There are four stages to chess improvement.
Most players get stuck in one of the earlier stages. Or try to go to stage 4 without any preparation. Which usually leads to disaster.
Curious about the stages? I’m sure you’ll resonate with some of those:
Stage 1: Random Improvements
You get into chess and just wing it. And initially, it works. You likely make some improvements just by watching YouTube videos, trying out new openings, or learning about the value of developing all your pieces.
This stage is really fun. Depending on when you start, how talented you are, and how lucky you are not to learn some rubbish (always gets harder), this stage can go on for a while.
Some kids are in this stage until they reach ratings way beyond 2000. But if you are unlucky, start late as an adult improver and early on learn things that are meant for way stronger players, you’ll quickly move into Stage 2.
Stage 2: Confusion
Let’s be honest. Most adult improvers nowadays are stuck in this stage.
You did some random things that worked, and suddenly you got to a plateau. Because stage 1 felt so easy, this can be really frustrating.
The initial reaction for most is just more of the same.
- More random YouTube videos.
- More Opening courses.
- More “grinding”.
- More guessing the move while thinking you improve your tactical skills.
When this doesn’t work, your frustration builds up more and more. While you see others seemingly improving, you are stuck, even though you try so hard.
You spend a lot of time. And might have bought a lot of courses, maybe even did some private coaching. Yet, your rating doesn’t move. When this frustration gets to a climax, usually one of two things happens:
- You realize winging it by yourself doesn’t work, and you need a structured approach.
- You think chess improvement isn’t for you and give up improvement, or chess altogether.
With my work, I hope to inspire as many as possible to try working with a structured approach before they quit and think they are the issue.
That structure is what brings you into stage 3.
Stage 3: Structured Chess Training
This is where the real improvement happens.
A lot of my students are reporting a sense of relief when they finally hit this stage. But that relief sometimes also comes with a little bitter taste.
“Why didn’t I find you 3 years ago”
is a very common reaction to adult improvers finding my work or signing up for Simplified Chess Improvement System.
But let’s be honest. It’s not all perfect in here.
There are many challenges you face in this stage. Even though it sounds so simple, actually executing my three Do’s is hard.
The best analogy I have is that this is like walking a straight, boring path. And increasingly often, you’ll find a temptation on your left and right. Or find a big rock on your path, and you’ll need to find a way to get over it.
Temptations include:
- New courses
- Success stories of others doing it another way
- New research on how to learn (sophisticated methods)
- Studying material that is interesting, but above your level
- A few mindless games that mess up your thought process and habits
And the big rocks are just normal human challenges:
- Longer plateaus
- Family emergencies
- Lack of sleep
- Work getting intense
- Not feeling ready to make mistakes
- Ego
Proper chess improvement requires two things.
- Entering stage 3 (the quicker the better)
- Staying in stage 3 for long enough to see improvements
No matter what someone wants to make you believe, this will be hard work. It can be incredibly fulfilling, and most of my students report enjoying chess more, even though they train harder.
But it will always be hard. And there will always be periods of stagnation, even if you do everything well. Otherwise, you are still in stage 1.
You might wonder now what stage 4 is. After all, this sounds like the ideal place for chess improvement. Stage 4 is the ultimate temptation for most. And it is the stage nearly nobody gets to. It is the pinnacle of chess, when you really become an athlete, and only the smallest details make a difference.
Stage 4: Sophisticated Chess Training
When I turned professional in 2015, I was an international Master. My goal was the GM title and to see how strong I could become. I always believed in reaching 2700; that was my super long-term vision.
I started working with Iossif Dorfman a few months in and had a big realization: I need to change everything I do about chess to make it this far.
From opening repertoire, to thought process, to my approach to things outside of chess like nutrition, psychology, sport, sleep… I need to become a professional athlete if I want to have any chance of pulling this off.
I switched from 1.e4 to 1.d4, at some point had three first moves against 1.e4 instead of just the French, tried for 6 months to use Dorfman’s thought process before it finally started to work.
No doubt this was the most demanding but also interesting time as a chess player. Many fellow GMs always laughed at me when I shared my high goals and how I worked on every detail. That’s because even most GMs never get here. They simply are so talented, start so early, and have access to good coaches that they can become very strong without this part.
Why is this stage so tempting then?
When I look at adult improvers, I get the sense that many want to jump here right away, especially the ones that are successful outside of chess (I wrote a lot about this recently).
The problem is: if you aren’t prepared for this stage and have professional help in different areas, this stage will overwhelm and break you. And also, when you still blunder pieces or have big gaps in your skills, you need to fix those basic things first before trying to get all sophisticated about your improvement.
99% of you reading this won’t even reach this stage. And that’s totally okay. It can even be a big relief.
You don’t need to train like a professional athlete to improve your game.
Conclusion
I hope these 4 stages help you understand my work better – and why you might be trying so many things and nothing sticks. Here are a few key takeaways I hope get illustrated by talking about the 4 stages:
- Nearly all chess improvement content is for stages 1 & 2. Once you enter stage 3, you realize only a fraction of videos, courses & books are essential (and good) for you.
- Proper chess improvement only starts when you get stuck for the first time. Everything before is easy.
- It can be frustrating to see kids seamlessly go to 2200 in stage 1. Life isn’t fair. What you can do is play the cards you are dealt. Stop comparing yourself to others; it only makes you miserable.
- Stage 3 requires things that are hard and sometimes boring. Chess improvement being hard is what makes it special.
- When you get advice from someone, always ask yourself first: which stage are they in? If they are in stage 1, 2, or 4, it is likely best to just thank them and forget about what they said.
- You likely will never enter stage 4. And that’s fine. You don’t need to be super sophisticated to see improvements. You just need to do the basics well enough.
And here is the most important one:
The longer you stay in stage 1 or 2, the harder it will be in stage 3. Unlearning your bad habits that you inevitably create when trying to wing things on your own with random improvement will be super painful and difficult.
Or as George Leonard says in his amazing Book *Mastery:*
If you’re going to go for mastery, it’s better to start with a clean slate rather than have to unlearn bad habits you picked up while hacking around. – George Leonard
And by Mastery, he means the process of getting better at something, not necessarily becoming a Grandmaster.
I hope to see you in stage 3,
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.
