2023 wrap

Chess takeaways, chess books and this Substack

Junta Ikeda

Dec 30, 2023

Long time no see. Here are some highlights and lessons I learnt in 2023.

Chess takeaways

No matter what your level, working on tactics/calculation regularly is essential.
I thought I could maintain my ‘level’ with minimal work since this area had always been one of my strengths. However, as I focused on improving my openings and middlegame understanding since 2021, I neglected this and it showed through more blunders! Even if you improve some areas, if your tactical abilities worsen even a little, your results can suffer. Keeping sharp and working on calculation is never bad. Especially in the lead-up to tournaments, solve tactics.

Don’t blindly choose your openings – understand what you like and don’t like.

Do you prioritise pawn structure/development/space/solidity? For example, against the Nimzo-Indian, I like 4.a3 when after 4…Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 White’s doubled c-pawns can be a long-term liability in some variations, but White aims to compensate for it through dynamic play on the kingside and in the centre. On the other hand, 4.Qc2 is one of the main options but spending a tempo on the queen has never attracted me as I’m not worried about retaining a good structure (by being able to recapture Qxc3). You might prioritise quick development, having space (even as Black), or avoiding risk even if your position might be a tad passive.
There are other factors, like do you prefer keeping the tension or don’t mind exchanging pieces early and playing more technical positions, do you prefer studying sidelines that others may not know well or playing main main lines? These days, playing sidelines inside main lines is a healthy compromise.
It took me studying a lot of different openings, trying them out and studying games to find out my likes and dislikes. For the vast majority of us, small differences in engine evaluations aren’t important – what’s important is you enjoy the positions you get with your openings, as you’ll be able to stick with your repertoire long-term, and perform better as you hone it further! If you’ve been feeling stuck, try new openings in 2024 to find out more about yourself.

Regularly playing against strong opposition is always excellent training.

I realised (5 years late) in recent months that the 3-minute pool in Chess.com is more challenging than the one on Lichess. As Chess.com has events such as Titled Tuesday, more grandmasters/pros practice on there. I feel I’m facing critical lines more often so I’m able to learn quicker and about lines more relevant to OTB play as I review those games. Whether it be OTB or online, you want to make sure you’re regularly facing opposition who are equal or stronger than yourself so you’re out of your comfort zone. Personally, I love playing matches against stronger opponents, whatever the result.

Chess books

I read over a book per week in 2023, and quite a few chess books:

Think Like a Super-GM by Michael Adams and Philip Hurtado
Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide by Mauricio Flores Rios – this one and Think Like a Super-GM, I would recommend to anyone, and are my top 2 books for 2023. Watch this video by my former coach, Andras Toth to learn more about it.
Study Chess with Matthew Sadler by Matthew Sadler
Chess for Life by Matthew Sadler
Evaluate Like a Grandmaster by Eugene Perelshteyn and Nate Solon
The Chigorin Bible - A Classic Defence to the Ruy Lopez by Ivan Sokolov
The Modern Spanish: Breyer and Zaitsev Systems by Vassilios Kotronias
The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement: Chess Engine Training Methods, Opening Strategies & Middlegame Techniques by Matthew Sadler

Currently reading (too many!)

Grandmaster Preparation: Calculation by Jacob Aagaard
Grandmaster Knowledge: A Matter of Endgame Technique by Jacob Aagaard
Perpetual Chess Improvement by Ben Johnson
How To Play Equal Positions by Vassilios Kotronias
Winning Chess Middlegames by Ivan Sokolov

Want to read in 2024

Endgame Labyrinths by Jacob Aagaard and Steffen Nielsen

This Substack

I haven’t been posting much here as I’ve been busy with another project, a Japanese YouTube channel. Although I’ve lived in Australia all my life, I’ve always wanted to help grow chess in Japan. While there is plenty of good content out there in English, whether it be books, magazines, blogs/newsletters, YouTube channels or social media accounts, there aren’t many in Japanese so I want to create more for their community.

As someone working full-time and working on their chess, it’s hard to juggle multiple ‘projects’ on top of that, so to be honest with you, I don’t know how often I’ll be posting here in 2024 – perhaps I’ll focus more on takeaways from tournaments I play in, that might help other players. I’m happy I wrote 36 posts from February to October in 2023, and as I touched on in this post, I didn’t expect so many people to be reading my stuff. To the 1,104 of you who subscribed to Infinite Chess – thank you.

I’d love to hear about how 2023 went for you and your chess, and what chess books (or books in general) you enjoyed.

One gripe I have with Substack is not being able to integrate interactive game viewers – for example, my post on the Hedgehog was one of my favourite this year, but this was much better on Lichess as you can play through all the games.