Day 1
Study endings (1hr)
Solve tactics (30min)
Day 2
Study strategy (1hr)
Solve endings (30min)
Day 3
Play long game (1hr)
Solve tactics (30min)
Day 4
Solve strategy (1hr)
Solve tactics (30min)
Day 5
Study openings (1hr)
Solve endings (30min)
Day 6
Play long game (1hr)
Solve tactics (30min)
Day 7
Off day
(first in a series of adult learning posts)
“These things take time.” the grand master explained to his young pupil. Ten years and nearly one thousand rating points later, the student now finally realized the truth in the words of his teacher. One must realize that there is no quick fix to becoming an expert in any field, you need to pay your dues and in time you will reach one of many “a-ha” moments as your skills improve.
Cognitive psychologists Chase & Simon in 1973 studied chess experts and found that they had often spent as many as 50,000 hours practicing chess. That means that a 35 year old master who has spent 50,000 hours playing chess must have spent 4-5 hours everyday for thirty years on the chessboard starting at the age of 5.
Good heuristics on the time it takes to improve and reach certain milestones in your chess development could go like this (Note that results may vary based on the amount of time you spend, and the intensity of your training sessions):
After repeating exercise 1 for the first 2-3 sessions you can then move on to exercise 2.
Board Visualization Exercise #2
Same concept as in exercise #1 but this time you do not look at the board.
– note where the four knights normally develop
– note where the four bishops normally develop
– note the four squares for the fianchettoed bishops
– note the squares where the King and rook are placed after castling
Chess board visualization training is necessary in order to not miss tactics, see more combinations and to become a better overall chess player. Chess board visualization does not come naturally to all chess players. Chess visualization is something that must be trained, and should be part of a regular chess training regimen.
Chess board visualization training will improve your ability to calculate long variations. Visualization training should take place 3-4 times per week in 5-10 minute sessions.
Board Visualization Exercise #1
Arrange the pieces on a board and look at the normal developing move for all the pieces. The White knights develop to c3 and f3, while the Black knights develop to c6 and f6. The light squared bishop develops to e2,d3,c4,b5, etc. Once you have studied the knights, bishops (regular and fianchetto positions) the castled King and rook and the four central squares (e4,d4,e5,d5) you remove all of the pieces and point and name out loud all of the normal developing squares for the pieces.
Frustration
Over the last few months while my knowledge of the game has increased my chess skill has not improved. If anything I have suffered a decrease in performance over the last few months. The frustrating part is that I have invested time into my chess improvement plan, and while I feel that both my tactical pattern recognition and strategic knowledge of the game has improved this new knowledge has not translated into increased chess playing strength.
I have a tournament in 1 month and I am concerned about my plateau. I am nowhere near where I wanted to be 3 years into my chess improvement plan.
My Downward Spiral
Why I am Not Improving in Chess
Getting to the bottom of it
I selected several of my latest games and anlayzed them looking for the reason I lost the game, and guess what I found:
Over 80% of the games I lose were because I blundered and not due to knowledge gaps.
Modifications to the Plan
I need to strike a balance between blitz versus and standard games, and I must eliminate blitz play several weeks before playing in a tournament. While tactics will be a strong component of my training, I will be more flexible in my training schedule selecting areas of weakness that I uncover during my game analysis.
The key is to focus on building skills over knowledge, and learning to apply the knowledge I already have. As Dan Heisman likes to say, we need to subtract negatives if we want to get better. I have made the mistake of thinking that studying and reading chess books (adding positives) will make me a better player, and while I am increasing my knowledge of chess this does not translate into improving my performance (because we need to subtract negatives).
I hope that these modifications to my training plan, which will focus more on ‘skill building’ than ‘knowledge building’ will show improvements in my play. I’ll keep you posted…
According to Johnathan Rowson in his book Chess for Zebras
The best training is the kind that pushes you up against the edges of your comfort zone, where you force yourself to take responsibility for difficult decisions.
– Johnathan Rowson in Chess for Zebras
So here’s what you can do to put his advice into practice:
Silman calls the Lucena Position “The Holy Grail of Rook Endings”. In this position Regardless of who’s turn it is to move, White wins.
1.Rf2+ Forcing Black’s King to leave the scene of the battle.
1…Kg7 [1…Kg6 2.Rf4 Kg5 3.Rd4 Kf6 4.Ke8 Re1+ 5.Kf8 Rf1 6.d8Q+ Ke5+ 7.Ke7 ]
2.Rf4 Building a bridge.
2…Kg6 3.Ke7 Only now should White leave the cover of his pawn. Since promotion is threatened Black must go into checking mode.
3…Re1+ 4.Kd6 Rd1+ 5.Ke6 Re1+ 6.Kd5 Rd1+ 7.Rd4 Rxd4+ 8.Kxd4 Kf6 9.d8Q+ 1-0
Study Schedule
| Day | Topic 1 (30m) | Topic 2 (1hr) |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Solve Tactics | Study Endings |
| Tuesday | Play | Annotate game * |
| Wednesday | Solve Endings | Study Strategy ** |
| Thursday | Solve Tactics | Solve Strategy *** |
| Friday | Solve Tactics | Study Openings |
| Saturday | Solve Tactics | Solve Strategy |
| Sunday | Play | Annotate game * |
Legend:
* If you run out of time during daily session, you can finish annotating your game during the study openings session
** Study strategy by going over annotated master games
*** Use Stoyko Exercises format
About the Virtual Chess Coach Program
This program is geared for my improvement (a 35 year old 1278 USCF rated player), but I hope that others in a similar situation will be able to derive benefit from it as well.
I will be modeling this program on the teaching’s of Dan Heisman. Dan Heisman is one of the best chess teacher’s in the United States and if you don’t already know this, then run to danheisman.com and check out his Novice Nook articles at Chess Cafe.
Now not all of us can afford a chess coach, so we will be using books and information available on the web (Heisman’s Novice Nook Articles) to create a virtual chess coaching experience. If you can afford a coach, then there is no substitute for the hands on feedback that they can provide but I’m aiming to make this the second best thing.
Things to know before we go on:
Absolute Beginners
For complete beginner’s to chess Heisman recommends they start with The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess
The Assessment Phase
We need to assess our strengths and weaknesses, yet we are in no position to do so (how can we assess what we do not know / understand). This is one of the weaknesses of not having the feedback mechanism a coach provides. But do not fret, there is a great book that helps you assess your strengths and weaknesses in chess, and that book is Igor Khmelnitsky’s Chess Exam and Training Guide
Assessing Your Games
Another area where a coach can provide much needed feedback is in going over your games. Because we’ll be going at it on our own the following process is very important in order to get a close benefit to that of having a real coach.
Key things to look for when annotating your game
You should jot these down as part of your annotations and include them in your chess notebook
The games you annotate and go over, should be standard time control games if possible. You should make an effort to play at least 1-2 standard games (>= G/30) per week. You can do this by either joining the Team 45 45 league, or playing ICC’s Standard Tourney or even playing at your local chess club. These games will give you more food for thought than quickly played blitz games, but if you do not have at least 1 standard game to go over, then do go over your well played blitz games (which is better than not going over your games at all).
Thought Process Before Lessons
There are certain bad habits that you should eliminate before you consider taking lessons, otherwise you would be throwing your money away. Most of these stem from careless play or hope chess .
Reference
The following books and websites will be used for this program:
Tactics
Chess Tactics for Beginners (Convekta)
Endgames
Silman’s Complete Endgame Course
Strategy
The Art of Logical Chess Thinking
Thought Process
Play