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Ronald posted an update
Hello Chessvibes team, Hello Mr. Nelson,
I got the Breaking 1500 course as a gift from my wife and I took a look around. In general, I would like to say that I like Mr. Nelson’s friendly and competent manner and the way he explains things. I myself bought a KID and Strategic Thinking chess course in September and am currently working on it. I followed Mr. Nelson’s recommendation to learn KIA to save learning time, which is very logical and not unimportant at my age (73). I learn chess to keep my mind working. I want to see Breaking 1500 as a continuation of my two courses. However, I am a little unsure because the recommendations for the openings for white and black in this course are completely different. Since mid-September, I have climbed 150 points with KID on lichess, which has been a positive surprise so far. What is your advice for me regarding the openings. Thanks for advice
Seann, Drew and 2 others6 Comments-
I am way below 1500 but have benefited from those openings. The Stonewall I sort of understand. Not so much the Owen’s defense. However I’ve played both against OTB opponents as well as chess.com. I’ve been pleased by the results.
Focus on the principles rather than memorizing.
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Personally I find the openings to be less of an issue than the mid-late game. I’ve not progressed far enough into the course we’re doing here to make recommendations yet but depending on your ELO there are some fundamentals that can serve you well. That said, without knowing your ELO I’m hesitant to give advice.
I’m 54 myself and have been playing for about 18 months although I did like it a lot in my teens and picked up enough to hit the ground running all this time later. Good for you for taking on the challenge and I hope you find the gains you’re looking for from doing it!
If you hadn’t already noticed, you can fill in more details in your profile here including your chess.com profile (if you have one) and your current ELO – just click on your username in the top right hand of the page, select ‘Profile’ and then opt for ‘Edit’!
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@Eddy Hello Eddy, after I received the course as a gift from my wife, yesterday the name Marianne was still in my profile. Today I changed that, my name is Ronald, in case you are wondering why this post is not from Marianne.
I forgot to say that the recommendation for KID was from Mr Nelson’s course Strategic Thinking, which is why I bought his course KID. I agree with you that it is ultimately about developing strategic and tactical skills in order to have decisive advantages in the middle game. That is why I will stick with KID, it is a course that goes pretty deep. And Stonewall? I will learn to develop a defense. I have no ELO, but on lichess I currently have a rating of 1486. Adjusted that should be an ELO of 900, maybe close to 1000, if I am not mistaken. I read somewhere that lichess rating minus 400-500 should be close to ELO, but I don’t know for sure. Have fun and success playing chess.
Regards Ronald
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I enjoy the KIA and Stonewall because they generally limit black to a few sensible replies, and in most cases, the themes are fairly straightforward to understand. I like Pirc/KID for black because the themes are pretty similar to the KIA, just colors reversed. I agree with Charles that if you find a solid opening and then stick to trying to practice good principles you’ll have a good game.
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If KID/KIA is working for you and you enjoy it, I’d say stick with it! That being said, you could always try the Stonewall/Owen’s for 10 games each and see which you like better. Hope that helps!
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Hallo everyone, after I received the course as a gift from my wife, her name Marianne was in the profile yesterday. Today I changed that, my name is Ronald, in case you are wondering why this post is not from Marianne. I thank everyone for the encouraging words. I don’t know my ELO, but I’m currently at 1486 on lichess and after adjusting I estimate that to be around ELO 900 or maybe near 1000, if I’m not mistaken. For the next few months I will continue to learn KID, because it was Mr. Nelson’s advice in the Strategic Thinking Chess Course. If KID was good enough for Garry Kasparov, then it will be good enough for me. I’ll be surprised at what comes out of it.
I am looking forward beeing part of this community.
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