The start of a new year is a great time to reflect and think about goals. I recently completed 100 documented days of chess study and feel that now is the perfect time to reassess my study habits and make a plan for the year ahead.
I want my study plan to be effective so I tried to use SMART Goals
(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Based) to help me decide what to do.
Here is the plan I have settled on.
Daily Tactics – I plan to do 15 minutes of tactics each day. Currently I am have been using the Survival Puzzle Rush mode on chess.com to do this. I like this method as it allows me to revise simple tactics that I should see straight away and it also challenges me to solve difficult puzzles. I can measure my progress based on the score that I get each time (if on average I trend upwards that is a good sign). It also serves as an excellent warm up before playing a game. For the moment I plan to continue doing tactics in this way (it seems to be working well so far), but I may decide to use different methods or tactics books.
Daily Reading – I plan to do 15 minutes of reading each day. If you want to learn something you need to get information from somewhere. I enjoy chess books and find that I learn a lot through reading. I like to have one strategy book and one game collection on the go at the same time. I keep the game collection book open next to a physical chessboard and the strategy book is usually on my phone so that I can read before bed (probably not the best time, but family life means chess sometimes happens late at night.). Measuring the success of reading is tricky to do. Hopefully I will notice themes and ideas from what I have read implemented in my own games. My online and OTB rating is another method to measure my learning, although that is really a measurement of all chess related study.
Now I must admit I also really like watching chess related content on YouTube / Twitch and when I am focused on learning this can be a great study method. I didn’t want to make this part of my study plan as I often watch things purely for enjoyment, but I am sure that I will spend time following tournaments and content creators, learning through that as well.
Annotating Games – I believe that there is a lot to be learnt through analyzing and annotating your own games. I plan to annotate at least two games a week. When I analyze and annotate a game it usually takes around 30 minutes (but this can vary quite a bit). It doesn’t matter if the game is a blitz, rapid or OTB game. The important part is that I take time to consider the moves that I made and what could be improved.
I will do this on my own and with the assistance from the engine. Often the engine can point in a direction and I will try and solve why the engine is suggesting a move.
Newsletter & Blog – I am going to continue to blog (not sure If I will do this daily like I have been or if I will switch it up a bit) and work on The Chess Newsletter. When you teach others about a specific topic it helps to consolidate your own knowledge. I consider this part of my study, but it is also just fun to share and connect with other chess players. I will spend a bit of time with the chess community on Twitter as well as this is another great way of sharing my chess knowledge and discussing chess with other adult improvers.
Other Things To Note
- When playing games online I try and limit the number of games I play each day (sometimes I can get a bit carried away). I generally find that up to 5 games a day is best as I take more away from the games and there is time to review them (I try and do at least a quick review of every game).
- I will focus on a small number of openings for a decent length of time (not switching to learn new openings) in order to gain a better understanding of the types of positions that arise and how to play them. Currently as White I play 1. e4 and feel reasonably comfortable against most replies. I am working on my Black repertoire with a focus on the Caro Kann and King’s Indian Defense.
- I still have a goal to reach a rating of 2000 in blitz (chess.com). I have managed to achieve a peak rating above 2000 in the rapid time control. One thing I struggle with is time management. I often lose winning positions due to time and so that is an area to work on.
- I think that ones health has a role in playing great chess, so I have a goal to eat healthier and lose a few kilograms as well.