Study Plan for Advanced Players

Once you’ve mastered the basics of chess, and you’re confident in your knowledge of the intermediate aspects of the game – it’s time to make your move in mastering the advanced chess concepts. Note that these are concepts that take a lifetime of practice to master. There are even chess Grandmasters that have been known to make a blunder from time to time. That being said, here are some concepts that you should work on if you want to master the advanced aspects of chess:

1. Grasping the dynamics and tension of a position
Many novices especially struggle in a position of high tension in chess. For example, a player can set a protected knight deep into enemy territory, where the knight attacks many pieces belonging to the opponent. This is a position of tension. A novice player would kill the tension immediately by capturing, in many cases, an opponent’s piece of equal power, like a bishop. Once the knight captures the bishop, the tension is lost. Learning how to move through the dynamics of chess and to use tension to your advantage is an incredibly powerful – and incredibly difficult-to-master skill set in chess. Only advanced players can learn these intricacies.

2. Fair exchange is not something that you should strive for
What this means is that you should make the most of every exchange that you’re about to make. Trading your knight for your opponent’s knight may not always mean that the two of you are trading equally. If your knight is weak and your opponent’s knight is set deep in your territory, attacking other pieces, then this would be a solid exchange for you. Of course, there are many other intricacies to it, but the basics are that you should aim to remain on top with every exchange of pieces.

3. Review your own games by yourself and by using a chess engine
It’s time to learn from history. Even though you yourself are playing the chess games, in many cases, it may not even be obvious to you that you’re making certain mistakes at certain parts of the game. Only by thoroughly reviewing your past games can you learn about your own play style – and improve on it. You can always use a chess engine to help you along the way. That being said, you should aim to review your last 50 games. Doing this will give you a plethora of information about how you play and how you can improve your game. It’s an arduous process – but it will be well worth your while.

4. Practice chess tactics and do visualization drills.
It will always pay off to get back to basics, even for advanced players. We live in a day and age when you can find countless chess resources on line. There are thousands of chess tactical drills that you could do on the most popular chess sites on the internet. These exercises will help you hone your senses so that you “smell” whenever there’s a chance to implement a certain tactic in chess. Also, being able to visualize how a piece moves (there are some queen vs knight visualization drills that you ought to do) will do wonders for how you’ll play chess down the line.

5. Knowledge of structures and plans.
Plans in chess arise from certain chess structures. Advanced players ought to know this better than anyone. By knowing which plans can arise from which piece-structures, you can make decisions early on in the game that will have a profound influence in how the game unfolds down the line. Again, this takes long-term practice – but it’s definitely a skill that advanced players should master.
Advanced Skills in Chess

The leap from a beginner’s skill in chess to intermediate chess skill is not as big as the leap from intermediate to advanced chess. You’ll need to put hours upon hours of dedicated practice to reach this level. But once you do succeed, you can be proud to call yourself a very good chess player, having mastered the basics, intermediate and advanced aspects of the game.

Private lessons available at: chess-boost

Course: Everyone's First Strategy Kit