I should probably add, I will be 21 shortly after New Year's.
My New Years Resolution - Become Master By Age 30!
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Ok, it´s a great idea. I´m whit you!!!
GOOD LUCK
That's a fine plan. Good for you. May I make a suggestion? You clearly want to be involved the chess.com community. It would be great if you gave regular updates to see how you are doing. Once you start getting official rating points, you could let us know where you are.
Good luck on your journey, I have no doubt you'll succeed.
ED.
I've decided on my New Year's resolution: to join the USCF when I return to the US (just before Christmas) and attain at least a 2000 rating by the end of the year. This will be an ongoing and long-term personal development project driven by my love of the game - I hope to reach master level by or before the age of 30. Pardon the length of this discussion, I will title each section so that you can read and comment on only one aspect should you wish to do so. I will discuss:
1) My current level as a chess player.
2) Books, software and other purchases I plan on making.
3) Finally, the plan I will pursue
Keep in mind that this is an open discussion about honing your skills at the game we all love, and I would love to hear anyone else's stories about chess development, experience with various training methods, or just general advice.
1) My Current Level: To give you a rough idea, I play in the 1500-1600 range here on the site depending on the time controls. However, this is of little value as these games are too quick (usually 5-10 minute blitz) to allow much reflection. I recently joined a chess club and FIDE here in France, playing 11 ranked games. My record is 5 wins and 6 loses. I am currently unranked, but I defeated a player of rank 1850 (FIDE) and 1750 as my highest opponents, and easily won games against 3 people in the 1500-1600 range. I am building up my confidence and getting over issues of mental fatigue that plagued me in my first tournament (causing 4 straight losses, the last games). So a personal rating estimate is probably in the low 1800 USCF range (1700 or so FIDE).
2) Expenditures: I budgeted $250 (give or take) to chess training as a kind of starter package. The first $50 was spent on a high quality plastic set, board, game scorebooks. The next $200 is up in the air.
I currently only have 2 books, but both have helped me pass the early intermediate stage. Yasser Serrawan's Winning Chess Strategies and Winning Chess Endings. I'm ready for some more advanced material.
I am 95% sure I want to get Deep Rybka 3 Aquarium, as the near 4 million game database, blunder check and unprecedented analysis should greatly aid post game analysis and opening preparation. It costs about $100.
For the last $100, I am planning on getting a $40 clock and between $60-$80 dollars in chess books. They will probably be "Reassess your Chess", "Chess Exam and Training Guide, Rate Yourself and Learn How to Improve," and a couple of Chess Opening Books, something I hope I can use to develop an aggressive, attacking game.
In the future, I may also subscribe to chess mentor.
3) Plans on How to Improve: I plan to systematically break down my game and build up my skills in each key area, focusing on weaknesses. In general, I plan on keeping a journal and tracking my rating, key games (which will be put in my database), material learned from books, and general thoughts on the game. As far as the four main parts of the game:
Openings: Probably a weakness as my knowledge is fairly narrow and not nearly deep enough for master level play. I am an e4 addict, but I am weak against the Caro-Kann, Alekhine's defense, and the French (if a player is well studied). I can play d4 black or white, but tend not to play as white. my knowledge here is rudimentary, as is my knowledge of the flank openings. The database and opening books should help, but I hope to find openings that are sound, yet unique, visually shocking and useful for the attacking player.
Tactics: Mainly I will play short games to hone my tactic eye, and take specific note of what kind of traps I often miss, and themes that I should look out for. I also use online training tools and sites to solve several 2, 3 or 4 move tactic problems in rapid succession.
Strategy: A heavy emphasis, reading books and playing longer games/analyzing should help this, although I probably need human advice here too.
Endgames: The most solitary study, I feel equiped enough to handle most situations OTB, but I will certainly purchase some advanced endgame books after I'm done with Strategy and Opening focus.
In general I hope to have a flexible, but aggressive style, fighting for the initiative and seeking to put my opponents off balance with sound, yet shocking opening ideas, using a strong understanding of strategy to switch gears should the need be.
If you read this marathon of a post, thank you for your interest in my long term goal, and I would love to hear anything you have to recommend or comments about your own experience. After all, we're all here to learn!