I: Focus hard on the work needed to make that improvement, and diligently avoid chess activity that doesn't help.
M: Each week I will play a few classical (e.g. 90+30) and rapid (e.g. 15+10) games and analyze each game, study tactics (attack and defense, endgames, opening traps), and study master games. Any book or course I decide to start will be pursued to completion; no skipping around to the next new shiny thing. Finally, I plan on starting the year by establishing and growing a "natural" opening repertoire; playing principled moves and keeping those that work, discarding those that don't. If this doesn't work, then I may need to consult opening theory a little bit, or perhaps study chess principles more thoroughly, or study master games more thoroughly.
Like all my plans, this one is ambitious and, probably, I will fall short. But I learned a lot about studying chess in the past 9 months, mostly by going down unproductive paths; I think the above is close to the minimum required to improve quickly at my level, and doesn't include any low value activities.
In 2023 I will develop study habits that I didn’t have in 2022. I’ll focus mostly on tactics and game collections. I’ll be consistent. I’m confident results will follow.
Context: I'm a low rated player; I started a serious quest for improvement in the spring of 2022.
V: Move from the 400-600 rating band in the Chess Dojo training program (https://www.chessdojo.shop/training) to the 800-900 rating band.
I: Focus hard on the work needed to make that improvement, and diligently avoid chess activity that doesn't help.
M: Each week I will play a few classical (e.g. 90+30) and rapid (e.g. 15+10) games and analyze each game, study tactics (attack and defense, endgames, opening traps), and study master games. Any book or course I decide to start will be pursued to completion; no skipping around to the next new shiny thing. Finally, I plan on starting the year by establishing and growing a "natural" opening repertoire; playing principled moves and keeping those that work, discarding those that don't. If this doesn't work, then I may need to consult opening theory a little bit, or perhaps study chess principles more thoroughly, or study master games more thoroughly.
Like all my plans, this one is ambitious and, probably, I will fall short. But I learned a lot about studying chess in the past 9 months, mostly by going down unproductive paths; I think the above is close to the minimum required to improve quickly at my level, and doesn't include any low value activities.
In 2023 I will develop study habits that I didn’t have in 2022. I’ll focus mostly on tactics and game collections. I’ll be consistent. I’m confident results will follow.