Who this is for: you know the standard tactics and openings and want to win more of the equal games.
Goals
- Build a small repertoire: one system with White, one defence to 1.e4, one to 1.d4, 12 to 15 moves deep, with the ideas behind it.
- Calculate three moves ahead in forcing lines (checks, captures, threats).
- Play simple plans: open files for rooks, outposts for knights, a good bishop against a bad one.
- Convert a won position and hold a worse one.
Weekly plan (5 to 7 hours)
- Courses: Forks, Pins and skewers, Deflection and decoy, Sacrifices on the king, Defensive moves, Quiet moves, Endgame 5: Queen endings, Endgame 6: Bishops and knights, Middlegame 5: Attacking the king, Middlegame 6: Combinations and quiet moves.
- Puzzles (30 to 40 a day): mix themes. Try the rated puzzles for your level and your missed puzzles queue. Puzzle Rush 5 minutes, three times a week.
- Games (6 to 8 a week): rapid 15 | 10 as the main diet, a few 30-minute games for thinking. Review all losses and one win.
- Openings: pick a course in Learn openings and learn it to 12 to 15 moves. Use the opening explorer to see how strong players handle the positions you reach.
- Study: one opponent prep before a match, a tournament or a rematch with a friend.
- Ladder: climb the chess.com bots from about 1200 to 1600 for steady practice.
How to measure progress
- Rapid rating 1400 to 1600.
- Puzzle rating 1500 or more, solving at under 30 seconds per puzzle.
- Review accuracy 75 to 80 percent.
- Fewer blunders after move 15 than in the opening.
Common mistakes at this level
- Memorising lines without understanding the plan. After the book moves you are alone.
- Moving too fast when the position becomes complicated.
- Trading your good pieces for no reason, or keeping a tension you cannot handle.
- Neglecting rook endings.
- Using the engine to pick moves instead of to understand them.
Tip: write down (in your head) your opponent’s plan on each move. If you cannot, slow down.
Previous: 800 to 1200. Next: 1600 to 2000.
Open in the app: https://chessgm.net/train/openings
Άνοιγμα στο chessGM (ανοίγει σε νέα καρτέλα)
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