2000 to 2400: expert to master

Who this is for: you are an expert or national-master level player and want to reach titled strength.

Goals

• A deep repertoire with White and Black: 20 moves or more in your main lines, with novelties and answers to sidelines.
• Calculation you can trust: two or three candidate lines, to the end, with the evaluation.
• Endgame mastery: most theoretical endings, and the technique to win a pawn up or to hold a pawn down.
• Preparation against a specific opponent and training of your own weak spots.

Weekly plan (10 to 15 hours)

• Courses: Endgame 9: Queen against rook, rook against minor piece, Middlegame 9: Master calculation, then Endgame 10 and Middlegame 10 (see 2400 and above).
• Openings: keep a daily lines review. Use the opening explorer to find where strong players deviate and to prepare an improvement.
• Prep: before a tournament round, run opponent prep. Read their openings, their endgame record and their time habits, then prepare 2 to 3 lines.
• Analysis: analyse every serious game yourself first, without the engine, and then with the analysis board and a deep review. Note where your judgement and the engine disagree.
• Calculation: 30 minutes a day of hard puzzles, with no moving the pieces: calculate the full line, then check.
• Games: slow games (30 minutes or more) as the main diet. A few blitz games only to relax.
• Ladder: the strongest chess.com bots (2000 to 2500) are a good test of technique.

How to measure progress

• Rapid rating 2200 or more, classical results in real tournaments.
• Review accuracy 88 percent or more in slow games.
• You win your “won” positions: convert at least nine in ten.
• You stay calm in time trouble because you saved time earlier.

Common mistakes at this level

• Preparing deep lines but not understanding the middlegames that come from them.
• Over-trusting the engine and missing the human plan.
• Tilt: playing the next game right after a loss.
• Time management: too much on the opening, too little on the critical moment.

Tip: the biggest jumps at this level come from ending technique and from avoiding “one-move” collapses in good positions. Train both on purpose.

Previous: 1600 to 2000. Next: 2400 and above.

Open in the app: https://chessgm.net/train/prep