Actively Studying Chess - Conclusion

Not Sometimes And Long But Regular And Short

Try and train on a regular basis. Depending on your time resources, try to spent 30-60 minutes per day for instance. Of course if you can spent more, that's even better. But the idea here is to do it regularly and not too long, because that's the way to develop a habit. And as we all know, habits are sticky! Research has shown that if you do something daily during a period of 30 days, you will develop a habit. If you train only once per week for 4 hours or so, you will not help your brain to develop new chess habits (skills), besides your brain has short attention spans and will tire after such a long period of time.

To Round Up

Of course a lot more can be said about how to study and improve your chess. I will discuss more specific subjects such as:

• How to build an opening repertoire
• How to find and address your technical and psychological weaknesses
• How to analyze games
• How to calculate
• Which books to read
• Etc.

I will also address many of these subjects in my Chess Improvement Newsletter. I recommend you join and get a free copy of my whitepaper "How to Deal with Mistakes in Chess", an interesting psychological essay on the meaning of mistakes in chess. You will find the subscription form just below the top right corner of this web page.

I am interested to hear how you are studying chess and what ideas you have about it. What works for you, what not, and why? Feel free to leave a comment on your thought, ideas or experiences!

Enjoy improving!