Smash the Barriers to your Chess Success IM Anna Rudolf
The Anna Rudolf Method Many players seem to get stuck at a certain level, no matter how hard they train. It’s like there’s an invisible barrier preventing preventing them from reaching 1600, 1800 or 2000. It doesn’t have to be this way. IM Anna Rudolf (aka Miss Strategy) has found the solution. Instead of cramming our brains with endless amounts of new knowledge, we need to fix the 5 holes through which valuable rating points leak. Blunders, missing winning opportunities, missing the strongest plan, underestimating your opponent’s strategy and fear/complacency. These are the real barriers holding you back. The 15 hour Anna Rudolf Method teaches you how to solve these problems and achieve your potential by becoming a master of awareness, emotions and targeting weaknesses. Smash the barriers to your chess success with Anna’s intensive training on self -mastery. self -mastery.
Summary: Part 1: Opening Chapter 1: How to choose an opening that fits you Chapter 2: How to learn openings effectively Chapter 3: How to build your opening repertoire Chapter 4: What to do in unknown positions Part 2: Middlegame Chapter 5: Become a master of planning Chapter 6: Perfect your strategic thinking Chapter 7: Piece play: Improve yours, worsen the opponent’s Chapter 8: Pawn play: “I want to break free” Chapter 9: Attack like a beast Chapter 10: What makes an attack successful Chapter 11: Typical attacking plans Chapter 12: How to spot tactical motifs Chapter 13: How to stop blundering Chapter 14: Defend like a pro Chapter 15: Prophylactic thinking Part 3: Endgame Chapter 16: How to be a better endgame player
1
Chapter 17: Endgame principles and concepts Bonus: Calculation: Thought process Final Words: The mindset of a champion
2
Part 1: Opening Chapter 1: How to Choose an opening that fits you Openings are not the most important phase, but they do shape the course of the rest of the game. 2. Think about what your chess goals and style are before deciding to study an opening. These are the key elements in choosing an opening repertoire. 3. Think of the opening as a bridge to the middlegame. 4. Engines, elite players, the current trends… these shouldn’t influence your opening choice. 5. Experience and knowledge of an opening is more important than the objective evaluation of it. 1.
Chapter 2: How to learn openings effectively 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Rule #1: Do not memorize! Memorization is not the same as understanding. Rule #2: Grab a chessboard - analyze on a real chessboard, not from the computer screen. Rule #3: Find model games to study from strong players (especially if they play the opening on a regular basis). Rule #4: Play through the model games and have fun! After playing through the model games, if you like the positions, observe the pawn structure, piece setup, patterns, ideas and basic plans. Analyze verbally! Only after knowing the main ideas and lines you should start looking the opening move-by-move.
3
Chapter 3: How to build your opening repertoire 1. 2.
3.
Learn the main variations and the tricky lines (move orders, gambits and traps). Don’t learn sidelines. Learn as you go instead, i.e., check the variations you have played during your own games and increase your knowledge through practice. Keep a written (or digital) track of your opening repertoire.
Chapter 4: What to do in unknown positions 1. 2. 3.
If you get to an unknown position, don’t panic! Don’t pl ay superficial, automatic moves. Observe, compare and/or analyze to reach a conclusion. Use logic and reasoning, not emotions, to evaluate. Sometimes, having half the information is worse than not knowing anything. Don’t try to remember, think!
4
Part 2: Middlegame Chapter 5: Become a master of planning 1. To
create a plan, you first have to evaluate the position. 2. To evaluate, take into account the material, the pawn structure, king safety (in the endgame it can turn into king activity), piece activity and the context (what was your opponent’s last move?) 3. Look the position from both static and dynamic viewpoints. 4. Use this evaluation to find a target. 5. When evaluating the material, don’t just count the pieces, also look at the difference between them. For example, if there are different-colored bishops, this should be noted. 6. To improve your analytical skills, practice a lot and increase your chess understanding.
Chapter 6: Perfect your strategic thinking 1. The
initiative is the most important dynamic factor. 2. You don’t have to reevaluate the position on every move. 3. Evaluate the position after a major exchange (piece e xchange, a change on the pawn structure). 4. In other cases, reassess the tiny changes of the position after the move. 5. Always consider how to improve the position of your pieces.
Chapter 7: Piece play: Improve yours, worsen the opponent’s Strong players don’t think about the numerical strength of a piece, but of their relative value. 2. You should always try to increase the relative value of your pieces and decrease the relative value of the opponent’s ones. 3. The pawn structure will free or restrict the pieces. 4. Don’t exchange an active piece for a bad piece. 5. A restricted piece is a bad one. 6. A pinned piece is a bad one too, as it can’t be moved. 7. Make your opponent’s weaknesses permanent, or at least difficult to get rid of. 1.
5
Chapter 8: Pawn play: I want to break free “
1.
2.
”
Why should you play a pawn break? • To open the position, • free your pieces, • gain access to the opponent’s king, • expose weaknesses or • take the initiative. If your opponent’s pieces are badly placed, open the position on the side of the board where they aren’t placed!
Chapter 9: Attack like a beast 1. Take
care of your opponent’s plans. Prevent them and win the initiative. 2. Don’t lose time when attacking. 3. The king is the ultimate objective, so don’t be afraid of ruining your pawn structure. 4. Expose the opposite king to attack it, even if it costs you a piece. 5. Bring your pieces to the attack, and chase away your opponent’s! 6. Long-range pieces (bishops and rooks) can attack a flank from the other side of the board. 7. Not every attacking game will end with mate. If you end up on material , it’s still a successful attack.
Chapter 10: What makes an attack successful 1. To
create a successful attack, you need more attacking pieces than there are defenders. 2. Time is more important than material. You can (and should) use sacrifices to open lines and/or weaken the pawn structure. 3. You also need to consider the possible counterplay of your opponent. 4. A sacrifice doesn’t need to be winning on the spot. You can strengthen your attack after a sacrifice too. 5. Weaken the king position to get access to it.
Chapter 11: Typical attacking plans
6
1.
2.
3.
Uncastled king • Use many types of sacrifices to attack as fast as possible, before the king gets to castle. • Open the position. • Bring as many attacking pieces as possible. Opposite-side castling • Time is the most important. If you lose time, your opponent will mate you first. • Attack with the pawns. • Bring as many pieces as possible. • Use forcing moves and create stronger threats than the opponent. Same-side castling • Attack with your pieces, as many as possible. • Create weaknesses in your opponent’s castle by exerting pressure with your pieces. Pawn breaks can be useful too. • Eliminate or chase away defending pieces. • Sacrifices will usually be possible in the final stage of the attack (the winning combination).
Chapter 12: How to spot tactical motifs 1. There
2. 3. 4.
are the 3 factors that will help you to spot tactical motifs: • Unsafe king. • Loose pieces. • Unfortunately placed pieces. Knowing typical motifs will help you a lot, as most combinations are repeated a lot. Every opening has typical tactical ideas that should be learned. Solve tactics regularly and train your eyes to detect the above mentioned key factors. That will develop your intuition.
Chapter 13: How to stop blundering 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Be a step ahead of your opponent to stop making blunders. Pay attention to the opponent’s threats. See what the consequences of your move are before playing it. Be alert. Always. Calculate precisely (no automatic moves!)
7
Chapter 14: Defend like a pro When defending, stay calm and detect the real threats. 2. If you can, counterattack! 3. Then, search for candidate moves and calculate. Attacks can be driven by intuition. Defense, on the other hand, is pure calculation. 4. Put up the maximum resistance. Your opponent is a human being too, and he can fail in the attack. He can make mistakes! 1.
Chapter 15: Prophylactic thinking 1. 2. 3.
Prophylactic thinking is the core of the Rudolf Method. Always ask yourself “what is my opponent trying to do?” Apply prophylactic thinking in all stages of the game.
8
Part 3: Endgame Chapter 16: How to be a better endgame player Most club players don’t dedicate time to studying endgame. So your efforts will pay off immediately. 2. You need to know endgame theory and have good endgame technique. 3. Most of the skills we have already learned are useful in the endgame too. 4. The only key difference is the importance of the king. In the endgame, king activity is key. 5. Improve step by step, creating lots of mini-plans. Schematic thinking (thinking about where to place your pieces without “seeing” how to do it) is a great way to do this. 6. Simplification can be used to get a drawn theoretical endgame. 1.
Chapter 17: Endgame principles and concepts Opposition: When your king stops his opposite number from advancing. 2. Zugzwang: When every move worsens your position. 3. Pawn square: The square where your king can catch the opposite passed pawn. 4. Principle of two weaknesses: Attack on both flanks and your opponent won’t be able to defend himself! 5. Triangulation: Moving the king in 3 moves to a square which could be reached in only 2 moves. This way, you lose a tempo to get your opponent into zugzwang. 6. Tarrasch Rook: The rook must be behind the passed pawns! 1.
9
Bonus: Calculation: Thought process 1. The
2.
thought process can be divided into 4 steps: • Evaluation. We have worked a lot on this topic in the previous chapters. You have to answer the question “What does my move need to achieve?” • Choice of candidate moves. Consider forcing moves (checks, captures and threats) and moves that address the position’s needs. Don’t consider more than 4 candidate moves (most of the time 2 or 3 is sufficient). • Calculating the candidate moves (in order!) • Deciding what move to play. Save time and energy. When you decide on a plan, you just need to check the variations. It’s during critical moments that you need precise and deep calculation.
10
