Free Chess Training Plan

I recently hit 1800 Elo in chess. As a middle-aged male, I say that with pride.

I didn’t grow up playing chess, so I didn’t have any formal training during the formidable years of my youth. Therefore, the rating struggle was real.

Chess, like pretty much anything else in life, is going to be much easier to learn if you start young. Our brains are so much more malleable before the age of 22.

So, the first piece of advice I can give you, is start young.

Obviously, this isn’t practical advice if you’re already an adult, particularly an older adult. But if you want your kids to be good at chess, do them a favor and start them young. They will thank you later.

I’ll be very brief about my chess background, in order to provide some insight on how I got to where I got, how long it took, etc.

I learned the moves at some point in childhood, just like I learned how to play checkers, spades, Monopoly and all the other various games that were popular before technology dominated the field of gaming.

I played chess off-and-on with friends throughout early adulthood. Never took the game serious, and never played anyone else who did either. We all just “knew the moves” and pretty much the smartest person usually won.

Eventually, I played someone who had studied the game and knew how to play. By that time none of my friends could beat me (at least consistently). I was confident that I was “good” as chess.

After playing someone who actually knew how to play chess, I realized very quickly that I was delusional about my chess skills, and I wasn’t any good at all. I sucked. Bad!

In fact, it demoralized me to the point that I didn’t play again for several years.

As time passed, I started hanging out with a new group of friends who had a small, informal chess club, and I started playing again. I won consistently. However, this time I didn’t have any delusions of grandeur. I knew I was just the best of the sucky players.

My interest in the game grew, and I learned the basic basic principles of chess. Just knowing the very basics will take you a long way if you just play casually against friends and family.

Then about 4 years ago I started playing chess online. It quickly became an obsession, and I played A LOT! Sometimes 12 hours a day.

Chess Bio: It took me 4 years of serious chess playing to reach an 1800 rating.

The reason I provided that background information is because once you start to get decent, people always ask, “How long have you been playing chess?”

So in summary, I’ve known the moves since I was a kid, but I didn’t really start “playing” until about 4 years ago.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

Looking back I think I could have been much more efficient and calculated in the way I learned the game of chess. For me, it was about improvement, and studying the game, it wasn’t just about playing chess.

If you start playing serious chess, you’ll quickly discover that it’s a very complex game with a world of information to learn. It tends to become obsessive for many, myself included.

If I knew what I knew now, and wanted to get to 1800, here’s what I would do:

When I started playing online, I was already probably a 700-800 player. If you are just starting, or like a 400 rated player who knows very little, just play a lot and try to focus on the very basic chess principles: put a pawn in the center of the board, develop your pieces, try not to move the same piece twice before getting developed, castle.

Focus on basic chess principles and playing a lot until you get to around 800-900.

Once you get to that level, learn a system for both black and white that you can play against anything. Something where you just learn where your pieces go, and the basic ideas of the system. For example, the London or Colle for the white pieces. And maybe the Czech or Caro Kahn for the black pieces.

Try to avoid gambits and trappy stuff. Sure, it will work sometimes, and it can be fun to mate someone in 7, but it’s not a good long-term plan.

There is a ton of content on YouTube that will teach you the basic principles of every opening you can think of. Find one you like, that’s solid, and play it a lot. Then review your games with an engine.

When you reach 1200, start doing lots of puzzles.

Create an account on Lichess. It’s completely free and you can do as many puzzles as you want there.

Play a lot, try to review every game, so you can understand your mistakes and what positions gave you problems (don’t analyze every move, just try to look at 2 or 3 critical points in the game, and do your best to understand what happened).

Divide your time between playing games, reviewing games, watching instructional videos/reading chess books, and doing tactics. If you have 2 hours a day to devote to chess, give each section 30 min.

That is enough to get you to 1500.

This will get you to 1800:

Create an account on Chess.com. Take advantage of the free resources the site offers. Unlike Lichess, it is limited on the freebies.

Do the 3 free puzzles, the daily puzzle, a puzzle rush survival and a puzzle battle. Then play 1 rapid game and review it thoroughly. All of this is free. This routine alone will take around an hour. Do this every day.

Do the chess.com routine early, perhaps in the morning, then take a break. In the evening, get on Lichess and do 5 puzzle storms, then 30 min of endgame puzzles. If you still have time, play games on Lichess until you lose, and review every game. Once you lose, don’t play anymore.

If you still have time, watch instructional chess videos on YouTube.

At the 1500-1800 level you should focus on endgames.

Every Chess channel on YouTube will have some kind of video series on endgames. If you can’t find one, comment below and I’ll recommend one.

If you want to take it to the next level with endgames, buy an endgame book. Silman’s Complete Endgame Course and 100 Endgames You Must Know are the two most recommended endgame books.

Review master’s games.

Find out which masters play the openings you play and start analyzing their games.

It goes without saying that some of this stuff sucks. Nobody likes studying endgames, which is why most people suck at them. Nobody wants to review a game they just got destroyed in. Reviewing master’s games when you’re nowhere near master level and have no idea why they made the moves they made, seems pointless. But…

If you following this training play you will reach 1800.

Most people aren’t going to have the time do this routine 4 or 5 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week. Use your best judgement on time improvisation. Do what works for your schedule.

Even if you have unlimited time, I wouldn’t recommend more than 4 or 5 hours a day. Playing all day, every day, isn’t going to make you a master. Trust me, I know from experience.

If you want to improve quickly, focus on efficiency.

I’m confident that this training plan will get you to 1800, and beyond.

I should add that if you want to maximize your improvement in the most efficient manner, hire a chess coach that can personalize a plan for your specific needs.

I should also add, if you’re looking for a chess coach, I’m for hire.

gg