Numerot's Sessions #1: Training programs

Training programs are lists of scheduled tasks and exercises you or your coach set for you, with an aim to improve as a chess player. They may contain diverse elements — very commonly games, puzzle-solving, study from books, self-analysis of your games, and other similar activities.

Training programs — why?

There is a tendency in humans to look for silver bullets to problems that can only be solved only by consistent effort, and to spend too much time worrying about what sort of protein shake one should drink instead of just, you know, hitting the gym.

If you want to make real progress in any pursuit, consistent practice is almost universally the best way. Some few individuals will be able to get things done without a schedule or routines, but for most people they are crucial.

A coach may, for an example, be very valuable, and can at times revolutionize your play, but they should always augment your own practice and study instead of replacing them. Nothing a coach can say or give you is worth as much as diligent practice.

The basics of a good program

A functional training routine takes into account not only which chess contents should be learned, but also human nature. We aren't machines, and basic psychology should considered. Without further ado, here follows a list of the features of a good training routine, in a vague order of importance —

Realism

If you can't stick to a program, it's entirely pointless. You may wish to radically change the amount of time you spend on chess at once, but that is mostly a good way to set yourself up for failure.

It is also important that study is split into sufficiently small chunks. Few people can focus intensely for more than 30-60 minutes — let your brains rest, or you won't be learning very much. You can build your training routine up over time to a point where it's just right, so don't start by expecting the world out of yourself

Accountability

On the other hand, it's also important to also know when you're just being lazy. You can't expect to make much progress if all you do is play 3+0 a couple of times a week — ask yourself what you can realistically achieve, and do it, while remembering to keep the bar just low enough that you'll actually do it consistently.

Clarity

If you can't make sense of your own routine, or spend more time worrying about small nuances than applying the program, you've gone off the deep end. A good practice program shouldn't consist of more than a small handful of times — say, one 45+45 per day, and 30 minutes each of game analysis, puzzles, and study. Keep It Simple, Student.

Fun

If you aren't remotely enjoying yourself, you simply won't stick to your program. Some leeway can be allowed to make practice fun, but, again be honest to yourself — know what is the difference between demanding and impossible.

Target-consciousness

It is crucial that you understand what parts of your game you're actually supposed to be working on. If you're blundering pieces practically every game, you probably shouldn't be spending an hour a day going through an endgame manual. By no means disregard any general area of the game, but also make sure to focus on what's actually important in your games.

Goals

If you want to get anything done, you have to find a way to get motivated for it, and there are few better ways to achieve that than setting concrete goals for yourself.

Rating goals are maybe the simplest, and probably most common. I personally like to set them in three-month periods, and to set two separate rating goals — a lower level of "acceptable growth" which, should you fail to hit it, is a signal to yourself that you're probably doing something wrong, and a higher goal that you can reasonably likely do, but might be difficult. Setting rewards for achieving these goals can be very motivating, and, well, rewarding. Maybe if you hit your more difficult rating goal, you treat yourself to a new book or some such.

Proportions

These are the rough proportions in which I think one should follow at the given rating points. You personal needs may vary, but this should offer a good framework to build from.

If you are unsure, always err on the side of playing more and studying openings less.

"Study" in this context refers to the study of positional play and strategy, e.g. by reading through a game collection or a book on such topics.

Example training routine

Matti is a dad with a job. He's rated 1650 on Lichess, and can squeeze in 45 minutes on most weekdays, 60 minutes on most weekend days, and usually has to miss one weekday — so generally he'll have 45*4+60*2=300 minutes, so five hours. According to the table above, Matti should divide his time thus:

Games: 135 minutes
Puzzles: 100 minutes
Analysis: 45 minutes
Study: 15 minutes
Endgames: 7,5 minutes
Openings: 7,5 minutes

Monday: Matti takes a look at last week's training game. (45 minutes)
Tuesday: N/A
Wednesday: Matti plays a 15+10 on Lichess and solves some puzzles (30 minutes; 30 minutes).
Thursday: Matti plays through a game from Best Lessons of a Chess Coach (20 minutes) and solves some puzzles. (30 minutes)
Friday: Matti solves some puzzles (30 minutes) and looks at some opening ideas from a repertoire he has built in a Lichess study. Next week, he'll look at some pawn endings instead.
Saturday: Matti plays a 15+10 game on Lichess. (30 minutes)
Sunday: 25+10 training game with his 1750-rated friend, Pertti. (60 minutes)

As you notice, everything doesn't line up perfectly to the minute. That's fine: it's much more important to do things in focused blocks of time than try to get an extremely specific amount of time into some training method. Be flexible, but try to put in a roughly consistent amount of time on most weeks.

Training partners

A great way to make yourself stick to a training program is to have someone go through it with you. Find a practice partner of roughly even playing strength and schedule regular games, and possibly other sessions — maybe a 45+45 twice a week, and one session of analyzing world championship matches.

Having a couple of training partners could be a good way to ensure you don't always play into the same lines in your games, and encounter diverse ways of thinking. Classical games are also notoriously difficult to find online, and having regular partners for bashing out 45+45's really helps. They are far more likely to do a post-mortem analysis with you after you beat them, too.

Another benefit of practice partners is that you can do things like practice specific endgames with them. Reading about bishop versus knight endgames is one thing, but playing them out repeatedly on both sides is quite another. Same goes for opening preparation, as you might know your preparation for the Marshall is lacking, but generally speaking random people in rated games won't just agree to play it for you.

A training partner shouldn't be too much weaker than yourself, as you'll probably learn very little, but having one that crushes you every single time may not be the most motivating, either. If you're up for it, though, by all means play someone much stronger than yourself.

Someone 400 points higher will demonstrate the flaws in your understanding and technique in a very direct manner and explain how they rolled you after the game, if you can bear the humiliation. There is also a certain liberating feeling to playing a game you know you'll most likely lose badly.

Resources and time controls

Far too often, I see players of all levels playing very short games instead of more instructive longer games. 15+10 is the bare minimum for serious improvement, and 30+30 is where it starts getting good. Humans simply do not learn to do things well by doing them carelessly and spastically.

Blitz and bullet should have very little space in your routine. A tiny bit of blitz can be fine for drilling openings, but otherwise consider them a waste of time or even actively harmful.

Books are far superior to online puzzles, but if for now you don't have access to any puzzle books, Chesstempo.com is a decent service. The puzzles are generally better than those found on Lichess or Chess.com. ChessKing offers puzzle books in a digitalized format that has some advantages. More on the superiority of puzzle books can be heard in this excellent video by IM Kostya Kavutskiy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYvUFv2ocDU

Chess books are a topic too large to cover here satisfactorily, but I will include a couple of recommendations below, along with rating ranges and brief comments.

Puzzle books

Manual of Chess Combinations 1 / Ivashenko (also sold as 1a and 1b) (0-1900)
1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners (1500-2100)
Practicel Chess Exercises (1800+) — A collection of positions with tactical or positional solutions.
1001 Chess Exercises for Club Players (1900+)
The Woodpecker Method (2000+) — A collection of puzzles that eventually get very difficult.

Conceptual books

Logical Chess Move by Move / Chernev (0-1800) — A book written with great enthusiasm. Sometimes too eager to give things as hard rules, but the chosen games are very instructive. Make sure to get the newest edition with algebraic notation.
Best Lessons of a Chess Coach / Weeramantry (1600-2100) — Includes too many hypermodern games, but generally explains things very well.
Chess Tactics from Scratch / Weteschnik (1700+) — A primer on tactics. Includes a small amount of puzzles, but focuses on explaining tactical concepts through examples.
Reassess Your Chess / Silman (1800+) — Very popular and pretty good, but at times repetitive. Each chapter includes a dozen-ish test positions that are generally notably harder than the chapter text. At times long-winded.
Chess Strategy for Club Players / Grooten (1800+)
100 Endgames You Must Know / de la Villa (1700+)
[The orange books] / Yusupov (1900+) — Great books that require lots of hard work. Heavily focused on exercises and solving, and is a good book to go through to work on your calculation.
Mastering Chess Strategy / Hellsten (2000+) — Huge amounts of very useful examples and exercises. Quite difficult.

In summary...

• Make sure your training program is realistic, yet demanding, and stick to it.
• While practical games should take up the largest portion of your time, other things become more important as you get better.
• If at all possible, get a training partner or coach.

Thank you for reading! See you around,
— Numerot