliance in adult players of thinking in terms of words, stories, narratives. When we do that we end up imposing our pet theories on the position, rather than letting the position tell us what is the best move by doing concrete analysis.

If you believe Rowson, then the final months are the real key to ICS.

Sound logical. There are two audio interviews by John Watson on ICC archives with Larry Kaufman, the developer of the chess evaluation function for Rybka. During the interview he makes the comment that it is not useful for less experienced plalyers to analyze their own games (without help) because they do not have the necessary knowledge to do the analysis.

I find it is best to annotate my games right after Playing them, then review my annotations with master/coach so they can correct or reinforce my thoughts/plans. Also after you get a few dozen games under review patterns start to develop. For instance I would miss tactics due to my reluctance to play positions that exposed my King. So I started playing the KID which also helped my positional understanding of King safety. This is just one example, but I would highly recommend aligning yourself with a mentor or coach.

I wish I could be so lucky as to have a coach. I am forced to analyse my games with an engine and guess/assume why things are right / wrong.

Luckily for me, most of my moves are agreed to by the engine, so I don't have to guess "why" that much.

LOL you must the one that scored 100 on the assessment.

No way!!