Check out last month’s update: March 2023 Recap and April Study Plan
April Recap
Next Level Training: I finished this course and really enjoyed it. It gave me an idea of how to better study chess. Now I make a plan each Sunday for the following week.
Endgames: I have been going through Silman’s Complete Endgame Course again. I am reviewing all the chapters up to the point I am. I either create a flashcard or a playable tactic line in a private Chessable course for all the topics. I review these once a week or even less, but I have them now.
Books: I finished reading Life & Games of Mikhail Tal. I did not play through all the games, but read the prose sections. I also read the first part of 4-hour Chef, which talks about how to learn new skills.
May Plan / Goals
Chess Steps: I will continue to work on the Step 3 Workbook. I am about half-way done right now
Endgames: I am trying to get caught up in Silman’s Endgame Book. I have a couple more chapters in my section that I want to get through this month and then I will pause on this book until I am higher rated.
Play & Analyze: If I don’t analyze it, it doesn’t count. I built myself a little app to help, which finds the critical points in the game. I will play a couple of longer games (15|10) each week, and then at least one blitz game every day (5|2).
Openings: I created openings in Chess Madra for black. They are only 4-5 moves deep. This is intentional so I’m not trying to memorize a bunch of moves, but trying to learn the plans and the feel of these positions. I put these in Chessable and I will continue to review them. As I analyze games, I also look for areas that I am unclear on in the opening. At some point in the future I will do the same for white, but I want to focus on just black for now.
Checkmate Patterns Manual: I am working through this book on Chessable as a warm up each morning. It is starting to feel like I am doing too many things, and this is one that I could drop if needed.
Books: For fun I am going to read Seven Deadly Chess Sins.