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Chessville
From the
From the
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Rose's Rants by Tom Rose
"I learned to play chess at the age of 13. I was recovering from a stay in hospital, and played chess with a neighbor for hours every day. Most of my early chess was with weak players. I had no-one to guide me properly. During my school years I studied chess sporadically and unsystematically. Despite that I played top board for both the school and the local club and became town champion. I played in a handful of "real" tournaments, but I did not meet strong players often enough. At University I played little. After graduating I began to play and study more. At 25 I began a serious effort to improve and started winning minor places in weekend tournaments. Finally at the age of 28, after 3 years of steady work, I won an Open tournament against strong opposition. Next year my grade reached 193 on the BCF (British Chess Federation) scale, equivalent to about 2140 Elo, or about 2220 USCF scale, so in USA terms: a strong expert, or weak National master. What does that mean? I played like a journeyman boxer - fit, tough, determined, and equipped with a big punch - but no class. I had a well-prepared repertoire of simple openings. I knew basic endings well. I fought hard in inferior positions. I rarely made gross tactical blunders, and could spot an interesting tactical blow. This was enough to beat most of my opponents. As I plodded along, not blundering, most of my opponents would self-destruct within 40 moves. I never really had any great understanding of the game or where the pieces belong. I never mastered the art of maneuvering and gradually improving a position until it becomes overwhelming. Whenever I met a really strong player I was mercilessly crushed. At 28 years old, my chess development stopped. I changed careers, moved to a new house, brought up a family, and devoted time to other interests. I still played club and county chess so I remained at almost the same standard for a few more years, but I no longer studied the game, and soon a gradual decline set in. Right now I am 48 years old, un-graded, and have played hardly at all in the last 3 years. But I want to see what can be achieved at this age with the right approach. I have the enthusiasm to give chess some sustained effort again, and this time I intend to stick at it for as long as it takes. I always dreamed of reaching International Master standard,
but my first target (challenging but realistic) is to reach the strength of
Elo 2200, just a little stronger than my previous peak. I have spent a
lot of time figuring out the right way to go about this. It is, if
nothing else, an interesting experiment to attempt to raise my game to a new
level, at an age when most chess players are thinking of retiring. If
it is successful, it can be a model for other dissatisfied oldies. And
if it fails you'll know what NOT to do!" What Makes A Strong Player Strong? Can "old" players improve all that much?
Adventures in
the Advance French,
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