Quest for Holy Grail: Plan for Year One
25 years is a long time, so I don't want to head into a full sprint right at the start. On the other hand, it looks like years 2-4 could be kinda skimpy due to a planned career change. That said, I want to make a modestly agressive plan. My plan calls for 6 hours of quality chess work/week. That's not a huge commitment for a Knight Errant ( I was logging a whole lot more than that during the 7 circles), but it is probably more than I plan to do every week for the next 24 years after this one.
Year One Plan
1) 1.5 hours of tactical training/week
Somewhat modest. More intended to keep the tactical muscles in shape than to improve. I think I might start working in the Polgar book just because it would be really cool to say I made it all the way through this monster.
2) 2.0 hours of study of "Survival Guide to Rook Endings"
I listed all the chess books on my book shelf that I thought I'd really like to study. I came up with 18. My guideline is that I'd like to thoroughly study one/year. This again seems modest, but not when I consider that I've been reading chess books for 20+ years and have only finished one . 25 books in 25 years would be huge.
I think I should be able to go through this one a couple of times in the remaining 37 weeks. It's only 142 pages of material.
3) 2 hours of chess games
This would include rated OTB games, solitaire chess or blindfold chess. This also pushed numbers up a bit. I never have counted my playing time before. Note this does not count Internet games since I always play schlocky time controls.
4) Make 2 flahscards (approx 30 minutes)
Got this idea from "Chessmaster at Any Age". The idea is to pick 2 key postions/ideas that I come across during the week and make a flashcard about it.
Hmmmm. I'll need to work in some time to review the flashcards. Hadn't thought of that. I'll get back to you on that one.
Today is day 1 of week 1. The first year plan ends on July 29, 2007 when I turn 41.
0 weeks down, 37 to go in Year 1
0 weeks down, 1290 to go overall
Year One Plan
1) 1.5 hours of tactical training/week
Somewhat modest. More intended to keep the tactical muscles in shape than to improve. I think I might start working in the Polgar book just because it would be really cool to say I made it all the way through this monster.
2) 2.0 hours of study of "Survival Guide to Rook Endings"
I listed all the chess books on my book shelf that I thought I'd really like to study. I came up with 18. My guideline is that I'd like to thoroughly study one/year. This again seems modest, but not when I consider that I've been reading chess books for 20+ years and have only finished one . 25 books in 25 years would be huge.
I think I should be able to go through this one a couple of times in the remaining 37 weeks. It's only 142 pages of material.
3) 2 hours of chess games
This would include rated OTB games, solitaire chess or blindfold chess. This also pushed numbers up a bit. I never have counted my playing time before. Note this does not count Internet games since I always play schlocky time controls.
4) Make 2 flahscards (approx 30 minutes)
Got this idea from "Chessmaster at Any Age". The idea is to pick 2 key postions/ideas that I come across during the week and make a flashcard about it.
Hmmmm. I'll need to work in some time to review the flashcards. Hadn't thought of that. I'll get back to you on that one.
Today is day 1 of week 1. The first year plan ends on July 29, 2007 when I turn 41.
0 weeks down, 37 to go in Year 1
0 weeks down, 1290 to go overall
posted by Don Q.
2 Comments:
I also have teh Weitzel book. I do a variation of teh flash cards using Chessbase. I save a position with comments like :" Move the Knight not the Pawn" or some other memory marker. I title the database "Study" and I'd like to say I review it once a week ... but its been a while. So thanks for teh reminder. My game has been in the toilet as of late... and I am not following any consistent plan lately since I finished the circles. I Need to get back some structure... as F*cked up the circles were... it did provide some structured study.
By
BlunderProne, at 9:10 PM
I really like the idea of flashcards. Not sure whether I'm goign the handmade route or priting chessbase diagrams on card stock. We'll see.
What I find interesting about his flashcards is that they are not questions to ask yourself but answers to questions. You're not quizing yourself like you usually woudl with flashcards.
By
Don Q., at 6:28 AM
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