What is a typical chess study routine?

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happyface79

My chess studying as of right now is very unorganized. So i was wondering what other people's studying routines are. For example: What to study, how long, tactics trainer, etc...

Thanks

Or_theBashaKiller

use chess mentor , it's nice :)

anyway

tactics tactics  , chess mentor , focus on endgames and choose an opening repertoire as small as possible... at my case it's the sicilian against 1.e4

and nimzo-indian against 1.d4

as white 1.d4

study as hard as you can only that small repertoire untill you master it .

happyface79
Or_theBashaKiller wrote:

use chess mentor , it's nice :)

anyway

tactics tactics  , chess mentor , focus on endgames and choose an opening repertoire as small as possible... at my case it's the sicilian against 1.e4

and nimzo-indian against 1.d4

as white 1.d4

study as hard as you can only that small repertoire untill you master it .

What do you mean by repertoire? Thanks for the fast response by the way :)

TheGreatOogieBoogie

Lasker said education in chess goes by in a most haphazard manner.  I personally work on one book every month and if I finish it early review it a little.  Now I'm working on Crouch's How to Defend in Chess and in a few weeks will work on Muller's Secrets of Pawn Endings.  Then Dvoretsky's School of Excellence 2, then Survival Guide to Rook Endings, then Aagard's Practical Chess Defence to build on what I learn in Crouch's book.  So yeah I'm focused on an endgame-middlegame study plan. 

Somebodysson
TheGreatOogieBoogie wrote:

Lasker said education in chess goes by in a most haphazard manner.  I personally work on one book every month and if I finish it early review it a little.  Now I'm working on Crouch's How to Defend in Chess and in a few weeks will work on Muller's Secrets of Pawn Endings.  Then Dvoretsky's School of Excellence 2, then Survival Guide to Rook Endings, then Aagard's Practical Chess Defence to build on what I learn in Crouch's book.  So yeah I'm focused on an endgame-middlegame study plan. 

how many hours a day do you study, on average? what do you do if you don't finish the book in a month? Do you read fast?

Derekjj

When I have a chance, study books on strategy and endgame. Tactical training is also important.

TheGreatOogieBoogie

I try going for one or two if I can.  Then I'll finish it anyway then start on the next one.  It took me well over a month to finish Fine's Basic Chess Endings (the one revised by Pal Benko) and then I started on Soltis' Turning Advantage into Victory in Chess. 

Somebodysson
TheGreatOogieBoogie wrote:

I try going for one or two if I can.  Then I'll finish it anyway then start on the next one.  It took me well over a month to finish Fine's Basic Chess Endings (the one revised by Pal Benko) and then I started on Soltis' Turning Advantage into Victory in Chess. 

besides reading, and I assume, playing...do you do other chess study? Like, when you're reading a book, say like Fine's Basic Endings, are you also doing tactical puzzles. Or are you working on only the material in the book that month? I find this interesting, as I'm trying to put together a chess curriculum for myself, and am interested to hear how other players do it. So far I've put all my time into the tactics trainer on here, and a thread I have on here. I'm about to start on Lou Hays Winning Chess Tactics for Juniors; I have been advised to spend at least a month on this, and I'm wondering if I should try to read another chess book at the same time. So please advise whether your chess study in that month is all the book you are reading at the time. thanks

TheMushroomDealer

I suggest:

-train tactics hour per day for example 19:00-20:00

-train theory half hour-hour per day for example 20:00-20:30 this consists endgames and openings.

-make a schedule and STICK on it

TheMushroomDealer

And play 3 30min games per week and analyse them by your own and then with computer

TheGreatOogieBoogie

Yeah I'd do about 10 minutes of tactic puzzles as a warm up since it's easy getting rusty in that area unless you keep up. 

Tactics only sounds fun, but the point of such training is to have fun feeling smart finding a winning move we're told is there at the cost of leaving holes in the rest of our understanding. 

It's been said that it takes three weeks to automate a skill and the extra week is to ensure the skill stays automated.  It was a training method suggested by the Soviet School of Chess. 

Somebodysson
TheGreatOogieBoogie wrote:

Yeah I'd do about 10 minutes of tactic puzzles as a warm up since it's easy getting rusty in that area unless you keep up. 

Tactics only sounds fun, but the point of such training is to have fun feeling smart finding a winning move we're told is there at the cost of leaving holes in the rest of our understanding. 

It's been said that it takes three weeks to automate a skill and the extra week is to ensure the skill stays automated.  It was a training method suggested by the Soviet School of Chess. 

thanks. 

happyface79

Thanks for the fast responses!

kprawn

For what it's worth I can recommend http://www.shredderchess.com/chess-software/chess-tutor.html. I've been working through it and enjoying it.

The nice thing about it is that it already contains a well thought out learning agenda which you can just start working through.

I also found this interesting http://www.gautamnarula.com/how-to-get-good-at-chess-fast/.

waffllemaster

I try to work in all of the following 3.  Maybe not in the same day but at least in the same week.

Tactics
Books study
Analysis

Analysis could be one of my games, someone else's game, a position or game from a book.  I could be annotating or playing guess the move.  The point is trying to train the analysis skill you use at a tournament.  Thinking a long time without touching the pieces and reaching some conclusions then testing those conclusions.

If you play in tournaments often, you can probably just skip the analysis part.  Playing in OTB tournaments where you try your best is some of the best practice.

happyface79

Oh cool thanks! What is the most important out of all of them? Tactics, book study, or analysis?

waffllemaster

I guess tactics.  But a close second is your ability to analyze.  If I had to try to summarize analysis it would be calculating one line, visualizing the final position, rendering an evaluation, then doing it again for a different line, and finally comparing the two to decide which one is better.  I would say this process is very chaotic and sometimes random for most amateur players.  I know I've done things like... look into one line a lot... finally decide it's bad, then play my alternate move without much thought because "it's probably better."


Tactics are so useful because other than tactics being fundamental to chess, solving them also exercises a lot of basic skills.  E.g. visualization and some analysis skills like trying hard to refute your intended move before you play it.


Book learning is important too of course, but especially for newer players I guess I'd rank it last of these three.

JamesColeman

I would say ability to analyse is number one by a long stretch. Doing tactical problems is nowhere near as useful as many people seem to think it is.

Somebodysson
waffllemaster wrote:

I try to work in all of the following 3.  Maybe not in the same day but at least in the same week.

Tactics
Books study
Analysis

Analysis could be one of my games, someone else's game, a position or game from a book.  I could be annotating or playing guess the move.  The point is trying to train the analysis skill you use at a tournament.  Thinking a long time without touching the pieces and reaching some conclusions then testing those conclusions.

If you play in tournaments often, you can probably just skip the analysis part.  Playing in OTB tournaments where you try your best is some of the best practice.

thanks very much

happyface79

Thanks, I respect your opinions!