ChessUnlocked Help Forum

Hey all. I recently created a training plan for myself for around 7-10 hours per week. Below is a rough outline.

Tactics - 15-30 mins per day, using Bain's Chess Tactics for Students and CT Art for Beginners, (5 chessdotcom puzzles, puzzle battle & puzzle rush are on top of this, not included in time)

Endgames - Go through Silman's Endgame Course (currently at end of Class Bish), for 30-45 mins two times per week

Strategy - Go through Stean's Simple Chess for 30-45 mins two times per week

Playing and analysis - Play around 5-7 15 | 10 games per week, and analyze them using the Game Review function, making sure to understand why my move was wrong and noting the type of mistake made.

My goal for the year is to reach 1400-1500 chessdotcom rating. Is this training plan sufficient for solid growth, or am I missing some pieces?

Thanks all,

Silman's Endgame Course may be a little advanced but is still a good way to grasp basic endgame ideas. I would maybe suggest substituting some of the endgame and strategy study for more tactics, as that's the biggest factor to reach the 1500 rating range. The most important thing is analyzing your games and making sure that you learn something every time you play. I'm sure you'll be 1500 in no time regardless with such a determined mindset to improve!

Thanks for the advice, really appreciate it! I'll make sure to share an update on my progress come December.

what would you think a 1500 should play aganist 1 d4 because Nf6 I always feel stupid because the variations are pretty complicated, and d5 well I don't like facing QGD or London

And what do you think are the necessary things to improve on if you want to hit that 1750-1800 range, if you are a 1500, because these 1600-1650 guys I always get outgrinded by?

You could try Nf6 and then e6, which you can use to transition to variations that you like from d5 such as maybe d5 against the catalan, while avoiding things like the london by introducing variations like nf6 e6 c5.

I think practice at this range is the most important. If you want something specifically, i'd recommend studyng middlegames, especially the ones that commonly come up after the openings you play