Sunday meetings are picking up. We had six people show up, including a new member. We had a really broad range of skill levels, so there were some good match-ups for all.
Tomorrow will be that last meeting on Monday night. With only three or four people showing up, it’s just too hard to justify going all the way out to Borders on a weeknight.
We have been getting a few new people at the Sunday meetings, so those will continue. As a reminder, they’re at the Books-a-Million on US-41 between Boy Scout and Colonial from 12:30-4:30pm. Hopefully a weekend afternoon time is going to work out better for more people.
We had a couple exciting match-ups today, so I’ve posted a couple game records below the fold.
A couple members have asked me for tips on what they should study to improve. There are a number of books I can recommend to novice and intermediate players, but first things first. The most important thing you can do to improve is to play. You should play at least a couple games a week if you want to improve, and more if you want to improve significantly. You can read all you want, but the ideas won’t matter one whit if you don’t learn how to apply them in your games. If you can’t make it to the club, or you just want to get in more games, just jump on KGS.
Just as important as playing is to review your games. This is where KGS is really useful because your games are automatically recorded. If you can find a stronger player to review with, they can help you point out mistakes you didn’t even know you made and can answer your questions about difficult situations. If you go to the Beginner’s Room or the KGS Teaching Ladder you’ll be able to find somebody who can help you out. Even if you don’t have a stronger player to review with, just go over the game yourself. Try to find the points you thought were the biggest errors on your part and try to work out a better solution.
It’s also really important to do problems. This is the best way to improve your tactics and life and death skills. Try for a mix of difficulty. Do some easy ones where you can solve them in just few seconds, and do some hard ones where you have to take a few minutes to work them out and you might get them wrong. Most importantly, do problems you enjoy, because it’s one of the best ways to improve.
With that out of the way, I have some specific book recommendations below the fold.
We’ve had a few new faces showing up on Sundays, but the Barnes & Noble is too crowded and the tables are too small. We’re going to be moving the Sunday meetings to the Books-a-Million on 41 near Boy Scout drive.
It’s just a little further North, so it shouldn’t be too much different to get to.