Welcome! Are you on the Discord as well? I started late, at age 57, now 60 and am only interested in longer time controls. But I have also added some blitz to my training and it has helped from the point of view of: do I know my opening moves and do I spot tactics quickly. Best of luck with your progress!
Dave Busse's Study Plan
Sort:
Oct 25, 2021
0
#3
Hi Dave, I have a similar history as yours. I started playing chess as a kid, but my only real guide was "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess". I played sporadically throughout my life, but never really made a concerted effort to actually study. I am now 68, retired, and find my move processing is quite slow. I started playing chess online about 5 years ago and decided to see if I could actually make some improvement in my game. There has been progress, but very slow. My biggest problem is tunnel vision. Secondarily, I believe the overall improvement of the chess community has accelerated, so relatively speaking my improvement more or less stays even with the overall community's improvement. But I believe I can do better.
I made mention of a book called "Thinking, Fast and Slow" in my study plan update yesterday. That book discusses brain activity that occurs for our calculating thinking vs. our reactive or "intuitive" thinking. I believe the switchover causing poor move selections has a lot to do with moving from slow (calculating, analytical) to fast (reactive, intuitive) thinking. Here is an interesting visual test that demonstrates this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1saQoMRD8A
Initially I tried to "play faster" using Puzzle Rush and Bullet to force me to make quicker decisions. I pretty much either got worse at Rapid, or stayed even. I decided to try to actually slow things down and changed over to regular puzzles and no more Bullet, and have been trying tricks to develop good scanning habits before playing a move. I've had some success with my attempts, but not great. I have also really worked puzzles heavily. Before I began my ChessGoals Beginner plan, I was working 20 puzzles a day. After working over 11,000 puzzles over several years, I was making improvements, but had an accuracy rating of 50-51%. In my chess plan, the suggestion is 5 puzzles a day. I am now doing 5 puzzles a day and striving for a correct solution no matter the time. I am also using the puzzles as a way to improve my scanning of the entire position by forcing myself to look at the entire situation. This is beginning to chip away at my problem with the tunnel vision. Recently I have added back in a bit of Puzzle Rush, but not too much as I tend to very quickly slip back into the tunnel vision problem whenever I start to play fast. I have completely given up playing Bullet, although I really enjoy the adrenaline rush.
Daily games have helped quite a bit, allowing me time to study a position as deeply as I am able as well as remembering to practice looking at the whole situation. My hope is that this practice will create better reactive habits under time pressure.
I will be interested to follow your progress and see how things are working out for you as you progress. I am very happy with ChessGoals content and the community. It is very supportive and offers a lot of resources, not all of which I have learned yet. Good luck with your plan. This week my plan has me playing Blitz, my anathema. I have to remember something that has always stuck with me from a math class I took. In the first lecture, the instructor said that the best way to approach math was to check your pride in at the door. I have tried to generalize this to all of life's situations, although I still find myself occasionally cringing at the thought of yet another trouncing in blitz more than I know I should
. That which does not kill you...
@MacLuc & @harpbench -
Wow, thanks for the quick response! I'll be joining the Discord crew presently. I agree blitz can help with one's openings if you analyze the games to see if you responded to your opponents set-ups correctly. I'm guessing waiting to do your analysis for up to a week does not hurt. Does this agree with your experience? Or should you do it immediately to make sure you remember what you had in mind? [Ya, remembering lots of details, that's an issue too :^) ]. I'll take these questions to Discord.
As to "tunnel vision", if I understand you correctly it means not looking at all the threats, captures and targets on both sides and just moving too quickly. That is an issue I am working on.
Thanks again for the support folks. This really helps.
Oct 25, 2021
0
#5
Dave, I can only speak for myself, but I find it more effective to do the analysis right after the game. As you point out, it's easier to remember what you had in mind. I will be interested to see what others think.
Oct 25, 2021
0
#6
Welcome to the community! I did that book in Chessable last year and like it very much but it's not very easy. The quality of the puzzles is very high but some of them can be very tricky. It's totally worth it though!
Something I did a couple of years ago was do a bunch of super simple tactic books. With spaced repetition I was able to improve how long it took me each of them. My idea was to improve my pattern recognition instead of depth of calculation. Both are super important but something that always annoyed me when I was younger was how some folks could see tactics instantly and I couldn't. It somehow helped with blitz and bullet. Something to consider although to be honest it is a chore 
.
@Krolth45 - You are right, 1001 Exercises get harder as you go through each chapter. I'm doing most of the chapters in parallel. About 50% through each and the tactics are not too hard yet. What were the titles of the other tactics books you tried?
Oct 25, 2021
0
#8
I did "Tactics Time 1 and 2" and the Susan Polgar "Learn chess the right way" 5 book series. The Susan Polgar books begin super basic (mates in 1) and then has a smooth ramp. I like the series a lot (even though it targets kids by the end it has some nice puzzles). Tactics Time 1 and 2 felt too random, you will find a Mate in 1 next to a hanging rook problem, then you will be hit by a 3 move combination problem. Kind of a Puzzle Rush session where all the problems are shuffled. I was not a big fan but regardless I keep them in my "chessable rotation" so I still solve them when they come up for review.
On Youtube, I have found entertaining videos and material for players under 1000 at GothamChess. He's very entertaining, so it doesn't actually feel like you are working at it. (I believe at least half of his videos are rather being entertained, and learning to improve at chess while being entertained.) Lately he has focused more on his journey to gain the GM title, but a great deal of material for <1000's and low 1000's in past videos.
The other piece of advice I would give, is to try and have some easy enough system that you can utilize to get a reasonable game, so that you can try out what you have been learning. And to save time and energy, I would go with a system that might be used for both sides. I was stuck for many years (10+ years) at a rating until I decided I would play more of a system opening where I would be more comfortable with the positions than my opponent. So I would take some time to really analyze, decide and choose a repertoire, and then stick with those openings for a long time. This also helps you to pin-point which Grand Master games to review, because you are playing that particular opening. You will begin (over many games) to get a real 'knack' for what are good moves which will also help you to sense when you should punish your opponent, versus when to play a "quiet" move. Just my two cents. Good luck!
P.S. There is a "Keep It Simple" series on Chessable. The intention is for the openings to be easy for you, but difficult for your opponent. Also the course on the Caro-Kann offered by ChessGoals is intended for us 'amateurs', and the Caro-Kann is an excellent opening to counter e4. There are many others... But those are two that I thought of at the moment.
@erodrig411 - Yes, I've been following Levy Rozman's Youtube channel. I've also found his material helpful. As for System openings, I agree. More about ideas than memorizing lines, which I'm not very good at. I've also found the Chessable courses, especially the "Short and Sweet" series, of interest. I'm currently working on "Short & Sweet: The London System", but spending less time on that and more time on playing chess as a result of this study plan. Thanks for the comments. It seems you and I have very similar tastes in chess material. Thanks again.
Week 01 Update
Ratings & Games
It's probably too early but these are my current ratings with changes from the beginning of the study plan (last week):
Blitz 567 +1
Rapid 948 -226
Daily 1029 -22
Lost all but two of my games this week, but I am getting used to playing blitz. I am not sure how much the Blitz and Rapid numbers really mean, as I played almost exclusively daily games on chess.com previously. In a few more weeks I should find my level for Blitz & Rapid and will improve from there.
Analysis
Analyzed each game and used the "Key Moments" feature in chess.com to review and retry inaccuracies, mistakes and blunders. Major take-away for this week is that I am not always paying enough attention to what my opponent is doing. Related to that is the need to improve my “sense of danger” in a position.
Sometimes I found the Key Moment "mistake" evaluation completely mystifying. But at the end of this week chess.com introduced their new Game Review Feature which added English language explanation to the evaluation. I have found this dispels some of the mystery. Not sure how they programmed it (machine learning?) but I appreciate the tool. For those of you who have not seen it yet, here is an example:
Tactics
Tactics training on Chessable (“1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners”) is going well for the most part. But a few of the combination puzzles have been lengthy (5 or more moves) and beyond my ability to find them. May give “Tactics Time 1” a try.
Extra Credit
(Does Matt give extra credit?) Worked through the “Solitaire Chess” article by Bruce Pandolfini in the August issue of Chess Life. My total Par Score for guessing correct moves in the game (Khan vs Matisons, 1931) translated to an approximate rating of 1600. Mr Pandolfini is very generous. Keeps you coming back I guess.
Tomorrow (Monday 11/1/2021) I start week two of the study plan.
Oct 31, 2021
0
#13
I had the same sort of week, but also saw some progress, so a spark of hope, no matter how small, still burns. Yeah, those first games have a huge amount of hysteresis. I think I lost and gained points in the 100s for a bit.
I think the Game Review feature is very nice - an improvement over Moments, but I wish the hint was covered with a chance to make it visible after a try or two. I have found that it sometimes gives away too much when I start looking at the error. I think I will send a critique to the support folks. I suppose I could do my best not to see it. After all, not seeing the obvious seems to be my strongest chess skill these days...
Week 02 Update
Sunday night is the end of week 02 in my Study Plan.
Ratings & Games
I’m Ignoring rating numbers this week.
Week 2 of my plan was blitz. Due to life getting in the way of chess, I played only 10 out of the scheduled 12 games. I won three and lost seven games. I did not loose any on time, which is an improvement.
Next week I’ll be playing some OTB games at a chess meetup hosted by my local library. I really prefer OTB to a computer screen. Should be fun.
I’ve been saving all my games in an open source chess database (SCID vs PC). Recording my analyzed study plan games is for future reference. My training is in Computer Science and I just can’t stand the idea of throwing away any data.
Analysis
My analysis of blitz games is limited to seeing what I missed when I blundered. I’ll spend most of my analysis time looking at my finished daily and rapid games and the “Logical Chess” book.
Tactics
Tried mixing it up a bit to make it more interesting. Still using Chessable (“1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners”). Started looking at a hard copy of “Tactics Time”. And went back to doing a few puzzles on chess.com.
Logical Chess Move by Move
I’ve read this book before and am really enjoying going through it again. Chernev is a good author. The tricky bit with any chess book though is applying what you learn to your games.
Extra Credit
Worked through the “Solitaire Chess” article by Bruce Pandolfini in the September issue of Chess Life this time. The game (Euwe vs Hastings, 1934) was a good lesson on how conduct a king-side attack with an open center. My total Par Score for guessing correct moves translated to an approximate rating of 1500. As I said before, Mr Pandolfini is very generous.
Endgame Study & Openings
I’m using “Silman’s Complete Endgame Course” by Silman and “Winning Chess Openings” by Seirawan along with a physical board. It’s going well and is only 5-10% of my study time in total.
Takeaways for the week.
1. I need to start writing down in a notebook what I learned from analyzing my own games. Short notes.
2. In “Logical Chess”, I need to do a better job of anticipating the next move when following a game, not just reading through it. Active learning.
3. I’ve been following the Novice Plan game recommendations, but starting next week I will be substituting 15+10 games for some of the 5+5 games as my goal is to improve in rapid and classical chess.
Next
Will start week 03 tomorrow, Monday 11/8.
Week 03 Update
Sunday night is the end of week 03 in my Study Plan.
Ratings & Games
I’m Ignoring rating numbers again this week. Played a couple of OTB games this week and lost both. But the second game where I played black was a good one, no blunders and I held my own against a higher rated player for quite a while. Lost one of my daily games against a higher rated player. Started a new one to keep the total at five.
Here are some sample positions from on-line games that illustrate what I have to work on.
dbusse vs pt2234 11/14/2021 5-5 game - won on time
10. O-O g6
Blunder: O-O is a blunder. I missed the capture of a free knight on h5.
Lesson Learned: Slow down. Look for mates, threats and captures. Need to practice scanning for free pieces both my own and my opponents.
dbusse vs dinebert 11/14/2021 5-5 game - lost by a blundering way a one move checkmate
21. Rxb7 Qxe1#
Blunder: Rxb7 is a blunder. I missed a checkmate by playing 21. Qxf7 instead.
Lesson Learned: Slow down. Look for mates, threats and captures. I know this mate in one pattern, and missed it! To add insult to injury, I also missed the fact my opponent had a one move mate of his own! Is there such a thing as a double-blunder-in-one-move?
Tactics
Continued to use my Chessable course and puzzles on Chess.com. Current Chess.com puzzle rating is 1263.
Logical Chess Move by Move
Completed three games this week. In game 6, Ruger vs Gebhart Dresden 1915, spent some time studying the ending. Some ideas I would never have thought of, but are perfectly reasonable. For example a pawn move to keep a bishop out of a defensive square.
Extra Credit
None this week. I was out of town a few days and cut off from the Internet.
Endgame Study & Openings
Continue to use “Silman’s Complete Endgame Course” by Silman and “Winning Chess Openings” by Seirawan along with a physical board.
Takeaways for the week.
-
Last week I decided I needed to write down my games and the lessons learned. It is more time-consuming than I had planned. But the effort of recording them should wire it into my brain a bit better.
-
I still need to focus on mates, threats and captures until it’s something I just do without having to think about it. Also, I’m just in too much of a hurry in blitz. Need to stop worrying about the clock so much.
Next
Will start week 04 tomorrow, Monday 11/15.
Change in plan. This week is the second travel week in a row and I just will not have time. So I am pushing Week 04 back to start on 11/22.
Week 04 Update
Sunday night is the end of week 04 in my Study Plan. Got side-tracked and am posting Monday morning.
Ratings & Games
I’m Ignoring rating numbers again this week. Thanksgiving day I played a simultaneous with my two grandchildren. Fun!
Got behind on my rated games. Still have 5 daily games going. This was a blitz week so, as planned, I substituted two Rapid 15+10 games for two sets of 4 blitz.
Only played 2 of the 4 remaining blitz 5+5. I do so poorly at blitz I just did not have the heart to do two more losses. I learn nothing new from them. I’m still missing mates, threats and captures. In the last blitz loss of the week I missed a very simple one move checkmate. However, I need the practice, so will try my best to complete everything next week.
One of the blitz games convinced me my approach to playing black needed to be changed. I have been playing the Czech variation of the Pirc as it was supposed to be easy to learn and work against 1. e4, 1. d4 and some other opening moves from white. For one thing, the chess.com review feature pointed out I only had a 31% win rate with it. In this game the review feature flagged an early move as a mistake: I should have fianchettoed the bishop (the Czech omits that). And I often have had little idea of what to do with the resulting positions. So I will abandon the Czech for now, and be switching to the Pirc main-line for 1.e4 and the KID for 1.d4. Not that I am spending a lot of time on opening study.
Rapid games were one loss and one win. Again, the loss taught me nothing I did not already know: I kept missing targets (mine and my opponent’s). The win was a long game (73 moves) and I did manage to slow down and do better during the endgame. A longer time control is my friend it appears. My opponent did a great job of defending by getting two pawns nearly to their queening squares. The review feature of chess.com kept pointed out that I had quicker checkmates.
Tactics
Mostly used my Chessable courses for tactics puzzles. Doing at least 5 per day, everyday, often many more. Accuracy of at least 60%, often 90-100%. I remain convinced, based on my performance, that tactics puzzles mostly makes me good at puzzles, but don’t translate into my games very well. I need some active learning activity during my games to translate puzzle skill into game skill. Something more than “Do I see a mate, capture or threat here?”
Logical Chess Move by Move
Completed three games this week. Game 8 (Przepiorka vs Prokes, Budapest 1929) was particularly interesting. I try to guess the moves and the rook sacrifice at 18. Rxc8 simply did not occur to me. However, after the author pointed out that white ended up with two pieces for the rook and a better position for his attack I could see it was quite a neat idea. The problem is I simply rejected a trade that lost that much material without looking further. Really like this book.
Extra Credit
Chess with GrandKiddos.
Endgame Study & Openings
Continue to use “Silman’s Complete Endgame Course” by Silman along with a physical board. However due to the experience I had with the above mentioned long game, I will look at some King and pawn endgame ideas as well. I’m also still using “Winning Chess Openings” by Seirawan
Takeaways for the week.
-
I still need to focus on mates, threats and captures until it’s something I just do without having to think about it. The long 15+10 game showed me I can do it at least with longer time controls. Just need more practice.
-
Will take a look at Pirc mainline and the Kings Indian Defense. Serawan covers these in chapters 8 and 9. There are some free “Short and Sweet” courses for these opening on Chessable as well. Not spending a lot of time on this but try to get the basic ideas and the initial setup.
-
I may quick look at King and Pawn endings because of the rapid game mentioned above. Silman does not discuss this much until the Class D (1200-1399) and beyond though.
-
Remember to record my games and what I learned in a document I have for that purpose.
Next
Will starting week 05 on Monday 11/29.
Week 05 Update
Sunday is the end of week 05 in my Study Plan
Ratings & Games
I’ve been purposely ignoring my ratings so far. But I feel it’s time to take a look and see where I am showing improvement, where I’m losing ground, or staying even. Here are the numbers:
|
Type |
Start |
Current |
Gain/Loss |
|
Puzzles |
1103 |
1302 |
+199 |
|
Daily |
1011 |
1062 |
+51 |
|
Rapid 15+10 |
1102 |
843 |
-259 |
|
Blitz 5+5 |
567 |
357 |
-210 |
So far in the plan I’ve played 39 games. The results are not what I had hoped for. But I’m only approaching the halfway point in the study. Longer time controls seem to be my friend. And though my rapid and blitz ratings are dropping like a rock, I am getting really good at puzzles. 
This week got all my games done: Finished three daily games (won 2), two rapid 15+10 games (lost both) and four blitz 5+5 (won one). So 3 wins and 6 losses for the week. What I suspect may be happening here is that I am often lacking piece coordination. For example, I can recall from several games that I felt as though my pawns or a piece was “in the way”. I could not coordinate an attack.
Tactics
Nothing new here. Mostly used my Chessable courses for tactics puzzles. Doing at least 5 per day, everyday, often many more. Accuracy of at least 60%, often 90-100%.
Logical Chess Move by Move
Completed three games this week. Game 12, Pitschak vs Flohr, Liebwerda 1934, was interesting to me because I am not familiar with the English opening.
Extra Credit
None this week.
Endgame Study & Openings
Continue to use “Silman’s Complete Endgame Course” by Silman and “Winning Chess Openings” by Seirawan.
Takeaways for the week.
-
I still need to focus on checks, captures and threats until it’s something I just do without having to think about it.
-
Work on recognizing tactics and piece coordination.
Next
Will starting week 06 on Monday 12/6.
Week 06 Update
Sunday night is the end of week 05 in my Study Plan. Half way through the study plan!
Ratings & Games
Ignoring ratings again this week for the most part. Holiday season has an impact on my study plan. Did not play 2 of my blitz games. Only lost one game this week. I may have, at last, found my level. According to chess.com the quality of my moves is improving. My blunders have more to do with calculation errors than just blatantly giving away pieces. And some games are blunder free. Continue to play 5 daily games. None completed this week.
Tactics
Nothing new here. Mostly used my Chessable courses for tactics puzzles. Doing at least 5 per day, everyday, often many more. Accuracy of at least 60%, often 90-100%. Playing tactics on a number of platforms too keep it interesting. On Chess.com I’ve gained ~70 rating points on puzzles this week.
Logical Chess Move by Move
Studied three games this week. One of the themes in the book is attacking a castled king. The main idea is to force one of the pawns in front of the king to move, thus creating a permanent weakness. What I noticed is that in two or three of games so far, after black played g6, white planted white’s queen on h7. But here is what struck me. The idea of placing the queen there was not for an immediate checkmate but rather to constrain black’s king while white could bring up more forces. Interesting idea.
Extra Credit
At a chess meetup at my local library I played an OTB game with a young lady (about 7 years old) who is just learning chess. We discussed the moves and I made suggestions while we played. She’ll probably clean my clock at a tournament next year, kids being what they are.
Endgame Study & Openings
Continue to use “Silman’s Complete Endgame Course” by Silman and “Winning Chess Openings” by Seirawan. I’m looking into the Pirc and KID right now.
Takeaways for the week.
-
Be more careful of time. Lost one game on time with a winning position (+16.4).
-
Blunders: Not calculating deeply enough to see a series of trades was not favorable, and not seeing a folk tactic was coming.
-
Computer recommends looking at isolated pawn lessons.
Next
Starting week 07 today, Monday 12/13.
Week 07 Update (12/13/2021 - 12/19/2021)
Sunday night is the end of week 07 in my Study Plan.
Ratings & Games
Ignoring ratings again this week for the most part. Played 7 blitz and one rapid game this week and lost one of my daily games. Lost the rapid game and 5 of the blitz and won two of the blitz. Mostly I just blundered a lot. Ended up in very poor positions, down double digits in material and resigning. The Daily game I blundered at move 15 and just could not recover after that. The mistake is one I have made 2 or three times this week in the London System. Just a simple fork. Now I’ll see it coming.
Tactics
Made 1400+ rating in puzzles on chess.com this week. My disparity between doing well with puzzles and my much poorer game rating has been a conundrum. There has been something missing and this week some of our colleagues on Discord gave me some advice about this including the kinds of tactics puzzles to emphasize. In my case, lots of quick basic puzzles to increase my pattern recognition to do better in blitz, and rapid as well.
Logical Chess Move by Move
Reviewed the games for this week: #’s 16, 17 and 18. Continue to enjoy this book. Now if I can manage to use some of these ideas in my games ...
Extra Credit
At a chess meetup at my local library I played two OTB games with a retired librarian. Won both. We are at similar playing strength. This branch, though 35-40 minutes away, offers OTB play once a week. Since OTB is what I am most interested in, this is very good news.
Endgame Study & Openings
No change here: Continue to use “Silman’s Complete Endgame Course” by Silman and “Winning Chess Openings” by Seirawan. I’m looking into the Pirc and KID right now.
Takeaways for the week.
-
Have not felt well this week, and it no doubt effected my play. Takeaway: I’m not a professional, I don’t need to play when unwell.
-
Change tactics practice to emphasize basic tactics until recognizing them becomes quicker: Chess King app or “Tactics Time 1”
Next
Starting week 08 today, Monday 12/20. Should feel better next week.
Week 08 Update (12/20/2021 - 12/26/2021)
Sunday night is the end of week 08 in my Study Plan.
Ratings & Games
My blitz and rapid ratings show little change this week. I may have found my level. Continue to play 5 daily games. Completed 4 blitz and 2 rapid games this week. Lost 2 and won 2 of the blitz. No lesson to be learned from the blitz except to continue to try to focus on loose pieces in the position. However, I lost the first rapid 15+10 game in 7 glorious moves! Here they are:
Worthy Opponent vs Me
1. e4 d6
2. Nf3 Nf6
3. e5 dxe5
4. Nxe5 Nfd7
5. d4 g6?!
6. Qf3 Bg7??
7. Qxf7# 1-0
Almost decided to give chess a rest for the entire week after that one. Second rapid game went better, I won by checkmate in 18 moves.
Tactics
Made 1450+ rating in puzzles on chess.com this week. Also have been using Tactics Time 1.
Logical Chess Move by Move
Reviewed the games for this week: #’s 19, 20 and 21. I try to guess the moves on these. Sometimes I do pretty well, and sometime I would have never come up with the idea involved in choosing the move. I do get the idea that for some openings there are specific goals (strategies) one is going for to end up with a superior position.
Extra Credit
None this week.
Endgame Study & Openings
Still using Silman’s book and a chess board for end-game study.
Changed up my opening study. Compared a couple of recent games where I played the London System against the chessbase.com database and my opening resources. Beyond the third move nothing matched the opening lines in my resources. After about the 5th move, the position became very rare in the database. Conclusion is my opponents know little or nothing about standard lines against the London System. The result is nothing I did not already know, but it’s nice to get real world verification: I only need to know some basic setup ideas about the London System and then play solid chess: watch for loose pieces. No need to memorize lines, few people at my level will follow them. Next week, do the same for my openings when playing Black.
Takeaways for the week.
-
My performance seems to have flattened out. No longer loosing rating points as before.
-
Need to continue to concentrate on loose pieces. This may mean slowing down a bit, which may me loosing on time more often in blitz.
-
Focus on ideas in my openings, not lines.
Next
Starting week 09, Monday 12/27. Another holiday week. We’ll see how it goes.
Hi folks -
I am the owner/operator of a 73 year old brain. I realize this will have some affect on my progress, but I'm sure a structured study plan will help.
I learned to play chess from my cousin at the age of 12. Did not play much chess until later in life. Since my retirement I'm been spending more time on it, but find I am studying far more than playing, I know I need to flip that around to improve.
Current Ratings
My current ratings as of 10/25/2021:
Chess.com Blitz: 566
Chess.com Rapid: 1174
Chess.com Daily: 1051
USCF Correspondence: 1359
Why I chose the Novice Premium Plan
You would think that with decades spend on chess to one degree or another I would have chosen a more advanced plan. But I decided to stick with the recommendation based on my blitz rating. I can always add to the plan if needed. What is important is to learn more and improve, not the label given to the plan.
My Goal
My goal is to improve my rating in rapid/classical chess. Eventually I would like to break through the 1400 rating in rapid. But for now establishing a habit of playing more chess and analyzing those games is my immediate goal.
Changes to the Plan
I plan to use some resources I already have. I'm not a fan of blitz. But Matt's blog post "Can Blitz Chess Make You a Better Chess Player?" convinced me that it has value. And I am following the advice to substitute slower games for some of the blitz because of my interest in longer time controls.
I plan the following substitutions:
That's it. I'll post my progress weekly as per plan. Comments and/or constructive criticism are always welcome.