Don't go chasing after rainbows to increase your rating.

There are no quick fixes or instant paths to success. Just like chasing rainbows, people who constantly chase after "killer openings" to give them an instant win don't usually do very well in the long run. They think that if they can find some unorthodox, strange, unusual opening that then they will surprise their opponent and obtain a quick advantage and a quick win. Usually these types of players know little about the basics of chess, and after their memorized opening moves play out they are at a lost as what to do next. They are usually lacking in such basics as understanding the ideas behind the chess openings, endgame, and middlegame skills, and don't want to study them either and thus handicapped to play any further than the first few opening moves. This is why they are so desperate to find this magic silver bullet opening.

We will offer no guarantees – if you want guarantees and quick fixes, you should look elsewhere.

But we will guarantee that if you read and study the lessons on our web page regularly and play lots of slow games (at least 20/20 or even slower. The 45/45 Club it great for this) then you will steadily improve, by how much and how fast?

There is no way to guarantee anything here either, but we can guarantee that you will improve, its just a matter of time.

It's strange but true, that many promise to read the articles and pages on our web page but for reasons only known to them they do not!

May be they feel that the material is beneith them. Or that the material is too basic and that they believe that it would simply be a waste of their time to read what they already know. Or may be they simply do not have the patience to read through and really study and try to grasp and learn the material taking notes and making sure they really understand it.

This will be a big mistake on their part. Why? Although many of the articles may appear to be simple basic material for beginners it is not. It has been specially proctored to give players a solid platform in basics so that they may build on this material, and thus progress upwards to more advanced concepts. Most players think that they know chess basics, but if they are given a quiz on the chess basics, as Jeremy Silman, a world class chess teacher, writer and player has discovered, fail miserly and lack the understanding of basic fundamentals.

He has discovered that most players have problems with the following subjects:

1. A lack of understanding concerning the true purpose of the opening.

2. No knowledge of planing and the thinking processes that make it happen.

3. No understanding of the most elementary endings.

4. How all three of these subjects are closely connected.

If you do not intend to THOROUGHLY read the material given on our web pages then you will be wasting your time at our club and our members time who may feel a need to help you. And we will soon terminate your membership because we do not want people who are not sincere about doing what we ask them to do. And that is to simply read and understand all of the material on our site.

How much time will it take you to show a significant improvement?

How much time it will take is entirely up to you. How strong your desire to improve is, can be very important for your motivation to keep you on track and keep up your studies. The more time you spend in study and apply this knowledge to playing lots of slow games will show up slowly but surely. The more chess books, chess training CD's and other training materials you study will also make a big difference in how quickly you improve. This is just all common sense that the more you put into something the more you will get out of it.

Here is a short excerpt from our page "How to Learn the Basics"

How much study time is required? Edmar Mednis suggests 50% on Openings, 25% on middle-game and 25% on endings. Lasker suggests, Chess rules and exercises 5 hours, Elementary endings 5 hours, Some Openings 10 hours, Combinations, tactics 20 hours, Positional play 40 hours, Practical play with analysis 120 hours. If you spend the 200 hours on the above, even if you possess no special talent for chess, you are likely to be among the two or three thousand chess players who play on par with the masters. Of course there are those who spend in excess of 200 hours on chess with out making any progress what so ever.

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