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swingdoc
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #15 - 05/15/09 at 05:57:54
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Markovich wrote on 05/15/09 at 01:47:28:
I have heard it said of just about each of Dvoretsky's books that it'll raise your rating by 100 points.  Well, I have some 2200/2300-rated chessfriends who've read three or four of his books, and so far, none of them is an IM or a GM.


No, no. Each book will make you believe that you're 100 points stronger. Actual improvements will vary.
  
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Bibs
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #14 - 05/15/09 at 02:25:56
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Markovich wrote on 05/15/09 at 01:47:28:
I have heard it said of just about each of Dvoretsky's books that it'll raise your rating by 100 points.  Well, I have some 2200/2300-rated chessfriends who've read three or four of his books, and so far, none of them is an IM or a GM.


Alas simply possession is insufficient. They have to be read. Which isn't the most fun to be had.

Dvoretsky a bit dry for me. 
1) Play a lot, and make sure you have postmortems
2) Play through a lot of games collections
3) Have a sensible opening repertoire

« Last Edit: 05/15/09 at 06:38:40 by Bibs »  
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BPaulsen
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #13 - 05/15/09 at 01:55:26
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I had the pleasure of meeting IM Dvoretsky when he taught some lessons in Arizona years ago (FM Casella, FM Adamson, FM Rensch, FM Garrett also attended his lessons) for a short time. 

The only thing I walked away with from the lessons was some better rook endgame technique, and a recommendation to buy his books. Grin

To date, none of the FMs have obtained IM yet from that, either. He's a great teacher, but there's no uniform way to get titled.
  

2288 USCF, 2186 FIDE.

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Markovich
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #12 - 05/15/09 at 01:47:28
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I have heard it said of just about each of Dvoretsky's books that it'll raise your rating by 100 points.  Well, I have some 2200/2300-rated chessfriends who've read three or four of his books, and so far, none of them is an IM or a GM.
  

The Great Oz has spoken!
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ErictheRed
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #11 - 05/15/09 at 01:40:13
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Padschah,

Don't worry about not having a chess coach.  I got all the way to about 2100 USCF without one, and I might even have gone further, but we'll never know as I finally hired a coach around that time.  The best thing to do at your level is to just hang out around players that are at least a little better than yourself and try to make friends.  Then, you'll get free advice Smiley.

Regarding books, I admit that I haven't seen that particular book by Dvoretsky, but I imagine that when Dvoretsky says "club player" he means 1800-2200, but I could be wrong.  In the end, only you will be able to tell whether you are learning a lot from the book or not.

Silman's book is probably OK for you, but consider reading his more basic books first, like The Amateur's Mind or even The How to Reassess Your Chess Workbook.

I've already recommended two excellent endgame books for club players.  The game collection books you have picked out, however, will be way over your head.  There simply isn't enough explanation.  My favorite game collection book when I was at that rating was Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Brilliancies.  Actually, I think Yasser's entire Winning Chess series is excellent, EXCEPT for the one on openings.  I wholeheartedly recommend Winning Chess Tactics, Winning Chess Strategies, and Winning Chess Endgames to you.  They may be a little basic, but you need a firm understanding of the basics before moving on.  Winning Chess Brilliancies has lots of verbal explanations for weaker players, but also lots of variations and analysis for stronger players, making it suitable for just about anyone.

Anyway good luck.


  
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Padschah
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #10 - 05/14/09 at 12:43:47
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hi everyone

i've forgotten to visit this page for some days  Tongue

thanks for all your replies. Especially from ErictheRed. You made some points i'll be considering. 



Edit:

The Problem is just, i haven't got enough money to keep training with a chesscoach. They are too expensive for me. So i have to make some sort of selfstudying.  
And because i've high set goals i'm putting much time in it.

But something makes me thinking about:

I've been told here that some books of mine aren't on my level. I dont believe that the Endgameuniversity from Dvoretsky is too high for me. Especially that Dvorewtsky himself writes in his book that this one is also for amateurs and for tournament player.

And the Silman book ( How to reasses your chess ) is simply a stategic book. That this knowledge isnt for my level seems just wrong to me. If i study it serious, re-reading chapters per day ( i wrote that i'm doing one chapter each day at my studying plan, but i'm not doing a new one each day. I'm re-reading the old one very often until im understanding it ). 

If i had understand something wrong, please tell me Smiley
« Last Edit: 05/14/09 at 15:12:06 by Padschah »  
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Matemax
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #9 - 05/13/09 at 16:55:26
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Shocked !!!

First you have to define your goals and then the ways to reach them - for both you will need an experienced chess player or even a professional coach. 

Anything else will end up wasting time for sure  Sad
  
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cyronix
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #8 - 05/13/09 at 16:04:42
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tbh., I think this is way too much.
Maybe just do tactics on a regular basis and add one chesscourse.

Concerning opening:

White 1.e4, closed sicilian/king's indian attack against ... c5 and ... e6.
Panov Attack against Caro Kann. Exchange Spanish against ... e5 or Bishop Game.

Black:
Dragon against e4.
King's indian against the closed games.


Padschah wrote on 05/06/09 at 07:58:25:
Hello chesspub.com users,

the last few weeks i've been working on my studying plan for chess. I would like to share it with you and let you read it to comment it for improvement or changes. 

First of all something to myself. I'm learning the depth of chess since November. Actually i've learned it since i was 8 or 9. But i havent played it for a long time. So i started playing it since November last year and got some improvement until now. Still i'm a non-rated player but im trying to change it in a couple of weeks or month by attending some open's near my home. In our chessclub i've been told that my playstrength is about 1350. Maybe its around 1450 now or even more than that. I've got high ambitions in chess and so im spending nearly my whole spare-time in my hobby. 

Hope you will help me improving my studying plan below:
My Plan is actually seperated in a general part , where i got the same list each day and the second part which depends on the day. i.e. Monday is more for Tactics than for something else. Wednesday instead more for endgame and so on...


Monday: ( Tactics )

General Unit:

1/2h Tactics vision training  ( www.chesstempo.com )


with a failed rate of 10. If i make more than that out of maximum 100 i'm doing 30 more.

1h Endgametheory

At the moment im working with the book  "Die Endspieluniversität"  ( transl. "the endgameuniversity"  from Mark dworetski. )
Im always taking one chapter out of it and read through it building each diagram up on the chessboard for visional training. If i finish the chapter below my set time ( 1 h ) i'm extending it to endgamepractise. There i'm building up some positions including themes i've studied in this endgamesession.

10 Pages out of the Polgar Tactic book. ( That book includes 5000 chessproblems )

10 Pages with 9 problems each = 90 Chessproblems

 
1 Chessproblem out of a chessmagazine ( a more difficult Problem )

1 chapter at:  How to reasses your chess ( Jeremy Silman )

Additional Unit:

1h Tactic vision training on chesstempo.com

additional 10 Pages out of the Polgar book.

2 additional Chessproblems out of a Chessmagazine or somewhere else



Total Time:

ca. 5h + Playtime



Tuesday: ( Analysing )

Tuesday i've got limited time because i'm at our chessclub since 1700pm.

General Unit:

1/2h Tactic vision training

1h Endgametheory

10 Pages out of the Polgar Chessproblem book

1 more difficult chessproblem.



Additional Unit:

Replay one game out of the book : Master vs Amateur series, or John Nunn' Schach Zug um Zug ( german version )


analysing one or two games of my


Total Time:

ca. 4 3/4h + Playtime at chessclub



Wednesday: ( endgame )

General Unit:

1/2h Tactic vision training

1h Endgametheory

10 Pages out of the Polgar Chessproblem book

1 more difficult chessproblem.

1 Chapter out of "How to reasses your chess" by Jeremy Silman


Additional Unit:

1h Endgametheory

1h Endgamepractise



Total Time:

around 4 3/4 h + Playtime


Thursday: ( general / analysing )

General Unit:

[b]1/2h Tactic vision training

1h Endgametheory

10 Pages out of the Polgar Chessproblem book

1 more difficult chessproblem.

1 Chapter out of "How to reasses your chess" by Jeremy Silman


Additional Unit:

annotating one game ( GM-Game )

10 pages out of the Polgar Chess Problem book

analysing/annotating one game of mine.

1/2h endgamepractise
[/b]

Total time:

ca. 4 3/4h + Playtime


Friday: ( STT )

General Unit:

1/2h Tactic vision training

1h Endgametheory

10 Pages out of the Polgar Chessproblem book

1 more difficult chessproblem.

1 Chapter out of "How to reasses your chess" by Jeremy Silman


Additional Unit:

annotating one game of mine.

STT ( Silman thinking technique ) - Training in 5 games of mine.

here im trying to practise the set up of a plan and to figure out the imbalances in any position. 

STT in a GM - Game and compare my move to the GM's next move.

1/2h Tactic vision training

1/2h endgametheory


Total Time:
ca. 6h + Playtime


Saturday: ( Opening theory )

[b]General Unit:

1/2h Tactic vision training

1h Endgametheory

10 Pages out of the Polgar Chessproblem book

1 more difficult chessproblem.

1 Chapter out of "How to reasses your chess" by Jeremy Silman


Additional Unit

1h Openingtheory for white ( general ruy lopez - )

1h Openingtheory for black ( French, Dutch )

1h Endgametheory 

3 more difficult Chessproblems

annotating one game of mine.[/b]


Total Time:

ca. 6 1/2h + Playtime


Sunday: ( Replaying chess games )

General Unit:

1/2h Tactic vision training

1h Endgametheory

10 Pages out of the Polgar Chessproblem book

1 more difficult chessproblem.

1 Chapter out of "How to reasses your chess" by Jeremy Silman


Additional Unit:

2 Games oujt of the Hastings Tournament book ( from aljechin )

2 Tournamend Games out of the Zurich book ( Bronstein )

1h Endgametheory for black ( Dutch / French )

Total Time:

ca. 6 1/2h + Playtime



Do you think this trainingplan fits to my Playstrength or should i do more Openingtheorytraining or maybe less? As i said im currently non-rated but guess'd to 1400 ( german rating - DWZ )

below i'll show you my Openingrepertoire until now -

With White :

1. e4  e5  2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 ( Ruy Lopez - exchange or the main line ) 
                       Nf6  3. Nxe5
        e6  2. d4  d5    3. e5   ( advanced variation )
        c6   2. d4  d5    3. e5  ( advanced variation )
        d5  2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3  ( main line )
        d6  ( Kings indian attack )
        c5   2. Nc3  ( closed )

as black:

against  1. e4


e6  French  ( 3. Nc3  -  Bb4 Nimzowitsch-variation )

against  1. d4

Dutch stonewall 

against 1. c4

fianchetto on the kingsside and then symmetrical setup.

  
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Schaakhamster
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #7 - 05/13/09 at 10:30:54
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zwitter wrote on 05/13/09 at 00:44:20:
A question:

For anyone under 1800, is it not sufficient to just learn the basic endgames (from something like Fine's Basic Chess Endings or Silman's book) and a simple system of openings, and then just spend 100% of your time improving your tactical skills?

Of course this assumes the basic positional understanding (knights on the rim are bad usually, rooks on the 7th rank are good, etc), that you are playing "real" chess (see: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/real.txt), and that you are playing slow games (blitz sucks for developing the correct thought process) and analyzing them with stronger players.

Honestly though, why does everyone feel the need to introduce complications? Aren't tactics and endgames enough? Is it true that most games under 2000 are decided by who blunders first?


Well no, they are decided by who blunders last.  Wink 

Tactics are the base of everything. Learning an opening is useless if you are dropping a piece everytime you are few moves out of book. And endgames are a lot harder when down material.

  
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #6 - 05/13/09 at 00:44:20
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A question:

For anyone under 1800, is it not sufficient to just learn the basic endgames (from something like Fine's Basic Chess Endings or Silman's book) and a simple system of openings, and then just spend 100% of your time improving your tactical skills?

Of course this assumes the basic positional understanding (knights on the rim are bad usually, rooks on the 7th rank are good, etc), that you are playing "real" chess (see: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/real.txt), and that you are playing slow games (blitz sucks for developing the correct thought process) and analyzing them with stronger players.

Honestly though, why does everyone feel the need to introduce complications? Aren't tactics and endgames enough? Is it true that most games under 2000 are decided by who blunders first?
  
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Schaakhamster
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #5 - 05/12/09 at 11:42:31
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An other possibilty is getting some general improvement book and work through it. I'm working on Yusupov "Build up your chess 2" which consists of 24 lessons about topics from all the phases of a chessgame (I tend to get bored when only focusing certain fase). 

Oh and yes tactics: chess gets a lot more intresting when you aren't dropping pieces left and right. In my opinion anything will do just as long you keep doing excersises regularly  

The endgame: Silman's endgame book. I rather like division in rating-segments although I do think he doesn't always hits it right on the head. For me an added bonus is again the variation between endgames in each part. 

Opening: at your level: try to abide general opening rules and don't pick an opening that breaks them too often. You first have to understand the rules in order to understand openings that break them. 

Analysing your own games:
During the game when unsure what to play or when your opponent plays something you didn't expect, make a mental note of the move number (if allowed you could note the time next to the moves as a reminder). Analyse these positions afterwards either during the postmortem or later on with a stronger player or chessprogram.  I always get the computer to analyse the whole game. Sometimes the computer analysis will be rubbish but it will point out the most obvious mistakes. Look at the analysis but don't spend too much time on it unless the computer suggests moves you find odd. 


edit: these are things that helped me. They are by no means the best nor the only ways of becoming a better chessplayer.



  
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ErictheRed
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #4 - 05/11/09 at 16:49:28
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Everyone is different, and your plan might work well for you.  But I would suggest something different if you were taking lessons from me.

If you are in the 1300-1400 range, you're a fairly weak player (no offense) and almost any serious study will bring drastic improvements.  Some of the books you listed are pretty advanced, and even if you think you understand the material, it's probably not the best use of your time at this stage of your development.  I also think you are spreading yourself too thin, trying to do one chapter out of a ton of different books, etc.

I would recommend that you solve some pure tactical problems everyday.  Spend about 20 minutes every day solving pure tactical problems.  You don't need to do anything that is super difficult, you really want to just work through lots and lots of different tactical patterns.

Then, pick one topic at a time and stick to it.  Maybe read all of Jeremy Silman's book, or maybe read through an endgame book, then move on to a different topic.  Find something that interests you a lot, or a topic that you think you are particularly bad at, and work through a book devoted to that subject.  Then move on to another subject, then another...

Just make sure that whatever books you work through, make sure you are doing the thinking.  In other words, don't just move the pieces and read the words.  First try to visualize the variations without moving the pieces and really make yourself think about what is happening.  At your skill level, any genuine study will improve your strength.

I don't think you need to seriously analyze your games.  When I was stuck around USCF 2000 and wanted to get to 2200, I did some serious analysis of my games for the first time, spending about 6-10 hours per game!!  It helped a lot, but it mostly just helped me determine where my weaknesses lay (tactics and dynamic play) so that I could go study those areas of chess.  At your level of play, you need to improve in ALL areas of chess, and it is much too early to do serious analysis of your games.  If you have a strong player look over your games, that would help, but I don't think you are strong enough to be able to accurately diagnose yourself.

Good luck!

As an aside, I think the best Endgame books for someone of your strength are these:
http://www.amazon.com/Chess-Endings-Essential-Iuri-Averbakh/dp/1857440226/ref=sr...;
and
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords...

You do not need to go through a Dvoretsky book right now!
  
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #3 - 05/11/09 at 16:22:00
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40 hours a week?  Shocked

There is more in life...
  
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swingdoc
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #2 - 05/11/09 at 13:51:52
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Edited - Okay, I personally think this is overly ambitious, but good luck to you. I'd also strongly recommend that you toss the Polgar book (assuming it's this one http://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549) and use tactics that might actually occur in a real game. This book is amazing http://www.amazon.com/Manual-Chess-Combinations-Vol-School/dp/5946930451/ref=pd_...
  
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Re: Studying Plan
Reply #1 - 05/06/09 at 08:21:00
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ambitious to say at least. Good luck!
  
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