AJ's Training Program

Training Program outlined by A.J. Goldsby. These notes are derived from a Training Program offered by A.J. Goldsby on one of his Web-sites. Normally, this should just be a link but the page is so ugly, I felt the page content had to be more or less reproduced (sorry AJ). Please do visit AJ's pages, the content is very good.

Table of Contents

1. Commitment

2. How to study chess books

3. Daily work solving problems

4. Kotov Method

5. Play Chess

6. Get a Partner

7. Master a few Openings

8. Develop a good Library

9. How to study

10. Play competively

11. Play to your Strengths

12. Track your progress

13. Use your computer

14. Find a Role-Model

15. Positional Study

16. Attack your Weaknesses

The next few tips are for very experienced players only say above 1600 and playing chess at least 3 years

17. Learn new Lines

18. Master the EndGame

19. Master the Opening

20. Memorise GM Games

1. Commitment

Before you can even get started studying, the first thing you have to do is make a real commitment to getting better.

I have been to many seminars by professional motivators and sales experts; names like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziegler, Brian Tracy, etc. I have studied many of the top motivators on TV and bought the tapes and completed the training programs for many, many more programs. Every single one of them share the same theme: If you are really serious about a goal, it must be written down. If its not written down, then you are just kidding yourself.

So outline a realistic schedule of the time that you can study, and then stick to it. Write it down on a big piece of poster-board, and hang it on the wall. Look at it daily.

After you have decided what and when you need to study, the next thing is to Train on a Regular Basis. If you are really serious about getting better, nothing should come between you and your studies!!

Be Very Systematic

I personally feel it is better to study a little, (say 30 minutes a day); on a regular basis than to study, say, all day only once a month

2. The Correct Way to study a chess book

How to learn effectively from chess books.

Many people think studying a chess book can be done by reading and occasionally looking at the diagrams. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only correct way to study a chess book requires:

• at least one chess set

• a good little analysis set on the side

• and maybe a magnetic set to boot

Basically, to really get any real instruction from ANY chess book, you must set up the position and play through the example - more than once. Don't imagine you can follow a series of moves in your head - even if you think you can play blindfold chess. Set up your board and play through every example and every single variation.

When I study, I often set up a chess board on my table. I have a little peg set off to one side, that I keep the current position on. And I also usually utilize one magnetic set. I play over every single move, line and variation. Often I will question a line, and spend a lot of time analyzing lines the author may not have even looked at. If it is a very complicated game, I more often than not will have the position set up on at least one chess computer, analyzing the game and the variations.

When I was a teenager, and studying Reinfeld's, "The Complete Chess-Player" I would often go through one example in the book as many as 10-20 times especially if I felt I did not understand it. With a difficult ending or very complicated middle-game position, I would make sure I did NOT move on until I had mastered the position in front of me. I learned all the opening lines in the rear of the book and I went through the illustrative games many, many, many times until I felt I thoroughly understood the ideas involved in these examples. In the end, I probably had most of these games memorized.

In addition to this, with the onset of so many good chess-playing computer programs, you could set the position up on your computer and let the computer play defense. When you can consistently defeat the computer - with very best play - then you know you have truly mastered that particular position. I consider this last technique essential for just about any ending.

To give you an actual example of what I am talking about, let's say you are studying a Rook and Pawn endgame/instruction book, and you are trying to learn The Lucena Position. Set up at least 5-6 different positions on your computer, with R+P and King (with the King on the eighth rank in front of the Pawn, and the Pawn on the 7th rank - ready to promote); versus King and Rook. Make sure you can win these

positions all of the time. If you cannot win all of the time, then you do not really understand the position and the technique, and you probably won't be able to win if you get this position in an actual game.

3. Solve 5-10 tactical problems every single day

Use a tactics/problem book, tackle a few problems each day writing down your solutions.

Any tactics/problem book will do. I personally have all my students start with the two books by Reinfeld. "1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate" and "1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations" If you did five problems from each book daily, it would literally take you 200 days to systematically work your way through both books.

Solve them in your head, on a chess board, or from a diagram but without moving the pieces. Its also very important to write down your answers and check them - maybe once a week is best. Many students have reported that they greatly look forward to checking their answers, and get a tremendous boost when they have done well with their problems

I cannot stress enough the importance of writing down the answers. It helps you be honest with yourself. Its also like a teacher grading a paper, every time you check your answers, you are grading yourself!

In approximately March of 2001, I saw an article in a psychology magazine. The subject of the article focused on a 11-year study of language students. These students studied languages every day for many years. The final result was that, at the end of the study, many students who had originally been classified as poor or mediocre in language skills, actually wound up being re-classified as linguistically adept. I believe this method actually works for chess-players also.

My experience - from my students whom I am 100% sure used this method every single day; some did it 2-3 times daily - is that it takes a minimum of about six months to really affect the basic way your brain works. The students who actually stuck with this program for a long period of time saw a dramatic increase in their tactical vision. One student, who had been stuck at around a 1500 level for several year, saw his rating jump to nearly 1900 in about 18 months. We studied together at a minimum of once a week and he solved his problems usually twice a day for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. He reported a huge increase in the amount of tactics he saw after around 9 months of study. This is a study method that my students have proven works - over and over again, many, many times. I personally guarantee this method will work as long as you use it in the proscribed manner. But you must use it in exactly the manner I have set forth here, no variance is allowed.

4. Kotov Method

Set up a position and study it. Don't move the pieces but set yourself a time limit to solve the position in.One of the things you can do if you really want to improve is use the "Russian/Kotov Method". This is an exercise that is guaranteed to make you better, but one that I have difficulty getting even Masters to do.Set up a position (a problem from a book, perhaps) and study it. Set yourself a time limit in which to solve the position; you decide how much, though the more time the better. Now begin - but don't move the pieces as you try to figure it out.Use a chess clock to time yourself andwrite down your answers beforeyou look at the book for the answer.Do this Exercise on a Regular BasisSound easy? Yeah sure, that's what everyone says, but few do this one thing as a planned, regular basis and it is probably the single greatest exercise any serious player can use to improve their game.Every top Russian GM has used this method at one time or the other; shouldn't it be part of your regular training regime?For more insight, read, "Think Like A GM", by A. Kotov

5. Play Chess

Play as often as you can against strong opposition.

Another cool training tip? Play as often (Chess Club, The Internet, Your PC Chess Program) as you can against strong opposition. Too many people make the mistake of dumbing-down a computer player or handicapping the computer so you can beat it.

Play the computer on as high a level as you can get it.

You should only beat it around 25% of the time. When you beat it more than that, its time to move up a level.

It also helps to play as much slow chess as possible, rather speed chess. Write down all the games you play at a slower speed. Study them to see where you went wrong.

A GM once told me they were 3 ways to get better: two were playing strong opponents and the other was writing down your games...and studying them

Another tip is to analyse good Master/GM games deeply

Only this way can you study your mistakes and figure out what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.

6. Get a Partner

7. Master a few Openings

Master an opening as white and two black openings against king and queen openings.Master one opening for White, and two defenses for Black, against queen and king-side openings.

Learn them better than anyone else in your area. This alone should be good for dozens of points in tournaments. Again, another common sense idea.

I used to study openings with many partners. At one time I used to study a lot with my friend, FIDE-rated Master, Moshe Khatena. We would go over every line and every note in ECO on a line. Take the Queen's Indian Defense: I remember studying this opening with Moshe when I lived on LongLeaf Drive. We went through a whole book on it, all the lines and notes on the Q.I.D. and even we would take a special interest in a position and take it home to study and work on it further. I was very impressed my Moshe's eagerness and the desire to be methodical. I remember spending an entire afternoon on one ECO sub-note!

Then we would play that line only, in speed chess from both the White and Black side of the board.

This is the only way to really learn an opening.

8. Develop a Good Personal LibraryBuild-up a good reference library of chess books.

Most people seem to think this means going out and buying a hundred chess books. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you bought 5-10 chess books, and then studied the mes out of them for six months to a year, or more; then I guarantee you will get better.

A good starting library would include:

• Nunn's Chess Openings or MCO (for reference)

• "The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings", (by Fine)

• a good book on your favorite opening

• "How to Reassess Your Chess" by Silman; maybe you should read Fred Reinfeld's "The Complete Chess Player" first - before Silman's book, especially if you are a novice to the game

• 3-4 problem books

• one good book on the middlegame

• Seirawan's "Winning Chess Endings"

• and maybe one fun book; choose any chess book on any topic, as long as you can study it and learn from it - a good suggestion would be a collection of your favorite GM's best games

This library would easily get your through your first 2 - 5 years of tournament chess.

9. How to Study

Its not what you study so much as how you study. Be thorough and systematic

Rotate your studies through each phase of the game.

DON'T move on until you feel you completely understand what an author is trying to tell you

DON'T be afraid to go through one section repeatedly, if you did not pick it up the first time

Get a teacher if you are having great difficulty

A local player may do, it does not have to be a Master. If you are a C player, you may learn much more quickly from an A player. Your teacher only has to be someone who is clearly better than you at the time - perhaps by only 1 or 2 rating classes

10. Play Competively

Play in serious tournaments on a regular basis

Most people either play too little or too much. Leave yourself a couple of weeks in between tournaments to study your games. Make sure you subject your games to a very thorough analysis, preferably on a good computer program.

Another tip - No Speed Chess the last few weeks before a tournament. So many players wreck a good game with one quick move

Kotov said, The way you train is the way you will play

Train to Win

11. Play to your strengths

To thine own self be true

If you are a tactical player, you should play lines that have a lot of tactics. If you are a positional player, then choose your lines accordingly. If you are a good endgame player, accent those lines where the Queen's, (and lots of other pieces), are exchanged early

This does not mean that you will not and should not study opposites. In other words, the better you get, the more you will have to study. If you are a positional player, you should be continually sharpening your tactics, and if you are solely a tactical player, then you should be constantly trying to improve your positional play.

But in tournaments, when it really counts ... play to your strengths ... not your weaknesses

12. Track your progress

13. Get some chess software for your PC

Get some chess software for your PC or buy a small chess-playing computer

I have already talked about playing regularly against strong opposition

This is very important, and is a point that is overlooked by dozens of chess coaches today. Go to www.amazon.com, and get Chess Advantage The program, Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess is the finest chess-teaching vehicle anywhere, and I will personally guarantee it will raise your rating ... especially if

you are 1400 or below. You can also get this program from The U.S. Chess Federation, or from GreenBay CD's. You also get Chess- Master 4000, Combat Chess and GM Chess Ultra when you get this 2 CD-ROM set. Then go to www.chessbase.com, and get Fritz6 and/or ChessBase 8.0

If you really want to get better, do what I do - thoroughly annotate your games; especially your tournament games. While you are entering your games into the computer in ChessBase, run Fritz as an analysis engine. See how many tactics you missed. This tip alone is guaranteed to raise your rating by at least 100 points no matter what your rating is today.

Many players have access or already have a very powerful chess computer. But few (or none) use this tremendous resource intelligently. Most will dumb-down or handicap the computer and then show their friends a game they won. This is ludicrous and a huge waste of time.

I recommend that you use the computer to do the following:

21. Play regular training games against the computer at FULL strength

22. Use the computer to analyze these games AND to analyze your tournament games. You will be surprised at the literally DOZENS of times you missed a tactic

23. I have not met a lower-rated player yet who does not have a "Problem Line" - a line that is book, but they don't understand it or they lose consistently with it - yet I have met or heard of few players that will analyze this game on their computer. And when we do it together, inevitably they will find improvements or ideas they had not considered before

This self-discovery method is one of the greatest teaching tools I know.

14. Find a Role-Model

Pick a player you admire and would like to play like, and study his games

I personally know of Several Masters, (actually many) who did this one thing.

Model yourself after that player. Play what he plays. Learn his or her openings. Go over their games again and again until you have all but memorized the best games.

This is a proven training technique that has worked for many players.

15. Positional Study

Take one position and subject it to hours of serious analysis

At least once a month, either by yourself or with some friends, take one position and subject it to hours of serious analysis. It can be a position you have chosen out of a magazine, or even the end of a book line. (From an opening book like MCO.) You may want to write down some of the lines.

Play both sides of this position against a friend over and over again.

You should also check them (the lines you have devised), on the computer. Many GM's in their youth did this trick quite a bit. Its a very worthwhile technique that can almost instantly broaden your understanding of a position; and chess in general. Your chess will definitely improve. Ask GM John Federowicz; he used to do this quite a bit as a youth as did many other players.

16. Attack your weaknesses

Find your weaknesses and repair them before your opponents find them first

Have you been tracking your results and charting your progress, as I mentioned before? Well, by now you should be able to determine your weaknesses. Especially if you have been following this program for more than a year, and playing regular tournament chess.

Do you lose a greater number of games with Black than White, especially in one variation? Are you losing a lot of close endings? Getting blown out in tactical battles? Well, by now you should have some idea where your weaknesses lie.

Now, adapt your training program

This can be tough. Maybe you have to give up a sharp variation you really like. Maybe you will have to study endgames really hard for a while. Find your weaknesses and repair them before your opponents notice them.

17. Learn New Lines

Avoid getting stuck in a rut and becoming predictable; learn new lines.

Learn a new opening! Stuck in a rut? Do the "Good Ole Boys" at the local tournaments

have your number? Maybe then the best thing you can do is learn a new opening!

I have met dozens of players over the years who felt that a particular opening just was not getting the job done anymore. Either everyone had worked out a line against this opening, or best play seemed to be getting them only plausible positions. The answer may be to take on an entirely new opening line.

And you should learn the opening the right way. First get a good trap book and memorize AT LEAST a dozen traps in the line you are learning. Write down what makes these traps work and what are some of the common motifs in this opening.

Then buy a good book on the opening. Work your way through EVERY chapter!

Some of the best books I have seen for this type of study were called "Learning Opening X," or "How to Play Opening X." These were basically very simple books, with just one or two variations in each line. This process could take weeks or even months.

Then you should get your general reference book down and work you way through at least the main columns.

After this you should start playing 2-3 training games a day at say 10 minutes per side in your opening. (With computers and the Internet, no one should ever say they can't get a game.) For this exercise its best if you set your computer on a level that is very compatible with your own. (Plus or minus 1-200 rating points.) The idea is NOT to get your brains beat out and shatter your confidence, but rather just get a good "feel" for the way this opening generally develops.

A week before the tournament, play through your "How To" book one more time. Now you are ready to try a brand new opening.

A word of advice: there are two distinctly different approaches here.

One, you can add a line that is very similar to your own. I.e. if you are already playing a double-QP opening, (say the Cambridge Springs' Defense vs. 1. d4); you could try to learn another closely related line. (Say the Tchigorin Variation. Or the Lasker's Defense.)

Or the second approach is to learn something totally new. Like say going from the "T.M.B." (The Tartakower-Makogonov-Bondarevesky Variation), to the Modern Benoni. (This example would be especially difficult, as you are going from a symmetrical, classical, double-QP Opening, to an asymmetrical, Hyper-Modern type opening.)

A word of warning: Most players initially lose a lot of games when they first tackle a new opening. This is natural and is a transition period. If you give up before you get really comfortable with the opening, you will NEVER truly master an opening! My own yardstick is that it takes about TWO YEARS of tournament play, before you get really good with a line. Chin up! Don't quit!!

18. Master the EndGame

How long are you going to be only half-way competent at the endings? How long are you going to let those full and precious half-points slip away?

Come on, you know what I am talking about. All those blown King and Pawn end-games. Those games with the Rook-and-Pawn endings that just got completely away from you. If only you had known the technique in that B+P ending!

Do I really need to go on?

You have been playing in tournaments for a while now. You get good positions. Your tactics are pretty good. But things always seem to sort of slip through your fingers in the endgame. The solution? Buy a bunch of books on the ending and then study the mess out of them.

Some recommendations

• The BEST book, dollar for dollar is Reinfeld's, "The Complete Chess-Player."

• And of course, since you have visited my "Best Books" Page, you know that Silman's book, "How To Re-Assess Your Chess," is the finest instructional book ever written. So you already have that book and are in the process of learning it too.

• After you have studied the endings in that book, you should go out and study Yasser Seirawan's, "Winning Chess Endings."

• A book you could also get is Bruce Pandolfini's, "Pandolfini's Endgame Course."

• And when you get done with those, you could try to work your way through R. Fine's, "Basic Chess Endings." (A REALLY THICK book!!)

• And then you could maybe graduate to the ECO series on the Endgames.

All this would only take you a minimum of five years, (to really do it right) so you had better get started now.

19. Master the Opening

For any student trying to learn an opening, the following advice is a very good way to do it. What I suggest you do is: you should pick say 20 GM decisive games of your favorite variation. Play over all 20 in a row, but alternate it with a game White won, then a game Black won.

This is one of my very own secret teaching techniques that I have not shared with very many people over the years

But it is an excellent technique, and will help you to master an opening better than any other method I have come across.

Try to pick out just ONE thing each game taught you or the one aspect that stands out for you for each game. It does not have to be an earth-shattering revelation, but just something that is significant to you.

You could get these games from virtually any on-line database, ChessBase is

probably your best source for on-line games. They have one of the better collections, in terms of the number of games and weeding out errors. They also have the fewest doubles.

20. Memorise a few GM Games

Memorize ideally 10 to 25 Master Games

I was talking to a former student about a month ago. He reminded me of a lecture I gave in Atlanta many years ago. I challenged the group there to memorize 25 GM games. Three out of this group did ... today all three are Masters.

A few years ago, I talked to one young man (from MS) who had been an Expert for two years. I challenged him to do this one thing. He did, and less than a year later he had his master's certificate. In fact - to be honest - I know of not one single person who has done this one thing ... and not broken into Master territory! While there is NO magic bullet , this one thing may come as close as any other I know of. Try it. Especially if you have been close to master level and nothing else has worked. (Maybe it works by making neurons connect in the brain?)

Post-script: In the very short amount of time that this has been posted, several things have happened. A fellow on chess-dot-net confirmed to me that several other Masters also advise you to try to memorize as many chess games as you can. And about 3 or 4 of my former students sent me e-mails. One is a Master today. And he remembers being stuck in a rut - he was an Expert for close to 3 years. I gave him 5 books to buy, put him on a chess training regime, and several other things as well. But the main thing he remembers was that I challenged him to memorize 50-to-100 GM games. He never got beyond 35, but almost immediately, he went over Master himself.

I would say, make a detailed list. What are your favorite games? Do you like long games or short ones? Who are your favorite players? Which openings are you trying to learn? Who are your favorite players? etc. After you have written all this down, the 25 games you pick should become easier. It helps to if you give each game a theme (See Chernev's book on The Most Instructive Games of Chess ever Played for a few examples.) Stuff like: Cool K-side attack or a nice central break-through

By now you should be getting the idea. It helps too if you try to give each move an idea. Just memorizing the moves without any attempt to understand the process defeats the entire purpose.