When you solve tactics in training, it feels easy peasy. Once you know there is a tactic, finding that fork, bishop sacrifice, or checkmate combination is relatively easy.
But then you sit down to play a real game. Suddenly, you feel uncertain.
Do I have to look for a tactic? Does it really work? Or you might instantly go for the tempting sacrifice, just to realize that in the real world, your opponent is also allowed to have ideas…
When analyzing your games, you realize that you miss so many easy tactics you instantly saw during training. That’s frustrating. And it creates anxiety before starting the next game. Will I miss something easy again this time? Sounds familiar?
For many adult improvers, this is the most frustrating part of chess. But the reason you feel this way during games is simple: your training doesn’t match reality.
The Problem With Most Chess Training
Chess is fundamentally a game of decision-making.
But how do most people train?
Most training is spent passively absorbing information, either from a book, video, or course. And when you do sit down to solve positions, you usually study tactical exercises (puzzles). You know there is a solution. This is a huge difference from a real game.
In a real game, nobody taps you on the shoulder and says, “Hey, it is white to move and win.” You have to deal with uncertainty.
To make better decisions at the board, you have to train making decisions under uncertainty.
How I Improved The Most
Thinking back to my own career, I realized I was constantly forced to train my decision-making under pressure.
From when I was 12 years old, I went to national training camps with GM Artur Jussupow. When we arrived on Friday evening, he gave us a brutal 2-hour test with a mix of positions.
Tactics, evaluation, developing pieces, positional maneuvers, defending, trading a bad piece, it could be anything.
Honestly? We hated it. We were tired, the positions were ridiculously hard, and we didn’t want to do it.
But I only later realized how beneficial these tests were. On Saturday morning, we would get our test results and discuss all the positions together. It is incredible how much more you learn when you are first forced to think for yourself, put yourself to the test, take a decision, and only then see the solution.
Later in my career, I worked through GM Jacob Aagaard’s Calculation book. It was really hard work, and one of the main reasons I made the jump from IM to GM. Realizing the importance of such tests, I later took it a step further and paid my coach, GM Markus Ragger, to manually create custom tests for me.
As a professional, this was the most important training I did all week.
The Missing Link for Adult Improvers
Inside my course, The Simplified Chess Improvement System, I tell my students to train exactly like this. I call it “Step 4” positions training. But there is a huge problem. Students constantly ask me: “Where do I find these positions?”
There are relatively few resources out there, and most of them are too hard (aimed at 2200+). Another problem with books is that the solutions often aren’t telling you why your move is wrong, or how you can improve your thought process.
You know the problem, but don’t know how to fix it.
Since the right resource didn’t exist for adult improvers, I decided to build it myself.
Introducing: Real Chess Training
My goal is simple: to give you the most powerful 45-minute chess workout of your week. Here is exactly how it works:
- The Test: Every Monday, you get an email with a PDF containing 6 carefully selected ‘Step 4’ positions.
- The Struggle: You set a timer for 45 minutes. You decide which position to spend how much time on. You write down your decision for every position.
- The Masterclass: After the hard work is done, you unlock an exclusive, unlisted video. I go through all 6 positions on the board. I take time to discuss why some seemingly logical moves aren’t good, and what you should actually think about when looking at the position.
The goal isn’t just to get the answers right or wrong. The goal is to slowly, consistently upgrade the way your brain processes a chess position.
By joining this weekly workout, you will:
- Make your real games feel a bit less stressful: When you consistently put yourself in uncomfortable situations in training, making decisions at the board won’t feel so overwhelming. You simply get used to the struggle.
- Build trust in your own decisions: By practicing how to decide without an engine or a coach telling you what to look for, you slowly build self-confidence. You will second-guess yourself less and learn to trust your intuition.
- Develop a better feeling for the position: Over time, you will build up a natural sense of when a tactic might actually be in the air, and when it is simply time to play a quiet, improving move.
- Learn things so they actually stick: Active learning beats passive consumption. Forcing yourself to struggle with a position before you see the solution cements the knowledge in your brain. It is much harder than just watching a video, but it actually works.
- Improve your time usage: By having to split the 45 minutes across 6 positions, you learn when to just play a ‘good enough’ move, and when to calculate deeply to find a concrete solution.
- Get better at evaluating positions: A key part of decision-making is evaluation. By having to choose between similar options, you train your ability to compare different positions and evaluate them accurately.
Who is this for?
The recommended rating range is 1500-2000 Chess.com Rapid or FIDE (or roughly 1700-2200 Lichess equivalent).
If you are below 1500, please do not join this. I mean it. Stick to basic tactics so you stop hanging pieces. That will help you much more right now. If you are stronger than 2000, some of these positions might be too easy for you.
But if you are in that 1500-2000 range, this is the training that will help you break through your plateau.
The Details
I launched Real Chess Training in March 2026. You can join with a monthly or yearly subscription.
To find out if you can join right now, or sign-up for a waitlist, head over to: https://nextlevelchess.kit.com/products/real-chess-training
⚠️ Read this before you join:
This is going to be hard. In fact, the whole point is that this is going to be the hardest thing you do all week for your chess. It also won’t work instantly. The first few tests will feel even harder, as you are not used to this kind of training. You might occasionally get 0 positions correct. That’s okay.
This is all about improving your skills and pushing yourself. Process > Results.
Training that builds character and makes you truly proud. That’s Real Chess Training.
Keep improving,
GM Noël Studer
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.
