Best way to go from here with out hiring a tutor

I have purchased 10-12 books some are just generic ones on closeout and the silman reacess and amatuer mind.  I play a couple of games online a week when I can.  I play different chess apps and do the tactics trainer when I have time.  I will be getting the Fritz 15 software next month for my birthday.  I seam to be getting good tips from the books so far but they are small tips like general tips.  I do not really play openings much.  How much help would the fritz software be in sparring mode, how much do you get from using a book and board to go along with. Have been looking at youtube videos also some good tips on them.  I have seen progress since November 2015 but peaked around 1100 went down and back up again.  Are the fritz dvds any good seam to be costly for a 3 hour average video I have limited time to play and practice (working 63 + hours a week) so what would be the best to focus on?

Snowman357

You seriously couldn't search the forums?  At your level its all about studying tactics and thats it.  

The best way to improve at 1100 is to stop dropping material to simple tactics and to take advantage of those mistakes in your similarly rated opponents.  Then you just start closing those games out ruthlessly.

In about 6 weeks you can do spaced repetition tactics training with the Bain book which will be 75% of what you need to stop making silly mistakes.  The rest will be regularly playing games, learning to be consistent and mentally tough, reading instructive annotated master games, doing some basic endgame training and learning the ideas and plans from the openings you play.

That will get you 200-300 rating points without much effort.

Thanks for the sugestion  I looked on amazon I asume this is the book you are refering to( Chess Tactics for Students) I will give it a try. 

Yes I can search forums thats how I came to get some Silman books but must have missed the Bain book.  COULDN"T YOU SERIOSLY JUST NOT ANSWER AT ALL?

Snowman357

I did answer.  I said just do tactics, at your rating you don't even need to worry about Silman yet.

snowman357 wrote:

Thanks for the sugestion  I looked on amazon I asume this is the book you are refering to( Chess Tactics for Students) I will give it a try. 

Yes, that book.

Read this blog entry before starting.

http://empiricalrabbit.blogspot.com/2011/03/bain-experiment.html

Possibly helpful:

Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf

Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf

The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/

Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1949)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf

Discovering Chess Openings by GM Johm Emms (2006)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf

Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)

http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html

Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/

A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf