Goodbye, 97 pound chess weakling!

Goodbye, 97 pound chess weakling!

By James DuBois

Remember those old Charles Atlas ads that appeared in the comic books of your youth? Joe and Mac were always taking it on the chin and were accustom to being pushed around at the beach in front of the girls. They suffered more from embarrassment than anything else. The advertisements always continued with these scarecrows becoming real men, but only after they gambled a postage stamp for the absolutely free book that held the secrets to a dynamic body.

ChessBase has somewhat unintentionally created a chess body building system for the player that is sick and tired of being a 97 pound chess weakling. The following three disks should produce enough of a workout to give you the muscles needed to thwart even the worst nuisances that are currently kicking sand in your face.

Like all training sessions it is extremely important to properly warm up what muscles you have, after all you wouldn't want to injure yourself before you start. Lubomir Ftacnik has put together a collection of 333 miniatures to get your blood circulating and loosen you up quite nicely. The disk is entitled, Winning In 20 Moves and is ..."dream material for everyone who wishes to improve his tactical perception and learn from the mistakes of fellow chess players." He continues to state that, "...in the largest part of our games the fight is decided on the h file." So you have already learned one of the bully's weak spots. Trainer Ftacnik outlines other major motifs in enough detail so that you can't help but notice that all tough guys have their shortcomings..." It is also observed that to be mated in so few moves that a serious mistake must have been committed. Repetition is key to this disk, just as a boxer repeatedly throws quick jabs to build muscle memory, so must the skinny chess player continually concentrate on how to efficiently knockout his opponent by committing these themes to memory.

Rainer Knaak considerably increases the tempo of the workout with his Mating Attack Against 0-0. Perhaps donning a warm up suit to get you the proper mind set is not out of the question. The session has just entered a dynamic phase with the use of Fritz as the defender in these positions. Picture yourself on a treadmill and the incline has been raised to twenty percent. Don't give up to temptation and rest, work hard on each game, but pace yourself there is a lot of material to cover. Perseverance will pay off with by giving you a much deeper understanding of how the win is constructed. You should begin to notice a measurable change in the mass of your chess muscle after a few hours with this program. You are getting stronger as your confidence grows. You can lift that weight! The games are full length with many, many detailed lines of variations. Think of this as having a true personal trainer at your side instructing you through the finer points of your workout.

Killer Moves by George Renko is indeed the cooling down period for your chess workout. The disk contains over 1,600 positions that ask you to determine the strongest continuation for each. They vary from one move up to five moves to solve. A warm shower and rub down await you. The material included is all very enjoyable and quite invigorating after the previous strenuous activity.

Joe and Mac paid back the bullies and became the heroes of the entire beach in only fifteen minutes a day. One should start at a moderate rate as with any exercise program as to not become overwhelmed or thinking that all is hopeless and then give up, just letting your equipment gather dust in the corner. Set a schedule and stick to it, make notes on your progress and be honest with yourself...don't take shortcuts. There is no easy way out in training. You are bound to have bad days once in a while, but just like your athletic counterpart you are also going to have those days where everything clicks and you know that you are on your way to becoming a real chess he-man after all.