First off, please forgive me if this isn’t the right place to ask this question. I wasn’t sure where I should start and this looked like a good place.
My name is Hal. I have recently become physically disabled and I’m looking for new hobbies to replace my old active ones that I can’t do anymore.
I have long been fascinated with chess but always played against machines of some sort and haven’t played much against humans until now. I’ve read a few books, know all the rules, am familiar with all the basic chess techniques, and studied a few openings in relative detail.
Recently I began playing online regularly and have played many games over the past few months. Although I enjoy playing just to play, I’m not getting any better. I play mostly on Pogo (free, you know) and according to their rating I am stuck at the middle beginner level. While I think that categorization is a little low, the point is I’m not improving.
I’d like to see if I can find an experienced player who would like to donate just an hour or two to take a look at my game, spot any obvious problems, and offer some pointers. I’m not looking for someone to spend a lot of time so please don’t be concerned about that, just somebody who has been around long enough to spot problems in my game that I am blind to but to them they are easy to spot.
I’ll check back to see if anyone has any ideas on how I can go about making this happen. Again, I apologize if this isn’t the right place.
My best suggestion to you would be go to [chessville.com](http://www.chessville.com) and check out the Chessville forum there. You're bound to find the help you're looking for, plus a great bunch of folks who will give you some pointers and look over your games!
My suggestion is go to chess live (chess-live.com) and you can register for free, watch free lessons, and they have what are called CAs (chess advisors) that will be available to take a look at your game with you. Plus, many of the members are often kind enough to help you look at a game or two. If you register, look me up! I’m ID “nathansaint”. Good luck!
Play in over-the-board tournaments (forget the internet). There you’ll get to face your opponents directly, and at least half of them will be glad to go over the game with you afterwards, which can be extremely helpful.
Don’t spend a lot of money. Look for a small tournament with an entry fee of $20 or so. You’ll get as much benefit from that as you would from an event with a much higher entry fee.
Thank you so much for the suggestions. I’m going to go look into those places right now.
One question on the over-the-board tournaments and things like that - it sounds like a good idea and fun to do but do you have to pay in advance? I only ask because my disability involves chronic pain and at random times it gets so severe I have to take meds to keep from screaming. lol. The meds make my game go in the tank, as you could imagine. My finances are limited to begin with and if I have one of those bad days I’d have to skip the session and forfeit any fee I already paid.
Practically all tournaments allow for payment on the day of the tournament. Many do sometimes give a 5$ or so discount if you pay early. So no you do not have to pay in advance(sometimes a discount is given when you do though). The tournament announcement will provide the details though.
Also, if you advance enter and have to drop out in advance they’re supposed to refund 100% of your entry fee, just make sure that the organizer knows in advance.