IS CHESSABLE BAD FOR YOUR CHESS???

Hi guys,

So I know a lot of people will shoot me down straight away for asking what, at first glance, appears to be a silly question but hear me out.

I have been using Chessable for some time (approx 7 months with commitment). I have been playing chess nearly 4 years now and was making slow but steady improvements every few months with hard work and study... Until, you guessed it, I started using Chessable.

Now a few things popped into my head as to why this might be the case. A lot of my studies since I started playing involved a lot of thinking and sometimes deep calculation. I studied the Yusupov book and sometimes I spent 30 minutes on a single puzzle set up on the board without moving a piece(devastating when your answer is incorrect). I focused a lot on tactics, Particularly on this site and Lichess. I studied Silmans Endgame course - up to about Class C level. I have read a few games collections and seriously studied Logical Chess and A first book of morphy. These books helped me a lot with my openings. I also read the Strategy primer - Simple Chess by Stean (Which I intend to go back to). Thats an overview of what 2018-2020 was like for me regarding Chess.

Now, what I think may have happened is, -I discovered Chessable!!! I believe this site forces me(I cannot say everyone) to abandon my analytical skills, (which weren't fully developed to begin with), in favour of brute force memorisation. This added with their streak system and points based awarding of badges etc created an attachment to the site, whereby I felt and still feel a need to log on and complete my reviews to maintain my streak etc.

Chessable has its positives of course; I have become an extremely good player of the Scotch and Evans and now know several variations of each 20 moves or more deep. Yet if I am taken out of theory I now feel lost. Don't get me wrong I don't just throw away a winning position(not all the time) but I feel that without the theory I am at a disadvantage now, whereas before, not knowing theory, was just the norm.  

Has anyone had an experience like this or am I the only one. Chessable seems like a great tool but I am worried it is more damaging for me in the long term.

Thoughts??

Im not familiar unfortunately with the named site/app so I cant help you much. If I were in yours shoes, I would definitely stop using it if its affecting poorly on my chess. Ive noticed one problem in your post. You seem to know lot of theory and thats not a bad thing but when you get out of it struggle begins. Around 1500 20 moves in is bit too much since most of your opponents knows up to 10 moves (maximum 15). So I would suggest working on middle game plans, strategy, endgames and tactics more and avoid opening study since it seems you already have plenty of knowledge. Focus on area where you dont play comfortably yet and improve that. When you reach 1800 you can come back to study those lines more precisely with better succes. Thats when openings get valuable and people actually play theory up to a decent number of moves. I as a 1700 dont know much as you do about openings but still usually get myself a solid, playable position even without many lines memorised. Instead of lines try to figure out why is a certain move good/bad, what are the plans after opening phase ends etc.

I like Chessable personally for openings and positional play.

It's whatever fits you.

Thanks, that's solid advice. Its only several variations I know deeply and a lot of them follow a logical sequence but I do get the essence of your message. I think I may have just been trying to get my thoughts on the matter down on paper so to speak. I will avoid Chessable for a while and maybe go back to the books. 

I feel the same way when someone plays a sideline in the catalan i didn't study for - then i can only improvise as best i can.

Maybe the reason you are not improving is because you are focusing on chessable too much. It may not build bad habits but you are only focusing on what chessable provides. For example, say I study my endgame 3 hours a day, but I don't study anything else, I would struggle with my openings and middlegame and therefore I would lose before I made it to the endgame. I could be wrong though, and maybe you are focusing on all areas equally, but this is just an idea

You did a lot of things right before using chessable: great choice of books, really working on your skills with an actual chessboard set up... IMO, the danger/trap of chessable is that they sell primarily opening courses and advertise those courses like it's the holy grail of chess improvement. Then a lot of beginners fall for it and start memorizing openings which won't help them get better at chess in general... There *are* great courses on chessable like the one on checkmate patterns which has helped me a lot with visualization or the woodpecker method. But I still use a real board for new and tough positions and try to force myself not to guess. So with all the available resources it's still a matter of how you use them. The method recommended by Yusupov has worked for many successful players so I suggest you stick to it. In the long run hard and continuous work with great chess books will pay off. Maybe set yourself a daily limit of 15-20 minutes on chessable and use the remaining time to work on your chess like you did before.

 Great advice and ties in with what @ThatGuyNamedJeff about mainly studying openings which is exactly what I have been doing. So perhaps time to go back to what works and limit my time on the site.

Thanks guys

Get help if you think that

I understand what you mean, userfriendly2.  I started with courses that was teaching you lots of variations, but found out it was waste of time. Now I buy courses that gives you better understanding and explaining ideas or courses with many positions to solve. My great predecessors, GM Hellstens strategical teachings, puzzle solving, endgame courses etc. Opening courses should not be memorized, just try to find ideas and plans. 

lol

I started using Chessable mostly for tactics and endgame.  But, after my first couple of months, I caught myself gradually incorporating some bad habits during reviews.  I would merely try to remember the move--"pushing wood" without any connection or understanding.  Unfortunately, I often made good guesses without ensuring that I could both visualize and understand the move(s) before making them.  It was my fault, obviously. 

So, I slowed down.  I started speaking out loud to explain the features of the position and moves before making them; and I kept my hand off the mouse until I could confirm or visualize the next few moves of the variation.  And I frequently hit the button for "analysis board" at multiple parts of a single variation.  I think those habits are helpful even as I've applied them more to openings.  But I will need to make some modifications if I ever try to woodpeck a set of positions. 

I think it was my own self-awareness or self-discipline (or both) that needed improvement.

his account is closed he couldn't share even if he wanted to

perhaps you could change the repetition to be more spaced haha, i feel like when studying tactics I have reviewed them too close together and started memorizing, so I just changed the settings for the course to be a cycle of a week (beginner tactics, I am a noob), so I do not see the same puzzle everyday and start calculating more. I like having a batch of themed puzzles for my rating on chessable that I can get a certain idea to my improvement, the batch remains saved. I also do puzzles on lichess, on lichess I am only able to review those that I got wrong that appear on the puzzle panel, so I don't end up remembering them because I only go to the panel when they reach a certain number.

To balance this, try integrating a mix of strategy and endgame courses with the openings you’re learning. Courses that focus on middle-game tactics or endgame principles can bring you back to analytical thinking.

I like chessable because it helps us memorize opening , Tactical patterns , Endgame study and many more. The best part of chessable is that it has corse on each opening,