Ask Me Anything! With GM Sipke Ernst & Karel van Delft

I want to become a Candidate Master (CM) in chess. I’m 20 years old and currently a beginner, with a Rapid rating of 1150 on Chess.com. I don’t know where to start or what resources to use. Could you provide me with a complete guide, including books, courses, and everything I need to improve from my current level to the CM title?

I’m fully committed and can dedicate more than 5 hours a day to studying and training in chess

I ain’t really that good but if I would’ve chosen a book for ya. Then get a book made by Bobby Fisher. Now I ain’t the grandmaster but it’s just in my opinion.

do you have scratch account

Can anyone check my rated Blitz games of July 30 and tell what mistakes I have been doing repeatedly?? Why I can't get to 2400?

Any tips to get better? I'm a beginner

How does one build a good opening repertoire for Black? With White I have three openings I am somewhat familiar with (Ponziani, Italian and Catalan), but with Black I struggle to develop a plan for the many different approaches White can take. How can I work on this weakness effectively?

You can create weaknesses by using pawn breaks to create open files or diagonals so you get access to weak squares or weak pawns. Also you can attack a pawn, forcing it to come forward which then creates a weak square.

-Play a lot of games

-Solve a lot of puzzles

-Study your own games (with focus also on opening)

-Study your favorite player

Middlegame is the most difficult to study. I like Johan Hellsten's book 'Mastering Positional play' and Axel Smith's 'Pump up your rating' (although not strictly about middlegame but tons of good advice) a lot.

Pattern recognition and experience, study some relevant books and model players like Tal. It is never too soon to start, but it is good advice to analyze games afterwards. If possible with a trainer, otherwise with a computer and a friend.

hola

Play a lot of blitz and do a lot of puzzles. Being good at tactics is good for your blitz.

Opening: just play the Italian.

hay alguien

There is no shortcut to success. Work hard and smart. In our course we give tons of advices.

-Check your openings.

-Look at your old games and check where you made mistakes.

-Do a lot of tactics.

-Play some practice blitz to test your openings and as a warming-up.

Most players are too hasty when having a positional advantage. My advice: do not hurry. The best is to study games by for example Capablanca, Karpov, Carlsen.

Mostly focus on your own performance. Play according to your strenghts and try to play the board not the opponent!

The Key to constant motivation is a good study plan so you know what you have to do. Try to study the amount of time which you know you can do every day. If that is one hour, then you have 365 hours of chess study in a year!

A few sentences from the chapter Motivation from our course:

Motivation is the tendency to show purposeful behavior. Motivation is multifaceted. Needs and wishes are significant components, but also values, emotions, incentives and cognitive factors play a role. A distinction is made by intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation comes from internal factors such as fun and curiosity. Extrinsic motivation is driven by external factors like obtaining rewards and avoiding punishment.

Advice to motivate yourself:
- Be aware that deliberate study, practice, and playing games pay off. Be aware: there are no shortcuts to success, but training can often be made more fun, efficient and effective.
- Develop a growth mindset: see possibilities instead of obstacles. Make a habit of self-reflection.
- Make progress visible. Document your activities in a diary, which shows progress and helps with repetition.
- Create routines and just begin doing things.
- Make learning fun and interesting. Use drivers as game-based learning.
- Create success experiences (via realistic and challenging goals).
- Analyze your own games and learn from them. Thereby reframe losses as learning experiences.
- Cooperate with other players and a trainer (social interaction, friendship, and support).
- Choose role models (learning from their games and being inspired by their way of thinking).
- Celebrate successes.
Sometimes, it just doesn't go well. You are tired or disappointed. Reframe your mind. World champion GM Jose Raul Capablanca said:

You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.

And if you still don’t feel an appetite for training, then you should be practical. As GM Fabiano Caruana said in a YouTube video: Take a break.