When I set out to suit myself a new opening repertoire from scratch, I decided upon the English for two reasons. It's less played than 1.e4 and 1.d4, so it's more likely that in time I'll be more familiar with the arising positions. Next to that, I have some experience with the Sicilian so I know some of the basics central strategies.
Starting to take my rapid games seriously, I devised a routine for myself, and I've been sticking to it since:
- I take some preparation time to get ready to play; - I play no more than one rated rapid game per day (excluding the games that are aborted after people see 1.c4, which happens surprisingly often); - After the game is finished, I jot down my thoughts; - Since the start of 2025 I've decided to take a break from the game; - When I get back to the game, I perform the analytical checks with my sources*; - I see what I can take away from the game and write this down.
In a nutshell, this is how I chronicle my own chess journey with the English.
There are over 20 blog entries with the English that I've written so far. I won't flood all of them here, but I'll share the two most recent posts so you can get an idea of how I'm working. It's very much the same method as I used in the forum topic I made about the Vote Chess game that I joined in.
* When I mention "my sources", I mean: - chess literature; - blogs, lessons, and other material that exists online; - databases; - lastly, the engine. I don't normally use material from this forum. I rather choose material that others would also be able to access.
Hi!
When I set out to suit myself a new opening repertoire from scratch, I decided upon the English for two reasons. It's less played than 1.e4 and 1.d4, so it's more likely that in time I'll be more familiar with the arising positions. Next to that, I have some experience with the Sicilian so I know some of the basics central strategies.
Starting to take my rapid games seriously, I devised a routine for myself, and I've been sticking to it since:
- I take some preparation time to get ready to play;
- I play no more than one rated rapid game per day (excluding the games that are aborted after people see 1.c4, which happens surprisingly often);
- After the game is finished, I jot down my thoughts;
- Since the start of 2025 I've decided to take a break from the game;
- When I get back to the game, I perform the analytical checks with my sources*;
- I see what I can take away from the game and write this down.
In a nutshell, this is how I chronicle my own chess journey with the English.
There are over 20 blog entries with the English that I've written so far. I won't flood all of them here, but I'll share the two most recent posts so you can get an idea of how I'm working. It's very much the same method as I used in the forum topic I made about the Vote Chess game that I joined in.
https://www.chess.com/blog/nova-stone/nova-daily-2-january-2025
https://www.chess.com/blog/nova-stone/nova-daily-4-january-2025
* When I mention "my sources", I mean:
- chess literature;
- blogs, lessons, and other material that exists online;
- databases;
- lastly, the engine.
I don't normally use material from this forum. I rather choose material that others would also be able to access.