1. Joined
    04 Feb '08
    Moves
    18010
    12 Mar '19 20:25
    A computer program at a reasonable cost.
  2. Joined
    28 Feb '19
    Moves
    4750
    12 Mar '19 22:53
    A modern cellphone will allow you to access plenty of free programs.
    Google Play has programs for openings, tactics and endgames. All free.
    Just get a cellphone that requires you to have a Google email account.
    What cellphone do you have?
    And how old are you? Sorry to say it but the older you are the harder it is to get good at chess.
    How long have you been playing?
  3. Joined
    28 Feb '19
    Moves
    4750
    12 Mar '19 23:09
    Also...chess frustration never goes away.
    You will always feel dumb. When I was rated 1200 I felt dumb and wanted to improve.
    Now I'm 1600 and I feel dumb and want to improve.
    Just don't quit. Chess improvement comes in waves. You will get to a certain strength and be stuck their for awhile then one day you'll notice you move up. Then you're stuck their for awhile. Then you move up.
    As you improve your opponents will be stronger and you'll always feel dumb.
    Don't quit. I almost did when I was stuck at 1200 for years. I still blunder like an idiot at 1600. ☹️ Now you got me depressed.
  4. e4
    Joined
    06 May '08
    Moves
    42492
    13 Mar '19 01:32
    Join a club, learn how to play humans they play differently from computers.
    A book, Logical Chess (the algebraic version) by Chernev. and a board, get your eyes used to roaming all over the board.
    Computer software has you staring at a postage stamp.

    Humans invented the game. Computers do not even know they are playing a game.
    They do not how to wriggle in lost positions, with humans it's an art form.
    They cannot anticipate a mistake, they do not know what a difficult position for a human to play is.

    Your exciting game Game 13140839 v buggadog reached here.


    Black played 40...Re8. Black is still losing it but confused you enough to blunder and lose.

    A computer would have lost this because 40...Re8 allows a forced mate.
    It would have delayed the mate by moving the g7 Knight.
    They play without hope, when losing they sulk.
    Some humans play better when they are losing and some play worse when they are winning.
  5. Joined
    23 Apr '19
    Moves
    30
    23 Apr '19 03:30
    Chess King Training is probable the best commercial training software for the cost.
    I haven't tried Chessbase training stuff due to it's being too pricey for my budget.

    You can get a subscription for a reasonable price to check it out. The current subscription model started after I'd already purchased most of the modules. -at the time the company was running a super sale so I got nearly everything for a huge discount. But the current subscription model is a really good deal to at least scope out the stuff.

    If you don't like that, you can still just buy what modules you need, and cancel the subscription
  6. Joined
    23 Apr '19
    Moves
    30
    23 Apr '19 18:562 edits
    @Rowin-Side
    I digress on your opinion that age makes it harder to learn better chess skills. I think it takes more effort, but not enough to be disheartening.

    Plus I think older people do well by repetition of problems.

    Do hundreds of mate in ones
    Then
    Do hundreds of mate in two's

    Pattern recognition is important, so doing problems that target different stages of the game is key.
    After you get pretty good at those, then start doing tactic puzzles... start easy and ladder up to harder problems.

    Finally start doing combination problems, which are similar to tactics, but start with a key move instead.
    *Chess Compositions is the same thing, but in a combination problem, the position comes from an actual game.

    After that, one could start thinking about more specific training like learning new openings, endgame training, etc.
    ____________

    *because Chess Compositions are constructed, the vast majority of them are exceedingly difficult.
    Combination problems can be generated by a computer program looking at a chess database, so the problems can be limited by variables like rating level of the players, number of pieces on the board, etc.
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