Fake training and no progress? What to do (and what to avoid)

I’ll start with a request: this is my first substantive article about training and chess progress (aimed at a rather higher level). Let me know what you think about it. I’ll be happy to hear both that you agree, as well as what should be added or improved.

Now, to the point: What is it about? About simulating training and the lack of progress in chess. Sound familiar? Based on my own observations, but... also on materials from Botvinnik, Lasker, and Dvoretsky.

I hope you find something for yourselves. The more opinions the better.

Very interesting article! I learned stuff from it. For example that if I am stuck on a difficult puzzle I can put that situation on a real board to think about it and try different options.

I have done over 1000 lessons here yet I struggle to put everything I have learned into practice. I still feel like a noob whatever I do. I can only really feel confident in 1 min 960 tournaments since it's harder to train beforehand for those situations and people are more on the same level in that.

What I like to do for sports is jump rope. So I could use that instead of squats. For the "punishment". If I get under 20 points in a tournament for example. I could try that out if it helps!

I'm personally interested in the nutrition aspect of things (plant based). What foods help best to focus. So I salute everyone who has a new perspective on chess training and who likes to explore the possibilities! Great job, keep it up!

Thanks for your feedback!

Regarding: What I like to do for sports is jump rope. So I could use that instead of squats. For the "punishment". If I get under 20 points in a tournament for example. I could try that out if it helps!

No, that’s not quite it. The "punishment" is supposed to be a way to get you back on the right track—correcting things like laziness or guessing a variation instead of calculating it.

If things don't go well in a tournament, that's already sad enough and a punishment in itself; there's no need to pile more on.

The jump rope is fine, but personally, I'd recommend a "punishment" in the form of not playing blitz or bullet.

Aah thanks for the clarification 😁 I totally misunderstood the assignment - as usual 😅 U can probably tell my attention span is a challenging one...

So yeah, if lazy and skipping on daily lessons: skip rope! After I got to 1000 lessons I have been skipping on doing more since my motivation kinda sunk. I tried watching the videos included with lessons but that only made me so sleepy that I couldn't finish the lesson and had to have a nap 😴

I guess there is a point of too much information reached and cannot take more... Some of the lessons have been really easy and fun, I have already done all the checkmates in one for example, while others are really hard and difficult with multiple sections before getting one done. I feel like the lessons could be better arranged... In the beginning that works, but after doing all the "mandatory" ones it gets more confusing what would be best to do next. The "next lesson" button doesn't show from what section the lesson is from if the previous one is completed so I don't even know the category sometimes of what I am doing. I wish that would be fixed!

Can I give you some advice?
Buy a book or find a chapter on chess problems. Sit quietly at the board and see what it's like. And practice for an hour, without any prompts or phone calls.

Let me know how it goes

I have 3 chess books... one I don't understand is called "Simple chess" 😂 The one I like best is Bobby Fischer teaches chess because it has challenges. I like Gothamchess's book too, but it doesn't have challenges. I could continue with those 2 books!

I have been doing lessons here every day for many months x4/day. And I have practiced for example Luciano position and checkmating with bishop and knight... and other endgames in drills and with a person, but all of the information and training feels life draining sometimes to be honest...

The thing that still excites me with chess is the battle mood in tournaments! Putting on some good battle music, drinking coffee and citrus juice before a tournament and then battling my heart out - literally, it starts to pound like crazy if going into a win streak. Same goes with jump rope skipping - it brings the heart rate up. That is what makes me feel alive. I really don't want to lose the fun. I feel like too much studying can do that. And I'm currently reading Ed Winter's new book How to Go and Stay Vegan. Because I have liked his previous books. It's not about chess and I like that. Because it's been a bit too much chess this year and I'm kinda trying to limit it. Just to have it as a fun hobby for a long time and not to become totally frustrated with it.

But anyway I appreciate the tips! I didn't solve the hard puzzle yet that I am stuck at, but it's on my real life board now 😊

What was inspirational about your blog post was focusing also on the exercise... if u have seen The Gamechangers documentary about vegan athletes (Netflix) it dives into the positive impacts going plant based can have to achieve great results in sports. For example making recovery time shorter, so one can do more repetitions without breaks and with shorter breaks.

What I would like to see and participate in doing would be how going plant based also can help with chess: combining sports, nutrition and chess. That would be a great documentary to see! That has been my main motivation in learning chess, if I could help more people to go plant based.

When I battle best in tournaments I think about battling for the animals and nature. When I remember what I am fighting for it helps with motivation. When I forget my motivation and become tired and frustrated I lose focus. I think that reading Ed's book will help regain motivation!

Still my favorite aspect of chess is 960. I feel there's already so many normal chess experts that I don't really want to compete in that.

Any good new books?

I haven't researched diet and chess yet, but the correlation is 100%; there are definitely things that are recommended and things that aren't. Dietitians will probably have more to say about what influences the ability to maintain concentration.

If there was anything dedicated to chess, I'd be happy to listen.

I simply enjoy books; when it comes to exercises, I recommend Maxim Blokh... these were good and challenging enough

Dear mr. Fudalej. Your article is so long and so full of many different ideas that I must honestly say that I got exhausted even reading it… I think that your ideas are useful if you train titled players. Some of ideas you wrote, i heard something similar from renowned coach IM Petr Pisk. But I don’t quite agree that solving puzzles online should be automatically too easy or demotivating. Yes, puzzles system chess.com used for unless about quarter of year ago was ridiculous. But new puzzles system I found motivatig enough. Thank you in advance for your answer.

My students are beginners, intermediate players and students who are good but they have to study, they have girlfriends, they play videogames etc. Honestly, sometimes I pray that anyone would even come to a lesson. OK squats are the best physical exercise that exists but I doubt that parents would bring their children ever again to my lesson if I force them to make 20 squats. Maybe I am coward, maybe I fail to communicate with their parents. Please answer.

Trying this with Seirawan’s Winning Chess series.

First, swap mindless repetition for mindful practice—focus on understanding the 'why' behind each move, not just memorizing patterns. Avoid shortcuts that promise instant mastery; real progress comes from analyzing your games, learning from mistakes, and challenging yourself with new opponents. Don’t just play for the sake of playing—study classic games, solve puzzles, and set specific goals. Remember, in chess and in life, genuine growth is a marathon, not a sprint. So, ditch the autopilot, embrace curiosity, and let every move teach you something new!

I personally believe in making practice automatic techniques. Atomic habits is about applying it to for example to sports and cleaning. Zen Buddhism books about applying it to meditation practice. But it can be used in any field including chess. It just depends on personal interests what to put focus into. The reward is reaching your goals. I only stopped momentarily doing lessons x4/day (morning/day/afternoon/evening) after reaching my goal of 1000. But it was only a matter of setting a new goal to continue. It doesn't require any punishments really after something becomes automatic.
Lessons surely teach all the "why" behind every move. While puzzles fail to do that. Therefore I prefer lessons. I would only like them to be more organized here so when the lesson category changes when pushing next I could easily see the new category section not just seeing the next lesson.
There are plenty of historical examples in lessons and plenty of different play styles from different players throughout history. And videos included (if u don't fall asleep). The lessons are only mindless if not fully concentrated while doing them. Unfortunately I can't see what my brain has stored from doing all the lessons, but there must be something 😁

Here's my main issue: too much information. I've been doing lessons every day for months. It's a lot of new information. Instead of anyone (including myself) telling me to take a break from new information everyone keeps telling me to just pile on new information 🥴 And to make things worse: punish myself if I take a break 😵‍💫 I am sorry but I think that is the worst possible advice I have ever received in this situation 😂 I desperately need a break from new information! I wish someone had said it to me. That I am doing too much and deserve a break. But no... I have to say it to myself. I will take a break from learning new information until next year! I will say it to anyone else too who needs it: take a break from learning new things!
I will do another thousand lessons after the break.

Now I will just enjoy mainly puzzle rush and tournaments. Because the learning motivation just isn't there right now. My head is filled with too much new information already.

I don't see what the actual difference is in learning about all the historical games and game styles from lessons here vs books. It's still the same content. Just in different form. But sure. I can try again with books too - after the holidays!!! 😮‍💨

Thanks for the opinion, it was supposed to be a bit exhaustive so there wouldn't be a part 1, part 2, ... etc. I'll probably change something over time.
My students actually liked this idea of ​​forcing students.

It's also different when you have students who play in clubs, and it's different when parents want you to teach their children. I had both groups.

good advice! Especially avoid shortcuts in chess

Hey,
Watching a lesson and training and making progress are two different things. Training should require a lot of effort on your part, not just watching.

Watching? It's interactive where you have to pick the next move. Much like puzzles but with information about the moves. Sometimes I end up trying every single possible move before getting it right. Sometimes getting it right first try. Are u mixing up articles and lessons?

I checked and u have done 121 lessons. I have done 1015. U have probably not even done the mandatory ones. Browse through the lessons library to see all the categories and try out the classic world famous games for example just to compare them with the information in books.

"That’s why I teach (and train) a simple rule: a puzzle is solved only when you have calculated to the end. One hundred percent. No “holey” lines"

This is the biggest reason why a lot of cc players get stuck at low ratings imo. They don't put in the effort to calculate and think they can just improve by training their intuition alone but it doesn't work like that, chess isn't a game of luck