What went well?

  • I have been studying every day on Chessable for 365 days as of yesterday! For full transparency, there were 3 days I “bought” a free day. Consistent study is important! I think I studied tactics on Chessable every one of these days.
  • I played a lot of blitz games (see the next section for a different take on this item). I was trying to advance to the next level of Chess.com leagues. I managed to do that and I’m now in the Elite section. In the last week I played 56 blitz games with a 57% win rate. My rating went up by 60 points.
  • I have been keeping a log of my rapid games and 1-2 areas for improvement in each one. I’ve been finding it is a good way to analyze my games, without putting too much pressure on myself.
  • I had another good chess lessons where we talked about endgames. I have a bit of a weird summer schedule, but I’m looking forward to weekly lessons starting next week.

What could have gone better?

  • I played a lot of blitz games. My goal was to try to earn trophies, not improve at chess. It was a good break, but there were better ways I could have spent my time, like playing longer games.
  • It has been great to take some time off to spend with my family, but it has thrown off my routine. Instead of getting through all my chessable reviews each day and then learning more, I’m just trying to burn down my backlog.
  • I did not really do any chess study besides playing games. Partly because I was on vacation. After this week I can get back into my normal routine again.

What will I try next?

  1. Do all the homework from my coach
  2. Catch up on Chessable
  3. Start back in on Silman’s Endgame book
  4. Start back in on Seirawan’s Strategy book