A question about time devoted to the game

Hi.

I’m quite methodical. My daily chess activity goes more or less like this:

- 1 rapid, rated game ( 15|10 ) : focus and stress

- revision of that game

- a lot of puzzles: not much useful, but I like solving them. I need my daily fix.

Plus, sometimes: 1 rapid, casual game ( 10|10, or 15|10 ): focus without stress

                       or     2 or 3 blitz, casual games ( 5|3 ) : low level of concentration, just for fun

Occasionally: a video like the ones available here

Overall, 30 to 60 minutes dedicated to playing, every day.

I wonder, and I ask you, if I should play a little more.

I mean: to learn to play well is it absolutely necessary to play a lot, or can that be okay too ?

Thank you.

It depends entirely on your goals and your other responsibilities, things that no one here knows.

What is your (realistic) goal in chess?   

To be able to play well in casual games with friends and acquaintances?  You are already there.  To become a Grandmaster?  1500? What?

When you say you do revisions of your games,  how extensive is that?  Do you simply run Game Review and look for blunders and brilliancies?

It says you resigned this game.

Why?

@justbefair,  Thanks for your answer.

- My aspiration would be to acquire a good comprehension of chess: the one that allows, for example, to understand and play complex openings, manage complex endgames; or to be able to study by myself the Masters’ games, for the pleasure of understanding their thinking.

A realistic goal… I can’t estabilish. I set a goal to reach 1300 in two years. I hope it’s not an exaggerate expectation. Rating by itself has no meaning, it’s just a target, to test my possibility of improving.

- In the future, if I have leveled up a bit, I would also like to partecipate in some OTB tournaments, with some decent results.

- About analysis, I run Game review, but first I try to understand by myself what’s happened and where I failed.

- In the game you showed, after the usual, inevitable blunder at 35^th move, I judged that the game was lost with that free white pawn, and that it was only a matter of time. Maybe too soon.

Hi

That game was evaluated as 0.0 at the end.  You should look it over more.

Look at 37..f4+.

Another bad habit: taking defeat for granted, not looking at what could be done next. I’ll follow your suggestion.

@NeversofButter, thank you too.

Don't be methodical at all. Just don't blunder pieces and you will get 2200 on this website

I liked to spend my time focused on one thing, for example only puzzles, or only reading out of a book, or only playing games.

So I might spend a few weeks or a month doing one thing, then I'd switch to another.

I don't know if that's good or bad. Just thought I'd share.

Yeah, it just felt too spread out if I tred to do puzzles plus learn endgames plus play games and work on my openings... all in one day.

It was more rewarding to look back on the past 2-3 weeks and say to myself "I accomplished this thing" (whether that was a set of puzzles, or part of a book, or whatever).

I don’t think it’s that simple. Maybe it’s true for some “natural”...  Anyway thanks for the encouragement.

Thanks also to the others who have shared ( or will want to share ) their ideas, suggestions and experience.

@3

"My aspiration would be to acquire a good comprehension of chess" ++ Good is relative.

"understand and play complex openings" ++ That is a strange and evasive goal.

"manage complex endgames" ++ Very few reach that.

"to be able to study by myself the Masters’ games" ++ You can do that.

"I set a goal to reach 1300 in two years"
++ That is unaspiring. You can get 1500 in a few months with just the mental discipline of always blunder checking before moving. You can get 2000 in 1 year with proper play & analysis.

"I hope it’s not an exaggerate expectation" ++ It is not.

"Rating by itself has no meaning" ++ It measures your progress or lack of it.

"I try to understand by myself what’s happened and where I failed" ++ Good.

"I judged that the game was lost with that free white pawn" ++ Resign when you have no hope.