Path To Chess Prosperity: Prelude

Hello to all chess fans! I will begin a new blog series called "Path to Chess Prosperity".

As some of you know, I am 16 years old rated 1650 USCF, living in Waco, TX and I am part of the Waco Chess Club (even though we are very small, we do consist some strong players). My ultimate career goal is the National Master (NM) title which is achieved by breaking 2200 USCF.

The other side of that mountain will be a long and difficult process. What I will do is about every week, I will post about my studying, progress, discoveries, etc. Here is a brief list of what I will plan on studying and my goals for this week:

Playing/Analyzing Games-- My goal this week is to play five 15/10 games online, and possibly one long one (like G/60). I don't have any OTB tournament plans for this week.

Openings-- I don't believe extensive opening study is vital for chess improvement. I may study the opening moves of training games I played, but otherwise, not much going on there.

Tactics-- I train tactics on Chesstempo.com. The idea with Chesstempo is they give you unlimited time to solve problems, though accuracy is pivotal. The plan is 15-20 minutes per day and to take as much time as I need... even if it takes that time to solve one problem! My Chesstempo rating is currently 1870. Not bad, but I would like it higher.

Master Games-- My plan is to alternate past World Champions and study their notable games (through chessgames.com). So this week will start with Wilhelm Steinitz. 

Endgames-- The plan is to go through De la Villa's "100 Endgames You Must Know" book. Generally, I will opt for two endings per week, though the first five will be walkthroughs, so I will study one through five and no more.

So anyway, that is my study plan in a nutshell. I will likely post a report on Saturday on how it is going. I wish I could write more, but it is getting late, and preparing for the first day of school!  

I apologize if this post was somewhat poor quality, as it is getting late here so I am somewhat tired now. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions. Thanks for reading!