The Key to Your Improvement

http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/01/06/the-grandmaster-in-the-corner-office-what-the-study-of-chess-experts-teaches-us-about-building-a-remarkable-life/

http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/11/25/to-develop-expertise-motivation-is-necessary-but-insufficient/

The articles above recommend playing over master games, trying to guess the moves. Having read stuff like this, I wrote a program called Guess the Move to help.  It is available for free in the download section of chess.com.

thanks for the link, awesome blog about deliberate practise

Very good topic, I wanted to start one about "deliberate practice" and share with you a 2 part article regarding this topic: Becoming an expert by Lyle McDonald. Even though Lyle field is fitness%nutrition chess is mentioned a few times.

Regarding my case, my online rating is 950, I've started 1 month ago doing tactics on chesstempo.com (1250 rating) 1 hour per day and reading a few articles. 

This is what took me from 600 to 950 in a month but now I've hit a plateau and it seems that I can't get over this level.

I know what I have to do but I jus't don't do it: analyzing my loosing games. I also have a poor sleep program (around 5-6 hrs per night) and I think this is a major responsible for my blunders. I can't focus that well. Fixing my sleep and analyzing my losses with a strong player I think will take me to 1100.

while solving tactics and problems in chesstempo.com how to check the solution if we fail in solving?

@probinS , press the right arrow button and the solution will be displayed move by move. left arrow will take you back one move

@KeyserSzoze: I'd be glad to help you in analyzing your games.

Just continue solving chess tactics, but do you also study basic endgames and positiona play? Studying them for chess improvement is also important.

any free chess e-books on endgames study??

@jambyvedar: I have a copy of Silman's end game book and I read the chapter for my level.

How do you study postional play?

I learned the primer of positional play from Winning Chess Strategy book by Seirawan. On how I study positional play. I study many games from thematic positions. For example bishop vs knights. If there are chess positions that are not clear to me, I will try to study it.. Basicaly if you are gonna study positional play, study the thematic positions that are easy to understand. Absorb as many as you can these easy thematic positions.

For example study  rook pressure on pawn weakness,rook behind passed pawn endgame,bishop vs knight endgames with pawns, pawn majority endgames etc,sacrifice of pawn for initiative in the middle game etc.

@ probinS: Hello again! This might be a little late for a response, but I came across an interesting video lessons designed to equip any chess player with the skills needed for proper and efficient end game play. It was made by an international grandmaster with a degree psychology, making his videos easy to understand yet comprehensive in relevant information. Feel free to check out his site at:

http://chess-teacher.com/home#oid=1387_5

and for endgames more specifically:

http://chess-teacher.com/endgame#oid=1387_6

What rating were you at when you started this thread AYoung12 ? :-0

I like it.

No, it's not completely true. But I've often heard higher-rated players say that simply playing consistently is more important up to ~2000.

OK -- do some tactics, learn the very basic KP endgames, go thru a master game here or there, analyze your losses. But mostly, at the class level... just play?

I'm focused on the endgame right now.  I still have 50 pages of Secrets of Pawn Endings left.  That's only the end of the pawn ending cycle for now, I still have CCE: Pawn Volume and ECE: Pawn Volume left to go when I get back around to it.  Studying the endgame was highly recommended by Capablanca and the Russian school of chess.  Amateur to IM likewise also advocates a comprehensive endgame study.  Nunn's Understanding Chess Endgames is great to open a session and Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual to cap it off (though many positions they have in common it's like Secrets of Pawn Endings provided Dvoretsky with lots of source material).  Maybe some positions from Fine's Basic Chess Endings for an extra study (some of my favorite positions are from there, I didn't once find a Morphy-Rivierre position in The Survival Guide to Rook Endings yet it was quite an instructive exercise). 

Note how one of Morphy's rare losses came from a King's Gambit and dreaming of tactics that weren't really there. 

"If chess were to be considered as a purely scientific study, the endings would have to be thoroughly studied and understood before taking up the middle game. In the same way a complete study and knowledge of the middle game would have to precede the study of openings. Considered as an intellectual pastime of either an artistic or scientific nature, the matter changes. The majority of those playing the game are mostly interested in combinations and direct attacks against the King. As imagination is needed for that kind of play, such interest should be encouraged. As the player improves other things begin to interest him and the other aspects of the game become more important. A little method, however, from the very beginning will not be amiss and the generational principles at any time can only help and never detract from the interest of the game. "

-Capablanca

Here's how I interpret that in a modern sense: If you aren't shooting for a chess title... then learn some general principles, and have fun. No need to delve into vast amounts of chess theory to improve at the amateur level.

Of course, as Capablanca implied, and as common sense dictates -- whatever your goal is, will dictate how (and what) to study. I gave up chess books for the most part, and I'm having more fun and playing better. :)

I'm trying to find a practical answer to this question these days. I've been around 1600 for a good long time. I was around 1500s for too long before. I really don't remember how I got up here, but not by studying i'm sure because i'm not studying for real. I occasionally watch chess videos about this and that, it's not an organized study or anything.

I need to find the answer to this; "how did i make my current progress?" it's key to my way up to 1700.