Self-Studying and Teaching

Hello all,

I have a question that I hope can be answered by this wonderful community.

Disregarding my chess.com rating, according to real-life game experiences, I can beat 15 and 1600s.  I would love to get a lot stronger and am in need of a steady and decent study schedule.

My reasons for getting stronger is so that I can teach much more effectively to those that want to learn, and be more credible in what I teach.  I've come to the point where I've taught all I know without faking any knowledge, and I don't want to fake either.

So, my question is, what would be a decent study schedule for someone who has about 3 hours per day Mon-Fri and Saturday/Sunday 10 hours each?

What I want to learn:
1) Tactics
2) Openings
3) Middle game positional strategies
4) Endgame

Thank you so much in advance for any input you have to offer! 

Why not ask your coach ? That's really the kind of question a coach is supposed to answer

Like the OP i too am self studying. Ive studied the ff:

1. M60MG

2. The middle game in chess

3. Chess Endings Essential Knowledge

4. Chess Fundamentals

5. Capablanca Move by move

And surprised myself that i have improved alot. I  can now hold my ground even against a 1900 Elo. But sometimes i have "burning bridges" tendencies and sometimes still drop a piece. And up to now still find problems with knight endings and of course tactics. But i still keep training and studying i hope i can still improve more. Currently im reading Michael Dela Maza Book, and From Amateur to IM  by IM Hawkins. My study time is just basically 2hrs a day. (i spend more in games though). :)

Lim_Lom's last paragraph is correct - give what you can to chess, but life comes first. Great if you can commit that much time but you may burn out faster than you think. When it comes down to it, it's one's own command of tactics with fundamentals of positional understanding. And I emphasize fundamental. Sure, there are some exceptions, but what's most important is working on eliminating your weaknesses. Do that, and without realizing it you will think differently.

Doesn't matter what opening is used (just as long as it does not drop a piece or lead to self-mate) because at this level the game is won/lost on a tactical error or a positional misunderstanding.

I wish I had your time to study, but I don't. So I only stick with three types of books for now (I have about 2 hours freetime for three consecutive days):

• Tactics - to keep my mind sharp
• Endgame - to help me remember to maximize the power of my pieces
• Game Collections - as a time-off to enjoy chess literature but still learn something nonetheless

And the only opening tip I pretty much follow: connect my rooks by move 10 

Hey guys,

Thank you all for the advice, especially the one about burning out.  This is three years later, and I've finally obtained 1600 myself, a 500 USCF improvement from the time of the original post. 

I've had recent successes winning against 1700, 1800, and 1900s, and my first draw against a 2000.

After careful understanding of myself, I needed to play more than I studied so that I could put to practice what I learned, not the other way around.  

Hopefully my experiences will help others!

Happy Halloween!