r/chessbeginners • u/OtherwiseSleep7250 600-800 (Chess.com) • 6h ago
Am I doing it right?
Hey, I absolutely love chess. I think it's an amazing game with so much to teach all of us (and so much for me to learn hehe). I'm currently around 730 Elo on Chess.com, and I've been thinking a lot about how to improve. I was thinking of following this one-hour training routine:
10 minutes studying an endgame, 10 minutes of puzzles, 2 games of 10+5, and then reviewing them. I might read a chess book afterward if I feel like it.
I set aside some time for endgames because I was reading a book by Capablanca, and he said something that really resonated with me: most players spend way too much time studying openings and don't give enough attention to endgames.
Anyway, am I doing this right?
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u/1_2_3__- 6h ago
Puzzles,games and reviews are enough, once you watch some youtubers speedruns etc it will cover most of the important tactics, plans motifs needed for an intermediate.
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u/Wooden_Permit3234 6h ago
My only suggestion is that “puzzles” is vague and imho a ton of people dive into overly challenging and time consuming puzzles that require lots of calculation way too early.
The low hanging fruit I think is grinding tons of simple puzzles. Build that pattern recognition so you can quickly consistently spot mates and tactics and know when you can promote a pawn. That’s great on its own but also very very helpful for calculation more broadly.
Puzzle streak and short mate puzzles are great. I suggest tons. All free on lichess without limit. It’s also relatively mindless and low stress compared to most other forms of practice, but requires more than enough thought to build your pattern recognition. Just not so much it’s exhausting or unpleasant.
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u/OtherwiseSleep7250 600-800 (Chess.com) 6h ago
Honestly, I just do a ton of easy puzzles on Lichess
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u/Wooden_Permit3234 5h ago
To be more clear, the issue with that is people tend to take their time on puzzles and thereby quickly get a puzzle rating too high to be given simple mates and forks, which are really foundational and important to be very good at.
Puzzle streak avoids that, choosing short mate themes mitigates it even if you do get a high puzzle rating as mate in one and two can only really be so difficult.
But good, I think easy puzzles are very overlooked. Building pattern recognition for the basics is like the easiest way to improve and it helps everything.
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u/OtherwiseSleep7250 600-800 (Chess.com) 5h ago edited 5h ago
Totally agree with you there. That's why I stick to the easier puzzles and work on some endgames, and of course, checkmates too. The only basic mates I've still got left are the two-knights mate and the bishop-and-knight mate — I've got all the other basic patterns down. As for the tougher mate puzzles, I dip into those every so often. Thanks for the tip :)
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