How would you guys go about studying Yusupov's chess improvement series?

Hey, chess world! I recently finished my current study of Jesus De la Villa "100 endgames you must know", and I want to move on to the next book. I found Yusupov's "Fundamentals" to be a very interesting, structured way to continue my chess improvement. Obviously, once I finish the Fundamentals installment in the book series, ill continue to "Beyond the basics" and then "Mastery", but first I wanted to know if this was the next step for me, which is why I come to you guys now; Is Yusupov's Chess Fundamentals a good book series for someone ~1500 FIDE? 

If it isn't, then what would be a good rating range for starting these books? And if it is, I had a follow-up question; What is the method for studying these books? Is there already a clear-cut, laid out way that you guys could direct me towards? Thanks as always!

Your profile shows a FIDE rating of 1333?

There is no clear-cut rating quota, to my knowledge, for chess understanding.

I started by going to the high school library, and coming out with 6 chess books under my arm. The main one was Alekhine's best games. And by virtue of my intense desire, I started absorbing the material like a sponge, and my play improved very quickly.

So, from my perspective, it is based on desire. Do you really want to get better? If you do, you will be willing to put in hours and hours of study, even if you have no coach.

It also seems to me that game collections by great Masters is the way to go.....you see the game develop, from opening, to middlegame, to endgame.

Here is what Bronstein suggests on how to study:

 

"You should not "read" a chess creation but you should move the pieces on the chessboard and make move by move exactly as the work of Chess Art was created for the very first time. On your own chessboard with your own chess pieces and in complete silence, to be able to follow closely the events as they unfold before your very eyes. The best way is to do this in three stages."

 

"First, play through the whole game without hesitating more than a couple of seconds at each move. If you have the urge to pause longer-don't! Take a piece of paper and make some notes if you wish, and continue to play the game to the end. Then get a cup of tea or coffee, relax and try your best to recall from memory the spectacle you have just seen. Try to establish the reasons why certain decisions were made."

 

"Second, play through the game again, somewhat slower this time,and make notes of everything that you did not see the first time."

 

"Third, now go straight to those pencil marks and give your imaginative and creative energy free reign. Try to play better than my partner and I. If you do not agree, look closely at each decision, either for White or for Black, with a critical eye. If you look at a game like this you will discover a lot of new and useful knowledge, which you can use for your own benefit."

 

"Write your findings in a notebook in order to look at them later when you are in a different mood, especially if you like the game. If, during stage one, you took no notes, don't look at this game again. Go on to the next one that, hopefully, will give you more pleasure and satisfaction. It just means that it did not appeal to you. Although I consider chess an Art, I will not blame you at all if you do not like a particular game. In a museum you cannot like every painting you see. As French gourmets say, taste is a very personal matter."

 

"When I was learning to play chess, I studied thousands and thousands of games played by the older generation in exactly the same way and gained a lot from them."

 

BEST OF LUCK!

"When I was learning to play chess, I studied thousands and thousands of games played by the older generation in exactly the same way and gained a lot from them."

One of the best pieces of advice you can get.  Study the old masters, not the current players.

My bad, I meant ~1500, which is an estimated rating. I haven't played OTB since a while back.

Thank you!

It might prove challenging for you, but some hard work never hurt.

You may want to considered the Chess Steps Method... It is structured and has perhaps over 12,000 more exercises to solve than all 10 of Yusupov’s books combined.

The consensus that I have encountered has been that, although both programs claim to cover roughly the same levels of learning players (up to 2100 level, maximum non-master), the lowest level Yusupov books (orange) are generally considered as difficult as the final 2 levels of the Steps Method (levels 5 and 6), maybe even more difficult.

I briefly dabbled in Yusupov orange, and found it very difficult so I set it aside. I have had a much easier time working through Steps 1-4. For the last few months, I have been struggling through Steps 5, a much larger jump for me compared to the earlier Steps levels, yet it still feels more “learnable” than what I encountered in the Yusupov orange books because the answers to the Step 5 exercises are still usually short and concrete, often no more than 4 moves deep ...and that includes lessons in strategy at this level, in addition to the usual tactics and endgames.

The ' method' of studying is written in the introduction of the books. The true power of these books is active learning and slowing down. You are setting up each position on the board and think about it for at least ten minutes, like you would in a real game. 

I actually had some email contact with Yusupov because I didn't understand the scoring system fully. He told me that I was doing fine and the scoring system shouldn't be taken 'too' serious. It is all about the thinking about the position, mistakes are part of learning. Especially in the chapters on openings, seeing all the good moves and variations is very difficult. But because you are thinking really hard to come up with some moves and checking the solutions (and playing through them, very important) will teach you a lot.

The books force you to think and work hard. (where with some books or lazy tactics training you can just 'guess' or playing through the moves without thinking). 

I think any regular hard work on chess will make you better. Imo these books are perfect for that. 

 I will find out! I'm currently only a few chapters in and enjoying it so far. My national OTB rating is around 1500 OTB by the way. I'm also studying ' Chess Tactics from Scratch' and just completed 'Back to Basics: Chess Tactics'  from Heisman. 

The first book has a lot of basic chapters by the way, not a lot advanced stuff? Mating patterns, opening principles, simple king and pawn endgames...

 

You are right, my calculation is kind of weak. But these books are also good calculation training for me. So maybe not the best level for it, but right now I feel like it is good training anyway.

Heisman his opinion that one should be at least 1900 OTB to study this stuff is something I don't see in the general opinion about these books. 

The book the OP is referring to is fine for his, and your level.  They first 3 are NOT geared toward someone 1900 OTB.

If you didn't find the 100 positions book too difficult, then moving on to the first book in the Yusupov series should be ok. Only buy the first book though, don't fork out for the whole series all at once

 

 Chess Steps is a very nice program to be followed by Yusupov's series. The higher levels of the Steps will overlap with Yusupov's easier books but there is no harm in studying extra. I think Yusupov may not be right at the moment for you.

  The easiest way to find your "Chess Steps" level is to do the puzzles at the author's web page. Just click on a day and you will see a diagram. The number under the diagram is the Step level; 1 is the easiest and 8 is the hardest. You have 6 problems at each level every week. Start with the Step 1 problems; if you can do 5 out of 6 go to Step 2 and so forth until you cannot score 5. That is the level you should start.

Enjoy,

Interesting method I must say

Thanks for posting that, but I don't think much of Monday Level 3 - after 1...Ng3+ 2 Kh2 Ne4+, the move 3 g3 seems a better bet than meekly giving up Queen for Knight with 3 Kh1. Engine says it's winning for Black but it's complicated

There's some good ones there though! Defensive tactics and stuff.

I have the three orange booklets "The Fundamentals". Yusupov is too difficult for me ; may be useful for those higher rated. My over-the-board ELO is about 1000 . Peaked at nearly 1300 eight years ago.

I spend many hours doing the 12 exercises of each chapter. Most of these are so hard that my answer is a guess. Often I barely pass or am a point or 2 below passing. Many of the exercises are inadequately explained and seem to have a tenuous connection to the chapter teaching. The topics jump haphazardly from chapter to chapter. 

Good things are the high quality printing. The diagrams are large & clear and always marked whose move. I dislike books with postage-stamp diagrams.

In summary these are more exercise books than textbooks. The introductory ones are too hard for me.  Yes I've benefited a little, but debatable if it was the most efficient use of my time.

Consider chessable.com. They now have the first two "orange books", code for Fundamentals 1 and 2:

https://www.chessable.com/the-fundamentals-1-build-up-your-chess/course/19145/

https://www.chessable.com/the-fundamentals-2-boost-your-chess/course/14534/

 

Good comments so far. At your level, stick with the Orange books. One thing I do is write out my answers in a notebook. Then I write down what I learned after checking the answers.

For anyone not familiar with the Yusupov books, here is an introductory video I did: