How to Create a Chess Training Plan that Works

Creating a chess training routine that brings results and that you can actually stick to can be hard. Here's my advice on how to do it.
Chess training is complex, and it consists of many moving parts. There are several areas that need to be covered and studied daily; calculation, strategy, positional chess, endgames and openings. Ideally, we should be working on all 5 constantly.
I've divided the training into 6 parts.
1. Identifying and working on your weakest area
2. Chess tactics and calculation
3. Solitaire chess (detailed game analysis explained in the video)
4. Opening repertoire
5. Endgames
6. Reading
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Пікірлер: 72

  • @LSpencer777
    @LSpencer7773 ай бұрын

    I'm glad I'm not the only one who has fallen hundreds of moves behind in my Chessbook training.

  • @noobwithaplan
    @noobwithaplan3 ай бұрын

    I'm loving the recent videos on training plans and the like, now all I need is time to implement them lol

  • @sheh5372
    @sheh53723 ай бұрын

    Worked through your middle game playlist, took me from 800 to 1100. You are too good.

  • @user-yf5tv8hi3e
    @user-yf5tv8hi3e3 ай бұрын

    Useful video, thanks for sharing the ideas!

  • @SEAKPhotog
    @SEAKPhotog3 ай бұрын

    Great, practical videos for us lately. Thank you!

  • @yon_chess
    @yon_chess3 ай бұрын

    Great video!! That suggestion of going through games that already exist and trying to figure out what move the person made is so smart. Definitely going to start doing that.

  • @KSKDINGDONGCHESSKERELA
    @KSKDINGDONGCHESSKERELA2 ай бұрын

    Hello I have a happy news. 5 days ago, my rapid rating was 1200. now its 1300 and I have a 11 game winning streak with it. It all happened because i watched your sicillian dragon video and I heard the cannon go off

  • @felixhinz3804
    @felixhinz38043 ай бұрын

    Play training games and analyze them deeply is one of the things that helps me most. But I guess that's implied in step one.

  • @ThorstensComment
    @ThorstensComment3 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the great video. For solitaire chess I like chesstempo (there it's called "guess the move"). You get good points for either finding the played move or if you find a good computer move. I think it is "simpler" and more realistic to find a good move than the actual move. (OK on my level I find more blunders than best moves, but that's the reason you need to practice.)

  • @janosszurdi6070
    @janosszurdi60703 ай бұрын

    Great content!

  • @slantingclock9679
    @slantingclock96792 ай бұрын

    Hey Stephen pls continue making more content yourr greatly appreciated believe me

  • @desper7715
    @desper77153 ай бұрын

    Thank you a lot for your videos, I became very good at chess, just because I learn a lot with your videos, you are great player and coach

  • @HangingPawns

    @HangingPawns

    3 ай бұрын

    Thank you very much! Happy to help!

  • @rontiffany7366
    @rontiffany73663 ай бұрын

    Great info. Have you made a video playing black against the London? I can't seem to find it. Thank you for your help.

  • @smalam64
    @smalam643 ай бұрын

    Another one i am struggling with. I want to import pgn file and play what you have described as solitary chess, it doesnt allow me. Ok i can do that in lichess but i dont want to be using ten different websites for one game

  • @zeldaire7484
    @zeldaire74843 ай бұрын

    I've been putting together a training regimen for myself and this helps all the pieces fall into place. Playing chess isn't enough to get better - you have to analyze your mistakes and try not to make them again.

  • @milehighslacker4196

    @milehighslacker4196

    3 ай бұрын

    ...you have to analyze your mistakes...remember them...and try not to make them again. As I age, this is key.

  • @aledmb
    @aledmb3 ай бұрын

    5:22 i didn't get why i would play any move for the opponet then play another move for white... wouldn't that result in 2 wrong moves for white and 1 wrong move for black? wouldn't i have to rollback 3 moves after i make the second move for white? that is, assuming i will get it wrong most of the time.

  • @liamfransen3478
    @liamfransen34783 ай бұрын

    You are amazing :)

  • @Sejdr
    @Sejdr3 ай бұрын

    Great advice, I can see me needing solitaire chess!

  • @darshan_k_05
    @darshan_k_053 ай бұрын

    I glad that i am subscriber of greatest chess chennal ❤

  • @Lol_lets__play_chess
    @Lol_lets__play_chess3 ай бұрын

    Any tips for classical otb

  • @mathiashaguet5045
    @mathiashaguet50453 ай бұрын

    Excellent content as always ! Keep on going ! Does anyone has a free chess games base to play solitaire chess ?

  • @jackfirestone5072
    @jackfirestone50723 ай бұрын

    stjepan out here making the best chess content for those who want to improve

  • @phen-themoogle7651
    @phen-themoogle76513 ай бұрын

    Brilliant video, I love it! The ending about if you only have 15 minutes and using it wisely is something I can relate to. I think I don't have enough time or energy to study so I just play, but perhaps I could break those 15 mins down. The hardest thing in this video is analyzing 100 of your own games w/o engine if you are a person low on time, and to really find your weaknesses could take 20-50 hours if only 30 mins or less a game. potentially more too if you seriously analyze them. And although it's probably weak tactics for most people, if it's Positional, how can you study positional chess properly? Chess solitaire? Middle game books?

  • @alexandrepereiradarosa4702

    @alexandrepereiradarosa4702

    21 күн бұрын

    I'm analyzing my 100 games, I already have 2280 online rants, so I have a good level to easily analyze my games and those of players of my level or lower, as for your question about books for positional play, I'm reading Boris Gulko's Lessons, but everyone books of games revealed by the author, as the author is a not so aggressive player, you can learn a lot about positional and strategic play, like Karpov's book, and Solitaire Chess is trying to get the masters' move by move right, that's what I do when I'm following a strong tournament in person candidate examples.

  • @alexandrepereiradarosa4702

    @alexandrepereiradarosa4702

    21 күн бұрын

    3 good books that I now remember off the top of my head 60BestGames, Zurick53, 100Finals, I've never finished any of the books, but I've already read some of them and I thought they were very good, they're suitable for several different levels, a tip is to analyze many, many classic games, your games, current matches, without computer help and keep taking notes, seek tactical training in books and challenge yourself with increasingly difficult problems, challenge yourself to play against increasingly stronger bots and play trying to win. The secret to evolving is to strive to always think move by move and not let your guard down

  • @magicja
    @magicja3 ай бұрын

    I like the sporadic instructional videos.

  • @michaelf8221
    @michaelf82213 ай бұрын

    What is your opinion on how to structure a week though? Let's say you have 2 hours free, 3 days a week. According to your 70% tactics mark, would you work on tactics for 2 of those sessions and then split up the last session among the other options? Or would you split each up 2 hour segment in 70% tactics, 30% everything else? Essentially I'm asking - do you split up your time by week to get deeper into each training activity, or do you split up your time by day to get a little bit of everything all the time?

  • @HangingPawns

    @HangingPawns

    3 ай бұрын

    Depending on how long the sessions are. 2 days is what I'd do in your example.

  • @tizianoricci7509
    @tizianoricci75093 ай бұрын

    Questione about solitaire chess. Im still not 1500 fide, at which ply deep should i start? GM preparation hardly ends before 7~15 moves, while mine could end 7 moves deep most of the time. In some open sicilians even less ;) thanks!

  • @beasthuntermohit567

    @beasthuntermohit567

    2 ай бұрын

    It depends on opening. If it is Ryu lopez, then you preparation should be till 15 moves. And you need more moves in sicilian, ALWAYS. The opening relies on theory so that you have a good middlegame. For the setup based, you can stay till 7 moves as they really don't have anything much. Just know the traps and know what to do if they don't work.

  • @Chesstastic5000
    @Chesstastic50003 ай бұрын

    1. Set out to do something 2. Do it The easiest one is just do puzzles, and if you are too lazy for that. Puzzle rush and go for high scores. In other words set a goal on what you want to improve upon. And then just do it. Watch a video? Sure, but make sure you prioritize your goal and not just trying to procrastinate. Most people go around trying to find the easy way. There is no easy way. Just do it. Still reading this? You didn't get the point. Just find something to do. Do it. Just do it. How about this, go and do puzzle rush or storm for hours, learn from your mistakes instead of reading this. There, you got a plan. Cya

  • @lawrence8052
    @lawrence80523 ай бұрын

    My weakest area is time usage in classical games. I spend always too much time and get into time trouble very fast. Any advice?

  • @beasthuntermohit567

    @beasthuntermohit567

    2 ай бұрын

    If you are playing to fast or too slow, The best option is to set a limit of time per move. For 2 slow,- - Spend the minimum time in opening. -Have the plan for middlegame ready in advance(by the opening). -Recognize what move was in theory and what was not. If it wasn't then spend time to punish the mistake, if it were go to the middlegame plan(duh). -Play 10 min online for practice. - Have in mind that you are playing on classical time setting.

  • @KeepChessSimple
    @KeepChessSimple3 ай бұрын

    What do you think about ´How to study chess on your own´ from your countryman Davorin Kuljasevic? The workbooks are fantastic. He makes a good case for visualisation / tactical vision being one of the most important things.

  • @M7medKasem
    @M7medKasem3 ай бұрын

    man blessed us with two bagers in a row

  • @rogerpaul8918
    @rogerpaul89182 ай бұрын

    What do you think of Lev Alburt's books? I own 6 of his books.

  • @Dav-chess
    @Dav-chess2 ай бұрын

    Will u play in the Banja Luka open?

  • @sebastianjorgebigi6920
    @sebastianjorgebigi69202 ай бұрын

    hey! are you ok? we miss you

  • @sevii9256
    @sevii92563 ай бұрын

    What website did he say for endgame studying?

  • @Tbirdbeatz

    @Tbirdbeatz

    3 ай бұрын

    Just rewind 😭

  • @HangingPawns

    @HangingPawns

    3 ай бұрын

    arves

  • @wahito1456

    @wahito1456

    3 ай бұрын

    ​@Tbirdbeatz it was hard to catch because we have different accents

  • @jaidenloveday9110
    @jaidenloveday91103 ай бұрын

    Any recommendations for French defence books/courses

  • @MatBobulasChessSchool

    @MatBobulasChessSchool

    2 күн бұрын

    There is a great old book by Wolfgang Uhlmann titled "Winning with the French." It focuses on explaining the ideas and understanding of the opening

  • @felixhinz3804
    @felixhinz38043 ай бұрын

    Video idea : first chess tournament

  • @michaelf8221
    @michaelf82213 ай бұрын

    Your training plan doesn't include actually playing. Are you of the opinion that blitz is useless, even for learning a new opening? How would you classify your 15+10 training games under this plan? What's your optimal ratio of playing and analyzing your classical games compared to spending time on the training plan you described?

  • @bluefin.64

    @bluefin.64

    3 ай бұрын

    Magnus says blitz is good for developing your chess. Hard to argue with that. Also, lots of coaches recommend it for testing new openings. Personally, I find even bullet shows me holes in my opening play. You get so much experience in a short time. That also applies to patterns in the middlegame and endgame. How much is too much is a good question, though.

  • @akaakaakaak5779
    @akaakaakaak57793 ай бұрын

    "which should take 5 or 6 hours", i cannot focus on study like this for more than 5 or 6 seconds 😭

  • @SuperOriginalRecipe

    @SuperOriginalRecipe

    3 ай бұрын

    not all at once! i study in ~15 minute chunks with a short break after each chunk

  • @beasthuntermohit567

    @beasthuntermohit567

    2 ай бұрын

    Pomodoro technique is for you

  • @zadocknyakundi7874
    @zadocknyakundi78743 ай бұрын

    🎉

  • @drakeeoll2559
    @drakeeoll25592 ай бұрын

    i lose most of my blitz games on time

  • @radom123
    @radom12310 күн бұрын

    hi

  • @bluefin.64
    @bluefin.643 ай бұрын

    Great advice, all of it. I especially like that you said to learn the bishop and knight mate by just doing it, instead of learning a method from a book. My experience is this kind of training unconsciously improves your sight of the board for your whole game. Learning specific methods is pretty much necessary for really tough endgames like rook and bishop vs rook, but first you should still make a good effort to figure them out yourself. There are some things I would add. First, start a program of study by being a bit lazy. Don't push too hard. Just keep at it and let time build you up to full speed. Second, limit trying to understand engine analysis (also obscure GM analysis) if it's too complex and unusual. Even super grandmasters like Caruana sometimes ignore engine lines. Third, try to understand the psychological reasons that contribute to your mistakes. A common one is focusing too much on working out your own ideas and not paying enough attention to your opponent's. Last, have some fun with chess. If it's too much pain and sweat work, you might start to wonder why you're bothering.

  • @Knighttwister
    @Knighttwister3 ай бұрын

    Don't bother analysing 100 games. Aimchess will do it in seconds

  • @physics2112

    @physics2112

    3 ай бұрын

    But is it free

  • @rbava82

    @rbava82

    3 ай бұрын

    The best to improve is to find the mistakes before using this kind of help.

  • @neandertale8486

    @neandertale8486

    3 ай бұрын

    But you want to be able to see and realize your mistakes yourself. And not just go "Well the Computer says".

  • @Knighttwister

    @Knighttwister

    3 ай бұрын

    @@neandertale8486The point isn't to find your specific mistakes, it's to find your weakest categories

  • @Knighttwister

    @Knighttwister

    3 ай бұрын

    @@physics2112 No not really, you only get to analyse 50 games once a month which is good enough

  • @Misica11000
    @Misica110003 ай бұрын

    With all that opening knowledge,with all that strategy in the middle game,with all that work,how is it possible that you are steel below 2000?!...

  • @yungmilly9182

    @yungmilly9182

    3 ай бұрын

    a lot of players can be under pressure otb and they don't show their true strength. he should improve tactics too

  • @SensitiveSavage

    @SensitiveSavage

    3 ай бұрын

    Welcome to the cruel world of chess.

  • @Misica11000

    @Misica11000

    3 ай бұрын

    @@SensitiveSavage i have 2100 by the way,but this is insane how many things about chess this guy knows and he is below 2000....

  • @SensitiveSavage

    @SensitiveSavage

    3 ай бұрын

    @@Misica11000 Nice, I myself am rated over 1900 on lichess, but that's online. In my country rated tournaments are rare, so I'm actually around 1400 fide rated. I wasn't actually trying to insult you btw, just meant that chess is very cruel in certain ways, everything can influence your performance, from your circumstances to your mental state. Being able to balance everything despite all the setbacks and noticing improvement is a real challenge.

  • @bluefin.64

    @bluefin.64

    3 ай бұрын

    With the new path he appears to be on, and recently the near elimination of the egregious blunders he used to make in his off the cuff analyses, I think his goal of 2100 by the end of the year is not out of reach. He has so much knowledge, but he's lacked a good intuitive feel for what's happening on the board, which is the underpinning of good play. It seems like he's fixing this.