Mid-May Study Plan Reset (May 13)

It is now mid-way through May, and I decided that what I was doing was not entirely working. I am not making as fast as progress as I would like, and it is frustrating. I am going to renew my focus on tactics. This was my original idea back in December, but I’ve strayed a bit from that.

Here is my updated version of what I am planning for the next few weeks in May:

Play

  • I am going to play a bit more blitz, as I think this could help with my fast tactical pattern recognition. After every game I will use the Game Review feature to quickly identify any missed tactics and opportunities. This could also help me as I’m learning new openings.
  • I will still play rapid games as well. Making sure that I analyze every game!

Learn

I am going to focus on a small number of ChessMood courses going forward. I noticed that the endgame course I was working on had lots of good content, but stuff that I may not need yet. I am going to put that on hold.

  1. Tactics: Tactics Ninja - This is going to be my main focus going forward. I am going to try to study 30 minutes per day on this course.
  2. Openings: BlackMood opening course - I should be able to finish this in May. After that I plan to keep studying the lines in Chessable, but not move on to the more detailed ChessMood courses yet. I want to give it some time to just let all the new openings sink in.
  3. Master Games: 100 Classical Masterpieces - Try for 3 per week

Solve

I want to at least double the amount of time I am spending solving tactics.

  1. Learn Chess the Right Way - Book 1: Must Know Checkmates - review any open puzzles every day
  2. Learn Chess the Right Way - Book 2: Winning Material - First, review any open puzzles every day. I want to finish this by the end of the month. I have 72 puzzles left as of the time I’m writing this, so that is only about 5 per day. I think I can do more than that.
  3. Everybody’s First Chess Workbook - I have the physical copy of this as well, but I will be working through the Chessable version. I am 30% of the way through this. Add a new section every day. This is pretty easy, but more puzzles are better.
  4. Chess.com puzzles - I am going to start grinding puzzle rush and rated puzzles. I want to do at least 5 attempts at puzzle rush (between 3 and 5 minute) every day. I also want to do at least 10 rated puzzles each day.

Along with this increase on solving, I am going to try to collect some analytics on time spent, attempts, etc. I want to see I can measure the impact of this plan on my studying.

Original Plan

I am keeping my original plan here for my reference. Below you can find the plan I set at the beginning of May:

My study continues to focus on ChessMood. There are some good and not so good things about it. The opening courses are great and I’m excited about them. I think the commentated master game reviews are a great way for me to study master games because they highlight why moves are important, why certain variations were not played, and I seem to do better when someone is explaining it instead of just reading it in a book. On the other hand, I’m not sure how much I’m getting out of the middle game and endgame courses. I like to think some of it is sinking in, but I worry it is too passive.

Play

  • I did a bit better in April with getting into the habit of analyzing my games again. I need to keep this up and spend even more time on it. I have been finding a good balance between starting without any engine, then using the game review feature on Chess.com.
  • The goal is to play longer (30 min +) games
  • If I play blitz games, limit to 3 per day, and analyze them to learn about the openings. I don’t love playing blitz, but it is a good way to get lots of practice with openings. I just need to use it as a tool with analysis and not just play Blitz when I’m bored or watching TV.

Learn

Here are the ChessMood courses I play to study this month:

  1. Openings (20%): BlackMood opening course - I should be able to finish this in May. After that I plan to keep studying the lines in Chessable, but not move on to the more detailed ChessMood courses yet. I want to give it some time to just let all the new openings sink in.
  2. Tactics (20%): Tactics Ninja - I only got through about 2 hours in April and have 10 hours left, so I’m going to keep working on this
  3. Master Games (10%): 100 Classical Masterpieces - I’ve gotten through 18 of the 100 games
  4. Middle Game (20%): I finished Happy Pieces and will start Speedboat Adventures (Rooks)
  5. Endgame (20%): I finished Pawn Endgames and will start Queen vs Pawns

For details on my progress through the ChessMood videos, check out this post.

Solve

Continue working on these Chessable tactics every day:

  1. Learn Chess the Right Way - Book 1: Must Know Checkmates - review any open lines every day
  2. Learn Chess the Right Way - Book 2: Winning Material - review any that need reviewing and try to add 5 more each day. If I have 50+ to review, then I do not add any more. By the end of the month I should be close to finishing this course, then it will be on to book 3.
  3. Everybody’s First Chess Workbook - I have the physical copy of this, but I will be working through the Chessable version. I am hoping it is pretty easy, but the additional repetition of simple patterns should help.

Previously I was setting a timer for 10 minutes and filling that up with the two Polgar courses. I found that I was not making much progress. By slowly adding a few new puzzles each day, that helps me make progress.

Longer Term Plan / What’s Next

Here is my general longer-term (rest of this year) plan:

  1. Finish ChessMood videos (see above)
  2. Chess Steps Level 2
  3. Time for a coach

In general, the areas of my game I think need the most work are endgames and just basic calculation/visualization skills.