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Week 15 Plan

This week marked the 15th week of my year-long chess improvement journey, and I continued to balance my time between learning, tactics, and playing. My focus has been on improving my positional understanding, but I also made progress in endgames and tactics. I took a short vacation break as well, which I think was helpful for resetting my mind.

Strategy: Hammertime Lessons

I worked through the Hammertime Strategy course on Chess.com by GM Jon Ludvig Hammer. The lessons mostly reviewed different games, focusing on the role of doubled pawns and the importance of bishops in these situations. While the content was interesting, I found it to be a bit too advanced for me. This served as a reminder to stick to material that is better suited to my level instead of jumping ahead.

Playing Rapid Games: The Importance of Focus

I played a few rapid games this week and felt pretty good about them overall. However, one game stood out—not because of a great win, but because I blundered early due to a lack of focus. It was a good lesson: if I’m not mentally ready to concentrate, I shouldn’t play. A single lapse in focus can derail an entire game, so I want to be more intentional about only playing when I’m prepared.

Endgames: Consistent Review is Paying Off

I continued my daily endgame practice on Chessable, reviewing Silman’s Complete Endgame Course and restarting Endgames 101. The mix of fundamental concepts and tactical endgames has been helpful. I do feel like I’m improving in this area, and I’ve noticed some recent games where I was able to outplay my opponents in the endgame phase. That’s a great sign that the work is paying off!

Tactics: Challenging Myself with Mate-in-4

I’m still working through Chess Tactics for Champions by Susan Polgar. This week, I tackled the chapter on mate-in-4 puzzles, which has been a challenge but in a good way. I only have a few chapters left in the book, and I’m looking forward to finishing it soon.

Taking a Break

I had a vacation this week, which gave me some time away from chess. I think breaks like this are important for avoiding burnout and staying motivated. While I didn’t study as much, I came back feeling refreshed and ready to continue my improvement.

My Chess Improvement Score

Read about Noël Studer’s scoring system here

My score this week was: 4.2

What * How * Time = 0.8 * 0.8 * 6.5 = 4.2

Next Week

Next week, I’ll be wrapping up my positional study focus with a deep dive into space advantage—how to gain it and, more importantly, how to exploit it. I’m excited to continue learning and seeing how I can apply these concepts in my games.