Sunday, November 18, 2007

Chess Study Setup

Ok here is a question for all of you: how do you like to study chess, and what kind of setup do you have?

Are you the type that likes to just grab a chess book and go to a coffee shop with/without a board? Do you prefer to study at home? Do you sit at your computer or on your living room couch? Do you keep a chess set next to your computer or just use software? Do you have any particular setup that works for you?

Personally, I have a chess set on my living room table and one next to my computer. What I use depends on what I want to study. If I am going over annotated grandmaster games or study openings, I like to sit on my living room couch with a nice up of tea. I use a book stand so I don't have to bother holding the book myself, and I can focus on the board that way.

If I want to analyze some of my own games, I generally input them into Fritz and go over them on my computer. Sometimes I use the chess set next to my computer to play out variations etc - it just feels like I digest some concepts better if I actually move pieces around on a real board. I also use the board next to my computer when I study material like Kasparov's Queen's Gamit DVD or Daniel King's Pawn Storm DVD. Again, it helps me to actually move pieces around in 3D.

And then I have my little magnetic chess set that I take with me when I travel so I can play through positions/games in books on a plane, in a coffee shop etc.

I'd love to hear how you guys study!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

hey man, how's it going? nice blog you got here, i dig the pic up top.

as for study, i play through master's games, see how they move, learn how they think. i also do tactics stuff at the chess tactics server. other than that, i play on ICC and lose alot. rock on with your new blog!

Chessaholic said...

What's up Chessloser! It's fun to dive into the chess blog world and exchange thoughts with guys like you, I think it'll help me to (eventually) not suck so much :)

BTW, love your sense of humor, your blog cracks me up.

Anonymous said...

I study mostly at the computer. Working with chess software. But i also got quite a few books which i'm trying to read/work through one by one.

Chessaholic said...

edwin: when you work through your books, do you do that using a real board or do you do it with your computer as well? I sometimes find it tedious to use a real board, but I do it anyways because it seems to help my "3D vision" as opposed to using only a "2D" computer.

Anonymous said...

When working through books i use a real board. See a post i wrote about it here.

Chessaholic said...

Edwin: that's a mighty nice set you got yourself, I want one of those too!

I am trying to play/study more on real boards because I feel like many things I learn in a 2D enironment don't translate easily into the 3D world...

Anthea said...

I like to study chess with a chess set and chess book to a cafe. The only probelm with doing this is that everyone thinks you want to play chess with them.