do i really need to be spending 5 hours a day on chess in order to improve

no, 5 hours is way too much. honestly just around 1 hour of studying and 45 minutes-1 hour of playing is enough to improve at 1800

I never studied more than 4 hours in a day, and I never studied more than ~40 days in a row. I also mostly played 3 minute chess.

This is probably why I improved so slowly... but anyway, just sharing.

I agree. Also, you must analyze your games afterwards. As for studying, I recommend reading books, 1 chapter every day, so 1 hour is actually quite enough for this.

5 hours is way to much for a player of krazee's strength, I have to admit. But value the smart before hard. If you work one hour a day on solving compositions, you'll advance more than a player who works by playing bullet 6 hours.

yes, the person spending 5-8 hours will probably improve more, but that is a LOT of time to spend on chess. you don't need to go from 1800 to gm in 1 month, you just need to improve step by step. to improve from 1700 to 1900 i barely even studied 1 hour a week, i just did puzzles and analyzed my games. 

Don't force yourself to study and/or play chess for a specific number of hours each day. That is the easiest way to experience burnout and kill your passion for the game. No point spending time on something that feels like a chore and you don't enjoy it.

It's not about the number of hours, it's about creating some kind of feedback loop and learning systematically (covering all the areas).

For example, when you fail a puzzle, try it again a few days later, and think about why you failed it. Was it a pattern you'd never seen, was there a flaw in your calculation, etc.

Same for when you study a book. For example take notes as you read and analyze. Review your notes. If someone asked you what you learned today how would you explain it to them? If you had to post about the top ___ things you learned from a book what would they be?

Same for when you play games. Was there an interesting position or something instructive?  When you made a mistake, why did you make it? What will you try differently next time? What did you learn from the game? Write it down. Save positions and notes. Review your saved positions and notes from time to time.

Get around to studying each area, loosely these are tactics, strategy, endgames, and openings. Look at GM games too. Was a GM game boring? Then ignore it. Find one that's interesting. Maybe it has an opening or attack or endgame you want to learn about... take notes and save the game. From time to time review your saved games and notes.

yeah, quality over quantity, as some unknown smart human being once said

I have a USCF and FIDE rating. All my rapid games on this site were unrated. My favorite thing to study (back when I studied) was the endgame.

You sure know a lot about me mr 6 day old account

endgames are very fun for me as well, both playing them and studying them 

I think what most people have to be careful about in studying GM games is that it's sometimes difficult to see not only the reasoning behind what moves were played, but also the reasoning behind why certain moves WEREN'T played. Thinking on that level requires years of dedication to chess. The average player can attempt to analyze a GM game but won't necessarily improve if most of the ideas are flying over their head.

Yeah, looking at GM games can be totally useless... I've done it and given up out of frustration.

But I think I wasn't doing it correctly... IMO the point is NOT to understand every move. Don't even try. The point is to:

1) Look at the overall flow of the game. During the first half, what area did each player seek play in (queenside, center, or kingside) and how did they do it (mainly piece play or a pawn break). Noticing this is mostly useful when it's an opening you play or are interested in learning.

2) Look at one or two moments that interest you. Like I said it could be an opening choice, it could be an attacking idea (saced a knight on g7) or a defensive move (rook to the 3rd rank).

And importantly, it's ok to ignore boring or confusing games. This shouldn't be a deep study, it should be 5 to 15 minutes a game. Take some notes when you come across something interesting. Ignore everything else. As your notes build up it's like a personalized lesson.

Just as a student artist looks at master works to see what kinds of choices they were making, or a student musician listens to professional players, a student chess player should take advantage of professional games. In conjunction with studying and playing it can help a lot.

Few people know my old accounts. Mostly the people I interacted with when I was new to the site... in 2010

Well, let me breakdown my planned chess schedule and criticize it if you can.

Puzzles: 40 min a day

Lessons: 30 min a day

Games: One G30 and few 3+2 (subject to change)

Studies: I look through one master game a day over a board and try to compare my move vs the master's move (I use chess.com lessons to find master games but tell me if theres a better free way)

Books: One chapter of either Reassess Your Chess - Jeremy Silman or Chess Structures: A Grandmaster's Guide - Mauricio Flores Rios

can you like stop your really pissing me off

he is a great player

When I was 1600 USCF, and not improving, one day I was really frustrated reading online people talking about "oh yeah, getting to 1800 was so easy, I didn't have to study anything, but now I have to work a little lol"

First of all they were lying but also improvement happens in spurts. It's possible to work hard and see no improvement for a while. Don't get discouraged. As long as you're playing, doing drills, and studying, then I think you're doing everything you can.

For me, I liked to focus on one thing. For example one month I only did tactic puzzles. Maybe I played a game or two sometimes, but mostly I didn't do anything but solve puzzles. I liked that focusing in on something like that immediately changed the way I played when I started playing again (usually for the worse because I had to get used to it haha, but it also helped me break old habits).

Same for endgames, for a month I only did endgames every day.

Maybe you like doing a little bit of everything in a day (play, read, puzzles, etc), but anyway, it takes time.

<3

hmm, alright

bad liar lmao

ohhhhhhh hehehe

@MilitaryStrategy is @DigitalWarfare