The First Rank: You Dont Have to Wait

I won the title of Master in 1927, during the U.S.S.R. Fifth Championship tournament, held in Moscow; and one can say that this completed my first period of chess development. So begins Mikhail Botvinnik in his classic One Hundred Selected Games. A singer (I forget his name) gives the listener a similar message when telling how he learned to play the guitar: Learned how to play in a day or so.

For most of us chess players, becoming a master is not the first period: it is beyond the last period. Botvinnik does not explain how he became a master. He explains two training methods that he used after becoming a master: 1. Carefully annotating his tournament games; 2. Publishing those games. By annotating our games, we discover what we did wrong (or what we did well); then we work to eliminate our weaknesses and develop our strengths. By publishing our games, we tacitly invite others to point out what we have overlooked.

The late world champion Alexander Alekhine took the annotation method a step further. He attempted to recall what had been in his mind during the game. Deux Cent Parties dEchecs contains a valuable essay on this subject for anyone who reads French.

Computer chess programs and computer processors have been upgraded several times in the past several years. The result is not only a stronger training partner, but also more reliable analysis. As recently as the late 1990's, I would not have attempted to write a chess book for a large audience. If you do not feel ready to submit your games to public scrutiny, you can still limit your book to a select group of readers. Many books, including family histories and autobiographies, are never intended for the mass market.

You can write a chess book even if you are a weak player. Perhaps you belong to a chess club. My own opinion is that every club should have a book of its annual championships. You may enjoy collecting the games or recording the history of your club.

You will want to know how to import diagrams into your manuscript. ChessBase and Fritz are two options. You may also want to search the Internet under Chess Diagrams and Chess Fonts. As of this writing, the current version of WordPerfect is Corel WordPerfect 10. It includes chess fonts that produce sharp diagrams if you are willing to spend extra time practicing.

One goal of my books is to demonstrate what I have called the Learn By Writing approach. You can learn a subject while writing about it and by writing about it. If the subject is chess, you will even have a mentor in the form of your favorite software. Using more than one program for analysis may be helpful if you feel comfortable studying that way. Perhaps you will prefer one program for endgames, another program for closed positions, etc. I have an overall favorite, but have sometimes used at least two programs to analyze one position.

Your chess experience in learning by writing does not have to be limited to your games. Perhaps you will want to compile unpublished combinations. Endgames are another possibility. The trick is to select material that will instruct you and your readers at the same time. As we advance through the upcoming ranks, I hope that you will improve your game and find ideas for your own book.