While browsing 2+2 I have learned a lot from the wells offered by players such as Phil Galfond and such. Not like I am comparing myself to Phil Galfond's strength in the chess world but I definitely have a lot of experience etc and think this could help our chess community... Here we go ask away I will answer as much as I can as soon as I can:

A stranger is being shown around a village that he has just become part of. He is shown a well and his guide says "On any day except Saturday, you can shout any question down that well and you'll be told the answer."

The man seems pretty impressed, and so he shouts down: Why not on Saturday? and the voice from in the well shouts back: Because on Saturday, it’s your day in the well.

Hope this helps... ask away

Cool, thanks for taking the time

As a very new player(like 3 Chapters into Complete Idiot's Guide; 600 Blitz rating; probably 800ish regular rating new player) what should I be focusing on?? And at what point should that focus shift(like a certain rating??)

Chess is such a complicated game, I feel very overwhelmed with all I have to learn.

Chess is indeed very complicated. When I first started just like you are doing now I started by learning the principles which supposedly this book will offer you ( I have never read this book before) If I was you I will completely take rating out of the equation as very easily misleading in most cases and especially with blitz rating which means absolutely nothing... with the real live rating is kind of the same as poker as sample size plays a huge role. I think something very important is learning fundamentals and principles and studying the classics... (world champions games are always helpful) tactics etc... is a very broad subject in general but learn the principles of the opening.... value of the pieces depending on the situation I could be more specific. There is a beginner's book which most of the russians ( to me russians or fomer USSR are the nutz in chess in general) have studied, was written by the oldest living GM nowadays former world championship contender Yuri Averbakh and is called "Voyage to the Chess Kingdom" also known in spanish as " Viaje al reino del ajedrez" Hope this helps.. I would suggest start up with this book at your level

Credentials for doing a well? (I know you have them but lets see 'em )
How wide is your opening repertoire - do you always play some pet lines or do you switch around?

My name is Marcel Martinez. Born in Cuba living in Miami FL since December 97'. I am an FM with two IM norms and one GM norm. I quit chess around 2008 ( that's when I think my last rated game was played) my FIDE rating when deciding to quit chess was 2430 and USCF around 2475. National High School Champion in 1998/99..... National Junior Champion in 1999.

My opening repertoire was always pretty wide ( Not Ivanchuk wide but didnt always play the same stuff) played all kind of stuff throughout my career, not necessarily saying this is good... I mean for some people (Ivanchuk been the perfect example) works miracles... for others better to specialize in specific areas.

Don't know if you guys care for this or not.. Just thought it could help those who need it and doesn't cost us anything but time which we are used to wasting regardless

I've gotten a constant need to change openings while getting older (30 now), this is hurting my short-term performance at least for now. Maybe it'll pay off eventually :/
Awesome that you are doing a well, much appreciated

Thanks. I really don't know which way to go about this opening question to be honest... We are about same age ( I am 31) depends how often do you play how serious you are... I am a believer that if you are serious about chess (when I mean serious I mean like you wanna be top 10 in the world kind of serious... not like I pay attention to the games kind of serious) you should consider working on real openings and mastering them if you know what I mean... In my particular case we can play anything we want and have fun etc...

I will give you an example... a friend of mine FM Miles Ardaman... he lives in North Carolina and is a doctor... every time he plays he plays 1.b4 or 1.g4 whatever he feels like ... and tells me he loves having fun with these things.. (he doesnt play often and doesnt wanna do anything in particular but have fun) He was once a very decent player but nowadays of course we all get old and dont have the same motivation etc etc... so is just therapeutic etc but with real intentions then "real openings " should be studied and mastered if possible and time allows.... here also plays a role our life's circumstances but that's another topic

Great thread, thanks for creating this. Impressive credentials

What sort of a study program would you recommend for an aspiring patzer (rated 1900)? Studying GM games? Tactics problems? Lots and lots of playing?

Definitly studying GM games is a must... One thing I stumbled upon when younger was going over the games as it was a school homework which needed to get done and life goes on... this is def not helpful... you need to slowly go over the games ... i cannot stress this enough GO OVER THE COMMENTARY or alternate variations.... evaluating resulting positions etc... while studying 1 game you could be studying like 20 at once due to resulting positions etc.. evaluating a position is something you should do all the time as it never gets old... you need to have a clear judgement of resulting positions in all your games etc... Solving tactics should obviously be a must but I am one of the worst offenders in this departament as I have not done much in this area... I did glance at a book sometime done one of Grischuk's earlier trainers... is on tactics and was suggested to me by GM Alex Stripunsky and his former student IM Jake Kleiman... if u are interested I can look up the name.... is interesting about this book that while setting up a position you could solve it for both colors.... white to play and win and same goes for black in most positions.... so ur exercising twice... of course playing and playing is a must... and Botvinnik's top advice... analysing ur games is a MUST... hope this helps

Why aren't you an IM?

Dont even know myself.....but its really irrelevant at this point.

Very much appreciate the advice, thank you. An IM gave me almost that exact advice and it's what I'm doing now.

Speaking of IM, do you have any desire to get that final norm?

At this point none whatsoever... it sucks to play chess when you are totally unmotivated like I am. I always thought chess pays too little reward for the amount of effort it asks from us....hence me quitting etc ( I know it took me long time to realize!!) At least poker offers a chance for scores etc which eases our life financially... of course lots of work to be done all the time too but still .... in chess unless u are top ten in the world u live a pretty subpar life.....is a very badly paid sport.

How can you have 2 IM norms and one GM norm? Do you mean 1 IM norm and 1 GM norm?

Classical occupy-the-center style or modern control-from-a-distance?

Tactical melee or positional crush?

What motivated you before you realized there wasn't a future in it?

What is your profession outside of poker and chess?

I got an IM norm in Hawaii in 1998 my very first one.... Then in the tournament where I got my GM norm I got my second IM norm as well... I was told about this by IA (International Arbiter) Carol Jarecki..... you need 3 IM norms for the IM title.... also rating over 2400 FIDE but that shouldnt be a problem.... say I get another GM norm sometime ( I won't without playing) then it's my third and final IM norm as well... at least this I understood from her but its irrelevant to me really at this point.

I like both styles pretty much.... felt confident playing many different positions I think this is key in expanding our horizons and understanding in chess in general....

As far as motivation... been in communist cuba most of my youth... seemed like a good opportunity to travel outside Cuba and defect by competing outside the country.... looking for a better future... turns out my family and I left by other means and when I got to the US I played along since it was all I had done in my previous years... so basically I knew nothing else... so kept going... did alright I guess for a young player...also when young you don't have the same needs... living with mom and dad at home etc... studying.... when you get older ( I am 31 now and married for close to 10 years now) you have other needs which simply cannot be fulfilled by playing chess...etc.. I hope this explains motivation/lack of it

Well I work in the beverage business... (wine/beer distributor) is one of the best distributors in the country and the best one in the state... we carry most of the imported beers etc... I hope to make a run at online poker whenever it becomes available for us players again.... Dont have much time to play live between work and regular life duties...

It would be impressive to get a norm without playing.

Did you get anything positive out of your chess playing?

I am sure... for starters.. I could have been doing things other kids my age were doing which wouldn't have pleased my parents ( you all can imagine a bunch I guess ) also... in chess tournaments you meet a lot of smart people...share experiences with them.... I have a lot of good memories... I guess all of them are symbolic if you know what I mean.... woulda been nice to accomplish things chess wise and at the same time earn some money lol.... but too late for that now.... Its nice I guess seeing people who were once looking up to me making it nowadays etc...some of my best friends are now GM's and some of them pretty damn strong if you asked me : ) So that's always nice...

Best win?
Strangest chess experience?
Who will win? Allen or Howard?

Did Chess Life do some bit on you, I think you may have been on the cover, sometime around 2000? Small world if so to then run into you on 2+2 a decade later.

If you were offered a modest stipend, say $2k a month (inflation adjusted) for life, under the conditions that you'd never be able to earn any independent money, just the stipend, and you would otherwise have chess as your only occupation - would you accept it?

1) Which chess book is your all-time favorite?
2) Who is your favorite player?
3) Who do you think would have won in 1975, Fischer or Karpov?

Hmmm... best win definitely has to be associated to a strong GM win or an unexpected result vs someone really tough.... I remember dearly a Volga (or Benko as its called in the West) Gambit I lost to GM Alexander Beliavsky in a tournament in Vegas in which I was almost winning and missed the chance out of nervousness of playing such an institution of chess.....I remember GM Chernin in the post-mortem in 5 seconds come up with the winning move like it was nothing and I was breaking my head trying to find it..... My draw against Kamsky is also something I hold dearly... the game was nothing from out of this world and he had just gotten back to chess after long hiatus but still Kamsky is Kamsky... this was during US Championships in San Diego 2004 I believe... as far as purely chess wise I remember a couple of games (both were the same yeah) in which I beat russian master Alex Betaneli in what I thought was nice style... I don't really have the games but could prob search for them somehow... As far as best chess experience... these things together could amount to some.... but probably been the US Junior Champion was something I enjoyed a lot... entering the tournament I was like half of the table seeded and I won fairly easily after starting with a loss in the first round.... I think it was nice most of these players in this tournament are quite accomplished nowadays... (GM's Eugene Perelshteyn and Vinay Bhat.... two woman US champions Irina Krush and Jenn Shahade... IM's Dimitry Schneider and Dimitry Zilberstein.... just to mention a few..) this was a round-robin 9 round... I guess this was very nice... winning the US Juniors at the SF Mechanics Institute... same place where Bobby Fischer also became US Junior Champion was quite enticing LOL....

As far as Howard vs Allen.... Love Allen style and I love MTT's and he is done very well in them.... but Howard seems more experienced etc ... not sure never seen any of them play