Coincidentally, now they do tell you to enroll to their training plans. Which I highly recommend as its only $15 and includes access to the learning group and they were made because basically people wanted something more structured and a workshop. If you honestly can’t invest $15 into your favorite hobby, I believe you should focus more on getting a high paying job first haha. You can see my first comment on this video was 2 years ago. I’ve improved 240 points since I follow this channel
At first I was avoiding focusing on my mistakes because my mindset was "I'm pretty bad so any type of training improves me" but here I am rated 2200 in lichess puzzles but significantly lower rated in real games, especially in faster time controls. My advice to anyone new: identify your weaknesses from the start, it's never too early.
The play-learn-solve triad is a really interesting and useful conceptualization of chess training! Another one I came up with is what I call the Holy Trinity of Chess Training: playing games, analyzing them and solving tactical puzzles. You should always be doing those three things to improve at chess, no matter what. The rest of your training will depend on what your current biggest relevant weakness is: if you're not confident when given the opportunity to simplify into winning endgames, you should work on your endgames; if you're getting into really bad positions from the opening, you should work on your openings, etc.
Hello Kostya. I just came back from tata steel tournament and I played there. So far this is the biggest tournament I have played. After playing this tournament, I understood that the training I am currently doing is not adequate enough, and to do things differently I have to change my plans. Your video helped me a lot to notice some of my mistakes. From today I will be following your study plan and later I will come and let you know my progress. Thanks again
Excellent advice Kostya! I've specifically been wondering how often one should play a game and you have answered that! I've been playing too much and not analysing enough! Cheers!
Very clear what's being tought here. Using all parts of your brain, calculating, your imagination, etc and playing some otb really kicks in your visual physical learning part of the brain. Thanks
For Chessable users, Kostya's course Endgame Studies 101 is pretty awesome. I am really loving it. Interesting ideas expressed clearly coupled with reinforcement through fun and challenging puzzles.
Thank’s a lot before this,I was also like that I was not having a training plan and I was not knowing if I should read all the books together and finish it together but now I got it.
I'm genuinely enjoying how, even though this was presented with the idea that some people ended up with more time during COVID lockdowns, the time recommendations don't get too crazy. With many other topics during COVID, not just chess, you'd find others giving crazy daily hour recommendations for the study subjects. Personally, I never was affected much by the lockdowns, but I'm finding this a reasonable recommendation, even in 2024. Thank you for this short and sweet video. (Yes, this is a long comment
Thanks a lot Kostya for making such instructional videos for chess community. My biggest problem is that I never stick to one book or plan and keep switching from one training method to another and from one study material to another. I will definitely try to fix this by sticking to one idea and learning it for weeks before switching it to something else.
Love it!! In principle I love your approach because it seem easy yet focused. Giving 30 mins a day to training sounds pretty easy. I'm wondering how much I'll progress if I follow this plan. Maybe I'll do a little 30 day challenge or something. Thanks for these ideas.
My current training plan: 1) I take 3 lessons per month from a titled coach. We mostly work on endgames, and a little bit on middlegame ideas. As homework I usually get 20 combination excercises from Grandmaster games for my calculation training. (I do a few of them daily) 2) 4 times a week I repeat one of these lessons, including the combinations (we do the lessons on lichess and I have them all stored up) 3) I spent 30-40 minutes doing tactics on lichess every day. Plus I do one or two puzzle streaks (mostly to repeat easy patterns. 4) I play 5-10 3+2 games and one 15+10 game every day and look at these games afterwards. 5) I do a little bit of opening study once or twice a week (scrolling a little bit through an opening I want to get better at and looking at a model game I do this since about 3 months now. I started playing chess at age 30, that was 4 years ago. I never trained before, now I decided to do this for a year or two and see how far it will get me. My lichess Blitz rating is pending between 1800-2000 (I have never played much Blitz, but started playing 3+2 a few weeks ago. My rapid rating is around 2100. I hope, this will help me. Definitely happy for some constructive criticism. Recently played an OTB tournament, where I outplayed some players between 1800-2100 FIDE (including some nice sacrifices), so I feel like it already started to make a difference. Of course, I also lost some games to 1900-2100's, so the consistency is not there, yet. Let's see how far I can get...
great video, i have a similar training plan as suggested , might jump around maybe sometimes, finished a book i had for a long time recently within a month,
Thanks for the video, I found it very helpful! Right now, I'm a 2050 on Lichess Classical who is really weak strategically. Right now, I do 30-45 minutes of CT-Art every day. I do a cycle of 2 days easy problems to improve my pattern recognition and tactical vision followed by 1 day of difficult problems to improve my calculation. In terms of books, I do about 45 minutes of reading each day. I'm reading Amateur's Mind and Yuspov's first book. I alternate between them each day and end up doing about a chapter of Yusupov's book a week. I do 3 training games a week (1 30/30, 1 45/45, and 1 90/30) per week, and analyze the games afterwards. On days where I'm not playing, I do about an hour of opening work (I'm currently trying to overhaul my repertoire to play more mainlines). Does that seem like a reasonable training plan? Or am I trying to do too many things at once?
I think that looks great! In general I wouldn't alternate the Silman and Yusupov books but I dont think that's a big deal, as long as you don't feel like you're rushing through the material. Try to absorb as much as you can. good luck!
...reading this and realize that I am lucky to be 1901 on lichess classical. If you stuck by this, I'm sure you're over 2200 by now. Can you comment perhaps? Did this training regime improve your chess? Because if so, I'm going to adapt it as mine for the next year.
Hi, Kostya. Great video, and spot on I would say. I am 1500-1600 FIDE, and with very busy schedule (kids, family, full time job...). But I am really trying to improve and I know that the best way is to have a consistent plan and stick to it. Actually my conclusions were very similar to what you advise here. This is my plan: 1. Yusupov course 30-45 minutes a day (I am on book #2 currently), on a physical board. I intend to go though all nine books, it will probably take me 3-5 years to finish the whole course. 2. I do the round of Woodpacker, for the amount of time needed to complete the number of puzzles in the round, on chessable. 3. I play one long-time control training game (45+45) per week and analyse it afterwards. I play online, but with a physical board, with my phone and all distractions turned off. In the chunks on my free time I also do some other chess stuff, like: - Go through annotated master games on a physical board. - Go through my opening repertoires on chessable. - Solving chess puzzles on a physical board (I currently use Lev Alburt's "300 most important positions") - Read some general chess books without the board (I like Hendriks, Wetzell, Nunn, etc.) I avoid playing blitz and rapid, although I do that too, being aware that it's for fun and not part of my path to chess improvement. If you have any suggestions on my plan and routine, I'll be more than happy to hear from you!
Hi Luka this is a great plan, but as you know the biggest question for you will be time, and I don't recommend forcing yourself to study after a long day of work when you're exhausted and just want to rest. So the main challenge for you will be finding time when you have good energy to read/solve. I think this is key according to other adult improvers I've listened to. If you can find consistent amounts of time during the week/weekend, then you will win. Of course you should join the Dojo on Discord and keep us posted about your progress! Best of luck!
@@ChessDojo Exactly, this is the biggest challenge. That's why I have things to do when I am fresh (like going through Yusupov or practicing calculation), and some other things I do when I am tired but I still feel like doing chess (like going through some master games to pick up some patterns and ideas, or just read books about the chess in general). Maybe this could be useful for adult improvers, to make a list of things you can do when you are tired but still want to do some chess :)
Yeah, casual chess study would be good for when you don't have much energy (going through games, watching videos, etc.), just trying to absorb a few ideas here and there
Great!!! Me too occupied with Job ,family and all. I try to play 1 claasical long game ( at least 30 /30 ) once in 3 days..10 games / month at Lichess.. Lichess classical around 1967. If u r interested..will schedule playing with u.
Great video thanks - ok as i chess novice i will ask the dumb question. What does G30 and G40 stand for? I assume the length of the game, but wanted to confirm. Thanks
My own training plan is play 1-2 games a week (1 black at least where you have all day to play the game as a way of learning as I play [I look up material relating to whats happening like the opening variation/pawn structure/type of endgame im playing,] I make sure the opponent is my rating or higher and that i leave at least 1-2hrs before bed to review the game (I look at losses more in depth and any other game I feed to decode chess then add to my database.. For the rest of the week I do 30m tactics a day (i focus on a theme at least 10m) 1hr minimum of learning (if nothing specific I use this hour to analyze my correspondence game positions) and review 1-2 line of my openings (if no time for a line for each color i focus on my black rep since I can play those openings as both colors) and I review a diff kind of endgame each day breaking it down as much as possible (pawn endgames 1 day, queen endgames one day, took endgames one day, opposite color bishops etc...) Also for those 1-2 games i play per week I try to make it thematic in which I focus on a specifc opening variation a month to expand my knowledge of it (create my own theory)
Hello Kostya! Thank you for your informative video. I have played in lot of chess tournaments in my life though not consistently as life got busy! I have 1 hour to practice chess every day. How would you advise me to use than hour optimally? Kind regay Benjamin
I just bumped into your channel and came across this video. I'm already a fan :) I love the topics of the videos you have posted. I'll go through all of them. Thanks for all the wonderful tips you share!
Hi Kostya! I just joined dojo and am impressed! My summer plan has 3 hours total per day. I've been guilty of only training tactics on chessable and playing rarely. I'm 910 and was thinking. 1. Classical game or 2 rapid/analysis 2. Dojo tactics book like polgar/Simple Chess 5 pages 3. A variety of chessable tactics courses such as Basic Endgames, On the Attack, and reviewing Everyone's First Chess Workbook. Is there anything you'd change to optimize improvement? I really want to make my way to 1400 or 1500 and am realistically closer to 1100.
Thank you Kostya, actually I do something close to your suggestion, playing 2-3 times per week 15+10 games, 4-8 daily games (3 days per move), doing tactics and calculation, but I bounce a lot on learning trying to catch to much to soon, your proposal to just 1 issue very 2 weeks, apply also to in example rook endings as an specific one, right ? Because then my short term focus will be improve endings, a kind every 2 weeks, what your opinion ?. Best Regards.
I've recently came back to the world of chess after taking a 18 year break. At my peak I was 1500 - 1600 USCF rated. Books. In December/January I read thru the Amateurs Mind by Silman. I then started reading side by side Reassess Your Chess and Chess Tactics From Scratch from Martin Weteschnik. Im about halfway thru Reassess and have read thru Chess Tactics and have completed so far about 80 of the 300 problems. Im planning on doing the WoodPecker method after this book for tactics. I finally had the opportunity to play 3x G40 OTB rated games recently against players rated around 1500 USCF. The first game I botched due to playing too quickly and my opening being rusty. The second game I drew. The third I was winning for most of the game but botched a calculation at a critical moment. My plan is to continue with studying strategy and tactics, but incorporate a small amount of time to studying the opening. Play wise I plan on avoiding blitzs to instead focus on 2-3 G/40 or longer games per week.
Thank you for your explication, it is very helpful. I have one doubt, I must Analyze my own games in blitz? For example when I play 5 minutes by player.
Very useful and thank you. One question is about the suggestion in your other video, to read/follow great master chess game. In the past i am more an attacking player, but recently i began to like positional and endgames. 1. In this case, is it better to follow the games of master that suit my existing playing style or from master whose style that i want to be. 2. From your experience, what is the success chance for a player to change style from attacking to become more positional?
Great video! This is exactly the kind of "recipe" that amateur players need. How do you suggest time is distributed between playing, learning and solving?
This is exactly what I'm busy with. I'm busy with the 1st book in Yusupov's series. My rating is 1500 online. I'll definitely look into playing longer games. I play rapid games alot. I have the physical Yusupov book as well as the Chessable version. I work with a chess board when I study the chapter and when I revise I use chessable.com.
@Duvupov I'm currently on chapter 6. I thrive in the tactics section but in positional and strategic play I do struggle a bit. Endgames are going well for me as well. I have a rating of over 1700 on lichess, on chess.com it's 1500. If I don't understand the chapter well I will repeat it, positional and strategic play is a whole other ball game. But I won't give up.
So for the learn section of the training plan would going over a book like “Zurich 1953” count towards that? Or can you work on endgames while going through the tournament book?
Hi! Im 2100 blitz on lichess. I wonder of doing tactics from the woodpecker method count towards both reading and solving? Or is it just solving? Regards Wilmer.
Personally i think its ok to play players around your rating only unless you find players who will go over the game with you. I also think correspondence or games played using the entire day is ideal for majority learning players (1200-2000)
What would you suggest for the percentage breakdown of Play, Learn and Solve in a training plan (I am around 1550 on LiChess). Does "analyzing games" fall into the "Learn" portion of the plan?
Hello sir, I was wondering if my study plan would work. I've been trying to learn but I dont know where to start. How about, since I got the time, i do an hour of solving puzzles. the start to study everything i can openings for a month. next month i start studying development or middle game(not sure thats the same thing). also for a month. then i go for another month into endgame. the problem is i dont know where does checkmates with little pieces go. like you kknw mate with two rooks and all that. can you explain better? im a pretty new player and i just dont know what the heck to do. i suppose its like school where you dedicate certasin time to certain stuff? gotta help me here friend.
You should redo this video after reading "Make it stick" or any of the more recent research on efficient learning. I honestly found this vague. I found myself watching it at 1.5-1.75x waiting for some nugget to use.
Your advice to play a lot makes sense, however, I don’t understand how a complete beginner, like me, can benefit from playing, if I lack the experience and ability to analyse my games and understand why I lost or won. Could you please how to solve this problem.
Just to clarify, when you say 'complete beginner', do you mean you've already learned the rules and understand things like check and checkmate? If you're unfamiliar with those terms, it would be good to get a full understanding of the rules first before starting to play. But once you feel comfortable with the rules and how the pieces move, I would encourage you to play so you can develop experience for the game. If you want a head start, search "chess opening principles" to learn some strategies for the beginning of the game. I would advise *against* memorizing moves, instead it's more important to focus on the general ideas (controlling the center, developing your pieces) about how to play. David did an excellent video for this channel with all of his advice for new players. It's called How to Become a Chess Player if you're interested in that! Happy to help if you have other questions :)
Great Channel how much do you charge for lessons i really need to work with a teacher to get me on the right path i keep doing the same thing over and over i would like a lesson every week and im sure i would reach my goal of 2000 from 1500
Blitz gets a bad rap. Blitz is great for working on your openings, you can learn so much by playing different openings and their variations. You can drill your repertoire through blitz. I've seen many new positions and tactical ideas in blitz games, surely that was useful to me or others?? Slower games are more important, I understand that.
Most of this falls in line with my study plan, but I’m not focusing on one thing, I’m working through a book (amateur to im) which is mostly end game, but I’m also doing seperate endgame training / calculation along the way. It’s in a way one project do you think this is adequate use of my study time?
I don't know if you're still reading comments, but I take my training very seriously. Currently this is my routine: 1. Study a game from a grandmaster. Mostly I do Karpov (Mednis) or Magnus (Zenon) 1a. I go through the games and try to find the next move and analyze what i would play or should do, then if It doesn't match with what Karpov or Magnus did I will input the moves on stockfish and see how my plans shake out. If they are viable or if there is any crippling defect. I don't care about minor margins, as long as the idea is working and not a massive blunder I am happy. 1b. I only study Sicilians and Ruy Lopez games right now. Sometimes I do another just for fun, but I am mainly concerning myself with playing against the Najdorf and the Berlin. This helps me absorb all the themes and concepts. For instance I just found a game with Bobby Fischer in a Caro-Kann and Magnus vs Anand in a Berlin where the middle game position was almost identical and the strategic theme was the same [pinning Black's pieces down to the defense of b6 then attacking elsewhere]. 2. I replay the games from memory and come up with questions and ideas about the positions. Why not just play 8.d4 right away? etc. and I will examine freely without a computer. 3. I play 10 minute games on chess(dot)com or Lichess and try to have 6 active Correspondence games on Lichess
The only video which doesn't tell me to enroll in a freaking course. Thanks for real content and no advertisement
I'm currently preparing for a tournament atm this lesson helps where I need to start Studying. Played my first NM today I think i did ok...
Coincidentally, now they do tell you to enroll to their training plans. Which I highly recommend as its only $15 and includes access to the learning group and they were made because basically people wanted something more structured and a workshop. If you honestly can’t invest $15 into your favorite hobby, I believe you should focus more on getting a high paying job first haha.
You can see my first comment on this video was 2 years ago. I’ve improved 240 points since I follow this channel
@@trainerred6582 who/which site are you talking about? For the $15 I mean
The nicest and the most generous chess master in the world
International master *
@@IamJustAMan8044 ?
@@bongcloudmaster5462 IM is a title. It's below Grandmaster. Below IM is FIDE master.
@bigredracingdog466 master is something different than grandmaster, Kostya is also a master
At first I was avoiding focusing on my mistakes because my mindset was "I'm pretty bad so any type of training improves me" but here I am rated 2200 in lichess puzzles but significantly lower rated in real games, especially in faster time controls. My advice to anyone new: identify your weaknesses from the start, it's never too early.
Puzzle rating does not correspond to normal rating.
@@Joseferberger True but the first time I hit 2200 in puzzles I was 1360 blitz. It was a ridiculous difference.
@@charimuvilla8693 just shuffle around and take free pieces lmao
I mean,
Yea, there's a bit more to the game. Gotta have some direction, some plan
@@Joseferberger Yeah that's what happens in 1300. Reached 1630 since then so at least I'm climbing.
You are a chess master who give back to chess community hats off to you
The play-learn-solve triad is a really interesting and useful conceptualization of chess training! Another one I came up with is what I call the Holy Trinity of Chess Training: playing games, analyzing them and solving tactical puzzles. You should always be doing those three things to improve at chess, no matter what. The rest of your training will depend on what your current biggest relevant weakness is: if you're not confident when given the opportunity to simplify into winning endgames, you should work on your endgames; if you're getting into really bad positions from the opening, you should work on your openings, etc.
Nice, very useful.
honestly the best chess channel in my opinion. Very generous IM, super important content and everything is explained super clearly. keep going!!
Thank you so much!
Thx, Kostya. Glad you've covered this topic 👍.
Hello Kostya. I just came back from tata steel tournament and I played there. So far this is the biggest tournament I have played. After playing this tournament, I understood that the training I am currently doing is not adequate enough, and to do things differently I have to change my plans. Your video helped me a lot to notice some of my mistakes. From today I will be following your study plan and later I will come and let you know my progress. Thanks again
Your advice is really appreciated and sounds very reasonable 👍
Everyday 1hr calculation 2 hours master game analysis, 1 hour opening and 1 hour practice game six days a week
Nice! Any relation to Vadim?
@@ChessDojo I named my son after him because I thought he has a unique name. So, yeah, this is only my pseudoname (chuckles).
Excellent advice Kostya! I've specifically been wondering how often one should play a game and you have answered that! I've been playing too much and not analysing enough! Cheers!
Thank You!!! I've been looking for something like this for a long time. Much appreciated. I'll be taking notes on this one.
Kostya's recommendation is very good and reasonable. I am sure we will improve if we follow this recommendation.
Very clear what's being tought here. Using all parts of your brain, calculating, your imagination, etc and playing some otb really kicks in your visual physical learning part of the brain. Thanks
Excellent recommendations on building a foundation. Thank you.
For Chessable users, Kostya's course Endgame Studies 101 is pretty awesome. I am really loving it. Interesting ideas expressed clearly coupled with reinforcement through fun and challenging puzzles.
Thank you for the tips! It was very helpful to have some guidance about how to apply training methods
This sounds like a lot of work. Isn't there a pill I can take?
Hahaha
Thank you for this video. Extremely useful.
Thank’s a lot before this,I was also like that I was not having a training plan and I was not knowing if I should read all the books together and finish it together but now I got it.
I'm genuinely enjoying how, even though this was presented with the idea that some people ended up with more time during COVID lockdowns, the time recommendations don't get too crazy. With many other topics during COVID, not just chess, you'd find others giving crazy daily hour recommendations for the study subjects. Personally, I never was affected much by the lockdowns, but I'm finding this a reasonable recommendation, even in 2024. Thank you for this short and sweet video. (Yes, this is a long comment
Thanks a lot Kostya for making such instructional videos for chess community. My biggest problem is that I never stick to one book or plan and keep switching from one training method to another and from one study material to another. I will definitely try to fix this by sticking to one idea and learning it for weeks before switching it to something else.
Thanks Shivam, if you're really stuck just pick a great player and play through a game collection of theirs
Hi Kostya - thanks for the template. How would you treat chessable tactics courses such as the "Learn Chess the Right Way 1-5" series in this mix?
Tactics/solving :)
Love it!! In principle I love your approach because it seem easy yet focused. Giving 30 mins a day to training sounds pretty easy. I'm wondering how much I'll progress if I follow this plan. Maybe I'll do a little 30 day challenge or something. Thanks for these ideas.
Thank you for the video!
The best chess advice I ever received. Thanks
Good content as always - cheers ✌🏻
Make sure to appreciate this channels videos after watching it. Excellent content
Thank you!
My current training plan:
1) I take 3 lessons per month from a titled coach. We mostly work on endgames, and a little bit on middlegame ideas. As homework I usually get 20 combination excercises from Grandmaster games for my calculation training. (I do a few of them daily)
2) 4 times a week I repeat one of these lessons, including the combinations (we do the lessons on lichess and I have them all stored up)
3) I spent 30-40 minutes doing tactics on lichess every day. Plus I do one or two puzzle streaks (mostly to repeat easy patterns.
4) I play 5-10 3+2 games and one 15+10 game every day and look at these games afterwards.
5) I do a little bit of opening study once or twice a week (scrolling a little bit through an opening I want to get better at and looking at a model game
I do this since about 3 months now. I started playing chess at age 30, that was 4 years ago. I never trained before, now I decided to do this for a year or two and see how far it will get me. My lichess Blitz rating is pending between 1800-2000 (I have never played much Blitz, but started playing 3+2 a few weeks ago. My rapid rating is around 2100. I hope, this will help me. Definitely happy for some constructive criticism.
Recently played an OTB tournament, where I outplayed some players between 1800-2100 FIDE (including some nice sacrifices), so I feel like it already started to make a difference. Of course, I also lost some games to 1900-2100's, so the consistency is not there, yet.
Let's see how far I can get...
Thank you Kostya, I just wanted to say that you have a very similar voice to the Matthew character from The Chosen series :)
great video, i have a similar training plan as suggested , might jump around maybe sometimes, finished a book i had for a long time recently within a month,
Thanks for those tips. Very helpful!
Thanks for the video, I found it very helpful! Right now, I'm a 2050 on Lichess Classical who is really weak strategically. Right now, I do 30-45 minutes of CT-Art every day. I do a cycle of 2 days easy problems to improve my pattern recognition and tactical vision followed by 1 day of difficult problems to improve my calculation. In terms of books, I do about 45 minutes of reading each day. I'm reading Amateur's Mind and Yuspov's first book. I alternate between them each day and end up doing about a chapter of Yusupov's book a week. I do 3 training games a week (1 30/30, 1 45/45, and 1 90/30) per week, and analyze the games afterwards. On days where I'm not playing, I do about an hour of opening work (I'm currently trying to overhaul my repertoire to play more mainlines). Does that seem like a reasonable training plan? Or am I trying to do too many things at once?
I think that looks great! In general I wouldn't alternate the Silman and Yusupov books but I dont think that's a big deal, as long as you don't feel like you're rushing through the material. Try to absorb as much as you can. good luck!
...reading this and realize that I am lucky to be 1901 on lichess classical. If you stuck by this, I'm sure you're over 2200 by now. Can you comment perhaps? Did this training regime improve your chess? Because if so, I'm going to adapt it as mine for the next year.
Great channel with original content !
The Chess King apps you recommended on your previous video have two sections, theory and practice. They fulfill the learn and solver requirements :-)
thanks so much chessdojo you deserver way more subs, your videos are always so instructional. I love it thanks so much
Thanks for the help.
Thank you for your you tube I learn a lot still continue 🙏
I have a bad habit with only watching chess videos if the person in the picture looks good at chess.
me too
Excellent subjects I start my training seriously from January 1, 2021 Thank you I will take your advice very seriously
Nice, good luck!
So, how's it going so far?
You do amazing videos. Thank you so much.
Thank you for this. I think I saw you on Coffee Chess.
Thanks, that's really good
Hi, Kostya. Great video, and spot on I would say. I am 1500-1600 FIDE, and with very busy schedule (kids, family, full time job...). But I am really trying to improve and I know that the best way is to have a consistent plan and stick to it. Actually my conclusions were very similar to what you advise here. This is my plan:
1. Yusupov course 30-45 minutes a day (I am on book #2 currently), on a physical board. I intend to go though all nine books, it will probably take me 3-5 years to finish the whole course.
2. I do the round of Woodpacker, for the amount of time needed to complete the number of puzzles in the round, on chessable.
3. I play one long-time control training game (45+45) per week and analyse it afterwards. I play online, but with a physical board, with my phone and all distractions turned off.
In the chunks on my free time I also do some other chess stuff, like:
- Go through annotated master games on a physical board.
- Go through my opening repertoires on chessable.
- Solving chess puzzles on a physical board (I currently use Lev Alburt's "300 most important positions")
- Read some general chess books without the board (I like Hendriks, Wetzell, Nunn, etc.)
I avoid playing blitz and rapid, although I do that too, being aware that it's for fun and not part of my path to chess improvement.
If you have any suggestions on my plan and routine, I'll be more than happy to hear from you!
Hi Luka this is a great plan, but as you know the biggest question for you will be time, and I don't recommend forcing yourself to study after a long day of work when you're exhausted and just want to rest.
So the main challenge for you will be finding time when you have good energy to read/solve. I think this is key according to other adult improvers I've listened to. If you can find consistent amounts of time during the week/weekend, then you will win.
Of course you should join the Dojo on Discord and keep us posted about your progress!
Best of luck!
@@ChessDojo Exactly, this is the biggest challenge. That's why I have things to do when I am fresh (like going through Yusupov or practicing calculation), and some other things I do when I am tired but I still feel like doing chess (like going through some master games to pick up some patterns and ideas, or just read books about the chess in general). Maybe this could be useful for adult improvers, to make a list of things you can do when you are tired but still want to do some chess :)
Yeah, casual chess study would be good for when you don't have much energy (going through games, watching videos, etc.), just trying to absorb a few ideas here and there
Great!!! Me too occupied with Job ,family and all. I try to play 1 claasical long game ( at least 30 /30 ) once in 3 days..10 games / month at Lichess.. Lichess classical around 1967.
If u r interested..will schedule playing with u.
what yusupov book do you talk about, is it chess evolution,boost your chess or build up your chess
Thank you so much
Great video thanks - ok as i chess novice i will ask the dumb question. What does G30 and G40 stand for? I assume the length of the game, but wanted to confirm.
Thanks
That's the amount of time both players start with, i.e. G30 = 30 min each
My chess training plan is to acknowledge my limitations and take up checkers.
From Eygpt with love
thanks this was helpful
My own training plan is play 1-2 games a week (1 black at least where you have all day to play the game as a way of learning as I play [I look up material relating to whats happening like the opening variation/pawn structure/type of endgame im playing,] I make sure the opponent is my rating or higher and that i leave at least 1-2hrs before bed to review the game (I look at losses more in depth and any other game I feed to decode chess then add to my database.. For the rest of the week I do 30m tactics a day (i focus on a theme at least 10m) 1hr minimum of learning (if nothing specific I use this hour to analyze my correspondence game positions) and review 1-2 line of my openings (if no time for a line for each color i focus on my black rep since I can play those openings as both colors) and I review a diff kind of endgame each day breaking it down as much as possible (pawn endgames 1 day, queen endgames one day, took endgames one day, opposite color bishops etc...) Also for those 1-2 games i play per week I try to make it thematic in which I focus on a specifc opening variation a month to expand my knowledge of it (create my own theory)
Nice plan!
Hello Kostya! Thank you for your informative video. I have played in lot of chess tournaments in my life though not consistently as life got busy! I have 1 hour to practice chess every day. How would you advise me to use than hour optimally? Kind regay Benjamin
I just bumped into your channel and came across this video. I'm already a fan :) I love the topics of the videos you have posted. I'll go through all of them. Thanks for all the wonderful tips you share!
Great channel with original content,Thank You
Hi Kostya! I just joined dojo and am impressed! My summer plan has 3 hours total per day. I've been guilty of only training tactics on chessable and playing rarely. I'm 910 and was thinking. 1. Classical game or 2 rapid/analysis 2. Dojo tactics book like polgar/Simple Chess 5 pages 3. A variety of chessable tactics courses such as Basic Endgames, On the Attack, and reviewing Everyone's First Chess Workbook. Is there anything you'd change to optimize improvement? I really want to make my way to 1400 or 1500 and am realistically closer to 1100.
Nice, sounds good! Make sure to prioritize playing!
@@ChessDojo Will do! Thanks!
Tactics end games are very important
This 2.0 of chess training for rapid improvement by GM Igor Smirnov
Excellent advice.
Thank you Kostya, actually I do something close to your suggestion, playing 2-3 times per week 15+10 games, 4-8 daily games (3 days per move), doing tactics and calculation, but I bounce a lot on learning trying to catch to much to soon, your proposal to just 1 issue very 2 weeks, apply also to in example rook endings as an specific one, right ? Because then my short term focus will be improve endings, a kind every 2 weeks, what your opinion ?. Best Regards.
At least 3-4 weeks. If you're just working on rook endgames then 1-2 weeks is all right
@@ChessDojo Thank you by sharing your advice, best regards.Marc
I’m 1893 lichess right now I’m gonna try your tips and I’ll be back
Please comeback
Tell us
I've recently came back to the world of chess after taking a 18 year break.
At my peak I was 1500 - 1600 USCF rated.
Books. In December/January I read thru the Amateurs Mind by Silman.
I then started reading side by side Reassess Your Chess and Chess Tactics From Scratch from Martin Weteschnik.
Im about halfway thru Reassess and have read thru Chess Tactics and have completed so far about 80 of the 300 problems. Im planning on doing the WoodPecker method after this book for tactics.
I finally had the opportunity to play 3x G40 OTB rated games recently against players rated around 1500 USCF. The first game I botched due to playing too quickly and my opening being rusty. The second game I drew. The third I was winning for most of the game but botched a calculation at a critical moment.
My plan is to continue with studying strategy and tactics, but incorporate a small amount of time to studying the opening.
Play wise I plan on avoiding blitzs to instead focus on 2-3 G/40 or longer games per week.
Awesome! Love the longer games
@@ChessDojo any advice on improving board vision? Or rather ability to quickly read the pros and cons of a position?
Any recomendations for a fide master at calculation?
I do multiple studies a day, and been going through some middle game books.
Thank you for your explication, it is very helpful. I have one doubt, I must Analyze my own games in blitz? For example when I play 5 minutes by player.
If you want to improve by playing blitz, then analysis is important. If you just want to have fun then by all means play some blitz :)
Great vid! Is it good to go on an open tournament solo? The last time I went I had my second, but now I'll be alone.
Very useful and thank you. One question is about the suggestion in your other video, to read/follow great master chess game. In the past i am more an attacking player, but recently i began to like positional and endgames.
1. In this case, is it better to follow the games of master that suit my existing playing style or from master whose style that i want to be.
2. From your experience, what is the success chance for a player to change style from attacking to become more positional?
Do you recommend the book Improve Your Chess Calculationby R.B Ramesh?
Great video! This is exactly the kind of "recipe" that amateur players need. How do you suggest time is distributed between playing, learning and solving?
Need a balance of all 3!
So doing the Yusupov books would fit in this method? Those books are structured to have a different subject each chapter on purpose.
For sure, as long as you also leave time for playing!
This is exactly what I'm busy with. I'm busy with the 1st book in Yusupov's series. My rating is 1500 online. I'll definitely look into playing longer games. I play rapid games alot. I have the physical Yusupov book as well as the Chessable version. I work with a chess board when I study the chapter and when I revise I use chessable.com.
@@elroyjacobs8126 Nice. How do you like it so far? I'm around 1500 OTB and 1800-1900 Lichess classical atm but I still find them pretty difficult.
@Duvupov I'm currently on chapter 6. I thrive in the tactics section but in positional and strategic play I do struggle a bit. Endgames are going well for me as well. I have a rating of over 1700 on lichess, on chess.com it's 1500. If I don't understand the chapter well I will repeat it, positional and strategic play is a whole other ball game. But I won't give up.
@@KeepChessSimplebro whats your rating now
Thank you sir 🙏
Thank you sir
Got to competitive chess in covid so 1000 elo fide, complete beginner. These videos help immensely
Here you go whats your rating now
Thank you!!
Would you recommend a 1500-1600 level player study compositions?
At the IM level do you find online tactics trainsers useful? Do you strictly work on calculation exercieses from books?
I typically use Puzzle Rush as a warm-up and solve exercises from books to work on calculation. - Kostya
So for the learn section of the training plan would going over a book like “Zurich 1953” count towards that? Or can you work on endgames while going through the tournament book?
What do you recommend?
Yes absolutely that would count for building your knowledge
Hi! Im 2100 blitz on lichess. I wonder of doing tactics from the woodpecker method count towards both reading and solving? Or is it just solving? Regards Wilmer.
Just solving 😊
Thank you
Personally i think its ok to play players around your rating only unless you find players who will go over the game with you. I also think correspondence or games played using the entire day is ideal for majority learning players (1200-2000)
What would you suggest for the percentage breakdown of Play, Learn and Solve in a training plan (I am around 1550 on LiChess). Does "analyzing games" fall into the "Learn" portion of the plan?
How do you measure your improvement aside from just winning more games?
Would working through the Yusupov Series count as Learn or Solve? You certainly learn topics, themes, etc, but you learn them by solving exercises.
I think that would satisfy both aspects. Great series of books
what yusupov book do you talk, is it chess evolution,boost your chess or build up your chess
I have a question what if you don't have resources for example getting that book and stuff what do you do?
Get the books from the library. There are also plenty of free online resources
I am gonna try this. My mother tells to do this anyways let me try and will tell u after a week
How do you work on your calculation and what is calculation exactly?
I am 2000 rating on lichess, I never read a Book, I want to start to read one! Which you recommend, for strategy!
Can you tell us what other practices you make?
I hope to be master strength one day even if I dont earn the title
Hello sir, I was wondering if my study plan would work. I've been trying to learn but I dont know where to start.
How about, since I got the time, i do an hour of solving puzzles. the start to study everything i can openings for a month. next month i start studying development or middle game(not sure thats the same thing). also for a month. then i go for another month into endgame.
the problem is i dont know where does checkmates with little pieces go. like you kknw mate with two rooks and all that. can you explain better? im a pretty new player and i just dont know what the heck to do. i suppose its like school where you dedicate certasin time to certain stuff? gotta help me here friend.
You should redo this video after reading "Make it stick" or any of the more recent research on efficient learning. I honestly found this vague. I found myself watching it at 1.5-1.75x waiting for some nugget to use.
You are too smart! This video is for beginners 😊
Hopping around has the advantage that you won't get bored so easily. I would never do 4 weeks Endgames since I find it so dry
You can do other things too! The point is to do at least 1 thing consistently.
How about daily games? One move per day?
Useful for beginners and newer players 😊
Your advice to play a lot makes sense, however, I don’t understand how a complete beginner, like me, can benefit from playing, if I lack the experience and ability to analyse my games and understand why I lost or won. Could you please how to solve this problem.
Just to clarify, when you say 'complete beginner', do you mean you've already learned the rules and understand things like check and checkmate? If you're unfamiliar with those terms, it would be good to get a full understanding of the rules first before starting to play.
But once you feel comfortable with the rules and how the pieces move, I would encourage you to play so you can develop experience for the game.
If you want a head start, search "chess opening principles" to learn some strategies for the beginning of the game. I would advise *against* memorizing moves, instead it's more important to focus on the general ideas (controlling the center, developing your pieces) about how to play.
David did an excellent video for this channel with all of his advice for new players. It's called How to Become a Chess Player if you're interested in that! Happy to help if you have other questions :)
Great Channel how much do you charge for lessons i really need to work with a teacher to get me on the right path i keep doing the same thing over and over i would like a lesson every week and im sure i would reach my goal of 2000 from 1500
Blitz gets a bad rap. Blitz is great for working on your openings, you can learn so much by playing different openings and their variations. You can drill your repertoire through blitz. I've seen many new positions and tactical ideas in blitz games, surely that was useful to me or others?? Slower games are more important, I understand that.
Of course blitz can be useful, but most players just play without analyzing their games 😁
Most of this falls in line with my study plan, but I’m not focusing on one thing, I’m working through a book (amateur to im) which is mostly end game, but I’m also doing seperate endgame training / calculation along the way. It’s in a way one project do you think this is adequate use of my study time?
Sounds like you're focusing on the endgame! 👍
I don't know if you're still reading comments, but I take my training very seriously. Currently this is my routine:
1. Study a game from a grandmaster. Mostly I do Karpov (Mednis) or Magnus (Zenon)
1a. I go through the games and try to find the next move and analyze what i would play or should do, then if It doesn't match with what Karpov or Magnus did I will input the moves on stockfish and see how my plans shake out. If they are viable or if there is any crippling defect. I don't care about minor margins, as long as the idea is working and not a massive blunder I am happy.
1b. I only study Sicilians and Ruy Lopez games right now. Sometimes I do another just for fun, but I am mainly concerning myself with playing against the Najdorf and the Berlin. This helps me absorb all the themes and concepts. For instance I just found a game with Bobby Fischer in a Caro-Kann and Magnus vs Anand in a Berlin where the middle game position was almost identical and the strategic theme was the same [pinning Black's pieces down to the defense of b6 then attacking elsewhere].
2. I replay the games from memory and come up with questions and ideas about the positions. Why not just play 8.d4 right away? etc. and I will examine freely without a computer.
3. I play 10 minute games on chess(dot)com or Lichess and try to have 6 active Correspondence games on Lichess
Hi there ! I just liked ur plan and i want to know how much did u improve in the last 2 years
@@amineshili7214 I gained about 100 points in Rapid on Lichess and went from 2140 to 2250.
Hello I need your advice if you can please
PLS => Practice, Learn, Solve!! 👍🏻👍🏻
Very good veideo!!
I am a rated player with 2200+.What is the lengthy calculation books I can get?
Hello I have a training plan but I just can’t get any better my lichess is 2000 how should I improve
You have to finish your training plan before expecting results! Keep studying 👍
Is it possible to become a FM. I am roughly 1600-1700 Elo in chess.