Best study approach for adult beginners

Hello,

I am new to chess and would like to develop a good study routine to improve my game. But I am not young anymore (47 years old) and work a regular job. I was wondering what would be a good routine to study and perhaps a recommendation on some books that would help. I know I will never get to be a GM but hope to one day be a 1500 rated player. Thanks 

Hi!

time constraints are normal, you need to organize your time with chess by deciding how much time a day you have for it. To improve, you should balance study and practice. I recommend study be balanced and not necessary exhaustive, and to cycle through different things each day while some things you do each day. I’d solve puzzles and play a game and analyze it each day. Time control should not be speed chess like bullet or blitz, 10|0 Rapid minimum.  Then I’d spend one day reading through a chess book, another reviewing master games, another working on endgame concepts, book or interactive lesson like on ChessAble, another on the opening principles (later on on specific opening theory, but you must understand and practice opening concepts first), one day you play a long time control like 25+ minutes each side and analyze it rest of time solve puzzles, and things like that. By doing so you work on all aspects of your game while not over doing it and you also get a nice routine with chess down, plus you keep things different and fresh, always doing something else each day while practicing what you’re learning each day and reviewing your mistakes. To me, it’s important to play and analyze your games to find mistakes, and solving puzzles helps train your mind to evaluate positions and notice opportunities in them, so you should do that as often as you can (daily). Have a good chess journey and you can always message me with questions, happy to try and answer them for you. 

-Jordan

Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide To Chess was a good book. Just finished that a couple days back. Easy to read and understand.

Another good one with checkmates and other tactical stuff is Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. This book has tactics puzzles to solve and begins with very easy ones, building on those and getting a bit more difficult as you work your way through it.

Also read Kasparov Teaches Chess, which I also liked. This one was the slowest to work through, but then again, there is no easy way to learn difficult stuff.

Adult improver here,

Just immerse yourself in chess as much as you can, study when you can, read, watch how the pros play on twitch or youtube, argue with people about which openings are better, and play chess. Hang on to a balance with life, it's easy to get consumed.

Try to find things that you've learned in your games. Tactics and endgames will help you improve quicker, but openings can be fun to learn as well.

It takes an extremely long time to get better and don't focus too much on rating gains, as it can bring disappointment with every fluctuation, but rather focus on the fact that the things you learn will be reflected in your rating which will climb accordingly.

Best of luck,

You can reach 1500 by just studying tactics, honestly.

Your routine could be:

-Tactics book / checkmate patterns on chessable with spaced repetition.

- Solve 25 puzzles / day on chess.com

- Play games, analyze afterwards, try to recognize where you found/ blundered because of a tactic, where your opponent  found/blundered a tactic.

That alone, for a couple of years will probably yield great results. Buy a new tactic book when you know the tactics in the first book inside out.

A beginner is a beginner! Even is you are an adult, you still need to master the same basics that a young kid needs to learn. So don't be too proud to read books that seem to be aimed at children,

.Books by Jeff Coakley are designed to teach basic concepts to beginners, and the book "1001 chess exercises for beginners" by Messa and Masetti will also help you develop a strong grasp of tactics

diamond, lessons, puzzles & silman.

I think just play and analyze every game that you played. And maybe do 5 puzzles every day. But analyzing the game by yourself is pretty difficult as a beginner so you might consider hiring a coach.

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

discover more helpful resources in my blog...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

How to play chess like the basics of playing chess

Hi! Welcome to the world of chess!

 My name is Lauren Goodkind and I’m a respected  chess coach and chess YouTuber who helps beginners out : 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP5SPSG_sWSYPjqJYMNwL_Q

Here’s some ideas to help you get better.  

Your overall goal is get better is to strive to NEVER make any silly mistakes.  That means to never hang any pieces.  You always move your pieces to safe squares. If you continue to make silly mistakes, you will have a very hard time getting to the next level.  You want to take advantage of your opponent's mistakes to win.  

That being said, 

-I’ll be happy to analyze one of your chess games for free for my YouTube channel, since I love to help beginners out.  Share one of your games with me!  This is a great way to get better!  

-I recommend two books for you: “50 Poison Pieces”   and “Queen For A Day: The Girl’s Guide To Chess Mastery.”  Both books are available on Amazon.com.  Both books are endorsed by chess masters!  

-If you are serious about chess, I highly recommend you hiring a chess coach to help you.  

-Also consider all checks and captures on your side and also your opponent’s side. Always as, “If I move here, where is my opponent going to move?”. Do this for every single move!  

-Play with a slow time control, such as G/30 so you have plenty of time to think before every move. 

I also offer 500 two-choice puzzles on my website: https://www.chessbylauren.com/two-choice-puzzles.php

I hope this helps!  

basics:  castle early, control the center, develop quickly, check for blunders.  🙂

I recommend Chess Fundamentals by Capablanca. The book accompanied by puzzles solving is enough to bring you to 1500 after a year.

https://www.chess.com/article/view/3-tips-to-avoid-blunders