Chess Training

Here, we cover the correct way to study and train in order to make real progress in chess. We also discuss how to enjoy your training, how to put into practice your knowledge, what can harm your progress, and other useful aspects about chess and brain training.

Solve Mode - Active Chess Training Method

Chess is a game for solvers and for individual work. If you want to become a strong chess player, you should be in ‘solve mode’ when you study and train. The famous chess trainer, Mark Dvoretsky, used to say: “Stop, concentrate, think and analyze”.

When you are in ‘solve mode’, you are involved and that is active learning and training. Active learning is shown in studies to increase a student’s retention of knowledge by twice as much compared with traditional learning and it improves their performance by 25–38%. It is also true that active learners are much less likely to abandon their studies.

So, when you study and train your chess with positions, from either a lesson or a game, you should be involved as if it were your own game and try to solve it in this way. Turn on your analytical mind, make an evaluation of the position, and find its tactical and strategic resources. This individual work, using a real chess board, is essential if you want to progress.

When you are in ‘solve mode’, you are mimicking tournament conditions and are training to put in practice your knowledge for when you play real games. However, if you don’t study over the board but instead use a screen, your mind knows that it’s a virtual thing. Then you cannot be really involved and your chess training is not efficient.

Intensive Chess Training Sessions guarantee success!

The study of lessons and games, or 30–90 minutes spent solving positions without interruption and with maximum concentration, is intensive chess training. This intensive work is what trains your brain and can make you a strong chess player.

With each such training session, you will get better at chess. You will also increase your brain power in general. Moreover, “anything difficult where you have to think is good for your brain,” says Dr Rahul Jandial, a brain surgeon and neuroscientist. So don’t avoid difficult chess training.

You should aim for intensive chess training sessions of 30 minutes or longer. However, don’t go over 90 minutes because, normally, our concentration then decreases dramatically. Do chess training for as long as it’s comfortable for you. When you feel that you don’t think clearly anymore, it means you’ve got over your comfort zone already. One step past your comfort zone is great, but also the moment when you should stop your training.

In a real chess game, when the players go over their comfort zone, they start to play weaker moves or even blunder. However, when you train, it makes no sense to go over that comfort zone. Study and train for just as long as you can think clearly. That is how you learn! Your ability to stay focused for longer periods will increase in time.

Prioritize your Main Training Material

An evident but very frequent problem is of not finishing the study of materials. There are people who try many books and courses, who start to read a little from everything but never complete any chess training. Many get to the second chapter of a book then give up as they say that they don’t have enough time for study. The problem is down to an unorganized approach to chess training and to various other distractions.

If you want to make serious progress, make it your priority to complete the main chess training material. Make a schedule to finish your books and courses and study in a fast and focused manner.

Students who allot around 5 hours a week for Grandmaster Package manage to finish it in a year. The results are worth it – some of our students have reached ratings of 2200 and above having used almost exclusively the materials of this course.

Organized Chess Training

There is an essential aspect for successful chess training: to stay organized and follow a plan of study and exercise.
The following things are well known to mess up a student’s plans:

Irrelevant information. There is a ton of material but you need to follow your own chess training plan. Every minute spent on irrelevant information drives you away from your objectives.
Multitasking. Chess is very complex and, therefore, remember to focus on only one thing at a time. As we have said above, try to concentrate for 30 minutes or more and avoid any distraction.
Training of one kind. Many players spend too much time on only one aspect of chess preparation, often tactics or openings. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so remember to train your positional chess too. In fact, chess strategy is what makes you a strong chess player indeed.

Complete Chess Training

A complete chess training should include:

Study and training (exercise) of all essential positional chess techniques;
Study and training (exercise and tests) of advanced, complex chess strategy;
Board Visualization Training;
Calculation Training - this is much more complex than the usual “chess tactics” because it also implies calculation of variations with unforced moves and with evaluation of positions. It is the main part of the last 4 months of the Grandmaster Package.
Thinking technique of a strong chess player - exactly how to think like a strong player and exercises for that. For example, in the Grandmaster Package, we give for solving many kinds of exercises where you'll meet the questions that a chess master should answer in his mind during the games. This way, you will build a procedural memory of a strong player and, thus, you will be able to put your knowledge into practice naturally.