NeedFood wrote:
1. 1) Play in rated tournament at least once a month, take good notes for later analysis Excellent idea! You can even post some of your games here and let others critique you. 2. 2) Read Russian Chess Masters by Alburt for overall view of chess Haven't read it myself. 3. 3) Read Understanding Chess Move by Move by John Nunn for overall view of chess Start with this one. Logical Chess Move by Move, by Irving Chernev is also a good one in this category. 4. 4) Train with ChessMaster for basic Endgames and Openings Yes! Focus on the endgames though. Openings aren't that important at this stage. 5. 5) Use tutorial videos + Attacking with 1.E4 book by John Emms to develop common white opening positions with E4 and at least 2 black defense systems against E4 and D4 Again, openings are your last priority at this point. 6. 6) Read Chess Training Pocket Book by Alburt for understanding positional play It's ok, but you can easily skip it. 7. 7) Read Fundamental Chess Endings for more complex Endgames studyy And I'm going to expand my vocabulary by reading the dictionary! Learning all the material in that book well would easily take more than a year if you devote 4-5hrs/week. Get Silman's Complete Endgame Course, and learn the more basic endgames to the point where you can play them in your sleep. 8. 8) Read Art of Attack for advanced tactics Pretty good choice. 9. 9) Following the master’s move training ???
Tactics, tactics, tactics should be your priority. After Understanding Chess Move by Move, you should get a tactics book. Winning Chess Tactics by Yasser Seirawan, if you haven't read it. If you have, there are lots of other tactics books out there. Use the tactics trainer on this site. Get a book on tactics problems, like 303 Tricky Chess Tactics by Wilson and Albertson. This should be the focus of at least 50% of your study.
You should also get a book which contains annotated games. Chess Master vs Chess Amateur by Max Euwe is a good one if you can find it. Alternatively, something like "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" or "100 Selected Games" by Botvinnik would be good. Devote 25% of your study to annotated games and reviewing your own games.
The other 25% should go to the middlegame, endgame, strategy, positional play, and openings (listed in order of importance).
Start your journey by going to www.chesscafe.com and reading all of Dan Heisman's "Novice Nook" articles.
Hope this helps.
Hello,
i recently got interested in chess and grow to love this game. Unfortunately, a busy school year is about to start and I don't have much time to play although I really want to improve my game. My rating in here is around 1400 and I hope to increase it to 1700-1800 in a year. This is my study plan and I think I can devote 4-5 hours/week to chess. Does this seem like a plausible plan to you? Any advices or suggestions are greatly appreciated. If you have a study plan that works, please share. Nice to know everyone.
I will be studying in the order that appears here:
1. 1) Play in rated tournament at least once a month, take good notes for later analysis
2. 2) Read Russian Chess Masters by Alburt for overall view of chess
3. 3) Read Understanding Chess Move by Move by John Nunn for overall view of chess
4. 4) Train with ChessMaster for basic Endgames and Openings
5. 5) Use tutorial videos + Attacking with 1.E4 book by John Emms to develop common white opening positions with E4 and at least 2 black defense systems against E4 and D4
6. 6) Read Chess Training Pocket Book by Alburt for understanding positional play
7. 7) Read Fundamental Chess Endings for more complex Endgames studyy
8. 8) Read Art of Attack for advanced tactics
9. 9) Following the master’s move training
1.