Some might remember that I created a training group, where we track our training time and help each other stay accountable. It is still going strong, and we have started doing a weekly update about our chess training each Monday.
It has been run on its own Substack page until now. Since many of the readers of Say Chess have joined anyway it now makes more sense to make it a section here on Say Chess instead.
So here we go!
1) What went well? 2) What did not go well? 3) What will I do this week
You will get an invite to join our team on Clockify, where you can track your training.
I will be sending these invites manually, so you have to wait 1-2 days.
If you want a quick video overview about Clockify I have made a video on my YouTube channel.
Should you not want the weekly emails about the training group just go to substack.com > login > manage subscriptions > uncheck ‘The Say Chess Training Group‘.
/Martin
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I started working on my openings and to construct a more stable repertoire. I have however realised it will take a lot of time to build it properly. I spent around 2,5 hours on it.
2) What did not go well?
I played some really poor 10 min. Rapid games. Decided to play 15+10 from this week.
3) What will I do this week
Solve tactics, continue working on openings, and play 15+10 and do some annotations of the games
I am at puzzle #2895 of the book. Only 2439 left to go. I won my game in the club. and I'm feeling like my games are more solid.
What went poorly?
I wasn't able to get in the time I wanted for Evaluate Like a Grandmaster. I am intimidated by the book and I'm trying to use it without a chessboard nearby. Although people recommend setting up positions, at home I don't have a good place to set up without interruption.
Plans for this week?
Aim for 30 polgar tactics and 20 evaluate positions. I've got one classical game I'll try to give my all to, and that's the plan. I saw a tweet from R.B. Ramesh this morning about how solving hard positions needs hard work and not to give up too early. I'll try and keep that in mind as I go about my training this week.
I have lost a bit of blitz rating last month. So my question for you is what are you training in chess? If you can recognize a pattern to your lossed maybe you can work out a solution. For me i need to speed up a little lately. I've been treating games like puzzles where you can take all the time you need and sometimes I just need to make a solid move. Losing a game doesn't mean you're not improving. You just have to learn from it.
I managed over 11 hours! Mostly tactics, I’m seeing improvement in my accuracy here. I played some blitz and won an astonishing 17 of 22 games. Rating is almost having to where it was over the summer. I did some opening work as well, mostly on the black side of the London.
2) What did not go well?
I’m still not finding head space or time to play longer games. I’m lacking in confidence at the moment, I reluctant to play until I feel a little more sharp and together. I’m getting closer.
3) What will I do this week?
More of the same regimen. I have a lot of opening work to do, but that will have to wait. I think the opening study will have to happen in the postgame analysis.
I spent nearly 11 hours on serious training. I almost exclusively worked on tactics based on Noel Studers rules: I am writing down the solution before checking whether it is correct. As training material I use Martin's Checkmate Mastery (sweet spot, since it takes my roughly 5 minutes to solve a puzzle and my solve rate is between 60% and 80%). The paper version helps me to stay free from distractions.
2) What did not went well?
I tried the first chapter of 1001 Chess Exercises for Club Players and found it very hard for my level (1600 ELO). My solve rate was only about 60% and some puzzles took way more than 10 minutes). I decided to postpone the book and use Martins Tactics Ladder Blue Series.
3) What will I do this week?
I will continue my focussed tactics training. I will finish the fantastic course of Noel Studer Next Level Training. I still have to watch the section on analyzing games and look very much forward to start to implement his advice.
@Martin: Thanks for creating the Tactics Ladder and Checkmate Mastery books! I prefer them over the online lichess tactics trainer, because it keeps me away from distractions and your selection is very good.
I got to play a lot of chess this week: Almost 10 hours of rapid and classical time controls combined. I had a game at the club (I lost, but that's OK, it was a good learning experience), a game vs NM Ian Harris as part of an online simul (I won, and that was cool), plus a good chunk of rapid games. This ended being about 1/3rd of my chess time as well. A pretty decent ratio. I have been doing a lot of tactics as well through the lichess tactics trainer and I've been enjoying them. I crested 2100 rapid rating on lichess multiple times, though I would play another game afterward and lose it. I'm OK with that. I don't want to be precious about my rating and I'm just diving in after I reach any arbitrary milestone anymore because I don't want to be loss-averse like that. Lastly, I finished Rubinstein: Move by Move as my "major". I have started Willy Hendrik's new book "The Ink War" which is about the match between Steinitz and Zukertort, and about whether romantic vs modern chess is as sharp a dichotomy as is usually presented.
2) What did not go well?
Those lichess tactics are hard. I have a solve rate of 52%, and most of the time it's because I'm missing subtle ideas here are there. I need to improve my calculation and visualization because I often miss stuff. I probably need to revisit the tactics over and over again to make sure I understand them; but I could also possibly just set my tactics difficulty to something easier. I don't feel like these are too hard, just that I'm not looking deep enough. So I feel like I should try harder instead of lowering the difficulty. This is a hard thing for me to reconcile.
3) What will I do this week
I've got another game at the club tomorrow. I also have a Saturday tournament (three long games in a row, I think). I'll be looking forward to getting more long games in, because I always feel sharper after playing those. I'll keep on playing rapid and solving puzzles and going through game collections. To be honest my plans do not really change, except that sometimes I book up on an opening if I feel I've been playing poor against it. So I might also study some lines.
Hey Mike. Ink War is new, which is why most people probably haven't found it, but I mostly follow suggestions from smarter or stronger players than I.
As far as most beneficial:
John Nunn's Chess Course (this is actually a Lasker game collection in disguise). Nunn talks about practical chess skills and uses Lasker, one of the greatest World Champions, as an example in 100 games.
The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games. If you want inspiration about what a chess game can really be, there are 145 examples heavily analyzed and annotated. It's like a crash course on chess culture all in one book.
Feb 6, 2023·edited Feb 6, 2023Liked by Martin B. Justesen
1) What went well?
In spite of a lack of a plan, I spend 7:30 hours last week either playing or studying chess.
2) What did not go well?
I haven't made time to analyze games I played last week and the week before. I also trained in a haphazardly way. I need to develop a sustainable plan.
3) What will I do this week
I'll start studying opening principles (not specific openings, which I haven't done anyway) and be more consistent wit tactics training every day.
I did do some training, and actually enjoyed it. I enjoy training more than playing, to be honest, less time pressure, it's not a problem if you do it in several chunks, etc.
It's not easy to combine chess study with family life (I have 3 teens), but found a fun way to do some eliptical cross trainer combined with chessfactor youtube videos (just started), so doubling up on the 'cross training' there ;)
2) What did not go well
I have a major losing streak, which is hurting my rating on chess.com. I guess my ability and concentration are a bit dusty, it's been a few years since I played at a beginner level. My rapid rating dropped from 1443 two weeks ago, to 1299. I try not to focus on the numbers, and know it's all about the process, but still... Losing all the time gets at you ;)
I see the tactics when playing puzzles, but not when playing games. Must slow down, think twice.
I also tried to do chess training before going to sleep (on my smartphone in bed), and that's really a bad idea. My sleep quality is as low as my rating, currently, and I'm suspecting the two of them are correlated ;)
3) What will I do this week
I'll try to go easy on myself. The reason why I quit chess a few times already is that I'm too harsh on myself. I'll stick to the plan, and keep on playing, but not lose sleep over it (literally).
Oh, and I'm going to read some fiction before going to sleep ;)
I'm also planning to set up the Clockify thing, will see how far that goes; I hope it doens't feel the same as tracking time for work ;)
It sounds like you might be doing a lot all at once. My two cents is that if you're able to, try and focus doing one thing well. Not everything needs your full attention at once of course, but when I try and multi-task things take longer to do and are in worse shape when done.
Firstly, I have lost a bit of routine - life happens and sometimes it takes time for the dust to settle. So as a result I am slightly late to the newly located weekly review!
1) What went well?
I started moving towards my targeted number of hours (I completed twelve).
The first pass through Hellsten's Mastering endgame strategy on Chessable is now finally complete! It weighs in at 1063 variations so definitely takes some effort. Now comes the long term grind to actually understand it rather than just playing the right moves from memory.
2) What did not go well?
I did not play enough and when I did my concentraion was poor.
Too much blitz - it definitely an escpe// procrastination tactic.
3) What will I do this week
Continue regular Hellsten seessions on Chessable. I will do a daily routine of endgame revision, plus I have now started his Mastering Opening Strategy course.
I aim to play more longer format games and analyse them.
I generally do one pass at a book. It seems there is a lot of content out there so going for a second pass doesn't appeal to me. I'd like to hear your take on Mastering Endgame Strategy in particular for a 2nd pass rather than moving on to a different topic.
Hi Mike, I think MES is a masterpiece, albeit a very long one! I guess I feel like I missed a lot first time around. My plan is to eventually work through all three of his courses. I imagine that will be another two years work!
You might be right; but I'm not sure what I should leave out, don't know what will get me the most 'bang for my buck'. Should I focus on tactics and playing? Not sure.
1) What went well?
I started working on my openings and to construct a more stable repertoire. I have however realised it will take a lot of time to build it properly. I spent around 2,5 hours on it.
2) What did not go well?
I played some really poor 10 min. Rapid games. Decided to play 15+10 from this week.
3) What will I do this week
Solve tactics, continue working on openings, and play 15+10 and do some annotations of the games
Are you working on openings for both sides? That is a lifetime's work. Just ask Anish Giri. Good luck in your games this week.
I think right now I'm more probing to get a better idea of what I really want to learn and be solid at with both sides. But it never ends for sure 😄
What went well?
I am at puzzle #2895 of the book. Only 2439 left to go. I won my game in the club. and I'm feeling like my games are more solid.
What went poorly?
I wasn't able to get in the time I wanted for Evaluate Like a Grandmaster. I am intimidated by the book and I'm trying to use it without a chessboard nearby. Although people recommend setting up positions, at home I don't have a good place to set up without interruption.
Plans for this week?
Aim for 30 polgar tactics and 20 evaluate positions. I've got one classical game I'll try to give my all to, and that's the plan. I saw a tweet from R.B. Ramesh this morning about how solving hard positions needs hard work and not to give up too early. I'll try and keep that in mind as I go about my training this week.
Congrats with the win, Mike!
1) What went well?
I've been able to spend a little more time on chess this past week, won a 10+ 5 lichess game , and got Chesstempo rapid tactic rating up to 1570
2) What did not go well?
I've been losing most of my games recently.
3) What will I do this week
Two classical games scheduled. Meeting with coach. Will work on games and tactics, and also sleep and exercise.
I have lost a bit of blitz rating last month. So my question for you is what are you training in chess? If you can recognize a pattern to your lossed maybe you can work out a solution. For me i need to speed up a little lately. I've been treating games like puzzles where you can take all the time you need and sometimes I just need to make a solid move. Losing a game doesn't mean you're not improving. You just have to learn from it.
1) What went well?
Clocked 0.38 minutes
Continued Warm-up exercises with Tactics Ladder
Played Blitz and actually analyzed the game for Opening, Key position, Though process in few moments.
2) What did not go well?
Eventful week. Couldn't put effort later part of week.
On weekend, exhausted.
3) What will I do this week
Keep showing up for practice.
Warm-up exercises
Positional Understanding revision
Practice game and review
1) What went well?
I managed over 11 hours! Mostly tactics, I’m seeing improvement in my accuracy here. I played some blitz and won an astonishing 17 of 22 games. Rating is almost having to where it was over the summer. I did some opening work as well, mostly on the black side of the London.
2) What did not go well?
I’m still not finding head space or time to play longer games. I’m lacking in confidence at the moment, I reluctant to play until I feel a little more sharp and together. I’m getting closer.
3) What will I do this week?
More of the same regimen. I have a lot of opening work to do, but that will have to wait. I think the opening study will have to happen in the postgame analysis.
Sounds like you had a great week! :) Keep it up
1) What went well?
I spent nearly 11 hours on serious training. I almost exclusively worked on tactics based on Noel Studers rules: I am writing down the solution before checking whether it is correct. As training material I use Martin's Checkmate Mastery (sweet spot, since it takes my roughly 5 minutes to solve a puzzle and my solve rate is between 60% and 80%). The paper version helps me to stay free from distractions.
2) What did not went well?
I tried the first chapter of 1001 Chess Exercises for Club Players and found it very hard for my level (1600 ELO). My solve rate was only about 60% and some puzzles took way more than 10 minutes). I decided to postpone the book and use Martins Tactics Ladder Blue Series.
3) What will I do this week?
I will continue my focussed tactics training. I will finish the fantastic course of Noel Studer Next Level Training. I still have to watch the section on analyzing games and look very much forward to start to implement his advice.
@Martin: Thanks for creating the Tactics Ladder and Checkmate Mastery books! I prefer them over the online lichess tactics trainer, because it keeps me away from distractions and your selection is very good.
Really makes me happy to read this! Gives me energy to continue on the next book in the series 💪🏻
1) What went well?
I got to play a lot of chess this week: Almost 10 hours of rapid and classical time controls combined. I had a game at the club (I lost, but that's OK, it was a good learning experience), a game vs NM Ian Harris as part of an online simul (I won, and that was cool), plus a good chunk of rapid games. This ended being about 1/3rd of my chess time as well. A pretty decent ratio. I have been doing a lot of tactics as well through the lichess tactics trainer and I've been enjoying them. I crested 2100 rapid rating on lichess multiple times, though I would play another game afterward and lose it. I'm OK with that. I don't want to be precious about my rating and I'm just diving in after I reach any arbitrary milestone anymore because I don't want to be loss-averse like that. Lastly, I finished Rubinstein: Move by Move as my "major". I have started Willy Hendrik's new book "The Ink War" which is about the match between Steinitz and Zukertort, and about whether romantic vs modern chess is as sharp a dichotomy as is usually presented.
2) What did not go well?
Those lichess tactics are hard. I have a solve rate of 52%, and most of the time it's because I'm missing subtle ideas here are there. I need to improve my calculation and visualization because I often miss stuff. I probably need to revisit the tactics over and over again to make sure I understand them; but I could also possibly just set my tactics difficulty to something easier. I don't feel like these are too hard, just that I'm not looking deep enough. So I feel like I should try harder instead of lowering the difficulty. This is a hard thing for me to reconcile.
3) What will I do this week
I've got another game at the club tomorrow. I also have a Saturday tournament (three long games in a row, I think). I'll be looking forward to getting more long games in, because I always feel sharper after playing those. I'll keep on playing rapid and solving puzzles and going through game collections. To be honest my plans do not really change, except that sometimes I book up on an opening if I feel I've been playing poor against it. So I might also study some lines.
Seems that you're a bit into some of the less known chess books. Which books do you think you've benefited most from?
Hey Mike. Ink War is new, which is why most people probably haven't found it, but I mostly follow suggestions from smarter or stronger players than I.
As far as most beneficial:
John Nunn's Chess Course (this is actually a Lasker game collection in disguise). Nunn talks about practical chess skills and uses Lasker, one of the greatest World Champions, as an example in 100 games.
The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games. If you want inspiration about what a chess game can really be, there are 145 examples heavily analyzed and annotated. It's like a crash course on chess culture all in one book.
1) What went well?
In spite of a lack of a plan, I spend 7:30 hours last week either playing or studying chess.
2) What did not go well?
I haven't made time to analyze games I played last week and the week before. I also trained in a haphazardly way. I need to develop a sustainable plan.
3) What will I do this week
I'll start studying opening principles (not specific openings, which I haven't done anyway) and be more consistent wit tactics training every day.
1) What went well
I did do some training, and actually enjoyed it. I enjoy training more than playing, to be honest, less time pressure, it's not a problem if you do it in several chunks, etc.
It's not easy to combine chess study with family life (I have 3 teens), but found a fun way to do some eliptical cross trainer combined with chessfactor youtube videos (just started), so doubling up on the 'cross training' there ;)
2) What did not go well
I have a major losing streak, which is hurting my rating on chess.com. I guess my ability and concentration are a bit dusty, it's been a few years since I played at a beginner level. My rapid rating dropped from 1443 two weeks ago, to 1299. I try not to focus on the numbers, and know it's all about the process, but still... Losing all the time gets at you ;)
I see the tactics when playing puzzles, but not when playing games. Must slow down, think twice.
I also tried to do chess training before going to sleep (on my smartphone in bed), and that's really a bad idea. My sleep quality is as low as my rating, currently, and I'm suspecting the two of them are correlated ;)
3) What will I do this week
I'll try to go easy on myself. The reason why I quit chess a few times already is that I'm too harsh on myself. I'll stick to the plan, and keep on playing, but not lose sleep over it (literally).
Oh, and I'm going to read some fiction before going to sleep ;)
I'm also planning to set up the Clockify thing, will see how far that goes; I hope it doens't feel the same as tracking time for work ;)
It sounds like you might be doing a lot all at once. My two cents is that if you're able to, try and focus doing one thing well. Not everything needs your full attention at once of course, but when I try and multi-task things take longer to do and are in worse shape when done.
Firstly, I have lost a bit of routine - life happens and sometimes it takes time for the dust to settle. So as a result I am slightly late to the newly located weekly review!
1) What went well?
I started moving towards my targeted number of hours (I completed twelve).
The first pass through Hellsten's Mastering endgame strategy on Chessable is now finally complete! It weighs in at 1063 variations so definitely takes some effort. Now comes the long term grind to actually understand it rather than just playing the right moves from memory.
2) What did not go well?
I did not play enough and when I did my concentraion was poor.
Too much blitz - it definitely an escpe// procrastination tactic.
3) What will I do this week
Continue regular Hellsten seessions on Chessable. I will do a daily routine of endgame revision, plus I have now started his Mastering Opening Strategy course.
I aim to play more longer format games and analyse them.
I generally do one pass at a book. It seems there is a lot of content out there so going for a second pass doesn't appeal to me. I'd like to hear your take on Mastering Endgame Strategy in particular for a 2nd pass rather than moving on to a different topic.
Hi Mike, I think MES is a masterpiece, albeit a very long one! I guess I feel like I missed a lot first time around. My plan is to eventually work through all three of his courses. I imagine that will be another two years work!
You might be right; but I'm not sure what I should leave out, don't know what will get me the most 'bang for my buck'. Should I focus on tactics and playing? Not sure.