Yoloyaps beginner study program

My name is yoloyaps and I am the chess coach for my school, my goal is to improve my own game so that I may improve the ability of my students. 

Blitz: 719

Rapid: 977

Daily: 1076

Puzzles: 1512

oh.

wish you to be good~

After a week of trying this plan, I find myself enjoying the much-needed structure in my studying. Playing slower controls allows me to think more about my moves. Taking my time on puzzles improves my confidence for games. In analyses, I find that I'm missing my opponent's hanging pieces. I want to improve my positional understanding so I will focus on creating plans with my pieces and improving my pieces during my blitz games for week 2. I will also look for more hanging pieces. 

Finishing week two has shown me that I am capable of making really good decisions during games given enough time to think. I lost a lot of blitz games this week because of time and rushing my last few moves which lead to many blundered positions. I find that it only takes one mistake for an otherwise good game to be derailed. I would like to focus on learning how to deal with opening traps and continue to work on making sound decisions especially in the endgame.

This past week has been hectic. I did my best to follow the schedule to the best of my ability. With the holidays, it was easy for life to get in the way. Sometimes it's good to take a day or two off and focus on other important things like family and friends. I managed to play five rapid games since my last post. I won four out of five, but they were mostly against lower rated players. That said, I delivered a beautiful checkmate in my last game using my Queen and Knight. When I had a couple of hours, I took the time to hammer in the first five checkmates of Silman's Endgame Course. I feel confident in those endgames now, even though the rook and king vs king endgame still gives me some trouble. I will likely drill that more when I get the chance. This week I signed up for an OTB Blitz tournament. My plan is to go in, play some games and have fun. I do not expect to win, but I plan to walk away with some valuable experience. I find Blitz difficult because of my ability to process things can be slow. I lose a lot because of time, and I begin to rush moves in the end. My goal is to improve that this week. I would also like to focus any extra time on practicing pattern recognition by solving more than the recommended amount of tactics puzzles.

Happy New Year! We are one third of the way there and this week had a lot going on. I played lots of blitz this week and managed to gain back some rating that I had lost at the beginning of the program. As previously mentioned, I lose a majority of my games on time and resignation. This week I focused on not giving up so soon and trying to think through my moves a little faster. These adjustments have made some impact on my blitz games. This week I also decided to enter an OTB blitz tournament. As expected, I did not win but I did walk away with a lot of experience. After playing OTB, playing online felt a lot easier. I made less mistakes and I found more tactics. When I analyze my online games, I find that I am now playing through each phase of the game somewhat well. Blunders mostly come during the middle game and sometimes the opening when I fall for a trap. My goal for this week is to take my time on these rapid games. I will look for more threats that the opponent is making, and I will focus on hanging pieces less.

Since the start of this program, I have managed to gain some confidence in my playing ability and style. The structured practice time has been a huge step in the right direction. Here are my ratings now. 

Blitz: 670

Rapid: 1020

Daily: 1117

Puzzles: 1589

I had a hard time this week with for a lot of reasons. This week was my first week back from vacation. Having to get back into a routine for work was difficult. I got sick in the middle of the week as well. I was very unmotivated to play chess. I took a break for a couple days but got back on track. I did not do very in my rapid games this week. Only winning two games out of seven. Again, I only lose when I make one mistake during a momentary lapse of focus. I know I'm getting better, and my rating will eventually show it. But for now, it feels like progress is moving at a snail's pace. It can be demoralizing but I think that's the biggest hurdle everyone faces. If anyone sees this and has any suggestions on how to improve focus/ hanging less pieces, please let me know.  This week I will focus on learning opening responses for the Sicilian defense, the Scotch opening, and the London system because they are commonly used and give me the most trouble.

I did not do very in my rapid games this week. Only winning two games out of seven.

I feel your pain here. i struggle with this as well and I often avoid playing at all when I am afraid of losing. But I have tried to shift my focus away from the result of the game and instead on just the act of playing. If you are playing and just as importantly analyzing the results will eventually come. Doesn't matter at all if you lose 50 games in a row. Try to feel proud that you are playing and analyzing. Those are withing your control. Winning/losing is not in your control so best not to worry about it. 

This week I had the opportunity to register my students for a scholastic team tournament where they will play against other schools. We have a pretty decent team, and I am hoping that we will at the very least, we have a good time. I think patience is our biggest weakness. In our last session I noticed that most students finished their games all within 10-15 minutes. The time settings for our tournament are g30 with no delay. I am worried they will rush their moves. I will emphasize slower play this week and have them drill their endgames some more.

As for my own training, I am getting better. Slowly but surely. Thanks to the kind words of jdcannon, I took a hard look at why I started playing chess. The truth is, I wanted to have fun and admire the beauty of the game. So, this week I focused on having fun. I realize that being serious about everything can lead to a dip in self-confidence and motivation. There was a need to constantly win and when I feel that way, there's this little voice in my head that creates self-doubt. I focused on enjoying the game and keeping things casual. I felt more relaxed when playing and I was able to play better chess. 

This week I will focus on playing slow again while looking for more tactics. I will be reworking through my tactics workbook, and I will be solving these puzzles at a faster rate this time around. I look forward to the tournament and I will provide updates in my next post.

That is so true! 

We play chess to have fun and should really try to remember that. i struggle with that so much myself! Really working on it as well.