How to Build a Chess Training Plan

How to Build a Chess Training Plan is the most common question asked by chess players of every level, from complete beginners all the way to grandmasters. You know that chess is a sport, and in any sport, having a clear training system that you can confidently follow and make progress with is essential. In this, perhaps the most important article on my blog, I will explain exactly how to build a training system and provide specific examples of training strategies. Again, whether you choose to follow them or not is entirely up to you. In any case, you will have to adapt some elements to suit yourself. I hope you enjoy reading!

💡 Why Is a Training Plan Important?

As I mentioned earlier, chess is a sport, and a very demanding mental sport at that. To achieve success in it, you need effective training. For example, in football, players train their physical fitness, technique, play practice matches, monitor their nutrition, undergo medical examinations, and so on. In chess, the situation is even more complicated. You need to keep your tactical skills sharp, develop your strategic understanding, study the endgame, learn new openings and constantly improve your opening lines, analyze grandmasters’ games, and, of course, your own games as well. Your head is probably already spinning, but this is only a small part of what falls within a chess player’s responsibilities. Keeping all of this in focus is simply impossible without having a clear training plan.

But how do you understand what exactly deserves the greatest focus for you-as a chess player at your current level? That is exactly what you will find the answer to in this article.

📝 The Main Elements of a Chess Training Plan

1) Theory. Do not confuse this with openings! By this, I mean certain fundamental rules of chess or even some more advanced and less obvious concepts. Here are a few examples. For beginners, this could be the rule of how and when to castle. For more advanced players, how and when to launch a pawn storm. For professionals, how to play against an isolated pawn.

2) Tactics. For almost every playing level, this will be the main area of responsibility. I suggest training it on Chess.com using the Puzzle Rush and Custom Puzzles modes. For each level, I will provide approximate puzzle ratings and themes that you should choose.

3) Openings. A less significant area for beginners, yet one that concerns and worries 99% of chess players. Although many people believe that the opening is the most important part of chess, this does not apply to players below the 2000 level on Chess.com. Nevertheless, I will provide recommendations for every category of players.

4) Game Analysis. Here I am referring specifically to analyzing your own games using a chess engine or the Game Review feature on Chess.com.

5) Endgame. The final stage of the game, when both players have only a small number of pieces remaining. At almost every level, this will have the lowest priority because in online games players very rarely reach the endgame, and even if they do, they usually have only one or two minutes left on the clock. Even if you know how to win with bishop and knight against a lone king or how to defend against a rook, you simply won’t have enough time to execute it.

6) Is It Necessary to Hire a Coach? I will answer this question in detail for every player category. Let me say right away that I have no intention of advertising or praising myself. I am talking about an abstract mentor who knows and loves what they do and will be happy to help you.

🖥️ Which Chess Resources Do I Recommend?

My goal is to offer you the simplest possible training plan. That is why we will use only two main resources and one additional resource.

1) Chess.com – the place for practice and solving puzzles. This is the platform I recommend for playing. It has a very clear rating system and a huge database of puzzles that are logical, accurate, and effective in 99% of cases.

2) Chessable. This is our library-the source of our chess knowledge. Here we will study theory and also solve exercises on specific topics. The greatest advantage of this platform is that all of the courses are created by professionals, and everything is explained in great detail, both in text and in video format. BUT! We must be very careful. The platform contains a lot of marketing, and you will constantly be tempted with more and more new courses. We do not want to spread ourselves too thin or waste money. Therefore, I will provide you with a clear and proven list of courses that are guaranteed to benefit you.

3) Lichess. I recommend this website only for more advanced players because it allows you to analyze your games in depth and also use a very convenient online opening database. For beginners, I would only recommend solving free puzzles there, but I do not recommend playing on the site.

So, let’s move on to the first category of players!

♟️ Chess Training Plan for Complete Beginners

This category includes players who have just started playing chess and either do not yet know how the pieces move or have only recently learned. Players at this level cannot yet solve mate in two, although some of them are already able to recognize mate in one.

Theory – The Main Focus

Here you need to know:

• How the pieces move
• What checkmate is
• Piece values
• How and when to castle
• What en passant is
• What stalemate is
• How to deliver a ladder mate
• Scholar’s Mate

Tactics – Your Next Step

Here we study patterns such as:

• Fork
• Pin
• Skewer
• Discovered attack
• Trap a piece
• Start solving mate in two puzzles

Openings

Completely ignore them at this stage.

Endgame

Here we only learn how to checkmate with a king and queen against a lone king. For now, that is enough.

Game Analysis

For now, do not pay much attention to it. At this level, not all chess players even start playing real games. Most of them play against bots. Try analyzing your games. If you understand something, that’s great. If not, don’t be discouraged-everything is still ahead of you.

Should You Hire a Coach on this level?

Not necessarily. At this stage, you can learn from online lessons on YouTube. A coach is unlikely to provide any unique knowledge at this level, although they can certainly speed up the learning process. If you’re still deciding, check out my article on whether you really need a chess coach as a beginner to see if hiring one makes sense for your current level.

What Do We Do on Chess.com?

Simply play against bots or solve mate in one puzzles. If you have already studied forks or pins, then choose these themes in the Custom Puzzles section and practice them.

What Do We Do on Chessable?

1. Course: Typical Tactical Tricks: 500 Ways To Win!
2. Course: Crawl, Walk, Checkmate!
3. Course: Beginner’s Guide To Chess Tactics
4. Course: 50 Essential Chess Concepts – An Improver’s Blueprint
5. Course: Beginner’s Guide To Chess Strategy

Chess Training Plan for Players Rated 500-1500 on Chess.com

This is already a more advanced level of players who can calculate tactics 2-3 moves ahead, may already know some openings, or are just beginning to study them.

Theory – Moves Into the Background

Most likely, you have already learned the opening fundamentals and know the basic strategic principles. However, it will still be useful for you to study:

• What a pawn break is
• What a pawn storm is
• How to play with opposite-side castling
• How to stalemate yourself
• Gain basic defensive skills

Tactics – Extremely Important

If you want to reach the 1500 level as quickly as possible and confidently continue improving, tactics are the number one element of your training plan that you need to work on. At ratings below 1500, almost every game is won or lost because of tactics. Therefore, we will devote 80% of our training time to it. Below I will give several examples of specific training plans.

Openings – Still a Low Priority

Even if you learn some incredibly strong opening, what will be the point of it if, as soon as your knowledge ends, you hang a piece? Also keep in mind that at this stage you should focus on the openings that are commonly played on Chess.com rather than the openings played by professionals. A beginner will not even repeat the first five moves of a professional opening and will instead play something of their own. Therefore, for now, we do not spend time on openings.

Game Analysis – Becoming More Important

However, everything depends on your current rating. If you are rated 500-700, analyzing games is still quite difficult for you. If you are already around 1000, then you should definitely do it. At this level, it is extremely important to eliminate the mistakes that keep repeating from one game to another.

Endgame

Study the following:

• King and rook versus king
• King and pawn versus king
• Pawn breakthrough in pawn endgames

Endgame For Players Rated 1200-1500

Study:

• Basic rook endgame principles
• Queen versus a pawn on the seventh rank
• Bishop and rook pawn versus king
• Converting an extra pawn in the endgame

Should You Hire a Coach on this level?

At this level, the role of a coach starts increasing dramatically because they can significantly help you analyze your games. For example, I analyze my students’ games in great detail, spending at least 7-10 minutes on each one. Once again, it is extremely important to eliminate recurring mistakes, and a good coach will certainly help you do that. If you’re considering working with a coach but aren’t sure how to choose the right one, make sure to read my guide on how to choose a chess coach for beginners before making your decision.

What Do We Do on Chess.com?

Custom Puzzles:

• Puzzle rating from 100 to 1000.
• Solve 100-200 puzzles per day, depending on your level.

For players rated 1200-1500, also solve 100 additional puzzles per day with ratings between 1000 and 1500.

What Do We Do on Chessable?

1. Course: Hammer’s: My First Opening Repertoire for Black
2. Course: The Complete Book of Chess Strategy
3. Course: Preventing Blunders in Chess
4. Course: The Chess Elevator: Climb to 1200 and Beyond
5. Course: Starting Out: The Scotch
6. Advanced Chess Patterns
7. 50-Day Tactics Challenge

⚔️ Chess Training Plan for Players Rated 1500-2000 on Chess.com

This is already a very strong intermediate level, and at this point our training begins to resemble the training of grandmasters more and more.

Theory – Leave It Aside for Now

You already know all the basic rules and strategic principles, and at this stage I would rather spend time on tactics and openings.

Tactics – Still the Main Focus

Even at this level, the overwhelming majority of games are decided by tactics. Therefore, tactics still remain our highest priority.

Openings – High Priority

Only now has the time come to seriously immerse yourself in opening study. However, openings should not take up more than 30% of your training time. The mistake many chess players make is diving into openings completely while their tactical skills begin to suffer.

As White, I would recommend choosing one or two of the following:

1. Scotch Game
2. Vienna Game
3. London System
4. Zukertort Opening

As Black:

1. Caro-Kann Defense
2. Scandinavian Defense

Also know how to play as White against:

1. Sicilian Defense
2. Caro-Kann Defense
3. French Defense

Also know how to play as Black against closed openings beginning with:

• 1.d4
• 1.Nf3
• 1.c4