How much to play chess per day GUIDE

Chess improvement isn't just about how much time you invest into it. It is more about the quality of the effort you invest and only then quantity becomes important. If you have quantity without quality, then you just repeat the same mistakes over and over.

How much time is best for you might be vastly different from how much time is best for someone else. It depends greatly on your chess goals and your personal life schedule (how much time are you willing to realistically put into chess). Simply put, your optimal amount of chess would be extremely different if you just play casually with friends compared to if you were trying to become a titled player some day.

Playing for 2 hours (including 30 minutes of studying) per day can definitely add up, so you should stick with that if it feels good for you. My time for chess is extremely inconsistent now, but when I used to much more active, I would spend at least 3 hours every day and some days it was even 12+ hours... but I wouldn't ever count the time, or feel obligated to play a certain amount of chess. I played when I felt like playing because I love chess.

Nowadays, I'm still active with my chess and trying to improve, but I have much less time for chess. I don't even get a chance to play everyday. How much time you invest into chess can also fluctuate and that's okay too. As long as your expectations for progress are realistic for how much you invest into chess, then you should hopefully be okay.