Weekly Chess Schedule

In a recent Perpetual Chess podcast, J.J. Lang mentioned an example of a 15 hour per week schedule for chess study for the 1500 rated-player.

J.J. Lang's Recommendation

6 Hours on Openings - Lang says don't spend six hours memorizing things. For the 1500-rated player, you moreso want to get a grasp on general ideas, plans and resulting pawn structures.

3 Hours on Endgames - This will be some memorizing of certain endgame techniques but also some study of techniques new to you.

3 Hours on Hard Tactics - The problems that you spend ten to twenty minutes per tactic!

3 Hours on Easy/Medium Tactics - Better for pattern recognition and morale as well.

* * * * * * * * * *

This got me thinking that I need a slightly more structured approach. I don't do well with extreme structure but I came up with a generalized plan that'll still allow for my own customization depending on what I feel I need to work on any given day. My plan at least serves as a guideline to ensure I'm covering the main areas of study every week.

My Plan
I'm fortunate enough to have some free time at work to tackle a lot of this stuff. I like to spend time with my partner during the evening so it's hard for me to spend hours and hours at night studying. I think having a defined schedule will help me better fill out my free time at work. I'm not good at following extremely specific schedules like "Do 1000-1200 tactics for 45 minutes on Wednesdays" and "Practice 2 pawns vs 1 endgames for 75 minutes on days beginning with a T." Instead, I'll set it up so each weekday gets a different area of study and I can choose on that day how to fill the time.

Monday - Openings

• Review my chess openings spreadsheet. Find some I haven't studied yet and learn about the general plans. Find youtube videos/articles on any given opening and take notes.
• Find 10 exemplary master games in those openings (use Lichess) and study them.
• Chess Structures by Flores.
• Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis.

Tuesday - Endgames

• Go over notes from Silman's Endgame Course and practice those things on a board. Do tests at the end of the chapters.
• Chess Endgame Training by Rosen.
• Capablanca's Best Chess Endings by Chernev.
• Practice endgame positions on Lichess's board editor. 
• Review my excel spreadsheet of pawn opposition positions (see "Building Blocks for Opposition" blog entry). 
• Use the Chess Endgame Training mobile app.

Wednesday - Tactics

• Work to mix in tactics nearly every day.
• For 'hard' tactics, complete the five free chess.com tactics every day. Minimum 10 min/puzzle.
• One hour of ChessTempo puzzles. 
• Winning Chess Exercises for Kids by Coakley.
• Woodpecker Method by Smith and Tikkanen. 
• Practical Chess Exercises by Chang. This supposedly has tactical and positional puzzles.
• 5334 Chess Problems by Polgar.

Thursday - Strategy

• Review notes on Amateur's Mind by Silman. Work on the 25 tests in the back of that book. 
• Reassess your Chess by Silman. 
• My System by Nimzowitsch.
• Can you be a Positional Chess Genius? by Dunnington. 
• Annotated Master Games--play through books. 
• Chess Structures by Flores.
• Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis.
• World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book by Heisman.

Friday - Game Analysis

• Analyze my games from the week.
• Play through master games with annotations. 
• Kasparov v Karpov
• Games of the Young Grandmasters
• Understanding Chess Move by Move by Nunn
• Any other books recommended in this blog entry.