FAQ
What are these training modules?
Each modules
contains selected games played by a specific master player in a certain
year at some point during the height of his/her chess career.
The size of each module is limited to a maximum of 20 games, in order to make each module
more manageable.
How can the modules be used?
You can use them as you like, for instance:
- to get better acquainted with a particular player's games and playing style,
- for leisurely study and enjoyment,
- for study, training or guess-the-move-like exercises to improve your own playing style.
How can I train with one of these modules?
Go through the games one at a time, move by move, and use a guess-the-move kind of procedure. This will improve your understanding, judgment and creativity as a chess player.
- In each position, when the Master is to move, first try to guess the move (in advance, before you check what move the Master did).
- Check the Master's move.
- If you like, you can also check what move the computer recommends.
- Compare your move with the master's move. Often, you'll find the contrast between your own intuitions and the moves made by masters very instructive, giving you insights into your weaknesses and how you can improve.
- Try to understand the reasons behind the right move: Is there an immediate tactical reason or combination that motivates the move? Or else, what are the fundamental positional and strategic reasons that motivate the move? Spend as much time you need until you feel you understand the position and the move. Try to see what the master saw on the board and that motivated him/her to choose the move they did. Make sure you can explain to yourself explicitly the exact reasons why the right move was a good move and why it was the best move.
- If you (and occasionally also the Master) made a bad move, try to understand why it was a bad move. Identify the specific tactical or combinational reasons, or the positional or strategic characteristics of the position, that explain why it was a bad move. Make sure you can explain to yourself explicitly the exact reasons why it was a bad move.
- Also, in each position and for each move, try to understand what the master's objectives and plans are (which will often not become clearer until a few moves later on) and what techniques they use to achieve those objectives and plans. This will help you identify new techniques that you can incorporate in your own playing style and will make you more creative.
Repeating this exercise, move by move, trying to understand each position and guessing a move, will improve your understanding, judgment and creativity as a chess player.
Once you've gone through a game, you may want to go through it once more. That will sometimes help to get an even more profound understanding of the game.
What is EQ or Estimated Quality?
Each module is assigned an Estimated Quality value (EQ), which is a
value between 0 and 1,000, where 1,000 is highest possible quality
(representing a 3,000 ELO player playing at 100% accuracy).
The EQ value is meant to provide a rough indication of the estimated quality of the games for students, and it can be useful when choosing between the modules.
How is the EQ value calculated?
The EQ value is calculated using a formula based on
- the estimated accuracy of the master player in the games (which in turn is based on computer analyses of a sample of games),
- the rating of the master player (FIDE rating or historical Chessmetrics rating).
How are the games selected to ensure high quality?
The games are selected based on various criteria, in order to ensure (as much as possible) that only high-quality games enter each module:
- Only games actually won by the master are included. (Lost or drawn games are excluded.)
- Only classical over-the-board games are included. (All other kinds of games are excluded, such as bullet, blitz, rapid, simultaneous, blindfold, online games, etc.).
- Occasionally, a game may be omitted if the master player generally played very badly in that game and only won because of some lucky error made by his opponent.
Several historical players appear with a rating. Where do those ratings come from?
Those ratings are part of the PGN data stored for each game in the database it was extracted from.
Often, these ratings are the historical ratings calculated for instance by chessmetrics.com.
Is there some way I can help?
Yes,
whenever you see a game that still hasn't got a computer analysis from
Lichess, please do run one. The computer analyses help me generate a
more exact EQ value for each module, but unfortunately I can only
run 20 analyses per day myself, which is the limit that Lichess sets for its users.
To run a computer analysis on a game:
- Locate the row of image icons below the board.
- Select the Computer Analysis icon (the 4th one from the right).
- Press the button that appears below the icon.