Rahul (Year Twelve) shares below some of his tips for self-improvement in chess. A longer version of this article can be found here.
During my time spent on the road of improvement, I came across many chess articles on how to improve at the game. Sadly, almost all these pages were:
- About what or how to study, and we will discuss why chess improvement is more than just studying.
- Inapplicable to all levels of chess at the same time
- Written by content creators and marketers - not chess experts.
I hope this post tackles these problems and gives you a comprehensive guide to growing your chess much faster than can be conventionally achieved.
My 3-step plan for chess improvement and the golden ratio
1. Study
Studying does not mean learning a new opening each time. You must study what you perceive to lack the most. You must step out of your comfort zone in order to improve the most efficiently.
Whether you’re a complete beginner and you need to study the opening principles or you’re an intermediate player who frequently misplays Isolated Queen’s Pawn (IQP) positions, you need to delve into the topic which is causing you the most losses.
My biggest problem was rook endgames, so I spent time watching YouTube videos with an analysis board open at the same time, critically exploring lines which I didn’t understand and how to defend them. It is also important to note that I didn’t use the computer to find what the correct way to play the position was.
I am a big fan of YouTube, because of the myriad of enjoyable and instructive chess content available.
2. Practice
You will forget everything you study without practice. Dedicated practice is when you specifically practice those things that you have learned.
There are two ways to practice effectively:
The 9-game method
Play exactly 9 blitz games in a row. Be strict with yourself. Don’t start the session unless you have time to finish all 9 games and don’t play any more than 9. This makes each training session comparable to the last. Something you can use to uncover your weaknesses. Set yourself an ambitious but achievable goal of how many points you will get out of 9, and maybe even tell your parents about this so they can hold you accountable. You can then treat yourself when you achieve that goal.
In comparison to a long game where you have time to carefully consider each move and outcome and make the optimal decision, blitz games are mostly played on your intuition. We can leverage this advantage to gauge where different aspects of our game fit within this model of unconscious competence. It’s very easy for you to then notice whether you prefer trading the Queens and playing a slow game or prefer to push pawns and create an attack.
Playing with a training partner
The most efficient and fun way to learn is with a training partner. From memorising new openings, applying new middlegame and endgame techniques to improving your main weaknesses—a training partner has the power to grow your chess faster than you ever could on your own.
Your training partner is someone who will provide a tough challenge. They will motivate you, hold you accountable and push you beyond your limits. When you are feeling low, commitment to your friend may be the best thing to motivate you.
Training partners also provide great feedback! Someone who you frequently train with probably knows your chess better than you do. He or she is a fantastic person to get advice from about what your next step should be.
The most important trait of your training partner is that they get along with you. You should be able to trust and rely on them, and they should also genuinely care about your performance—rather than getting jealous if you improve quicker than them. You don’t need to be best friends, but someone that you feel uncomfortable with is not going to motivate you in the long run.
Find a training partner that is as hungry as you are. If your goals don’t seem to match, then they won’t be pushing as hard as you are (or vice versa). You and your training partner’s chess styles should be contradictory. I am a very aggressive player who always wants to play with the initiative, but my partner was a solid, positional player. Because of this, we had lots to learn from each other.
A stronger training partner (if they are happy to work with you) is a fantastic help to your chess growth. You may have heard the saying - “If you want to be a millionaire, surround yourself with millionaires”. This advice applies to all walks of life.
Your training partner cannot be a bot!
3. Analyse
Practicing by itself is not going to help you fix your mistakes. It’s from objective analysis of your games that you will learn. You must analyse each and every one of your games. First, you should compare the opening you played to your PGN file. For each mistake you make, do one push-up. If everything you did was right, that’s a sign that you have developed unconscious competence.
Then briefly review your game with stockfish – only searching for blunders, don’t give much heed to its suggested moves or evaluation. Leave it running too long and it will say all your moves are wrong! For example, if the evaluation is 0.5 and then you played a move that made it –4.0, then that’s a blunder.
Try to find the root cause of your blunders. Personally, most of my blunders come from backwards knight moves. Once you know what tactics you struggle with, give a greater weight to them in your study plan.
The golden ratio is the proportion of time you should allocate to study, practice and analysis that will yield the greatest results:
Study: 30%
Practice: 50%
Analysis: 20%
This doesn’t necessarily mean your daily chess training time is split up in this way. It is your choice of the time period over which you will average this ratio.
I hope this article will provide the necessary steps you need to follow in order to grow your chess astronomically fast. Whether you take my advice on board or not, I wish you all the very best in your chess journey and I hope that you will make it into a Wilson’s chess team soon.
Happy Checkmating!