Chess .com Study Plans

For those that have worked the Study Plans, what's the verdict? I'm going to give them a try and was just wondering what were your experiences.

 Thanks.

I have been following the beginning study plans (players under 1399).  My mood dictates if I want to watch a video, solve a puzzle, or read the articles so I have skipped around a little (not following the laid out plan exactly).

I have enjoyed the study guides as they provide focus in learning chess.  Instead of trying to eat the whole elephant I have been able to improve specific aspects of my game.  A comment from multiple coworkers recently has been "your openings have improved dramatically".  That is a direct result of the study plans on Chess.com.

Thanks for the feedback, Charlie. I'm a little surprised there haven't been more comments. I'm looking forward to working the plans. Should be fun and profitable.

Thanks again.

I like the opening study guide for beginners. It suggests memorizing and then learning the first five moves of some solid, commonly used openings.

I think this is good because since they are commonly used, you'll save that extra time trying to analyze something each time it's played because you will already have an understanding of what each opening sequence of moves is and what they are intended to accomplish as soon as you encounter it in a match.

Another thing is, it adds to your ever expanding body of chess knowledge in an easy-to-digest format, where it's not too much, not too little, but just right.

Then, as you progress, at your own pace, you may decide you want to learn the first 7 to 10 lines of the opening and then it's just a matter of a few more moves to commit to understand and memorize because you have the beginning foundation of the first five firmly engrained already just by virtue of completing the study guide.

You could also next decide to learn the two most commonly played variations for a particular opening and choose to run the opening through the database explorer to see the two most common responses the masters played for each move and if it interests you, see the percentage of wins those who played that particular move won.

It seems to me, just these simple, yet fundamental preparations will accelerate your understanding of the openings in practical ways, allowing you to get your feet wet with them without diving into depths above your head.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, etc.

Good question. I've been looking at these plans as well and wondered the same thing. I've watched a few of the videos on strategy suggested there and found them useful. I was wondering whether to go back and do the lot (on top of my own plans too).