Which chess player(s) influenced your playing style or opening repertoire the most? It can be your local chess teachers, GMs or World Champions. Karpov is certainly one that I grew up learning from.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Influencing your style
i’m a class A player and have been playing chess for 6 years- i’ve never had a coach which i think is a good thing because i was able to develop my own style- i started by playing lots of speed chess so i tend to be a very tactical and aggressive player- over the past 2 years i’ve studied players that have similar styles to me, but are obviously better- i love to follow nakamura, shabalov, carlsen, morozevich, aronian, etc.
I have a positional style. I like games of Petrossian, Capablanca, Karpov, Rubinstein, Botvinnik and Fischer (his positional understanding is amazing). I like Silman’s instruction methods and Santasiere’s opening creativity.
Merry Christmas from Barcelona!!!
i do not have a style at all – escape to ending from a given pawn structure made me dreaded by most opponents i have to face.
btw: tactics is a field i’m not unfamiliar with… but endgame bears lessons …
– so – to be honest – it is a mixture of Alekhine / Kasparov (i can not distinguish them) and Capablanca – but in the end it’s me to win or lose…
– my openings … hmmm … there is nothing to be said about my openings (85% 1.e2-e4 …)
greetz an’ kizz
Dear Susan, I am 48 years old, and
when I was 5 I started playing chess with deep passion and full immersion, becoming a legend among my friends, being surnamed ” Black Bishop ” – ( but not easily; I had to fight against the opinion of several parents very much..! )
My model Chess Player has been Alexander Alekhine for years; nowadays I try to join the past playing line with the modern one.
I wish you and all the Chess world a Merry Xmas and a happy 2007.
Flavio Weis
It is Topalov, he is a fantastic player and besides always pays attention to the fans, just as your sister Judith
Fischer,certainly. I remember I have bought a Fischer book with a selected games of his, with analysis of the games when I was 13-14 – when I`ve started to play, to study and to learn chess, when I was 13- 14. I have studied and learned a lot with that book, much more with another one
without a doubt Bobby Fischer’s games are so logical….his 60 memorable games i read then i decided to go thru all of his games from youth to see how he progressed like 600 pts in one year. but Also some of my first books were Zurich 1953 and Sorcerer’s apprentice so Bronstein and My Games by Kasparov
I was in my early 20’s when I picked up the game so I came to chess rather late. A player that I would most like to emulate would be Bronstein. Such creativity and intuition! If I could be but a small shadow then I would be happy.
I would like to add that Euwe is a great author as well especially for a novice student….and his Chess master vs Chess Amateur was an exciting book for me back then. Amongst his other excellent books, Judgement and Planning in chess, The logical approach to chess, the development of chess style etc
Susan i saw add in Chess life about your Hungarian Tour coming in June 2007. Is this based on enough interest? or??? and it says to refer to your site but i had trouble finding it on your main site. could you let me know more about it….Thanks jbeatty79@yahoo.com
Bobby Fischer influenced my opening repetoire the most. At first I was so interested to follow and learn from his games. Then I came to the realization that if the greatest chess player in history liked The Ruy Lopez, The Kings Indian Attack, The Sicilian Najdorf, The KID, and The Grunfeld and had so much success then I figured those opnening were the best. But I have to realize he had genuis I do not ; )
Fischer Boom-Child here.
I have to say Fischer and Paul Keres influenced my play the most. Paul Keres’ books have some of the best written and analyzed games out there that can be learned from by any player.
I’d have to say Fischer for his strategic clarity. Like many Americans, it was the Fischer-Spassky match that awakened my love of the game.
Others who’ve influenced me are Capablanca and Smyslov.
the ones who have influenced me the most are:
fischer, capablanca, bowvinnik in that order.
Karpov
Josh Waitzkin when first learning and now Vladimir Kramnik. Sorry, I am relatively new to the game and don’t know much about the others.
Capablanca, Morphy, Fischer, Lasker, Alekhine.
I always associate my chess idols with ominous things, and it helps me to play more ruthlessly when attempting to emulate their styles:
Something about the way Smyslov plays calls to mind Darth Vader; Alekhine is a gray-blue hurricane; Lasker is an interrogator; Kasparov is a cannon ball, blowing apart even the strongest enemy defenses.
– James
Definitely Alekhine!
I learned chess at 6 but started to read chess books only at around 13 when I got interested on learning openings and other aspects of the game in order not to be in disadvantage with regard to my school friends. At the time, I had access to an old book named “Brilliancy Prized” where I could see so many games of the masters of the past. The one who created the deepest impression on me was Alekhine and I enjoyed reproducing his games.
Then I got his books (“My Best Games” and “Legacy”). I also got a book about his “arch-rival” Capablanca 🙂 written by Panov. So I can say I learned very much about old theory and style of play. I loved playing Ruy Lopez and QGD from both sides. Also Queen’s Indian and Nimzoindian were solidly incorporated in my repertoire.
However, then practice showed me that I lacked more work in more recent set-ups – the Sicilian, KGD, etc. – things that Alekhine didn’t play! 🙂
But that’s the start of another story.
To me, Alekhine is one of the greatest, together with Fischer and Kasparov, Tal and Bronstein 🙂
Go for the win! 🙂
Talking about chess books, someone can tell me if is there a Alekhine chess book written by himself – Alekhine? Someone tell me once that that book exists , but I never could find it.
i’m influenced by them all but like anything you have to develop your own style. probaly fischer and kramnik my two favorites. fischer combines the postional brilliance of kramnik with the tactical savagery of kasparov. thats why hes was unbeatable.
I’ve been playing for just sixteen months now but I’ve got to say that although the player I started out wanting to emulate was Kasparov my play has been informed by the games of Seirawan, Fischer and Karpov.
I think really highly of Tal, but his style of creating complications and then outcalculating the opponent is rather foreign to me.
One interesting thing I’ve heard, although I forget who said it, is that you don’t really have a chess style until you are about GM strength, until then you just have strengths and weaknesses.
Dear Turba, you are right; there is an italian translation of two books about Alekhine, written by Alekhine himself:
ALEKHINE – LE MIE MIGLIORI PARTITE 1908 – 1923 VOL. 1 ED. PRISMA (2001 )
—–
ALEKHINE – LE MIE MIGLIORI PARTITE 1924 – 1937 VOL. 2 ED. PRISMA ( 2002 )
Please see http://www.chess.it
Have a good time,
Flavio Weis ( Black – Bishop )
Flavio, thanks.
I’m a class A player, whos gotten back into the game by playing more tactically. Shirov, Morozevich, and Judit Polgar are my inspirations.
well, alekhine is the best. When he started the combinations, no one can defend.
i have to say karpov I have analysed many of his games an he is a wonderful player