I just got the 3 starting Yusupov books, Build Up Your Chess series. But I'm unsure if j should start them or not.
At what level can I start them? Do I need knowledge of tactics? Endgames? How good should I be at calculation? What goals should I set for myself while working on the books?
Thanks.
You don't need to do anything before starting the study. All you have to do is work hard on exercises. Everything you need about tactics and etc. is well covered. Just folllow the order of the books...
A good book by an author who is strong himself benefits all players regardless of strength.
Just work through the book, but do not rush it, take your time.
At your rating level you ought to be able to start right in with no problems. I believe at the end of the first book he has a list of other books on strategy you may want to consider studying.
Note that all the level 1 books have the same color cover. If yours are not all orange, then you have purchased book 1 of 3 different levels.
I'd say minimum 1600 OTB. The books are quite hard.
I've thought about this exact question since I have a cousin who is a beginner, that wants to improve. I wanted to think of a training plan to get him up to a level that he could start the Yusupov series. I couldn't really figure it out.So recommened that he slowly work through all the books of the "steps method" from level one to level four. Then come back to me for some training games after he completes a level to see if he can use what he learned in game. Your Lichess playing strength is quite good. It suggests that working through the first 6 books would be excellent. I want to work through six as well but skp the first 2 or 3. When the come out on chessable I will seriously consider making them a priority.
I am working on the first Orange book.
There is some chapters which is pretty hard. I have done 12 so far and the chapters Mate in 2 and Opposition was pretty hard.
The Mate in 2 being hard sounds so strange, right? These ones is really hard, not like normal tactics and these ones might take hours to solve. The opposition is hard since there is alot of calculation, horizontal, distant opposition and etc.
I am not using as much time as the author recommends and always pass the tests, but I wouldn`t recommend this one to a player under 1700 classical rating. Book 2 in the orange is said to be a big notch up from the first book-even they belong in the same starting series.
The Mate in 2 problems are taken from chess compositions, and so designed to be difficult. Lots of candidate moves, but only 1 works.
@DynMaxBlaze I checked your profile, I noticed that your tactics rating is a few hundred points lower then your playing level. I was the same way when I got back into chess two years ago. Those stats suggest you play reasonable solid moves without much dynamic venom ( for your rating) . I get so frustrated when I lose to a tactic that I over compensate with tactics training. I try to have my tactics rating 200 points higher than my playing strength on every chess site I play on. It's a big time investment and I don't know if it's the best use of my training time. But I would recommend that you train tactics heavily until they are on par with your rapid rating after which they can go on the back burner of your training. training tactics is a bit "grindy" and not always fun, I use soft music for solving and faster music for reviewing to keep me from losing interest.
