U wanna improve  

Keep a record of your games, and if possible, have a postmortem with you opponent afterwords to find out what he/she was thinking and compare that to your own thought process, you can learn a lot this way. It would aslo be use to record on your scoresheet the amount of time used on each move, in this way u can monitor your time management skills and work on improving them if neccessary.

Most importantly analyse your own games and keep a record of this analysis. After about six months reevaluate your analysis, chances are you may have missed something or want to make other changes, this is usually a good indicator that your understanding of chess is deepening.

Compare the openings u play to how there are played by strong Masters and see if you can find similiarites. All openings have themes and patterns of development peculiar to them, learn what represents typical play in the openings u choose. Mastering Typical play is one of the single most important skills to Opening success.

Lastly as a beginner do not read too many different books on Chess strategy at the same time, it leads to confusion and incoeherent play. Choose one good book and stick to it, if u find after a thorough study it hasn't helped your results much, only then try something else. Too much Knowledge/Information in chess is a dangerous thing, the mind becomes cluttered and your natural creativity is stiffled, it is much more important to find out what kind of player you are and this is done by playing moreso than reading.

Most chessplayers never understand why they don't improve, after all they have read everything know everthing and yet they still lose to idiots who after a game ask quizzically "What opening was that again".

To improve, just knowing what chess terminlogy means or what Watson's views are on Modern Chess Strategy is not gunna help you that much. No my friend, to improve one must learn how to think systematically, and to know not only what a principle and tactic is but when they apply in an actual game situation.

Most players below a certain level don't follow book for very long anyway, so developing a good thought process is key. 

Regards

Top    

"Opening for Black According to Karpov" by GM (and former world champion) Alexander Khalifman is a complete repertoire book for black which covers the Caro-Kann (the 4...Nd7 line), the Nimzo-Indian (Karpov and Hubner variations) and the QID, as well as a guide to facing the English (1...e5), Catalan, Trompowski, Reti, and King's Indian Attack. In essence, it is your black repertoire confined in a single book! I have had excellent experience with Khalifman's "Opening for White According to Anand" series and my assumption (confirmed by numerous book reviews) is that this repertoire book by Khalifman is equally excellent. If there's lines in this book you don't like (for example, if you prefer 4...Bf5 in the Caro-Kann), I can try to give you some more specific titles if you want. You can find a book review here:

http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_opening/cs_opening_for_black_according_to_karpo...

Don't listen to the over-2000 rating recommendation. Having flipped through this book and read parts of it, I can tell you that it is easy to use and understand and you don't have to memorize every miniscule side-variation to benefit from the main body of theory and the great explanations in Khalifman's books.

When I first started out, my "unofficial" coach recommended that I start out with the queen's gambit because it teaches you the importance of controlling the center as well as other aspects of positional chess. Once I realized I was more of an aggressive player, I switched to 1. e4 and, as you said, never looked back. From there, I started with the Giuco Piano, switched to Ruy Lopez, then back to the Scotch Gambit and, finally, learned the Lopez theory and stuck with it. With Black, I found the Sicilian Dragon in the opening book on some handheld chess computer I got and then happened to come across Chris Ward's "Winning with the Sicilian Dragon 2" in a book warehouse, bought it, and have been playing the Dragon ever since. Against 1. d4 and the flank openings, I played KID for a while (and still do, to some degree) but was annoyed by stuff like the Trompowsky, Torre, etc. and so I switched to the Dutch which offered similar positions but avoided many of the annoying Queen Pawn Games. You'll find that your repertoire gradually will evolve and if you like positional chess, start with the positional openings: 1. d4, 2. c4 as White, caro-kann, and slav/QGD as black (I know you don't want suggestions, but you also might want to consider Nimzo-Indian and QID). If you find that after playing these openings extensively you enjoy them, then stick with them. If you don't enjoy them, pick out what aspects of the openings you dislike and try to find openings that better fit your style.

However, I do feel that playing only open games or only closed games restricts your understanding of chess. So, if you decide to play positional openings, I would recommend studying chess tactics since playing quieter often reduces your tactical prowess if you do not try to improve it separately. Also, by studying tactics, you may change your mind and decide that you are in favor of more aggressive openings. Conversely, if you play aggressive chess, it is important to study how to play positionally (I have recently started reading "My System" and even experimenting with 1. d4 in blitz games).

If you stick with 1. d4 and 2. c4 as white, I would recommend Palliser's "Play 1. d4" and, if you like positional openings, you may want to pick up Khalifman's "Opening for Black According to Karpov" which is based on the Caro-Kann, Nimzo-Indian, and Queen's Indian.

Hope I answered what you were asking about, if you have any more questions, fee free to ask.

-Mitch