Chess Study That Actually Works

For Me Anyways

Since I posted about my massive gains back in July 2024 from Rapid Chess Improvement I have been asked weekly what am I doing? What is my routine? Why am I seeing improvement whilst others are not? The answer is quite simple and I will lay it out for you here. As I discuss on The Chess Experience podcast with Daniel Lona it is really all about consistency. I honestly think this is what most adults are lacking in their improvement plan. You have to show up every day. There is much deeper benefit to get in 30 minute effort every day of the week then one 2-4 hour session on the weekend. Of course any time you put into chess will be valuable however, I think it really is the consistency that helps you most.

But Nick I am showing up every day and I am still not improving. What can I do? Well there are a few things. Everything after consistency comes down to what is needed most for YOU and YOUR chess development. One option might be a coach. Investing in a coach can most certainly fast track this process. Even I have decided to pick up a coach to help me become more efficient and hone in on my real problem areas - pawns structerers for me. However; if this is outside of your price range or you are simply not ready for a step like that, I have a few things that really helped me on this journey.

How to Find Your Weaknesses

First and foremost is I highly recommend reading Pump Up Your Rating by Axel Smith. It is essential for learning how to think about chess from an improvement standpoint. In the book he explains how to find and categorize your mistakes. The book is great as a whole with many annotated games but if you pick up the book for nothing more than this it is worth it. Then to improve you can follow his four pillars of chess improvement and those being:

1. List of your Mistakes - analyzing your games - This is HUGE! And absolute MUST!

2. Woodpecker Method - Tactics - I use Rapid Chess Improvement but either method works. You have to sharpen your tactical ability. Chances are high this is where most are falling short. They are simply not honest with missing easy tactics. I was like this too.

3. Openings - Studying them as to know your middlegame plans and ideas

4. Theoretical Endgames - Study them once and refresh as needed.

These are the major pillars of improvement. I think it is a fantastic framework for improvers to follow. As for finding your weaknesses Axel Smith lays out in chapter 5 where you should categorize your mistakes into a list. What I did for this was create a speadsheet in Google Sheets. I have two sheets. One for listing my mistakes from each game and then another with the categories listed. I would document each game. Find the mistakes and blunders. Then I would add them to my sheet. What I would do next is look at the categories and mark a 1 for each time I hit one of those areas within my game. My examples of active sheets are below.

I Have My Weaknesses Now What?

Once you have a list of your weaknesses and categorized them it is rather jarring to see the patterns. For many of you I would expect to see similar as to my screens posted above. Typically they will be tactical and caclulation in nature. For the step above it is extremely important to be honest with your mistakes. Do not make excuses like “Oh I was sick” or “I had a headache”. Be HONEST with your mistakes. OWN them! You must otherwise you will be destine to continue making the same mistakes in your games.

Ok you have your list and it is probably riddled with many issues. The idea here is to solve one of the issues and turn it from a weakness into a strength. For many of you and myself was and might still be included here it will be tactics and calculation or even thought process. These are all related in some fashion or another. It is time to work on this until it is no longer the weak part of your game but a strength.

IF Your Issues are Tactical…. as mine were and still are

1. Find a tactics course - Follow the Rapid Chess Improvement Method

2. When complete - Do it again! Yes you heard that correctly - Blank your course and start it over again.

3. When you have completed the course with 95% accuracy - usually after 2 cycles of RCI - time for a new course and Rinse and Repeat the steps above.

Following this I can assure you will help improve your tactical awareness. An important note is to choose an easier course. Humble yourself. If you need assistance with this please comment or do not hesitate to reach out.

IF Your Issues are Strategic….

1. Pick ONE strategy book and use only that. Recommendations would be the following in order by rating:

   1. Simple Chess by Michael Stean

   2. How to Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman

   3. Grandmaster Structures by Rios - This it my current only resource at the writing of this post.

   4. Mastering Chess Strategy by Johan Hellsten

If you have any of these on chessable you can cycle them using the RCI method if you choose. It is not necessary but going through the games and learning the concpets and ideas is really what you want to drive your issues home. If you need assistance with this please comment or do not hesitate to reach out.

If Your Issues are Endgames…

1. Again Pick ONE endgame book and use only that. Recommendations would be the following in order by rating:

   1. Silman’s Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman

   2. Mastering Endgame by Johan Hellsten

   3. Endgame Strategy by Shereshvsky

   4. Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual by Dvoretsky

Honstly for most of you Silman’s Complete Endgame Course is more than enough for most endgame work. The latest edition I believe goes up to 2500 and is more than adequet for a majority of those reading this. The others are honestly 2000+ ELO so probably best to not worry about those.

Develop a Daily Plan

Now you have done a LOT of work at this point. You read Pump Up Your Rating. You understand the four pillars of chess improvement and study. You documented all your weaknesses and also categoized them. You even found some reasources for how to solve your glarring issues. Now what? Time to create a daily regimen for a process and producton based goal. What does that look like? Below is what I followed since November.

1. RCI - 7 Circles - using Tactics Time 1 and 2 on chessable - I made an accellerated start so I could smash through the courses more quickly.

2. 2-5x Puzzle Storm (Puzzle Rush on chess.com)

3. At least 2x Blitz games - Helped with building initution and quick tactical pattern recognition.

4. Added all mistakes and blunders to my own custom chessble course

5. Keep up with reviews on custom chessable course.

This was the exact plan I used to help solve and keep sharpening my tactical claw. I still follow this today though I have made some modifications slightly. I no longer am playing blitz but moved over to rapid games instead. Also my course has changed on RCI since I have completed Tactics Time 1 and 2 with over 95% accuracy during my last cycle. If you have issues with anything other than tactics I would love to start a dialog with you and help you develop a plan to work through your pain points. Let’s discuss.

Key Takeaways

1. Find your misakes and categorize them.

2. Find your pattern - Tactical, Stragetic or Endgame or otherwise.

3. Develop a plan around that issue.

4. Follow the plan daily.

5. Work on this plan until that weakness becomes a strength.

Your plan does not need to be complex but simple and easy to adhere to daily. I think adults have this undying need to gather more information expecting this will most certainly help them become a better chess player only then to become frustrated by not seeing results. I believe most of you have more than enough information at hand and need to learn how to turn that knowledge into working skill. Lifting chess weights so do speak. How do you get better at running? Do you read 10 books about running before you go for a run? NO! You get your shoes on and you head outside and run. So stop making your chess improvement so complicated and complex. Get out there and play chess.