In my city, whenever I play, I usually start in the top 5 seeds. Because of my IM title, many players and parents approach me and ask the same question – How to improve? Most of them already have some rating. So I decided to write a blog post on it.
In my last 6 years of coaching experience, I can say that people don’t practice chess regularly, or they think playing chess is practice.
There are multiple ways to practice chess, and each way has its own benefit and usefulness. Not every way is equally useful. Let’s take an example:
1- Watching YouTube videos – Not very helpful, but you can do it for long hours. Maybe it will help you 20% in actual improvement.
2- Solving chess puzzles over the board – 85–90% useful
3- Watching and analysing games – If you are below 2000, it will help maybe 50%, but if you are 2000+, then it will help you 70%
4- Studying openings – For titled and serious players, usefulness is 100%, but for amateurs and club-level players, it’s less than 10%
5- Selection of tournaments – 100% important at the professional level
I hope you got my point. It is directly based on your rating and your goals.
Why Most 1500–1600 Players Stay Stuck?
Please note that improving in chess is not mandatory for most players. Be happy with your rating and enjoy chess. It’s a hobby sport. But for those who are trying to improve, I feel this is due to the following reasons:
1- Players get overwhelmed with new opening courses and study too many openings OR they try to change openings after every tournament. The opening should work for you, and you should not change your game for the opening (I don’t know how this statement sounds in English… lol)
2- Players are not investing in the right things
3- Less over-the-board chess practice
4- Pressure from parents
5- Choosing the wrong books. Many players start with Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual and Aagaard’s Grandmaster Preparation series. Absolutely NO
6 Months Simple Working Idea
1- Understand your why – Why do you want to improve your rating? What’s the final goal, and what will benefit you if you reach XYZ rating?
2- Choosing one opening – Just stick to one opening and add 2–3 variations to it. Don’t buy too many opening courses. Choose simple openings.
3- 50% of the work should be done on over-the-board practice. Get a chess set and a book. Turn off all distractions and do CHESS.
4- Focus on solving middlegame calculation and tactics. You should pick books that are not very easy but not very difficult.
6 Months Training Structure
It’s important to understand what is working for you and how much time you have, and then make your schedule accordingly. If I say do chess for 2 hours, someone will think it’s too less, and someone with a full-time job will think it’s too much.
Ask these questions to yourself:
- How much time do you have in a week?
- What interests you?
- Where are you lacking and want to improve?
It’s more about studying whatever you like. You have to build a love for the game. If someone hates solving puzzles and I say do it for 2 hours, they will mostly say no, right?
So, in the first month, start doing whatever you love or like doing. If you like playing bullet and you decide to spend 20 hours in a week, then play a lot of bullet. This will help you become consistent.
In the second and third months, you have to start doing things that will actually help you improve. Make a list in the first month itself and slowly start spending 50% of your total time on things you actually want to do.
After 3 months, you will already get an idea of what’s working and what’s not. You will also start to see some improvement, which is great!
In the next 3 months, start focusing more on calculation, basic endgames, and basic openings.
Not convinced and need a day-to-day plan? Check out my 90-day improvement plan for 1600–1800 players, which I made last month – https://nikhildixit.gumroad.com/l/dxdcae
Major resources to complete for real improvement
1- 1001 Chess Puzzles for Advanced Club Players
2- Daily 10–15 minutes of tactics on Lichess or Chess.com
3- Basics of all endgames
4- Playing 30–40 blitz or 10–15 rapid games in a week, along with analysis
In conclusion
Try to create systems according to yourself and start working on chess. I remember when I was young, some Grandmaster said to me that if you do any type of chess practice for 4–5 hours a day, you will reach 2200. The statement is not exactly true, but it still makes a lot of sense.