How to get the most out of your training CDs
By Aryan Argandewal
I have a friend in Oxford who is a very talented law student. He has a passion
for ancient philosophy. Despite our differences on philosophical issues we
share the same passion for the extreme. When I visited him back in October
he was literally buried in books. I asked him how much did he spend on so many
books and he replied: "What worries me more is whether I’ll ever
have enough time to read all of them!"
A few days ago I found myself wondering about the same issue from a slightly
different angle. I read only a book or two on philosophy when I get leisure
time, but I am buried in my law text-books and – yep a few ChessBase
training CDs. Will I ever have time to study all of these CDs?
I have a dozen and a half training CDs. I love every single one of them. How
many of them I have actually managed to study? Only eight. As my Taekwondo
mentor used to say: ‘you definitely have room for improvement’.
How can I tackle the problem? As a half-decent chess player I sat down and
made a plan. Here’s what I came up with.
First of all we have to agree that training CDs are great. They are the essential
tools if you want to improve your game. How are you going to get the most out
of them, however, is a different issue.
We are all different. Everybody has their own individual style in exploring
new intellectual territories. Some of us are good at going from general to
the detail, others however, prefer traveling from the detail to general.
Imagine two groups of people who are assigned with the task of learning how
to build a house. The first are those who immediately dive into learning how
to put bricks together, various tactics and schemes of laying down the foundation,
erecting a wall etc. The second group consists of those who would sit back,
take a deep breath and start off with the general principles of architecture.
Once finished with the theory they proceed to the practical implementation
of those ideas. In other words they view a subject as a complete body of ideas,
which is then de-assembled, branch-by-branch, piece-by-piece, until they finally
get to the smallest detail. I would subscribe to the latter method of learning.
But my goal was not elaborating on various methods of study but a rather practical
one: how can I force my brain to accommodate an entire training CD in a single
day! You see, human brain is a rather capricious princess: she demands a lot
of convincing to allocate a gray cell on permanent basis to a new piece of
information however charming! And if you try to push the circumstances, by
over-learning, she’ll accept the new bits of information only for a brief
period. And this is not what we want, is it? We want her to fall in love with
those new pieces of theory once and for all! How can we achieve this?
When I started receiving ChessBase training CDs I was so excited I never thought
of optimizing my method of learning. You see, an average player has so many
holes in his game that everything needs improving: Opening Theory, Middle Game,
Tactics, Strategy, End Game. Where do you start?
EVERYWHERE! AT ONCE!
Be a Napoleon don’t be afraid of the risks. Attack the enemy on both
flanks! Penetrate the enemy camp from all sides!
It all sounds nice but looking at my own record I can see that it is easier
said than done! It is one thing to learn the line in general and a completely
different picture to become ‘an expert’ on a particular opening.
Moreover, if your aim is to blitz-pass the huge pool of average-species you
can’t afford to learn things in general, and by that I mean to learn
the first few moves and leave the rest to tactics and good fortune. Every opening
idea encounters multiple counter ideas and you have to be prepared for each
of them.
It is Sunday 4.35 a.m.
Sunday morning.
I pick up several of my favorite CDs. Among them two volumes of Chess Strategy,
Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual, and four CDs on my opening repertoire (I
refuse to specify them in case my opponents reading this!)
I
kick off with Chess Strategy Vol. 2:
There are 67 sections. Together they comprise 18 chapters. Each chapter is
followed by three well-annotated games. I read carefully through chapters leaving
the games aside for the time being. It takes about 78 minutes to finish with
18 chapters (they are rather compact it has to be said). Is that it? Are we
finished with an overview of Vol. 2?
The answer, astonishingly, is yes!
Why did it take so little to complete the reading of an entire CD? I tried
the ‘de-synthesis’ method of learning. I went from the whole to
the detail. As a result my brain didn’t get tired with the overflow of
new information.
Now all I need to do is to go back and read fast through the chapters but
this time without skipping the very important part of CD, which is annotated
games. It took me an additional hour to complete the entire CD including annotated
games. What is left is the database A45 and Tests. In less than one hour I
finished with the tests. Study session time in total? Three hours eighteen
minutes! By comparison it took me three weeks to get to volume 3!
Notice any difference?
If you read through chapters and then continue with the games your brain
would simply refuse to cooperate. The important thing is to force the main
body of the theory into your gray-cell-garden and only then proceed to
solidifying your shaky knowledge. This way your brain will cooperate to the
full extent. Having completely finished the theory part you can then go to
A45 for extra cell-storm.
Of course you can't go through the entire A45 database which usually consists
of thousands of games. A45 is not there to be learned in its entirety, one
by one. The purpose of A45 is to give you a huge 'library' of games so that
you always have a reference point.
When I say the CD has been fully learned I don't want you to misinterpret
this as if it is possible to work with a CD for a day and become an expert!
You should (and must) return to it the very next day. By completing a CD I
mean that it stops being a total stranger to your brain. Next time you insert
the CD into your computer you only need to click on a topic and you know what
to expect. Your third visit on another occasion will be even more 'comfortable'.
If you repeat this several times you'll notice that the 'idea' whether it
is an opening or a topic on strategy or an end game formula will slowly build
up inside you. You'lll notice that no longer you are wondering around the board
in search of a 'good move'. You are now concentrating on how to recreate those
training CD ideas against enemy forces on the board during a real game against
a real opponent.
The benefit of having these solid ideas is that it boosts your confidence.
A great Italian philosopher named Niccolo Machiavelli describes confidence
as a direct result of long drilling and decipline. 'Drilling' here, of course,
is working with chess theory and bombarding yourself with appropriate excercises.
So that when you face a real 'war situation' it would seem as just another
excercise.
So: the CD material should not be learned little by little, chapter today,
chapter a week later. No! Storm it! Finish it in a single day. Then return
to it the day after. With every new visit your brain will become more and more
accustomed to the ideas. And here we have to mention the importance of A45
(every CD has its own database code). It is there to solidify your basic knowledge.
And of course, it is impossible to go through five thousends games in a single
day! It is there to help you cementing your accommodated theory. The purpose
of this article is not to imply that it is somehow possible to grasp the entire
material of a CD in a single day but to help you to speed up your learning.
Here, in summary, is what you do:
-
Stage one: Read through the chapters without wasting
too much time on details. Familiarize yourself with the basics, with the
general body of ideas. Enjoy reading. Imagine you are reading Jack London’s
Odyssey! Skip the games.
-
Stage two: once finished with the reading through the
entire body of the theory go back to chapter one and this time finish each
chapter with annotated games and do the tests if there are any.
-
Stage three: go to A45 Database and enjoy viewing games
played by GMs.
Did I achieve my goal of learning a whole CD in a single day? Let
me know your thoughts.
About me:
Aryan Argandewal. I am of Afghan origin. About 200 years ago
Afghanistan was called Aryana. This is where my name comes from (Aryan-a, man
from Aryana) My family is based in North America and Australia. I study Law
at university of Surrey, England. I fluently speak: English, Russian and Persian,
am able to read and write Japanese, Arabic and Pashto. Member of Guildford
Chess Club, Surrey, UK. I have black belt in Taekwondo; enjoy motor racing,
swimming. I am a huge Formula1 fan and a dedicated fan of McLaren, favorite
Driver J.P.Montoya.
