Navigating chess lore and literature.

 Greetings chess lovers.
Coming back into serious chess circa 2007, I took a less acquiescent route and decided to examine the quality of the literature and audio visual media out there which is marketed in a way that meets our insecurities/needs head on. GM Jonathan Rowson wrote extensively about this. Here is my view as a coach -turned-player.
Chessbase has had a profound impact not just in terms of preparation but also in terms of the mental skill set and tools we use.It has also placed players of all levels in a major quandary.

 Prior to Chessbase,  we tried to remember reams of analysis from pages of informants, over the board analysis
and then at a certain point we played using to the best of our abilities the visualisation/ calculation methods preached by Kotov, Dvoretsky, Silman and others. We tried to plan on our own. Chess base has brought in a new aspect to chess. One could call it "front end loading". We no longer just memorise by rote but actually
build large amounts of patterns by being able to go through 1000s of games much faster than we could by turning pages in a book. Thus pattern recognition and memory skills have become as important as creativity.
The creativity is no longer an over the board phenomenon. Creativity is now checked for quality through the search engines of that other invention -Fritz and Rybka software- and so we have quality management of preparation. Its not hard to imagine that the most disciplined of GMs study the search engines and look for the truth. There are a number of virtues and pitfalls with this approach. Doing this on a daily basis requires amazing amounts of time.The freshness over the board can be endangered. Coming to definitive conclusions may depend on an intimate knowledge of how the software works. The danger of relying on the evaluations made by the machine was revealed in 2004 Brissago between Leko and Kramnik. Then there is the great danger that over the board we end up playing on auto pilot. Like the bus driver who drives the same route every day.Pattern recognition which then overrides calculation, trend spotting, idea generation, prophylactic thinking and originality.
Obsession with remembering openings will undermine efforts at refining conversion technique. Kramnik v Carlsen 2010 London Chess Classic was an example. Kramnik was in a winning position against Carlsen.
The Kramnik of 1997-2000 would have found the solution more easily perhaps because he would be less reliant on Rybka's evaluations. The simple exercise of going through certain positions with a clock is still valid to this day.Even going through problems in a book with a clock can be valid. Building visual skills and somehow connecting the dots between research on Cbase, quality management of opening preparation,developing skill sets, performance reviews of past games/events, breaking with bad habits and knee jerk reactions to different situations on the board as well as facing up to various psychological barriers is a monumental task that requires the single minded devotion of a monk. And we have not even gone deep into exercise, sleep and diet.

   Then, as if that was not enough there is the state of chess literature. Dvoretsky, Kasparov, Stohl, Watson, Rowson have produced truly seminal works and there are amazing DVDs out there as well. However what has not been explored is the nexus between certain openings and certain skill sets. Personal preferences and styles have always been linked with openings. However that simply is not enough. Having played a variety of openings, I have found that the structures and the piece configurations all require different types of thinking.For example playing the Classical Caro-Kann would require what Aagard calls "schematic thinking" as the trend is toward endgames and positions which are simplified. Now you could never use such a skill set with the Najdorf variation of the Sicillian. Historical research, attention to detail, vast knowledge of subvariations and tactical skill as well as a sense for the initiative are the basic requirements and of course lots of experience.Often the player of the black pieces fights of an onslaught and if he/she survives then there is an endgame to negotiate with lots of active play. Lutz v Kasparov 2002 Bled is a classic example.The Short v Kasparov World Championship1993  is yet another classic example of Kasparov demonstrating very high levels of calculation in entertaining chess battles. Of course Short made a massive mistake in allowing Kasparov to show what he could do.
The other problem comes up with the amazing plethora of websites out there. The chess player already bombarded with books, software, magazines, NIC database surveys, DVDs now has to contend with the fact that his opponents are playing online and looking at all sorts of websites.Very few are of a high standard like Crestbook, Chess Cafe, Chessdom and Chessbase. However the emphasis on Super GM chess blinds us to chess which is accessible. The non expert player with ambitions does not need to prepare as if he is playing in Dortmund or Linares or Wijk Aan Zee. However the massive wealth of literature and other forms of instruction are overwhelming.The assumption of course is that the player will spend all day on the chess and live an unbalanced life.
 What does all of this mean or lead to. Here are a number of points which I think are valid:
1) Learning strategies which are practical like reflecting on the learning or mind maps to remember loads of stuff.

2) Being very selective with material.

3) Creating your own theory then checking it for soundness.

4) Examining loads of games featuring a particular opening of interest and breaking down the trends
    and then looking at the skill sets and types of thinking necessary.
5) Identifying crisis points in openings. For example in the Najdorf and the Dragon variations the crisis point can come quite early. In a French Defence it can come much later after exchanges when endgame skill is at a premium. Openings which feature opposite side castling require immense calculating ability and switching from defence mode to attack mode.

7) Monitoring one's progress  in training.

8) Not being satisfied with passive learning.

9) Reviewing one's games thoroughly and with great self honesty. Kasparov had this
vital quality and the signs are there that Anand and Carlsen have this self critical quality. The other aspect of these players is an immense flexibility and the desire to master a wide array of positions.