Bonified66 Yusupov Intermediate Training Plan

Hello all, another older player here looking to get back into chess. I was quite good at school but stopped playing soon after and only took it up again just before Xmas in lockdown. I think having a clear plan should really help, my problem is (maybe different to a lot of people) I study too much and don't play enough! For example I've done lots of opening study which could probably wait until I make fewer one move blunders.

Anyway the starting point is

Daily Unrated

Rapid 1519 (all 10+0 so far)

Blitz 1135 (I've been struggling at 3+2 but should do better at 5+5)

Puzzles 1554

Let's see how we go!

Welcome to the "we're not so young but still strong" club

Enjoyed my first week on the plan. Updates as follows

Daily 2/2 wins. I hadn't done this before and it's a totally different way of playing. One move tricks and tactics don't work, so you have to develop well and create pressure, double threats etc. I don't think rating means a lot until we have at least 10 games in the bank.

Rapid (15+10) W3 L3, Rating 1501 (-18). Two of the wins were very quick due to opponent blundering the opening. If that didn't happen I found it tougher. Having played no longer than 10+0 before this is also different. My opening knowledge gains me some quick wins and rating points, but in the middle game these opponents are generally a bit better than me. It's a good challenge.

Blitz (5+5) W5 L3, Rating 1154 (+19). Blitz I'm sure my “true” rating is higher than this and I should be able to progress. I should have won two of the losses, then again I swindled a timeout win when I was losing, swings and roundabouts. The most common blunder I make is when my opponent blunders, eg hangs a piece, and I don't see it! I need to check rather than just assume he's made a sensible move.

Puzzles 1674 (+120). Getting used to the chess.com style of puzzles, I was working on ChessTempo before (1610 rating). Sometimes on chess.com there's little tangible advantage in the solution and you have to figure that out, plus there's the time element for extra points. We'll see how it goes.

Yusupov Chapter 1, 15/16 points. Pleased with that, didn't quite see all of the 3 point problem.

I'm still trying to figure out when is the best time of day to play and so on, which will come. While I've done “too much” opening study up to this point, as in other areas would benefit more from the work, I can see which ones I'm struggling with. Scandinavian is the worst, I'm 0-4 against that on chess.com and 1-3 on lichess. It's also one that can't be avoided. So I'm working out a plan for that. In the openings I like (Scotch Gambit, Delayed Alapin, Accelerated Dragon) I'm doing well. A bit sketchy as Black against d4 but hardly anyone seems to be playing it.

I think my main middlegame issue is when I'm up some material and my opponent rightly tries to counterplay, I don't handle it very well. I should either consolidate fully or create bigger threats of my own, while looking to trade if I can. That will come hopefully.

Looking forward to crack on this week.

Life has intervened a bit this week, I think I'm a day late, and may continue to do so now the sun's out and lockdown is being relaxed here (UK).

Daily, 1 completed game (drawn). I have one game that I can't quite finish off, I'm paranoid about making a mistake after all this work and opponent is making it difficult. Should close it out soon hopefully. I'm also playing a friend in Rapid games, he's pretty good, I'm playing those unrated as he's definitely better than 1200 :)

Rapid (15+10), W1 D2 L3. Rating 1471 (-30 on the week, -48 overall). And the win was a 9 move checkmate. Two Knights vs Caro-Kann, I also won a Blitz game in 10 moves with that. Apart from that, it's been tough. After the helpful chat in the Discord Intermediate group I'm making some progress with fewer blunders, hopefully.

Blitz (5+5), W4 D1 L3. Rating 1154 (0 on the week, +19 overall). Some progress here, it's amazing how easier Blitz is in particular if you're the one on the front foot.

Puzzles 1845 (+171 on the week, +290 overall). Better, I have played a few more than 5 a day here and there. Learning to go with the right move a bit quicker when I think I see it.

Yusupov Chapter 2, 15/21*, a big asterisk on that one I was half way through the exercises doing so badly that I (rightly I think) went through the chapter again and re-started. 15 on the second run. A lot trickier than last week, but you can crack them with concentration.

Overall, as I said after a chat on the forum about thought process to avoid blunders it's felt better, the last two days combined I've W3 D2 L1. I'm still almost certainly over-rated in Rapid anyway so that will have to settle before we can really make a judgement. Also enjoyed the simultaneous with Matt, it was very instructive to go through the game afterwards. I had the biggest problems when I tried to be too clever!

Week Three

Definite improvement in process and results this week. The chat we had about blunders and checklists on the Discord Intermediate forum really helped. I'm still hanging the odd pin, fork and two-move combination but really cut down on the egregious one-movers and that has helped a lot. Now games aren't being decided in this way I can start looking at improving areas like development and king safety and how problems arise from inaccuracies a few moves earlier. On the downside it's another 8 day week :)

Ratings as follows

Rapid 1496 (+25 on the week, -23 overall)

Blitz 1191 (+37 on the week, +56 overall)

Puzzles 2052 (+207 on the week, +498 overall)

Daily, Running total W5 D2 L0 against rated opponents, W2 L5 against my friend who is definitely better than me. Learning a lot in these. I'm probably spending a bit too much time on them though, that could be better spent on study or a few more real-time games.

Rapid (15+10), W3 L2, totally losing one when my opponent resigned or disconnected or something. Doing better in these, not quite so reliant on openings to get the win. Something that is common with other fields in which I've practised and improved, it's not that I feel better, but opponents at the same level seem to get worse.

Blitz (5+5), W6 D1 L1. Big improvement here, maybe those results flatter me a little, but cutting out the one-move blunders has helped a ton. I won a couple of mad games by making the second-last mistake, and came within one second of timing out in one which is criminal with a 5s increment, but good to learn a lesson and still win!

Puzzles 2052, tearing these up. I could be quicker at times, but it's better to be slower and right than quicker and wrong. Again, it seems like puzzles at the same standard are just easier than they were a couple of weeks ago. I can't expect to continue at this pace but it's good for now.

Yusupov Chapter 3, 19/31 points for a Pass, one short of Good. A different kind of chapter with some involved combinations, looking forward to the next.

Week 4

Life intervening again but managing to almost keep up. 8 day weeks work for me. Most of the games I've lost have been long drawn out rather than blundered early so that's something, lost a couple of Rook and pawn endgames that I could have drawn, that seems to be a weak area. I reckon I'm done with the Dutch, a dozen games and I'm not feeling it, struggling generally with Black against d4 I'm W5 D4 L9. Maybe the Nimzo-Indian next. Also it might be the time of day I play, but I do find that the majority of my opponents are rated lower than me, up to 100 lower in some cases. It is what it is.

Ratings as follows

Rapid 1504 (+8 on the week, -15 overall)

Blitz 1210 (+19 on the week, +75 overall)

Puzzles 2111 (+49 on the week, +547 overall)

Daily, W5 D1 L2, lost to my friend who I am, in the words of Johnny Moss, going to have to let go. Also on the back foot against a 1700, becoming more difficult against higher rated players, impulsive moves are really punished in this format. Too often my opponent plays a move that I hadn't even considered.

Rapid W4 L2, not bad, I have a tendency to invite too much pressure when I have opportunities to create counter-play, but I've stopped the slide at least.

Blitz (5+5) W5 D1 L2, not proud of some of these games but it's Blitz. I've only blundered one blitz game out of 8 this week so that's something. Having quite a bit of practice against unsound gambits :)

Puzzles 2111, treading water with my rating this week until today when I managed 5/5 including a 2200. Still could be quicker but finding that balance between speed and accuracy.

Yusupov Chapter 4 Pawn Endgames, 19/22 (excellent). Some tricky ones in here but I've already been through most of Silman so I had a head start here.

A week of two halves. Wasn’t playing especially well to start with, went 0-2 Rapid and 2-2 Blitz. Then I pulled myself together and went 4-0 Rapid, 3-1 Blitz. Helped by some remarkable play from opponents (see Rapid section).

Learned a lot this week, I’ve really found Aman Hambleton’s Building Habits videos helpful, they show how simple things like quick development and King safety can lead to good positions. Also helped with my openings against d4, going back to a simple QGD or anti-London.

Ratings as follows

Daily 1513

Rapid 1520 (+16 on the week, +1 overall yay)

Blitz 1224 (+14 on the week, +89 overall)

Puzzles 2145 (+34 on the week, +581 overall)

Daily (all) W5 D2 L3. Lost my last 3 completed games against higher rated opponents. However, winning one in play and another one is about equal. After I choose my move I try to predict 3 or 4 moves my opponent might play and this is helping me to see his threats and the possible downsides of my move. I think I can improve my rating, I was 2 pts up on a 1700 in one game and I feel fairly comfortable against 1400s.

Rapid (15+10) W4 L2. Lost the first two not playing particularly well, then won two playing well including I think the best game I’ve played since coming online, might post that one in the Intermediate forum. Then today I don’t know what happened, I beat two guys in the upper 1400s in six and seven moves. They both blundered a piece and resigned. Good times.

Blitz (5+5) W5 L3. After a good run in Blitz I was a bit complacent at the start of the week, then knuckled down and won the last 3. Good things will happen if I do the basics, develop quickly, keep my King safe and be proactive. Not in any time trouble this week, as I shouldn’t be with a 5 second increment, but it’s all good.

Puzzle Rating was as high as 2170 but missed a few, still finding that balance between speed and accuracy.

Yusupov Chapter 5 Double Checks 15/16 Excellent, it does help that it’s a very specific motif you’re looking for!

Week 6 complete, half way through!

In and out again this week, I find playing chess is a great litmus test for how well my brain is working! On the plus side I did complete everything in 7 days and I’m doing better at finding time to play and not expending too much mental energy on other chess like Youtube videos. The process of my Rapid and Blitz ratings converging to the same percentile continues. Finding the right time to play makes a big difference. I have to stop playing within an hour after eating a meal, that's for sure.

Ratings as follows 

Daily 1549 (+36 on the week, still settling as it’s quite a small sample)

Rapid 1503 (-17 on the week, -16 overall)

Blitz 1252 (+28 on the week, +117 overall)

Puzzles 2132 (-13 on the week, +568 overall)

Daily (All Games) W7 L3 D3. Started a couple of extra games this week as I was enjoying them, but this probably isn’t a good idea, I should play an extra real-time game or two if I want to play more. I ended up expending a lot of mental energy in a game that fizzled out into a draw.

Rapid W2 L4. I’ll do well to stay around 1500 for a while I think, if I don’t gain a tangible advantage in the opening it’s difficult. Having said that, I played well in the two wins, blundered two of the losses playing when not at my best, and being Black 6/6 games didn’t help with results this week! My mindset couple improve when playing a higher rated player. Just play the board instead of thinking, "oh well, doesn't matter much if I lose this"

Blitz W5 L2 D1. First day wasn’t great went 2-2, then good yesterday, 3 wins and a draw (perpetual check when up material). Certainly think I can improve my rating even performing at the same level.

Puzzles not so good this week, including one major tilt session that knocked my rating back to 2070 at one point. Ground it back up in the last couple of days.

Yusupov Chapter 6 The value of the pieces, 9/19 barely scraped a pass, those were tough

Week 7 

I feel like I’ve been playing really badly this week, but somehow I’ve won as many as I’ve lost and my ratings haven’t taken a hit. I seem to have gone backwards in my ability to look for and find positive moves. I’m too reactive, too defensive and I miss clear opportunities. That’s one positive, in almost every game I’ve played I’ve had opportunities that I am capable of seeing.

On a bit of analysis, most of these opportunities revolve around alignment, especially pins, so I’m doing some pin-specific puzzles on Lichess as well as the scheduled Chess.com puzzles which might help.

In the second half of the program I am going to change it around a bit. I still struggle to get enough games in, not through lack of time but I’m not sure what it is, I’d just much rather study than play This is a tendency of mine I know about, I’d rather study or practice than get my hands dirty winning and losing. So at least chess is highlighting that as an area to improve.

So if I’m home in the morning, which I usually am, I’ll play for 45 minutes to an hour. Rapid one day, Blitz the next. If I lose two Blitz games in a row I’ll stop. See how I go with that, and reduce the time I spend studying and (especially) watching videos. Videos can be very entertaining but they drain mental energy that could be better used playing! If I watch fewer videos I should be fresher to play.

Just posting ratings now rather than W/L, hopefully this will help me to become less results oriented

Daily 1544 (-5 on the week, +31 overall). Lost a game in 11 moves which was really bad, total brain fog. Even in these games I’m missing tactics that I should see, and here I really do have time to look for better moves

Rapid 1502 (-1 on the week, -17 overall). Still finding these difficult if I don’t come out of the opening with an edge. Opportunities are there though.

Blitz 1246 (-6 on the week, +111 overall). First session was fine, a frustrating one today where my accuracy was generally better than my opponents but I still couldn’t win a game (D2 L2). Including a bizarre draw where my opponent repeated moves when he had a mate in one. That’s a new one. Blunders are costing me here. Also lost a game from a full piece up, I usually convert well so that was frustrating.

Puzzles 2186 (+56 on the week, +624 overall) with a high of 2218. Made back what I lost in my tilt session a couple of weeks ago, and generally back on track with these.

Yusupov Chapter 7 Discovered Attacks, 9/15 pass. A little careless on a couple of these.

I'm going to hit pause on this for a couple of weeks, I'm super busy and I feel like I need a reset. Have learned a lot but I need to go back to basics and improve the foundation before I work any more on the penthouse!

Going to jump back on the horse tomorrow in terms of playing. I've still been keeping up with my Daily (1568), Puzzles (2289, plateaued for a bit but on a roll right now) and Yusupov (completed chapters 8 and 9). I'm switching to something more like Matt's suggestion on Discord of a "metric" based system. Goal is to play 4 hours per week on one time control, with brief analysis but not overdoing it. If my rating improves, stick with that control, else switch to something else. Starting with 5+5, and hopefully in 6 weeks I can push into the 1300s (currently 1246).

Back on it this week, not quite 4 hours of games, 3 and a half . I've found a way of organising it that works fairly well. If I block off an hour then I play for 30 mins (2 or 3 games of 5+5), analyze briefly, update my Daily Games and do my puzzles, that's about an hour session. Then I maybe play a couple more games later in the day.

For the first half of the week all the games went by rating, I beat players lower than me and lost to higher. Then I finished well with 5 wins and a draw. When I’m playing well, I’d say it’s methodical. That doesn’t mean slow, in fact it’s often quicker than I was playing before, but it’s calm, scanning for threats and opportunities, discarding a move if it doesn’t look good fairly quickly and instead of staring at it for a minute, thinking “Ok, do I have something simpler”.

Ended up with 11+ 5- 1= for a 34 point rating gain to 1280, which is an ATH.

Daily I’m down 5 at 1563, I’ve had three completed games DLD which should really have been WDW. Building some good positions and not quite converting, so it’s reasonably encouraging.

Puzzles at 2351 (+62) with a high of 2380, definitely improving at these.

Yusupov completed Chapter 10 (Opposition) and inspired by Mouratovsky’s post I’ve started “How to Study Chess on Your Own”.

Looking forward to maybe cracking 1300 next week, but as that was the 6 week goal, not get too down if that doesn't happen immediately.

Losing track of weeks but we can call it Week 9 I'm more on a monthly focus with the goal of playing 50 5+5 games in July. Anyway since the last update we have

Blitz 15 games, 6+ 7- 2=. Rating 1273 (-7). As it's not a big rating drop I'm going to stick with the 5+5. My time management is getting better, I even won a couple of games on time today, one from a losing position. Shouldn't happen with a 5 second increment but I'll take it. Trying to be methodical, solid but positive.

Rapid no games, no change

Puzzles 2354, +3 but some major tilt sessions in there and I was down in the low 2200s at one point. Grinding it back. Seeing the odd 2300 quickly which is nice.

Daily down 18 at 1545, have been playing some better players which should be good for my game.

Yusupov completed Chapter 11 (The Pin) with an Excellent score, half way through Chapter 12 (Double Attacks).

That's about it, building up to longer sessions, up to 2 hours in which I do everything (play, analyse, puzzles, daily) which should be good for my concentration.

Week 10 has been a bit up and down but I think I've learned a lot. It becomes apparent that my endgames need a lot of work, especially winning positions that I manage to blow through inaccuracy/impetuous moves. I'm also trying to work out why I only seem to play close to my best in the morning. Why do I have brain fog for the rest of the day? Knowing that would benefit my whole life!

Blitz 9 games, 4+ 5- Rating 1261 (-12). Up to a near high of 1287 when I lost 4 in a row with all sorts of bad play and blunders. Not enough games but I'm just about on track for my 50 games in a month, 18 games in 12 days plus one Classical (see below)

Rapid just one unrated game in the Classical tournament which I really enjoyed. An excellent challenge to play for 1 hr 50 mins and my mental stamina wasn't quite up to it, combined with some excellent resourceful play from my opponent.

Puzzles 2432 (+78) broke through after plateauing last week, touched 2500 as a high but then dropped off a few in the last couple of days. It will be a good challenge to stay at this level and break 2500 again.

Daily, losing interest in these tbh, 2 are dragging on, I think I'd be better off phasing these out and playing more 30 minute games to replace. I mentioned on the forum I'm playing a guy who's Blitz rated 2100 and has a 33-0 record in Daily, and I'm into an endgame with a slight advantage which is something.

Yusupov completed Chapter 12 (Double Attack) with 12 points for a Pass. Also going through the Chessable Strategy For Kids course and building chessable flashcards from my own games which is fun. 

While I think I would be better playing 15+10 for a while rather than 5+5, I'm going to stick at it for the rest of the month as I committed for the July challenge. 5+5 really should be long enough not to blunder as much as I do!

Week 11 moving towards a Rapid/Classical focus this week.

Blitz 3 games, thought I played more than that, but 2+ 1-, Rating 1268 (+7). Should be playing more but life and stuff, and I'm still on course for my July target.

Rapid, played the Rapid Swiss Tournament on Saturday, 2- to higher rated opponents and 1+ v lower. Certainly enjoyed these even though I did get kind of crushed by the higher rated players I didn't make any outright blunders. Also played another Classical game last night in the tournament, won that one despite a wobble or two. This should really help my mental stamina playing for 1 hour on Saturday and 90 mins for the Classical. 

Daily just one left, it really is a draw and it's just dragging on, too many go like this which is why I'd rather phase them out.

Puzzles 2492 (+60) grinding these back up, definitely getting better and hopefully break a new high soon. I've also been doing some Rook endgame puzzles specifically on Lichess which have been good for logical thinking.

Yusupov, scraped a pass again on Chapter 13, another more nebulous chapter but I should have done a but better.

So almost done, but I should make more of an effort with my blitz games over the next 5 days plus another Classical on Sunday.

I let this "week" run to the end of the month as it would be a good point to close off both this Study Plan and my July playing challenge.

Blitz 14 games 9+ 4- 1=. Plus one game I lost connection and forfeited. Includes 4 games on Lichess while I wasn't trusting that connection . Rating 1288 (+20) with a high of 1303. I "celebrated" breaking 1300 by losing to a 700 in a tournament. Tournaments are interesting though, they help to focus on playing more games and playing people with a bigger rating difference is interesting and I beat some higher rated opponents too. Over the whole plan, improved my Rating by 153 which seems good.

Rapid and Classical no games this week, playing in the ChessGoals Classical event this evening. I lost 24 Rating points over the plan, hoping to focus on Rapid more next month.

Daily as I said last time I did tire of, I don't think they're for me, they're a bit addictive and take up a lot of time that could be better used. I've expended a lot of mental energy on games that were straight out draws for the last 20 moves.

Puzzles 2449 (-43) though I did reach a new high of 2533. This seems to be my level at the moment but simple concentration will help to improve. Too often I play the move without looking for the refutation or a better alternative,

Yusupov Passed Chapter 14 (Outposts and Open Files) and almost finished 15 (Combinations).

So all in all the plan has helped improve my Blitz Rating a lot (or at least play up to what I'm capable of). Games and puzzles are a great litmus test of how I'm doing mentally when I play, the difference between my best and my worst is considerable. Mental laziness is exposed. This is great training for my life and while I'm not going to start another plan just yet I'm going to set myself monthly play challenges and keep working on Yusupov.