We live in an ever faster moving world.
With AI, seemingly everything is possible, nearly instantly. You can build apps, learn quicker, have a pocket therapist (highly recommend a real one instead). You name it.
But there is one thing you can’t outsource to AI: your chess improvement.
Skill Is All You
Just as you can’t outsource training for a marathon, improving your thought process at the board isn’t something you can hand off. You sit down. You use your own brain. You struggle, you make mistakes, you improve through the effort.
That’s what makes chess improvement so valuable right now. The world is racing toward faster and easier. Chess improvement still works the way it did 30 years ago. If you want lasting results, you build character along the way. There’s no other version.
Knowledge vs. Skill
Some knowledge is required. But the ratio of knowledge to skill is extreme.
Learning what a fork is takes 5 minutes. Improving your skill of seeing forks under game-like circumstances is a life-long journey.
Here is the danger: knowledge and skill look the same from the inside. Both happen in your brain. Watching someone run a marathon obviously doesn’t make you a runner. But watching a chess video feels like real improvement.
It isn’t.
And the industry doesn’t help. Consuming content is easier from the customer side, and easier to sell from the business side. That’s why you see 99.9% knowledge in the chess world, and almost nothing forcing you to acquire skill.
What Actually Worked For Me
As a kid, I was lazy but highly competitive. I didn’t care about another lesson on Philidor Rook Endgames, positional concepts or a boring opening line.
What I wanted to do was first to beat my Dad, then my friends, then win local and national tournaments. My coaches told me the way to get there was to solve a lot of puzzles and learn from my mistakes.
So that’s what I did.
Turns out I was forced into the right ratio. A little knowledge, only when I was ready for it. A lot of decisions, a lot of corrections.
To get to a similar point, you need to do two things:
- Reduce your knowledge intake drastically. Worry only about the fundamentals you can actually apply.
- Solve hard, game-like positions. Fail. Get corrected. Improve.
Most players do the opposite. They consume more knowledge hoping it adds up to skill. It doesn’t. It never has.
Put The Running Shoes On
This is exactly why I built Real Chess Training.
Every Monday you get 6 hard positions and 45 minutes on the clock. No engine. No walkthrough until you’ve struggled. You write down your decisions, then you unlock my analysis and see what I’d have played and why.
Skill first. Knowledge second, only what you’re ready for.
If you’re 1500–2000 chess.com Rapid / FIDE, this is the training that matters. Check out Real Chess Training, or grab a free test + solution video sample here.
It’s the most important training you do all week. Because it’s the training that forces you to acquire skill.
Keep improving,
GM Noël
PS: This article was initially sent out to my Newsletter list. If you want to get chess improvement advice for free in your inbox, join 17,000+ chess improvers by signing up for Friday Grandmaster Insights here.
Whenever you’re ready, here is how I can help you:
- Want to know How to train chess well? Check out The Simplified Chess Improvement System. This course taught 800+ students the How of Chess Training. Create your high-quality chess plan and learn how to study each part of Chess, from tactics to openings & endgames. Click here to learn more.
- Rated below 1200 Chess.com? Need to refresh your fundamentals? Check out my course, Beginner Chess Mastery. You’ll learn all the fundamentals, from strategy to how to get the most out of your pieces, tactics, and endgames. You even get a full opening repertoire for free. Click here to learn more.
