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I have to admit, I am rather perturbed by just how many phony articles there are describing how to achieve chessic greatness. Whether they advocate praying to Caissa, the goddess and personification of chess, or copying the moves of the best players, most guides are terribly misleading. Here is an authentic guide from a true tournament chess player who has proven himself over the board time and time again.

1) Choose the correct openings. You must learn the type of game that you enjoy and play for that type of position from the very first moves! Whether you like very complex, tight, tactical positions or easy, open games with lots of shots for both sides, you will never succeed if you do not play the type of chess that suites you. Choose your openings carefully, as they determine the entire course of the game.
2) Find a player that suits your style and follow their example. Do not simply memorize their moves without understanding why they play what they do, but you should play over their games and see what they have to teach you. If you are a positional player, look at games by Reshevsky or Karpov. If you are an attacking player, follow Fischer or Topalov. Defensive? Kramnik. Sacrificial? Tal. No matter what your style, if you are not a world class player, there are players better than you who use a stronger version of your style. Learn from them.
3) Play often! Botvinnik almost lost the World Championship to Bronstein because he hadn't played in 3 years. It seemed Fischer was afraid of Karpov because he had hardly played in 3 years. Chess is a skill that must be continually used to remain sharp, let alone to improve. Play as often as you can and your skills will not deteriorate. But how to improve simply by playing? Play stronger players as often as you can. This includes playing up a section in tournaments. When you are fairly certain you won't get first, why not just play up a section and get experience playing people much stronger than you? You will learn from it. If you live near a strong player, invite them out to coffee and play in the coffee-house. Play in restaurants, bookstores, libraries, or wherever else strong chess players are to be found. If you can play players stronger than you, you will begin to see how they play and why they play the moves that they do. This will lead to your own game improving.
4) Look over your games and analyze them. See why you lost if you lost, and how you could have won earlier if you won. Look for the best chances your opponents had but missed, and try to discover a good counter to it. Having strong players look at the games with you is especially beneficial. They are better than you for a reason and will see things that you cannot. With their help you can certainly come up with more possibilities for Black and White and this will lead to your own strengthening. If you see all the mistakes you make in a game and try not to make them again, you will surely improve!

Learn more about this author, Chris Dobbs.
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