Topic Suggestions

Hi!

Anyone out there have any suggestions for topics for future Chess Mentor courses?

I have a few ideas:

1.gambit openings- white and black

2."World Champions at Their Best" course needs to be finished all the way up to Anand. It is my favorite course!

(WOOT! First Post!)

More courses in the line of "Now what?" by Jeremy Silman.

yes: middlegame to endgame transition course, david.

Mr. Pruess,
       Here are a few ideas:

1-Light Squares versus Dark squares
Most of us amateurs don't ever look at the game in this context.  I have just now
started counting the squares I control versus my opponent at a random point
in the game.  ( I might say to myself,4 on light, 7 on dark; he has 5 on light, 6 on dark).  But I don't really know what I am doing.  A deeper look into this topic
would be quite beneficial to 99% of all amateurs on this site.
 
2-Simulated legends games
Lasker has a poor opening.  FIscher pounces on it.  Lasker comes back with
brilliant tactics.  Fischer plays a nearly flawless endgame.  The winner is...
You all could have a lot of fun making up these games and members
would really enjoy recreating them.  Debate would never end!

3-Man versus Computer games
Now that Rybka is above 3200 we should really be studying games played
against grandmasters.  Even if computer play tends to bore us.

4-Chess960
Of course.  We are all hooked already but have no clue what we're doing.
Openings would be of utmost concern.

5-Playing for the center.  All the teachers keep saying this is the most important
part of winning chess.  But what does it really mean?  It just seems like such an
abstract concept.  How often could the average amateur look at a random chess
board and clearly, and I mean clearly, tell who is controlling the center and how
one move would completely change it.  If this is the most important facet of chess should there not be more Chess Mentor courses on it?

That's all for now, time to eat and watch Jeopardy.

Sincerely,     ZankFrappa

Maybe an in-depth study of of some openings.  I like the 960 mentor idea though.

Hmmm, how NOT to play an Endgame. (I am not good at Endgames)

ADK

Typical middlegame positions and how they should be analysed (special focus on strategy and their tactical implementations) - samples of masters level analysis or the thought process of masters (many players do well in Tactics Trainer, but forget to apply them in their real games - why?)

thanks for the suggestions, everyone. don't get mad if not every suggestion makes it ;-) but i'll be taking your comments into account.

keep them coming at any time.

david

Analysis of some Chess960 full games would be cool. (should be available to Platinum members since I suggested it )

Thank you, David, for your Videos.  I have learned a great deal from them.  I agree with Player Meniscus and would really appreciate more videos on transitions from the middlegame to the endgame, especially imminently before moving into the endgame.  Also, a video on transition from the opening into the middlegame, especially with planning for the eventual endgame, hopefully.

yes, it is actually quite important to me due to my openings choices that we get a mentor course on IQP ( isolated queen pawn) middlegames. ( c3 sic, panov botvinnik of caro kann, exchange followed by c4 on the french, even the 2...Nf6 scandinavian turn into IQP middlegames at leat 70-80% of the time).

I like reallly random forums...like this one!

A systematic index of opening lines that are covered in chess mentor somewhere. Although not in such depth that it gives away the answers :)

I would like to see a course on Minor Piece Endings.  Pawn endings and rook endings seem to be fairly well covered, but there is very little regarding minor pieces. Even taking the few lessons on minor endings that are alreadly in some of the courses and putting them together in one course with a few added lessons would be helpful.

How about "Playing for the Draw"?

thanks!

thanks!

I'm not sure if these have been done before, but I have two suggestions off the top of my head.

1. Just simple square control.  Not light or dark, necessarily, but about the battle that goes on for ONE particular square in any given opening.  If you watch GM games, you can see in the opening how they pile up on one particular square, until one player eventually wins it.  At that point, he or she uses it, and officialy controls it.

2. Hypermodern systems and their themes.  As I have mentioned in several other threads, I was stuck at about the 1800-1850 level until I learned the Hypermodern systems.  After watching a few videos on different Hypermodern openings, I shot up to 2081 standard (Internet rating, of course), which is 200+ points over my previous average.  I now linger around 1950-2000 regularly, and I definitely have the Hypermodern systems to thank (The Reti, the Birds, and Alekhine's Defense specifically).

A course that deals in opening principles (rather than specific openings) would be helpful to us lower rated players.

Also a course in how to use pawns would be great.

A course that deals with opponents threats, both real and imagined, and how to defend against them.

Minor piece endings

Chess Mentor is the reason I joined Chess.com