Rapid Chess Improvement

I think de la Maza had the insight to identify the recurring mistakes that were holding him and the 90+% of other weak amateurs back. Fortunately for many of us, he shared his ideas. Having read the book and worked thru 3 months of his rigorous course, there has been significant improvement in my game after years of no progress in spite of many book purchases and effort. I'm writing the review for people out there with a poor rating who are committed to following thru on a plan because they seriously want to improve. If you're wondering about the negative reviews...in my opinion they fall under two major categories. The first is the person who was not willing to make the commitment necessary to achieve the outcome that is possible if you follow the instructions. de la Maza never said that by purchasing the book alone you would magically improve. He provides a roadmap but it's up to the individual to put in the work. It's obvious some of the negative reviewers did not come anywhere near to following through with the plan outlined but then bashed the book in the review. Go figure. The second appears to be the "chess purists" who already possess good tactical skill and resent what they perceive to be the author's simplistic reduction of chess training into tedious drills. They also appear to be offended that as a non master/GM, he has the audacity to write a chess book in the first place. I have no qualms about criticizing either category of reviewers as I simply think that they don't get it. Bottom line, if you're a weak player but would kill to get better and are willing to put in 1-2 hours per day for 3-6 months, then I think this is one of the fastest ways to get there.

I think most of the reviewers absolutely missed the point of De La Maza's book. It's not that he's saying what has been said before, study tactics. It's the method of study. See, not only do you study 1,000 problems. But you study the same problems 7 times over. The repitition is the key, more than anything else. See, what you're trying to do is drill the patterns into your subconscious. If you study it once, yes you'll get better. If you study the same problems twice, you'll get even better. But, if you study it seven times over. It gets to the point where on the seventh time you're instantly recognizing the pattern. THAT IS WHERE YOU ROCK! You are not just learning tactics, you're drilling them into your head, where you instantly recognize them. You'll see the patterns on the board instantly, while other players may not see them at all, or would only see them after intense study. There are tactical motifs that are essential in chess, doing these 1,000 exercises seven times over will drill these into a deeper level of your consciousness than almost any of your competitors. That I believe is the true worth of De La Maza's program. However, I will agree with most of what has been written. You can find the meat of his program online. And for most of us we don't have the time to devote hours every day. But, most of us could take 1/2 an hour pretty easily. I've been putting an hour into tactics a day, and my rating went from a low 1300 to high 1400. So, it's working for me. We'll see where I am in a few months.

I followed the advice in this book and worked 500 problems before they became so difficult I couldn't solve them any longer. My rating did go up 100 - 200 points. I got more tactics problems and I got even better.Judging from my games, i most often lost in the endgame. I bought Chernov's Ending book put them in chess master, played them until i could win them in a few seconds against several of CM's GMs, and my rating rose by around 100 points.My rating actually fluctuates between 1450 and 1700. Honestly, I get busy and don't have time for chess. When I start playing again, I'll go on a loosing streak. With time, I'll start winning again until i am back up around 1700.One person here said he thought this book advocates winning through cheep shots. I look at master games on occasion. Masters hang pieces. Tal said he looked for ways to give away material. I've played games where i see that i'll loose a piece and the game, so i start hanging pieces (setting traps and laying decoys). Sometimes complicating the position saves the game. I don't think this is a cheep shot.This is a great book. If i was good enough to be a Highschool Chess Coach, I'd get all of my students doing this for homework. I'd produce a lot of soon to be masters too.For me, since i am too old to learn I'll take a 1 - 300 point rating increase as an answer to my prayers.

The approach to chess study and play is indeed very different from what you hear from other books and chess instructors, and that's good! I know countless adult players who are stuck at the lower levels of play (I had heard that tactics were important for the beginning player. But before I started playing in tournaments, I thought just knowing the basic motifs was good enough. Coming out my first two tournaments with scores of .5 and 2 quickly opened my eyes to the biggest weakness in my game: tactics. So when I came across "Rapid Chess Improvement", I was ready for an intensive tactics study program, which is exactly what De La Maza is offering. At first I was sceptical about the chess vision drills, which seem extremely basic. The idea of doing them for four weeks straight seemed strange. But I decided that I was either going to do this program entirely or not at all. In doing the vision drills I noticed two things. First; at first the drills were not as easy as I thought they would be. And second; after the four weeks the drills were a lot easier! Simple tactics began appearing more often in my games(actually I was probably just noticing them more often). Well, needless to say I am now a big fan of the "basic" vision drills, and would recommend them to anyone. The rest of the program is pretty straight-forward: tactics, tactics, and more tactics. So far De La Maza's study plan has improved my play more than anything else. I highly recommend it!

After reading Michael de la Maza's articles on Chesscafe.com I was very inspired. I did not fully adopt his "seven circles" plan, but I did pretty much devote all of my chess studies to tactics, tactics, tactics. I purchased the software he recommends, and put down my copies of Jeremy Silman books. The results have been quite positive. My rating jumped up almost 200 points from the May til June USCF ratings (I went from 1301 to 1472), and my games have been much more decisive.I think that Michael's story and ideas are very inspirational. There is a reason that his method is discussed so much on the online bullentin boards related to chess. I think that everyone is interested in getting their rating higher, and this is a great method. My friend's and I have even adopted a phrase called "being de la Maza'ed". This means when your opponent or you sprung a tactical trap to win the game. It is amazing how many of my games get described as "I de la Maza'ed the guy in the opening", or "I got de la Maza'ed by a 1600".The only real drawback of the book is that much is cut and pasted from his previously published articles. But I still give it 5 stars because it is great material, and I enjoyed reading it again, and having it in book form. OK gotta get back to studying tactics :-)