In this article, we will discuss the top 13 Smart Chess Training Ideas that work – hacks that you can use in your daily routine, to make it smart, not hard work.
Chess Training Ideeas
The study of Chess is akin to learning a skill that needs to be absorbed and mastered slowly by repetition.
The continuous need for self-improvement has always been the fuel that keeps a player committed to daily practice.
Training is not an easy discipline.
If you have a coach or friend to train with, the process can become more easy-going and fun.
Chess is a Skill-based Game.
That means you need to keep a proper schedule of Practicing, Reading, and Learning hours.
Let’s begin with our 13 FREE Smart Chess Training Ideas that Actually Work:
Solving King and Pawn Endgames
Solving King and Pawn endgames without moving the pieces is not easy, it is very difficult, initially.
But it works wonders for improving your calculation skills. It improves your visualization and calculation considerably.
As you progress, endgame studies will be better for intermediate level and strong players – starting from simple to slightly difficult studies.
Don’t go for the composed studies that are impractical and for fun. Yet. They can be left for the grandmasters.
Visualization of Chess moves
Start by visualizing short games like games that end in 4 moves.
Then slowly increase the game length to your comfort gradually reaching a greater length of moves.
This will help in fixing your visualization stamina.
Playing Blitz games – with a small difference.
I know that this is counter-productive.
But only if it is not moderated.
What I am suggesting is a controlled game with known opening moves to perfect your opening repertoire.
This way you will build a list of bad moves that must be avoided.
Search for the weakness in your chess games.
This is my personal tip, but highly effective – I call it ‘minding your mistakes’.
Your games are the measure of your chess strength.
Everything that is flawed in your game will be seen there. You must learn from them and find out your blank spots.
Seek improvement in those areas that you are prone to make mistakes.
Endgame practice during chess classes
For this, I recommend learning the basic endgames first and then try the practice positions by playing with a stronger player or your coach.
Here I have to warn you that you must remember a fair amount of theory and also keep the theoretical points in your mind without fail.
Bullet games for fun – after chess classes.
A few bullet games online can help you keep sharp and warmed up. I call this fun Chess Training,
One strong warning – don’t play blitz/bullet games before a tournament.It will make you play fast without any plans or depth.
Look at games of the early Chess masters.
Why old games? Because the Grandmaster games of olden days would be easier to understand.
Start of with the games of Morphy, Andersson, et al.
Those ‘classic’ games were lessons on simple conversions, plans, and tactics.
As the games will be relatable to your level they will also enhance your understanding of basic strategy.
This will help you develop a solid foundation.
By learning how the old Masters perfected their move-making decisions, you will also consciously try to do the same in your practice.
Your opponents will see a strange difference in your play.
Solve chess tactics – without moving the pieces
In our online Chess Training portal, we do not encourage solving of positions by moving.
That would be akin to guessing or shooting in the dark.
Try to work out the solution in your mind.
This has the added benefit of redoing the moves as there is no touch piece rule for the mind.
This is another good method to improve your calculation skills.
Watch other online players’ games live.
Just like analyzing your own played games, you can learn from other players’ games too.
It’s said that a wise person learns from his mistakes.
A wiser one learns from others’ mistakes.
But the wisest person of all learns from others’ successes.”
Practice your openings by playing them on the real board.
I know it may sound clichéd but reading opening theory will not help you remember the lines unless you have physically moved the pieces and played them a zillion times by hand.
By hand means you are committing the opening moves to what I call ‘muscle memory’.
That way should your brain forget the moves, your body will remember them.
Study a chess book of Grandmaster’s games – the older the book the better.
Why an older book?
Because as I said earlier, easier it would be to understand the old games of the masters than the new games played with a lot of intricate calculations.
Try to get hold of a Grandmaster games collection and FINISH it.
Tournament Chess Set Triple Weighted – As per USCF
I received this neat chess set from a friend who lives in the US and I must say I have treasured it more than the wooden chess boards (that I collected from Kolkata at a discounted price after a GM tournament was over). So much so I am waiting for some more sets that can be used in my training academy. I am talking about the Tournament Chess Set Triple Weighted chess combination.
What is a tournament chess set?
The tournament chess set for tournament play is available with different specifications to keep in mind.
The United States Chess Federation (USCF) specifies that the square size should be anywhere from 2 inches to 2.5 inches.
The King’s height around 3.375 inches to 4.5 inches.
The standard USCF tournament set has 2.25-inch squares and a king’s height of 3.75 inches though you do get 2.5 inches, square-sized boards, too.
It also depends on the country you are playing in.
For example – as per FIDE (International Chess Federation) each square size for competitive play should be between 5 cm to 6 cm (1.97 inches to 2.36 inches), with a king height of 9.5 cm (3.74 inches).
Did you know?
There is a special relationship between the diameter of the King’s base and the square size on which the King stands.
The base diameter should be roughly 80% of the size of the square.
It is this ratio that dictates whether a chessboard and pieces combination has the proper matching parameters.
This makes sure that the pieces are properly spaced.
How big is a tournament chess set
One test you can perform to see if your board has the proper dimensions is to see if you can fit two pawns in one square. This should be possible with most tournament sets.
This means the typical size of the Chessboard would be around 20 to 24 inches including the border.
Where to buy a tournament chess set?
If you’re looking for an affordable, high-quality chess set of weighted plastic Chessmen, look no further than this one – Tournament Chess Set Triple Weighted.
These combos are ideal for schools, chess clubs, and academies as they are quite sturdy. I just order a few sets whenever someone comes from the US.
Our students using the Tournament chess sets in our academy (Golden Chess Centre)
It comes with everything you need to play to play serious Chess!
It comes with a full set of Triple-Weighted Regulation Plastic Chess Pieces, a Quiver Chess Bag, and a Regulation Vinyl Chess Board.
Complete set of 34 pieces – Includes two additional queens for pawn promotion!
Manufactured out of plastic and are meant to withstand the toughest abuse.
Triple weighted for improved stability and performance.
Vinyl Tournament Chessboard (2.25″ Squares)
Features rank and file labels on all four sides – ideal for beginners!
Manufactured out of high-grade vinyl and will resist dirt, tearing, and spills
Rolls up into a tight tube shape for easy transport
Quiver Chess Bag
21″ x 6″ in size (flat)
Easy to open/close zipper secures the chess pieces during transport.
Large enough to hold all of your chess pieces, rolled-up vinyl chessboard, and other small items.
Features an adjustable shoulder strap for easy transport.
Manufactured out of high-grade canvas and will resist dirt, tearing, and spills.
What is meant by Triple weighted?
A triple-weighted piece would have three weights inside the piece that make them heavier to play with.
The basic pieces are hollowplastic with felt on the bottom. These will not stand if there is a breeze while playing out in the open.
Superior quality pieces are fully plastic, meaning they’re slightly heavier than the hollow basic pieces.
The Heavy Tournament pieces (Quadruple weighted chess sets are nothing but the basic pieces with metal filings or weights in them.
When I asked a few Grandmasters about their taste, they seem to prefer medium-weighted pieces.
Maybe they became used to the weight of the standard tournament sets of today.
This is usually the DGT set, used in just about any FIDE rated tournament for quite some time.
This means you can crumple it, roll it, press it in your hand – and when you put it on the table it will fall straight and flat without any sign of crease or wrinkles.
These boards are stretchable in addition to being very crease-resistant.
And you can wash them clean using water and soap.
I have found this board is quite thick, sturdy, and can handle any abuse.
It comes with a non-slip surface which means the pieces do not slip easily.
This may be a let-down for those who like to slide their pieces but that is just a very minor irritant.
This board is best suited for serious classical time control chess which is where I do all my online training.
Now that you are about to buy a tournament chess set, why not take online chess classes from a professional coach and take pleasure in beating other chess players?
Classes can be scheduled as per your convenience and level.
Professional players (those who have a rating and play for prize funds) use psychology in chess a lot more than amateurs, both in online chess games or serious OTB. Let me explain the Psychology of chess weakness with an example.
There was a game between Fischer and Mikhail Tal, and Tal had sacrificed material since he was by nature very tactical. But Fischer had only one move that could refute the sacrifice, and he wrote the move he intended to play in his score sheet.
[Back then it was legal then to write the move, think about it, and play it. Nowadays you are not allowed to do it. You must first make the move on the board and then write it down].
When Tal came back after looking at other grandmaster games that were being played, he saw the move Fischer wrote and smiled slyly.
Fischer then played an inferior move compared to the move he wrote down and lost the game. When asked why he changed the move from what he had written, he replied that it was because Tal had given a subtle smile when he saw the move Fischer had written.
Had he not fallen to the psychological trick of Tal, Fischer would have had better results!
Psychology of chess weakness in the present day
Psychology is an indispensable component of one’s chess strength or weakness. To win a chess game one needs to have not just a bedrock of chess knowledge, but a strong psychological demeanor. Every sports arena has examples of players who could not overcome a terrible loss and lost their composure in the rest of the games. No wonder they would be at a loss trying to figure out what went wrong.
As a well-known translation of Sun Tzu puts it, “all warfare is based on deception.”
In our Online Chess classes at Golden Chess, one of the tools I used to check the chess kid’s progress is to see if he has any psychological weakness.
For example, when I play an online game at the end of my Online Chess classes, I use a technique, like a grimace or a simple frowning sound, to make my student think I had made a bad move. I am sure lots of fellow coaches do the same too! The student gets excited and gets lulled into a false sense of complacency. This makes him play without proper calculations and make a mistake after that.
Over the board, the psychology of body language also plays a major part, like for example, how you are seated, how you look at the board, how you move the chess pieces, how fast you play, how long you think (my favorite trick), staring at your opponent, etc.
If you feel confident, then you make your opponent feel uncomfortable. And one way to ooze confidence was to come late to the game board.
Fischer often came too late at the board if he knew his opponent was not strong mentally. I know of one Indian IM who would always come 30 minutes late and play fast, rattling his opponent.
Another glaring example of the use of Psychology of Chess Weaknesses is a famous game between Karpov and Miles which went 1. e4 a6.
Karpov must have felt strangely coerced to punish this move, as no chess player had played this move. Not even an amateur forget about grandmasters played this move. Result? Karpov stretched, overplayed, and lost.
Of course, a6 is very inferior to mainline defenses, but it’s not something a player of Karpov’s stature would have lost sleep!
In really fast time control chess games online, one psychological trick is to play very fast.
4 Tips on overcoming the psychology of chess weaknesses
1. Cover your shortfalls.
Find your most insecure area of knowledge and place all of your efforts into transforming it into a powerful force.
For example, if your greatest weakness is the inability to do deep calculations and analysis then this shortage affects both the tactical and analytical requirements in OTB gameplay.
And unless you improve these skills first, any future chess improvement will be difficult and results will be inconsistent.
You avoid or delay improving on your blank spots and this is the main reason you stagnate since you are not eliminating the problem that keeps giving you trouble on the chessboard.
Our prime focus in online chess classes for kids is to keep checking for the blank spots in the kids’ chess knowledge.
2. Your weakness will be your opponent’s strength!
Whatever your weaknesses maybe if you don’t turn them 360 degrees into your strengths they will be a constant source of pain.
Here are some approaches to converting your weakness into strength:
Unwavering Focus – Give priority to your chess training, and eliminate diversions when training.
Daily Practice – Practice regularly and daily. Keep a diverse training schedule that provides you with a fresh outlook every time you train. Your practice should be focused primarily on your blank spots. In our chess classes for kids, this is our prime focus.
Make it interesting. One day could be solving tactical problems, the next day could be endgame ideas. Choose as per mood, time, and energy.
Stretch your training – Always give the fullest involvement during every practice session, and do not hesitate to stretch yourself, during the chess training session. Each session should build upon the last while constantly revisiting the old lessons learned.
Having a serious game – Playing serious games at the academy or home (with a family member) allows you to reinforce the concepts and ideas picked up in your training environment to match play.
Integrate conceptual conscious thinking and note-taking into your daily practice.
3. Finding Your Weaknesses
The following tips might help you to isolate the weaknesses in your chess game:
Review your games, preferably with a coach or a stronger player. An experienced coach will immediately see the mistakes and separate the wood from the trees. This perspective though not free will help save a lot of time.
Ask your coach to regularly evaluate your skill sets by curated tests, to find your weak areas. We at Golden Chess Centre regularly conduct evaluations in our Online Chess Classes via Skype or Zoom.
4. Create a Training plan (with your coach if possible)
A good coach will create a plan based on his assessment of your strengths and weaknesses and this will help you in saving time and climbing faster.
Continue solving puzzles and tactics.
Another technique we use in our Online Chess classes is to play over master games using an analytical method.
Never try moving the chess pieces when analyzing or solving problems. Must treat training as a tournament scenario.
Conclusion
With your self-confidence boosted by regular online chess practice, you will slowly realize that Psychology of Chess Weaknesses will not pull you down.
Whatever efforts you put into mastering the game, the same quantum of self-confidence will be your strong point.
