Nabil Fakih on How to Get Better At Chess
During lockdown my friend Nabil Fakih has been teaching me how to play chess, a game which I have to say is every bit as difficult as I thought that it was. Nabil is absolutely brilliant at this game, and that makes sense given how intelligent he is in other areas of his life. Whilst natural intelligence may make you better at chess however, there is nothing to say that someone with less intelligence won’t be able to play, they will just have to work harder. Nabil is someone who has not only taught me the basics but he has been brilliant in guiding me to constantly improve, which I feel that I have been doing. If you know how to play but want to get better, here are some tips on doing so.
Puzzles
There are many chess websites, which you can find such as chess.com which offer its users a series of puzzles. These puzzles will put you in a certain situation which you have togged out of or find the finish and they are a brilliant way of helping you to brush up on a variety of skills. There are certain watch outs which you can learn more about here and they are one of the best ways to help you increase your ability to play chess.
Playing Online
The best way of getting experience is by playing as many games as you possibly can and with people of all levels and experience. The ultimate way to do that is to play online against random opponents, do this and you will see your ability to play chess increase a great deal. People have certain traits, which they rely on such as opening types and these can be the best way in which to learn how to defend and how to attack those openings.
Play
I have to be honest when I haven’t played for a few days I instantly lose so much of my sharpness and that is why the best advice I could give would be just to play. The more you play the more tuned in you will become to ways of playing and things to watch out for, and you have to also accept that you are probably going to lose way more than you are going to win, this is just the way that the game goes.
Tutorials
There are some great tutorials online which you can watch that will really help you out. Something I have noticed is that you probably shouldn’t watch the Masters play as they have such a high level of playing that their strategies are unlikely to help you. Stick to tutorials for certain openings and certain ways of playing in order to really learn some new tricks which you can try out.
Ultimately this is a game, which you will always be looking to improve yourself with, and that pursuit of improvement is unlikely to end.
Feature Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay
Boris Dzhingarov graduated UNWE with a major in marketing. He is the founder of ESBO ltd a brand mentioning company. He is also passionate about meditation and healthy living. You can find articles on such topics at his spiritual blog Dzhingarov.com.