How to improve your chess by benchmarking

Send us Fan MailImproving your chess by benchmarking.These training instructions were provided for members of East Cheshire Chess Club. I hope they will also be of use to anyone interested in leaning about chess.This year we have been offering training sessions to beginners and club members interested in improving their skills.We have settled for a mix of short lecture sessions on club nights, and informal meetings with smaller groups of players. I want to suggest the benefits of taking practice very seriously. OK, that’s what just about every teacher says about just about any sport or pastime. However gifted you are, you are likely to underperform on your capabilities without practice. If you want to have fun, that’s fine, but anyone who says ‘I’m only doing this for fun’ I have to echo the words of John McEnroe, ‘you can’t be serious’.Skills needed to improve your chess using benchmarking:Stage 1 Understanding the rules of the game.Stage 2 Playing without making illegal moves. Stage 3 Playing against a computer.Stage 4 Understanding and being able to write down the moves of a game.Stage 5 Setting up your benchmarking and training plan.Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email [email protected] to sign up!Follow Tudor on Twitter @TudortweetFollow Tudor's blogs:everydaycreativity.ukleaderswedeserve.wordpress.com