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| CHESS-STACK SCAN TRAINING SYSTEM: |
| Welcome To Chess-Stack! |
| CHESS-STACK Seek tactical opportunities with your MIND instead of your eyes... |
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| Using The Site Tools |
| The Clock |
| The Chess Board |
| Please select a tactic from the menu below |
Introducing the Timer
Gadget
The timer might just seem like another fancy gadget – but actually it is your best training partner. If you are serious about your training – then you can’t help but to take the timer seriously.
Used properly the timer provides structure to your training program by giving you a target to shoot at. It makes training fun by offering you the means to challenge yourself.
It offers you a specific and well defined and REPEATEABLE means to improve your training and to measure the results. You cannot argue with the timer – and it does not lie. Either you are making progress – or you are not. If you are not – then you need to work harder.
To use the timer:
- Set a training goal using mission statement as a guideline
- Decide on the counter direction
i. To set timing limits for training goals use count down.
ii. To measure duration of training periods, use count up.
- Click on appropriate arrow (up or down). The proper timer will open.
- For count down, set a time and start the timer.
- For count up, clear the timer (if needed) and start the timer
Tips for best benefit:
- Start with modest (attainable) timing goals and increase pressure over time. Setting a goal that you can’t reach will only exasperate you. Give yourself plenty of time in the beginning. Then ratchet up the pressure as you improve.
- Keep a log of your performance to measure progress. After all – what are you training for? Purchase a ten cent notebook, or snag one of any number of on line logs (preferably one with graphing capabilities) and track your training progress.
- Don’t be a slave to the exercises. Feel free to build your own custom training program and use the tools on this site to implement it. If you have a suggestion for a really useful exercise, please submit it to me and if it really does have merit, I’ll add it to this site.
Introducing the Board
Gadget
The chessboard gadget is really a MUCH more valuable tool than it might first appear.
- It can recreate the master’s games for you.
- It can move single step through a game or jump forward to create truly random positions.
- It can play itself or show you the best move from any shown position.
- It can change style of training game based on the master selected.
- It can play itself at different speeds, thereby providing you with the means to drill yourself and to speed your at board decision making.
- It will permit you to enjoy the master’s games just for enjoyment.
Using the ChessBoard Gadget:
To learn to use the gadget, you really only need to toy with it. However, here a few pointers to get you focused.
- The board will be in auto-play (both sides) by default. To stop it, hit the “Stop” button.
- Use the “Play” button to commence auto-play.
- Use the (fast, med, slow) drop-down to control the speed of auto-play.
- Change the name in the drop down box to change the style to that of another master. That master’s games will then be pulled from the data-base.
- Click on the “New” button to start a new (different) game using the same master.
- Use the < > buttons to move a single step for easy pattern recognition training.
- Use the << >> buttons to move 5 steps (forward, backward) for more intense training with more randomized positions. Hit the << >> buttons several time for extreme randomization.
- Use the |< and >| buttons to move to the top / end, of the current game. To change sides at any time, click the "Flip Board" checkbox.
Using the Chess-Stack Website
WELCOME to the Chess-Stack Chess Gymnasium. In the entire web, you won’t find a site quite like this one. WITHOUT brute memorization - and with a willingness to return to this site and do some WORK – you WILL find that you are able to improve your chess game immensely – and you can do it all for FREE!
You'll come here to do what you would do in any gym. You'll come here to train, to sweat, to work out. You've got a lifetime membership and the machines are always available - but this site will make demands of you - as any gym does. This site highlights the stark difference between chess study and chess training. Study is always the easier task - but to advance - to grow stronger - you need to drill, to practice your chess playing skills.
We've provided first class training accomodations, for you. In addition to the training facilities, this site offers you chess news, a complete chess reference (which includes chess databases and popular chess sites where you can play on line) – and MORE! Sorry there is no juice bar - but I couldn't figure out to make that work over the internet.
Some people will find it useful to have tools at their disposal to improve their minds or to "speed up" and reinforce the training they will do here with certain tools that exercise the brain. For them, there are numerous references to include links, books, even self-help news and articles, all made available to help these people to reach their individual goals.
You should make an appointment to visit this site daily - as you do with the gym you visit to improve your body. Spend an hour here each day working on the specific areas in which you are weak - and watch your chess play bloom.
Take some time to explore – and then toss a towel over your shoulder and jump right in to a training session. It’ll cost you nothing but some hard work. For those who want to derive benefits beyond the scope of any web site – we offer you the training stacks – which enable you to work with more than one tactic at a time. They will DRASTICALLY speed up your learning of these tactics over studying on site. They also permit full integration of your training into your chess play and - they will serve as flash cards to keep your memory alert even when you aren't playing chess. See the banner below on this page to learn more about them.
Before diving in to a training session, you should understand your training goal. To begin, you are NOT attempting to learn chess. We are not interested in improving your understanding of chess here. We are attempting to develop your chess skills. You should already understand the basics of the game if you hope to make any progress on this site. This is a gym. Your goal here is to exercise your mind so as to sensitize yourself to the tactical patterns that ultimately will make you a strong chess player. To that end - you need to explore the site tools - and then design a program that will improve your chess game.
Do one thing well - that's our motto. We train. Teaching activities are held to a minimum. A single diagram is all you will need to understand the pattern, and the philosophy of the tactic. The accompanying text will spell out the tactical (or strategic) intentions and highlight important considerations. After this exposure however, you should be done looking at examples and pictures. Time to quit dallying and go to work!
All of these tactics have a thousand faces. The purpose in training - as opposed to studying - is that you don't have to try to remember them all. Instead, your goal is to sensitize your brain to alert you if a tactic appears - in whatever form it chooses to take.
The going will be slow at first - as it is with aquiring any new skill. Keep your training demands light - and then add more weight as you grow strong.
Take responsibility for your training program. Order some of the self help products here to speed the process and to acclimate your brain. Order the training stacks to boost your visual abilities tremendously and to speed up the learning process via exercises not possible on this site (I highly recommend them to the serious). Meantime - you can master the tactics using ONLY the tools on this site - so go ahead and get started!
Finally, let me say that this site supports a discussion forum (see the menu bar). You can't spend much time on this site without developing ideas that will help others who are just finding their way here. If you have a suggestion for site improvement, for exercises, tips on how to make best use of this site - PLEASE post your thoughts to forum so that others might benefit from your insights.
Time now to learn how to use the site. It’s simple really. Here are the steps to setting up a training session:
- Decide on a tactic to study. Just choose a topic from the menu below and you will be whisked away to a training page on pattern recognition for that tactic. You can read all about your tactic in the place indicated on the training screen.
- If pattern recognition does not suit you, then choose another exercise from the exercise menu on that page. The tactical statement will persist, but a new exercise statement will be presented on the training screen. This will describe your goal – and the training steps you will need to get there.
- The chessboard gadget will be in auto-play. Stop the chessboard gadget by pressing the “Stop” button.
- Load a fresh board into the chessboard gadget by selecting a master's game to play through, or a puzzle from the drop-down menu or by simply clicking the “New” button.
- Load a time duration (count up) or constraint (count down) into the timer gadget. Normally you will to count down to time yourself against some goal but the choice is all yours.
- Follow the instructions given in the “Mission Statement” field to learn the specifics of your training program.