Rapid Chess Improvement
A Study Plan for Adult Players
Good day chess enthusiasts. It has been a brief time since I was last in front of you. The summer has been a busy time for me it seems. Riddled with chess content creation, family time, kids summer schooling and so on. I even had a camping vacation in there where I was extremely bit up by some bugs. The joys of outdoor time am I right? I have returned this month with an interesting topic and chess study plan. Today we will cover the controversial improvement plan book called Rapid Chess Improvement: a study plan for adult players by Michael de la Maza.
In this reading de la Maza lays out a few chess drills along with the core foundation of the training program he’s coined “the 7 circles” which would be the predecessor to what many have heard of: Axel Smith’s Woodpecker Method. What is the 7 circles? de la Maza explains you take a set of puzzles - this can be any set from 500 to 10,000 tactics - and you go through them all in what is called a circle. Circle 1. For this explanation we will use a simple number like 1000. Just for easy math of course to get the gist.
Circle 1 - 25 a day until complete with all 1000 - 40 days to complete all 1000
Circle 2 - 50 a day to go through the set - 20 days to complete all 1000
Circle 3 - 100 a day - 10 days
Circle 4 - 125 a day - 5 days
Circle 5 - 250 a day - 4 days
Circle 6 - 500 a day - 2 days
Circle 7 - 1000 in 1 day
So at the end of the 82 days you will have gone through the same 1000 puzzles seven times. This is the basis of his improvement plan. What does this achieve though? Brute force pattern recognition. He claims this was his quickest path to success in the book. If memory serves he shows his rating graph indicating he improved over 500 points from 1550 or so to slightly above 2100 over a 3 year period if I am recalling that correctly. 500 points! You exclaim? As an adult improver that seems impossible. No way! I am sure you are all thinking that can’t work but I’d certainly love to gain 500 points. Right? It cannot be that simple, can it? Well guess what, I put it to the test and no its NOT that simple but doable.
First let me start that I have been working with the 7 circles program for a number of tries and years. I never really gave it an honest effort and failed in completion many times due to lack of motivation and discipline. de la Maza says he used a program CT-ART to which I have used a number of times in the past. I highly recommend that tactics set. Even if you do not use it for following this program it is very useful to learn and understand the patterns. After all it does have like 20,000 puzzles within. Why not have such a large tactics set for yourself?
I have run through this a few times since my return to chess in June of 2022. I have not documented how many failed attempts but even on those failed attempts I found value. All of my failed attempts were using CR-ART throughout 2022 and 2023. Late 2023 I decided to really give it a full effort with a solid set of tactics. From November 2023 to March 2024 I finally completed a 1000 set of CT-ART for the first time. I saw it helped so much I said lets do it again with Tactics Time 1 (1001 puzzles) on Chessable found here for those interested. I thought to myself well Chessable works really well for me so why not try it with a full set and go from there instead of using the CT-ART program - this way I can be on the goal mobile using Chessable if needed.
I found my mistakes using the Pump Up Your Rating analysis method that I was losing a majority of my games due to 2-3 move tactics. So 7 circles was going to be my way of solving that issue. I decided I wanted the quickest improvement I could so I set an accelerated time table and plan for myself. Here is my plan when going through Tactics Time 1.
Circle 1 - 80 a day with 60 and 61 on the final two days - 13 days
Circle 2 - Same as above
Circle 3 - Same as above
Circle 4 - 160 a day with 41 on the final day - 7 days
Circle 5 - 250 a day with 251 on the final day - 4 days
Circle 6 - 500 a day with 501 on the final day - 2 days
Circle 7 - all 1001 - 1 day
I stuck to this strict schedule. Started my program on 4/9/2024 and completed on 6/20/2024. I took a break for a few days here and there in between circles which expanded my completion time but it’s a little over a two month cycle. The first circles were extremely easy. Once you get into Circle 5, 6 and 7 it becomes very challenging. I would go as far as to say its brutal. This is the area where the pattern recognition really sets in and handling puzzles becomes a matter of recall over calculation. You just start to KNOW the answers. The themes and motifs pop out at you quickly.
Now to backtrack a bit. I have been on and off with the 7 Circles using the CT-ART since I have returned to chess in June ‘22. Failing many many times but always trying my best. I also ventured into other programs like Chess Dojo and The Chess Gym. I call those side quests in my effort for chess improvement. Though those programs are amazing and have a ton to offer I do not believe they reach the root cause of most improver’s issues which are 2-3 move tactics. They each touch upon the ideas but do not make them the focus. I urge you to look at your games and find the patterns of issues at hand. I expect many of you will find it is most certainly 2-3 move tactical oversights and miscalculations.
The real question is - does it work? The answer, at least for me, is emphatically YES! And I have the rating graph to prove it.
In November of 2022 I was 1344. Now in August of 2024 less than two years later I am now 1851. In June of 2022 I was 1450 when I returned to chess and promptly lost over 100 points getting back in form. During this time I was also failing my way through the CT-ART 7 Circles being humbled over and over. My failure was only in the completion of the program. Not in my training since all of the progress I was doing was beneficial. And since then I have had a slow and steady upward trajectory with two major jumps in improvement over the course of that duration with having just won a tournament at my local club for the first time in my chess career beating a Master in the process. Now though I attribute a majority of my improvement to the 7 circles, I will admit it was not the only thing I was doing during this time. I also did a great deal of calculation work, analyzed all of my games and learned from those mistakes, analyzed GM games, read some chess books, followed some opening courses on Chessable, along with some Endgame work as well. I was putting in serious effort and on average 2-4 hours a day on chess. I still am putting in that effort. Complete immersion. I was listening to podcasts by Chess Journey’s by Kevin Scull and Perpetual Chess by Ben Johnson as well. I highly recommend both if you are short on motivation or drive. My favorite episodes are with Philemon Thomas and Stacia Pugh. Check them out.
You MUST answer the question: How am I losing my games? If you do not objectively find your mistakes and correct them using some method like the one laid out in Pump Up Your Rating, everything is just an excuse or worse yet just complacency. When you find your pattern of failure and issue, which most likely will be tactical in nature, and you are looking to really make some serious gains and understanding about the game of chess, then I urge you to consider de la Maza’s approach - The 7 Circles Method. In closing in 2024 I have completed two 7 Circles cycles using two different courses and I am in the midst of my third. It’s gained me over 500 points so far. I will continue to do this until it proves not to offer value. How many points would YOU like to gain? If you have questions or need assistance with this program I am happy to help. Please reach out to me on Twitter @highgroundchess or on my Discord or even here on my blog
I would love to walk anyone through the process to get them started. If you like this content and want to support what I am doing please help by sharing the post. Have a fantastic day and may the tactics be with you.For those interested in a video explanation please check my YouTube - How to Gain 500+ ELO
Major thanks to
Evan Seghers for his continued guidance and tutelage going over my games and offering his Master level insights without which I would probably not be on the path I am on now. Make sure to check out his page as well and follow his journey to National Master.
Hi. First congratulations on your success. I am one of the many who have read the book then failed to implement it. Heck I’m so old I read Delemaza’s original articles on chess cafe that led to the book.
I have two questions. Did you practice the micro drills that he recommends and if so did they help? Did you use his thinking algorithm that he recommends near the end of the book and if so was it effective?
Thanks for writing this.
Learning the 14 tactical themes is important, of course, given the highly tactical nature of chess. But once you’ve done that, I think it’s more important to study tactics in the context of strategy, by playing over full games. Also, lichess allows you to play over the moves leading up to the critical tactical position, and that is very useful, as you need to learn to recognize the necessary pre-conditions for tactics.