5 Proven Practices – World Chess Shop

Introduction

There are so many training tips and methods available. All of this can be overwhelming and leave players clueless about how to improve their chess playing skills. Over the years, I have trained thousands of students, and I have seen which ones really work and which ones don’t. In this article, I will share five important practices that will help you make real progress in your chess journey.

Use Puzzles the Right Way

Many players boast high puzzle ratings, but their actual chess ratings don’t match up. Why? Because they approach puzzles with a different mindset than they use in the actual game.

Chess puzzles are useful for building pattern recognition. They are also good as warmup before playing or studying, because they put you into “calculation mode.”

But puzzles shouldn’t take up all or most of your practice time. If you spend all your time solving it, you are ignoring other important aspects of chess. Include puzzle solving in your study routine but don’t let it take up all your study time and energy.

Play Longer Time Format

Online chess platforms have made the game more accessible to many people. Among the most popular formats are blitz and bullet games, which are quite addictive. One can play several of these games for each game in classic time format. However, we must remember that quantity is not the same as quality. In fact, without conscious effort, playing fast games is often empowering bad habits which is hard to break.

An analogy I often use is my hamd writing. I’ve been writing all my life, but because I didn’t make a conscious effort to improve it, it stayed the same. Likewise, unless you approach chess practice with the deliberate intention of getting better, playing thousands of games will not guarantee improvement.

Longer time controls like fast or classic force you to think deeper and calculate more accurately. This game is not decided simply by mistakes or timing issues. Therefore, they can help develop skills that you can later apply even in blitz games. If you want to build lasting improvements, give yourself time to think.

Review Your Game

One of the most effective but often overlooked ways to get better is to make improvements analyze your own game. By studying not only your mistakes but also your opponent’s mistakes, there is a higher chance you will remember recurring patterns and weaknesses in your game.

Don’t just focus on the obvious mistakes. Subtle positioning errors such as weakening your pawn structure can also have bad consequences. Often this goes unnoticed when playing. Over time, such mistakes accumulate and some of your opponents will surely take advantage of them.

Machines make analysis easier, but there are also downsides, especially dependency and complacency. If you rely solely on computer evaluation, you will learn little. Real improvement requires struggle. Therefore, you must first analyze the game itself, then use the engine to check your conclusions and uncover blind spots.

For a more in-depth guide, check out these articles: How to Analyze a Game of Chess.

It’s human nature to get discouraged if you only focus on failures, games where you made mistakes. In the book Psychology of Champions, one of the tips I give is to collect and review them best game. Building a personal “win archive” keeps you motivated and reminds you of your abilities when playing at your best.

Focus on the Right Things

It’s tempting to dig into the obscure opening lines after watching the clash between Carlsen and Nakamura or reliving it Match of the Century: Fischer vs. Spassky. But your study plan must be appropriate to your level.

For beginners, master basic principles of all phases of the game is much more important than memorizing rare lines. For mid-level players, they must develop a better understanding of positional play and long-term planning. Once you reach the advanced player level where your opponents also have a good understanding of position, you should develop your calculation skills and perhaps delve deeper into opening theory in preparation for tournaments.

Learn what it is relevant to your stage of development. Imitating the style of a grandmaster without understanding the basics will be counterproductive to your chess development.

Study Courses and Books

There is a lot of chess content on YouTube and other platforms. However, most of them are made for entertainment purposes to get clicks, not to help you get better at playing chess. One day you might learn a useful trick; other days you might waste an hour without adding anything to your skill set.

A common mistake for many players is that they often think of this as learning chess. The fact is that they are confusing entertainment for education. Moreover, even those who consume educational chess content still do not receive a structured program; therefore, the improvements, if any, will also occur random.

Structured resources—like chess courses and books—are different. They are designed with specific learning goals in mind, building your skills step by step. This structure provides a consistency that random online content lacks.

If you want to speed up your progress, choose it course that suits your level. We are ready to help you at Remote Chess Academy. We have courses for beginners, intermediate players, and advanced students, so you can follow a clear plan to improve your game.