I’ve been doing these study plans for a year. I think they have helped me focus on specific things.

Play

I did not play any Blitz in November. I was hoping that I would have been able to slow down in my longer online games, but that did not happen. I still think there are better ways to spend my time than playing Blitz, but I’m not going to totally avoid it.

Mostly I want to keep playing longer online rapid games, 30+ minutes. After each game I have been keeping track of the key mistakes I made in the game. Lately they have been around not taking my time which leads to missing wins or outright blunders. That is going to be my focus in December.

Learn

I try not to have too many things in this category each month. Instead I try to focus on a smaller set of items. To track these along with the “solve” items below, I added recurring reminders in my todo list app, Todoist.

Here is my list:

  1. Endgames: I am working through Endgame Studies 101 on Chessable.
  2. Annotated Games: Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking - McDonald
  3. Openings: I am not learning any new openings, but I consistently review the opening courses I have on Chessable, including Keep It Simple for Black.

Solve

Keep working on the Polgar tactics on Chessable.

  1. Review any open puzzles from the first 3 “Learn Chess the Right Way” books
  2. Learn Chess the Right Way - Book 4: Sacrifice to Win! - I am about 1/3 done. I’ve been adding 5 new tactics every day, but that would take me another 2.5 months. I may have to up that a bit.
  3. I picked up “Chess Steps” again. I have finished the workbook and “extra” book for level 2 and I am now working on the “plus” book. Most of the exercises are fairly easy, but then once in awhile there will be a section I struggle with.