course of study for ELO 1000

hey everyone, I've been playing on chess.com for the last 3 months and am increasingly enjoying the game. I've gotten to 1k ELO by playing 300 games, doing the lessons for beginners/intermediate in the app, analyzing my games and watching the habits series by chess brah. I would really appreciate it if people could share their thoughts on a good set of next steps for me to continue to learn about the game. would the best use of time be continuing lessons in the app? getting a coach? joining a club and playing over the board? reading specific books? just curious as I want to build out a program of more formal study with about 10 hours a week. thanks in advance for your thoughts!

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Hi!

Fantastic progress and good idea to build a self study program. I advocate for balance and keep it fun not a chore. I’d look into a ChessAble series on openings that may interest you, and a book or ChessAble course for endgames. I’d solve tactics for at least 15-20 minutes a day, and play and analyze 1 Rapid (15|10 or longer time control) daily. Analyzing your play is often missed and helps you hone in on areas you need to improve upon. If you want to meet up on a Chess.com classroom and go over some chess concepts or games if yours message me and we can work a time out. Have fun with chess and hope to read more about your improvement!

-Jordan

Hi both, thank you for the responses.  I'll look into chessable for sure!  Jordan - will DM you!

I would recommed "100 endgames you must know" on chessable, john bartholomew does a great job explaining the ideas so i would say the video is essential for endgame books, there are plenty of good openings courses there aswell. You could probably get by just fine with the "short and sweet" free opening courses and if you find one you really enjoy playing you can buy the full course.

Hey @ssolkkceb wanna be my chess buddy. Let me help you reach 1200 elo. DM me.

After watching a few games, I found some mistakes:

- pay more attention to pins and how to exploit

- pay attention to back-rank weaknesses/mates

- removing the defender

calculation in general.

I think before working on endgames or openings you should work on

1) tactics

2) calculation

3) visualization

These skills/knowledge will help you to build a solid foundation for handling any phase of the game. 

In general, I have the impression that you know certain things, but what hinders you from applying your knowledge is the calculation and probably to some extent the visualization.

After focusing on these areas for some time, you should start with incorporating endgames, openings, and middlegame ideas.

Let me say you are doing very well I have no joke been playing chess for years. (not on this site). And my ELO is in the 190s to low 200s so you are doing better than me.

Aimiekamikoza the only reason you have 1200 is because you haven’t played any games lol. Your rapid is 879

#1
"a good set of next steps for me to continue to learn about the game"
++ Most important is to always check your intended move is no blunder before you play it.
As long as you hang pieces and pawns all study is pointless.

"would the best use of time be continuing lessons in the app?"
++ No, the best use of time is to analyse your lost games so as to learn from your mistakes.

"getting a coach?"
++ good book > mediocre coach.
A $20 book written by a grandmaster gives you 200 h of top coaching

"joining a club and playing over the board?" ++ Yes, that is certainly good

"reading specific books?"
++ Yes, but moderately so: no more than 1-2 books per year.
Chess book are no novels, do not read them, study them.
Study them with two chess sets: one for the main line and one for variations.
"Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" - Fischer
"Chess Fundamentals" - Capablanca

"a program of more formal study with about 10 hours a week"
++ Say 5 sessions of 2 hours each.
Solve 4 tactics puzzles: 20 min.
Play a 15|10 game and use all your time: 50 min.
If you lost the game, then analyse it thoroughly going critically through all of your moves and your thoughts, else study an annotated grandmaster game: 50 min.

Hi! My name is Lauren Goodkind and I’m a respected  chess coach and chess YouTuber who helps beginners out : 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP5SPSG_sWSYPjqJYMNwL_Q

Send me one of your games and I'll be happy to analyze the game for free on my YouTube channel.  

 

Here’s more  ideas to help you get better.  

-I recommend two books for you: “50 Poison Pieces”   and “Queen For A Day: The Girl’s Guide To Chess Mastery.”  Both books are available on Amazon.com.  Both books are endorsed by chess masters!  

-If you are serious about chess, I highly recommend you hiring a chess coach to help you.  

-Also consider all checks and captures on your side and also your opponent’s side. Always as, “If I move here, where is my opponent going to move?”. Do this for every single move!  

-Play with a slow time control, such as G/30 so you have plenty of time to think before every move. 

-Feel free to ask my question on my live chess livestream Youtube channel, every Sunday from 1-2pm PST.  

Chessable was a game changer for me. After lots of trial and error I haven’t found anything better.

Their MoveTrainer system is so clutch to have patterns drilled into your head. Simply no better or more efficient way.

Break down your daily study systematically with courses on..

- Opening
- Strategy
- Tactics
- Blunder Prevention

Goodluck!

for my experience what helped me on that 1000 ELO was John Barthlomew climbing the rating ladder, he explains chess move by move very well i think if Irving Chernev was alive today, he will surely recommend this for beginners and intermidiates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2huVf1l4UE&list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MCBnhtCk_bTZsD8GxeWP6BV

for me i dont like chessable, it just teaches you to memorize things and not understand them

 

Hey Saro, first off, thank you for watching some games to inform your response.  What a great example of how supportive the chess.com community is to each other.  Your feedback really resonates with me.  I don't find myself to be good at visualization in general and although I test well in working memory capacity, I don't often do calculations.  Wondering if there are any specific ways you would suggest I work to hone these skills?  

Thank you very much for this feedback.  I have heard playing longer games can be helpful so I will try to do that on the weekends.  I find that I can consistently beat a friend who's rated 1400 when playing him over the board as long as I don't fall into opening traps I'm unfamiliar with.  

Hi ssolkkceb,

Glad to hear that you are improving. I would say the fastest way to increase your rating would be to hire a coach. Chess.com has a list of coaches (including myself) that would be willing to work with you on your game. Also, if you are a fan of books Dan Heisman has a recommended book list that I have personally used that breaks down, in his opinion, the best books for a particular rating. If you google it you can find it. One thing that I would suggest is playing longer time control games and practicing tactics everyday. Hope this helps.

Russ bell?

@RussBell The “64 commandments of chess” was very helpful. Thank you.