Some people like to read instructional chess books. Some people prefer to watch instructional chess DVDs. Some prefer to play around with instructional chess software.
Which one do you prefer?
1. Software
2. Books
3. DVDs
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
books.
good software
As a software developer I have to be biased in answering this. Good software can’t be beat … though a chess training software that actually works to improve a good chess thought process has not been made yet.
DVDs
or books with lots of pictures
Books, software, DVDs, in that order. Call me old-fashioned, but a book can be shoved in a bag and read anywhere. Can’t say that about the other two.
Books are the most convenient. However…
A DVD can be effective if the presenter talks fast. Repeated watchings make the ideas easier to memorize, in comparison to repeated readings of a book chapter.
Ideal would be a book with a companion DVD. But that gets pricey.
Gene Milener
http://CastleLong.com/
internet, journals, software – i’ve lot’s of chess books – but, frankly spoken, my visualization skills aren’t good enough to read them without a board – i’m sure dvd’s would fit my purposes, but – to be honest – i’m a little stingy 🙂
I think ever person learns the best in different ways. I myself learn most effectively visually. I love the Convekta software with helped me a lot.
However I started picking up Andrew Martin’s opening DVDs and I can’t say enough good things about them. Just in two months I have such a better understanding of how plans relate to openings. Just my growth alone in king side attacks in the King’s Indian are worth the price.
If the three choices should be seen isolated, I would prefer (2.) books. But actually, nowadays I wouldn’t like to study a chess book without having chess software available to support the studies.
A simple example: If you would like to study a historical tournament book with old master games and -commentary, like for instance Karlsbad 1923 or the like. And if you have a chess database program (or a good chess program with database capabilities) and a general big game collection including the important historical tournaments. – Then it is easy to figure out how you can combine book & software to make your studies more comfortable and more instructive.
(I did not use or watch a chess DVD yet, though.)
1. Book
2. Dvd
3. Software
I like books on DVD because of the great software.
good software is certainly of great help: some examples are:
Personal Chess Training from Brazilian GM G. Milos, another one is Total Chess Training II (but the interface is not so good) and there is an on line service call http://www.improveyourchess.com/ where you get good tactical classes each month. I have tried DVDs and I dont see much value and they tend to be boring and low pace.
For those who read spanish Editorial Paidotribo has an excellent approach: a book that has a CD in case you want to follow the games in your computer (nice option).
My 2 Cents,
Trukov (from Puerto Rico)
I don’t read well so don’t get much outta books. I do like chess software and chess fm which has a board and dialog.
Books. I’m not a very strong reader but I love chess books. I am actually currently focused on using a new technique I have never heard of which is where I use a timer for all my puzzles. For me, this has been fantastic for my current book and I am rereading MANY of my pervious tomes using the same technique and getting so much more out of it than I ever had before. Something about the pressure to perform.
Now, I have what I consider to be the most superior stopwatch for this task and really recommend it. It’s a “SportLine 470”. It allows me to start the clock and press a button to store that setting up to 300 different values. The get can get the slowest time, fastest, and an average. So I open a book with puzzles, and click start. Each time I complete a puzzle I hit the Lap button and move to the next puzzle. When I’m done with about 20 or so I can go back and review all my times. It’s just awesome!
Either DVDs or software.