How much can I improve practicing half an hour per day?

Hi everyone

Because of my job I could only practice half an hour of chess per day. I´m going to practice tactics as much as possible.

Considering that my ELO is aproximately 1100 or 1200. Can I achieve an ELO of 1700? Is that realistic? in that case, how long would it take? 

Thanks

Opening Principles:

1. Control the center squares – d4-e4-d5-e5

2. Develop your minor pieces toward the center – piece activity is the key

3. Castle

4. Connect your rooks

Tactics...tactics...tactics...

 

Pre Move Checklist:

1. Make sure all your pieces are safe. 

2. Look for forcing move: Checks, captures, threats. You want to look at ALL forcing moves (even the bad ones) this will force you look at, and see the entire board. 

3. If there are no forcing moves, you then want to remove any of your opponent’s pieces from your side of the board. 

4. If your opponent doesn’t have any of his pieces on your side of the board, then you want to improve the position of your least active piece. 

5. After each move by your opponent, ask yourself: "What is my opponent trying to do?"

 

Don't know how much better you'd get but obviously you would get better (we all would).

'... Personally, I feel that tactics, tactics, and more tactics are indeed what players under 1200 need. But once you master basic tactical themes it will be time to expand your horizons and absorb other kinds of lessons too (and, of course, you should continue to hone your tactical skills long after you go beyond 1200, but not to the detriment of all other chess areas). ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (2011)

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Grandmaster-Chess-Strategy-79p3688.htm

Assuming your ratings are approximately in line with USCF:

There are a couple of 'walls' that people hit during their chess development.  If you are still dropping pieces, making those mistakes that you catch a moment after making your move, then you are at the first major wall.  Tactics will help some at this wall, but most important is just playing games and actively trying to stop making these mistakes.  After that, you can probably get to around 1600 by focusing mainly on tactics (with a touch of basic opening, endgame, and positional stuff thrown in).  After that, you need more than just good tactics to go further.  One thing you didn't mention is when you will get OTB practice in - all the studying in the world will not help much if you don't also play games (blitz doesn't do it, but a 15 | 10 every couple of days should be viable).

Just do tactics for 30 minutes! Chess is 99% tactics, so do the thing that influences your game most!

At this rate you should reach 1700 in 2-11 years, depending if you are 7 or 77. 

Yes I think 30 minutes per day is a good start, if you are consistent. You can definitely make it to 1700 in this way, but don't expect to improve too fast. Improving in Chess takes a lot of time. And 30 minutes studying alone wouldn't get you to 1700 without tournament practise. If you can get somewhere between 30-50 games a year and study the right material which you need (a coach would be very beneficial to lead you in a direction) you have good chances. Of course the motivation and desire plays a huge role as well.

I wish you good luck!

"... In order to maximize the benefits of [theory and practice], these two should be approached in a balanced manner. ... Play as many slow games (60 5 or preferably slower) as possible, ... The other side of improvement is theory. ... This can be reading books, taking lessons, watching videos, doing problems on software, etc. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627084053/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman19.pdf

Half an hour a day for 2 years is 365 hours total (quick maths).  That's both a lot and yet not a lot.  When I got into chess seriously, I played during my lunch break, I played after school, I read chess books during my spare time, I solved dozens if not hundreds of puzzles and I reviewed games constantly.  I was obsessed, and my rating went from roughly 1300-1400 to about 1800 in those two years.  During that time I played approximately 500 correspondence games (the only type of chess that wasn’t blocked on my school’s computer), which ranged from me thinking for just a few seconds on each move to deep thinking spanning days (10min here, 5min there, that sort of thing).  That doesn't include my blitz and any OTB games.

In short, I have no idea how much time I spent on chess, but it was a lot, certainly more than 365.  Did I spend all my time efficiently?  Probably not.  Could I have the same results with 30min a day if I spent them perfectly?  Maybe.  Is 30min better than nothing?  Heck yes.

I don’t know if you can reach your rating goal, as several hundred rating points means effectively doubling your chess skill, but you will undoubtedly get better.  Others have given good advice, so I will only add this: try to review as many annotated master games as possible.  Even just one a week will transform your chess after a year.  Something like Chernev’s Logical Chess Move by Move would be an ideal starting point.

I started practicing chess "seriously" exactly 3 months ago. This means that I will try to play rapid time control (15, 30 to 45 minute) games if not every day then at least a few times a week. During this time I've spent approximately 1 hour every day on the tactics trainer, and so far gone through over 3000 tactic puzzles in this time. I've gone from 900 to 1300 rapid rating and 1100 to 1800 tactics rating in these 3 months. So I think that getting to 1300 in half a year (with your plan) would be possible and then maybe 1400 in another 6. I am not that far yet myself, so I don't know how much harder it will get to climb from 1300 forwards, but I assume there is still a lot of potential for growth (considering how much I still have to learn).

During this time I have also played a lot of blitz and bullet, watched videos, read articles and one chess book. Even though this must also count for something in terms of learning, I'm not really considering these "serious" practice. So if you count only the rapid time control games, tactics trainer and chess.com lessons as "serious training", I have probably practiced on average 2 hours a day for these past 3 months. If you can spend your precious time effectively, doing "serious training" instead of just messing around in blitz/bullet, or just watching some chess videos, I'm sure you will see a notable increase in your gameplay as well as your rating. It's not really all that much about the time you spend studying, but how you spend that time.

So based on my own beginners experience, I think that you can improve a whole lot even with just 30 minutes of practice a day. All the way to 1700 rating? I wouldn't know, but with enough years I don't see why not?

Good luck! :-)

I can't tell you if 1700 is realistic, but I can tell you that you should use these 30 minutes in the more efficient way possible.

Efficiency means that everything you learn in this time has to stay in your memory.

Use spaced repetition in most of your learning efforts (google it if you don't know what this is).

I learned several languages using spaced repetition (beside my mother tongue Portuguese) German, Spanish, some English, Italian and French.

I began working regularly with spaced repetition in chess one year ago and I am happy with the progress.

The best website working with spaced repetition is Chessable.com. You can learn here tactics, which is the most important thing for your level, but you should have at least a basic notion on endgames and openings if you want to get over 1400.

As you probably already know, the most important thing for improvement is analysing your games and playing slow games. Better is Daily Chess.

 Tactics practice is, by all means, a start; surely any practice should help some. However, my lingering thought here is how the practice may be gone about without the best mindset. When I do anything chess related, but especially studying, the key is not the time - it is your mindset/understanding. If you are planning half an hour because of your schedule - then fantastic. Of course, this is if you realize that it is not the time itself per se. Sometimes with tactics (your example) I can breeze through several (correctly) in seconds, but sometimes I will pause and spend several minutes on one problem. Does this mean I am stumped? No. Sometimes I do this even if I see the solution. I am trying to "learn" the problem, and this is not merely making the right move - I try to really understand the position itself, the tactical themes used, patterns I notice, and so on. These longer problems are not random; usually I spend much longer to evaluate if it took me considerably longer to solve, or if something feels odd to me about this problem (last likely means I am missing at least one key element in the problem). 

This may sound somewhat tedious and time consuming (which it probably is), but it really helps long-term. This mindset of understanding is not only for tactics by the way, it also applies to lessons on chess.com, game analysis from my OTB games etc. 

Half an hour each day is great if you find it beneficial, but realize that spending x amount of time will yield various results for different people. This may help you reach 1800, but another prodigy may become a titled player from similar training, and others may spend twice as much time on chess and never reach 1800. All you can do is see what works for you. Although improving in chess will likely be a combination of training techniques and target concept (openings, tactics, endgames, various mates, creating weakness in the opposing players camp etc.); however, setting any time aside (as you have done) is a great start.

Good luck with your chess-learning-ability

"... I know that a large percentage of my readers almost exclusively play on the internet - after all, you are reading this on the internet, right!? But there is a strong case for at least augmenting internet play with some OTB play, whether in a club or, better yet, a tournament. Tournament play gives you the kind of concentrated, slow chess that often helps improve your game, especially if you are inexperienced at slow play. I would guess that players who have never played OTB usually gain 50-100 points of playing strength just from competing in their first long weekend tournament, assuming they play five or more rounds of very slow chess. ... Sure, an occasional weekend event takes a lot more of your time, but the benefits are comparatively greater if improvement is your ultimate goal. Don't have two day? Try a one-day quad (a round-robin among four similarly rated players). How often should you play? ... A minimum of 8 OTB tournaments and about 100 slow games a year is a reasonable foundation for ongoing improvement. ... Can't make 100? Then try for 60. If you only play three or fewer tournaments a year and do not play slow chess regularly at a club (or on-line, where G/90 and slower play is relatively rare), then do not be surprised that you are not really improving. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627052239/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman16.pdf

otb?

30 minutes a day, 7 days a week, of real study [not playing fast chess for example] could increase your rating by about 120 points in a year--[200 points a  year if  you have a good chess coach]

I'm now 14 years old and I started to take chess seriously about a year ago. I now have an international rating of about 1100, and I am in my school's chess team. I am able to play 20 tournaments games a year with the team and I also participated in few tournaments. I am lucky enough to have a good chess coach for the team (he is a FM and has experience at teaching) I also play online on a daily basis. My goal is to become a Candidate Master or Fide Master in less than 5 years. Can I achieve this goal and how ?

With any ultra-difficult skill, people improve in different areas at different rates. You can't have an exact goal of "1800 in 2 years" - because that may or may not be achievable for you. What you can do is practice 30 minutes a day and MAXIMIZE that practice by making a plan:

 

Monday & Tuesday, tactics - (get a puzzle book and work through it - I photocopied problems from John Emms' book and made them into cards, but you don't have to be that extreme)

Wednesday, learn a basic endgame (lots of easy endgame books available for cheap - pick anything written by a titled player, and you'll be fine)

Thursday, take in a lecture from some smart player. You won't be able to understand everything, but they will feed you a lot of useful ideas.

Friday, analyze some "great game". Get your board and pieces out and work through it move by move. This forces you to think for yourself rather than being guided by 'right' and 'wrong' answers. The more games you see, the more you learn!

Saturday, play a 15 minute game (15 + 15 = 30 minute maximum), and try to apply all the things you learned over the week.

Sunday Day off!

 

It doesn't materially matter whether you follow this exact idea, but consciously setting yourself up to learn all of the different aspects of the game will help you make that 30 minutes count.

"... for those that want to be as good as they can be, they'll have to work hard.
Play opponents who are better than you … . Learn basic endgames. Create a simple opening repertoire (understanding the moves are far more important than memorizing them). Study tactics. And pick up tons of patterns. That’s the drumbeat of success. ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (December 27, 2018)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/little-things-that-help-your-game
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-start-out-in-chess
https://www.chess.com/news/view/a-new-years-resolution-improve-your-chess-with-new-lessons
"... In order to maximize the benefits of [theory and practice], these two should be approached in a balanced manner. ... Play as many slow games (60 5 or preferably slower) as possible, ... The other side of improvement is theory. ... This can be reading books, taking lessons, watching videos, doing problems on software, etc. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627084053/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman19.pdf
"... If it’s instruction, you look for an author that addresses players at your level (buying something that’s too advanced won’t help you at all). This means that a classic book that is revered by many people might not be useful for you. ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (2015)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-best-chess-books-ever
Here are some reading possibilities that I often mention:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Simple-Attacking-Plans-77p3731.htm
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1948)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-back-to-basics-tactics
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5856bd64ff7c50433c3803db/t/5895fc0ca5790af7895297e4/1486224396755/btbtactics2excerpt.pdf

Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Studying Chess Made Easy by Andrew Soltis (2009)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090448/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review750.pdf
Seirawan stuff:
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf