This is my attempt to get back into the routine of chess after a 6-8 week Chess Break and Restart. I thought it would be good to have 3-month goals that I can track for July, August, and September. These goals are for the work I can do, not the results I hope to have. There are no ratings goals here. I believe that if I do the right work, the ratings will follow.
I have a couple of weeks of vacation planned in these 3 months
Objective 1: Solidify my foundation in basic tactics
Result 1.1: Do 500 “hanging piece” puzzles on Chess.com
I still hang pieces in games, and miss free pieces, so I want to try to stop that. This is 10 puzzles a day, 5 days a week, for 10 weeks.
Result 1.2: Complete 30 pages of Chess Steps with 40-80% accuracy
This is 3 pages a week for 10 weeks. I should finish the main workbook for Step 3, and then move on to the next workbook in Step 3, which I think will be the “Extra” workbook.
Objective 2: Play and analyze lots of games
Result 2.1: Play 100 blitz games and do a quick analysis of each
This is 10 5|2 games a week for 10 weeks. The analysis is finding the points in the game where there were major swings and then creating a journal of the findings
Result 2.2: Play at least 1 rapid game a week and analyze
This is a minimum of 15|10 time control and I should use a physical board for the games. Do a quick analysis of each game
Result 2.3: Play 1 OTB tournament
There are not many local tournaments in the summer, but there is one in September.
Objective 3: Build pattern recognition in openings and endgames
Result 3.1: Review endgame flashcards each week
These are the digital flashcards I created from content in Silman’s Complete Endgame Course
Result 3.2: Review my Chessable endgame course each week
This is a collection of playable puzzles also taken from Silman’s CEC.
Result 3.3: Review my simple opening courses daily
These are the ones I made with Chessbook.com and added to Chessable. It is less than 100 lines for both white and black combined, and usually only takes a few minutes a day.