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?
In the past I have done some of the micro drills. I find them helpful. Now I do them in my head from time to time. I will have to admit I do not remember the final portions of the book and have only mainly ran through the 7 circles training. I read the book many years ago and the 7C has always been something I have attempted. I should revisit the whole thing again. Can you refresh my memory on what the thinking algorithm is?
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.
These are great things to also do as well. Knowing and understanding how tactical positions arise before the critical position is paramount in understanding how to bring tactics into your games.
Hello, should each day within a circle have an increased puzzle rating (ex. Day 1 rating between 1000-1100, Day 2 rating 1100-1200)? Or is each circle completely within a rating scale? I found the original article confusing in this regard as he said they should be of increasing difficulty. Thank you
That is a great question. No. Just pick a puzzle set and go through them. Most sets will have increased difficulty as you go through them in a lot of cases. The difficulty does not usually matter. When I talked about it on the Chess Journey's podcast I did state the puzzle set I used did increase in difficulty and that is ok if it does. Whatever set you choose you should be able to figure out 75-80% of them where 20% of them might be harder and you learn from them.
Congrats on your success Nick! I think the RCI/7 circles type approach might be especially effective for the impressive jumps that you and De La Maza have made, but I think for the next level up more deep work and less pattern recognition work might be necessary , but as you say the most important thing is to relentlessly focus on what’s costing you games.
Indeed and I would have to agree. With my 7 circles I have also been doing deeper calculation exercises and endgame puzzles to deepen that knowledge. I fully expect my study plan to change at some point when I find I am losing games in a different vein than with 2-3 move tactics. Until then I will continue on this study plan until it proves to no longer serve a valuable function of course. Always have to be working on that floor. Its critical. Thanks for reading my post and commenting. I have also been listening to your podcast for months now. Trying to catch up.
Great post nick! It’s been awesome improving alongside you, looks like you hit your lofty first goal before I’ve hit my “seemingly close” second goal so I’ve gotta pick up the pace before you catch me!
You are right there. I expect Master is around the corner any day now. It has to be with the work you are putting in. I am excited to have reached my short term goal of Class A. Onto Expert. Many thanks for all of your continued guidance and tutelage. Its been fun working together on reaching our goals. Master is on the way for you!
What do you think about starting with a smaller set (250 tactics puzzles, or 350)? Also, what do you think about using a physical book and writing down the answers? It will take more time than a Chessable course or a Chess King app, but it may help to encourage good habits (such as thinking through the whole puzzle, instead of moving pieces in a trial-and-error fashion).
Starting with a smaller set is certainly worth it. I chose a larger set and tried to cram more in. I find using books is great. I would stress the idea for the 7 circles is best for using digitally due to the sheer amount you’ll go through at the later circles. With respect to books I use them for OTB training and calculation. Very helpful but not ideal for 7 circles. You want to jump from one to another to another as circles 5-6-7 are about pattern recognition and recall efficiency. When doing the 7 circles the first 4 circles should be for learning the patterns properly and not just clicking and hoping. You should always be trying to figure out the puzzle and not guessing.
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.
In the past I have done some of the micro drills. I find them helpful. Now I do them in my head from time to time. I will have to admit I do not remember the final portions of the book and have only mainly ran through the 7 circles training. I read the book many years ago and the 7C has always been something I have attempted. I should revisit the whole thing again. Can you refresh my memory on what the thinking algorithm is?
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.
These are great things to also do as well. Knowing and understanding how tactical positions arise before the critical position is paramount in understanding how to bring tactics into your games.
Hello, should each day within a circle have an increased puzzle rating (ex. Day 1 rating between 1000-1100, Day 2 rating 1100-1200)? Or is each circle completely within a rating scale? I found the original article confusing in this regard as he said they should be of increasing difficulty. Thank you
That is a great question. No. Just pick a puzzle set and go through them. Most sets will have increased difficulty as you go through them in a lot of cases. The difficulty does not usually matter. When I talked about it on the Chess Journey's podcast I did state the puzzle set I used did increase in difficulty and that is ok if it does. Whatever set you choose you should be able to figure out 75-80% of them where 20% of them might be harder and you learn from them.
Congrats on your success Nick! I think the RCI/7 circles type approach might be especially effective for the impressive jumps that you and De La Maza have made, but I think for the next level up more deep work and less pattern recognition work might be necessary , but as you say the most important thing is to relentlessly focus on what’s costing you games.
Indeed and I would have to agree. With my 7 circles I have also been doing deeper calculation exercises and endgame puzzles to deepen that knowledge. I fully expect my study plan to change at some point when I find I am losing games in a different vein than with 2-3 move tactics. Until then I will continue on this study plan until it proves to no longer serve a valuable function of course. Always have to be working on that floor. Its critical. Thanks for reading my post and commenting. I have also been listening to your podcast for months now. Trying to catch up.
Great post nick! It’s been awesome improving alongside you, looks like you hit your lofty first goal before I’ve hit my “seemingly close” second goal so I’ve gotta pick up the pace before you catch me!
You are right there. I expect Master is around the corner any day now. It has to be with the work you are putting in. I am excited to have reached my short term goal of Class A. Onto Expert. Many thanks for all of your continued guidance and tutelage. Its been fun working together on reaching our goals. Master is on the way for you!
What do you think about starting with a smaller set (250 tactics puzzles, or 350)? Also, what do you think about using a physical book and writing down the answers? It will take more time than a Chessable course or a Chess King app, but it may help to encourage good habits (such as thinking through the whole puzzle, instead of moving pieces in a trial-and-error fashion).
Starting with a smaller set is certainly worth it. I chose a larger set and tried to cram more in. I find using books is great. I would stress the idea for the 7 circles is best for using digitally due to the sheer amount you’ll go through at the later circles. With respect to books I use them for OTB training and calculation. Very helpful but not ideal for 7 circles. You want to jump from one to another to another as circles 5-6-7 are about pattern recognition and recall efficiency. When doing the 7 circles the first 4 circles should be for learning the patterns properly and not just clicking and hoping. You should always be trying to figure out the puzzle and not guessing.