Chess players must have a training plan if they want to make the best out of their time. Your coach is planning to start playing Chess tournaments again and in order to do it effectively, proper training is necessary. In this lesson, NM Robert Ramirez shares how he is getting organized and how you could create your own training plan. Hope you find it useful!
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00:00 Intro
01:20 Training Plan
02:15 Tactics Training Day
06:04 Strategy Training Day
07:31 Blitz or Rapids Games?
08:17 Endgames Training Day
09:32 Openings Training Day
10:44 Weekend Training?
11:03 Why you need a Chess training plan
11:48 Don’t like Chess books?
14:08 Chess Training Log
15:09 Like & Subscribe if you enjoyed this video
My Book Recommendations:
First tactics book:
Mixed tactics book:
Advanced tactics book:
Advanced tactics book (II):
Carlsen’s book (excellent):
Kramnik’s book (excellent):
Pirc Defense book:
Endgames book:
Learn how to play Chess the right way from beginner to master level. National Master Robert Ramirez will take you up the pyramid by following a proven Chess training program he has been improving and implementing for over 10 years.
Benefits of Playing Chess:
- Promotes brain growth
– Increases problem-solving skills
– It exercises both sides of the brain
– Raises your IQ
– Sparks your creativity
– Teaches planning and foresight
– Teaches patience and concentration
– Optimizes memory improvement
– Improves recovery from stroke or disability
– Helps treat ADHD
Chess is an intellectual battle where players are exposed to numerous mental processes such as analysis, attention to detail, synthesis, concentration, planning and foresight. Psychological factors are also present on and off the board; playing Chess stimulates our imagination and creativity. Every single move a player makes is the result of a deep analysis based on the elements presented on the battlefield.
Chess in its essence teaches us psychological, sociological and even moral values. In a Chess game, both players start with the same amount of material and time. The fact that the white pieces move first is considered to be practically irrelevant —especially because a player typically plays one game as white and one game as black. Consequently, the final result of the battle solely depends on each player. It doesn’t matter if you win by taking advantage of your opponent’s mistakes or by simply avoiding mistakes yourself. Truth is that Chess is an extremely individual sport and our defeats can only be blamed on ourselves and no one else. And this, in the end, only benefits us because we learn to be and feel responsible for our actions and never come up with excuses to justify ourselves.
We also learn that when it comes to our victories on the board, our opponent’s mistakes play a more significant role than our own skills. Let’s not forget that a Chess game without any mistakes would be a draw. This way, Chess provides us with another valuable life lesson: be humble at all times.
About National Master Robert Ramirez:
With an outstanding background as a professional Chess player and over 8 years of teaching experience, Robert Ramirez brings both his passion and his expertise to the board, helping you believe & achieve!
Robert Ramirez was introduced to the fascinating world of Chess when he was 5 years old and has participated in prestigious tournaments such as the World Open Chess Tournament and the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Championships. Thanks to his performance, he has earned his National Master title from the United States Chess Federation.
Currently, NM Ramirez and his carefully selected team teach at several private schools in the counties of Miami-Dade and Broward and they also offer private lessons. He says the key to their success as Chess coaches is their ability to adapt to every student and to make lessons fun and interesting for students and even their family members.
I will put also in my schedule watching your chess lessons, at least one per day.
I am not a fan of puzzle rush because of the compounded waste of time it becomes over the long haul. Let's say you do 30 minutes a day of puzzle rush for this example and your average is 20 puzzles with approximately 3 minutes to complete.
The problem is you're not challenged for a large percentage of the puzzles every single time you do puzzle rush. With the 20 puzzles, you can most likely do the first 12 or so half asleep and of the approximate 3 minutes for all 20 puzzles it still takes about 30 seconds to complete the first 12. So every time you do puzzle rush in this example you're throwing away 30 seconds of your training time.
Over thirty minutes of training you may complete 10 attempts of puzzle rush. You've now already wasted 5 minutes training puzzles that are WAY under your rating and not challenging. This quickly turns into nearly three hours a month of wasted training time and it only gets worse the higher your score goes or the more time you commit to puzzle rush.
A better alternative is to create custom puzzles with a range you would consider low to medium difficulty, where you can solve in under 10 seconds (when the pattern is known) and focus on solving these as fast as possible. Now you will be 100% focused on increasing tactical pattern recognition with no waste of time repeating extremely low level puzzles over and over and over.
Great video sir. Just a random question I have because I'm a little confused. What is the meaning of tactics and strategy. Kindly explain 😊
Great lesson coach…I will use this to for myself as well…well except for the books…lol I do much better watching videos than reading.
This video is so valuable, in one year I hope to come back to you and show you the progress
You are both physically and mentally fit no doubt you are a NM.
amazing <3
I want chess books but i don't have a book for endgame and i have fischer book and MCO book
Thanks coach, this is great!!!!. In chess.com we can u 1 puzzle rush daily for free, I do it on most days. Hope u become an IM soon.😊😊
Thank you so much for all the effort you put into these videos to make chess so accessible. You deserve a lot more recognition and God bless you for the dedication. It is inspiring to see the efforts and consistency. Thank you so much for this lesson plan. Lots of love and appreciation from India.
I had to subscribe!
Many people really don't know the features lichess has if you open lichess through your browser there is something similar like puzzle rush and you can even select the themes you want on your tactics
Unrelated question: Is Queens Indian Defense (Black of course) comparable to KID all things considered? I realize you love Kings Indian bc you have played it so long. Thanks Robert. Do you primarily go by Rob or Robert with friends? 🤓
hi robert im a fan of your channel and some of my opponents play against the kid na6 variation where they make an exchange on e5 and then trade queens and play Bg5. it would be very helpful if you go over this as i have been having some trouble with this. thanks
Thank you for the tip, really useful and I just started created my own version as well!
Splitting into strategy, tactics, opening and endgame is a great idea, made me realize I have probably spent way too much time on opening but might have neglected the others.
Questions: 1) Your plan dedicates much more time reading than actually playing games. Is that normal, and do you recommend doing that even for people with lower level? (e.g. ~1200) 2) Any advice how to read books better? I especially struggle with imagining how the board looks like after many moves. Books usually only show diagrams for critical positions and you have to imagine the next series of moves in your head.
Sir I am 1711 in lichess in rapid, could you please recommend the timetable.. or some books, I give 5 hrs everyday to chess and I want to be a GRANDMASTER, so please help. Please message at lichess also if you want- antoreep2007( lichess username)
Any books for free cosh i can't buy any books lol it's herd to do this on Africa
About tactics on Monday. What is the diference betwen the tactics book and the website puzzles???
Hey NM Robert Ramirez! I have been a huge fan of your KID series and had a question regarding it. Can you play the KID against the English opening? If so what would the proper setup be? Thanks.
Hi, this is a bit off topic – I saw a game played by GM Akobian with white against KID. He played Smyslov variation (early Bg5 and no E4, just E3) – will you make a lesson on this too in the future?
great content sir i shared it with my friends
Just hit 1600 blitz (from 1200 at start of year). Mostly using advice from your videos. Thanks for all the great content and training advice.
Is it right creating generic goals for a longer time period, for example creating goals like:
– Completely studying a book on tactics in the next 2 months
– Complete this endgame book with in the next 1 month
I'm asking this because I am not someone that loves creating a schedule but I know I'd need one in order to maintain some discipline with my chess… But to what extent? Do I create goals that I must achieve with in a certain time period, and try getting my self to complete the goals, or do I simply create a weekly routine I'll follow, and progress more freely.
I also have this problem with me where at times I play decently and other times when I play disastrously… I am not sure on why this happens or how I can keep playing well consistently. I suspect my habit of drinking a cup of coffee in the morning might just cause a lot of distraction essentially affecting all tasks that require a certain degree of patience, thus affecting my chess as well, but I am not sure as it might as well be my chess routine, where I have no real consistent schedule for when I want to do what… I mostly just do what I feel like doing, at times playing way to many games than I should and maybe even negatively affecting my gameplay.
I honestly don't know the reason to my inconsistent chess gameplay, if you have any similar experience or can propose a solution, please do so.
Thanks <3
Hey Robert, do you know that lichess has also Puzzle streak, storm and racer? They are much more useful than puzzle rush as in a puzzle streak you don't have time, you just do easy ones and work with number the puzzles are getting harder and harder, so you work your way up. I started to be able to do like 25 half year a go and now I can do 40 in the same time
I always wonder how titled players study. This is great content!!
I understand you live around Florida, there's a a big tournament in New Orleans, from September 4 to 6, labor day weekend, consider playing in it, as it's about 5 to 6 hours away from Florida, maybe less depending on where you live, I'll be playing in it.
My name is John Drippe, I'm 14 years old, rated around 2000 uscf, I hope I might meet you one day.
Great information! I think the key is to approach chess study just like we would a college education. Chess has different aspects that must be studied separately to get a comprehensive education of the game. I'm rated about 2200 online and my goal is to become a NM (USA) or get within striking distance of the title within the next two years. Most recently, I played a classical OTB game with a 2100+ USCF player and I won the game complete with a queen sacrifice. A month before that I played a OTB rapid event and finished in third place with 3.5 out of 5. Three opponents were 2000 players, one was 1800 and the only loss was to a NM rated 2300+ USCF. My current USCF is stuck in the 1600s and I fully expect to at least get to 2000+ within 6 months.
With serious and continuous study how long do you think it will take me to reach NM?
I only have about about 8 months of chess study experience and never had a coach. The first six months of study were two years ago yet my online rating improved 400 points in that timeframe by playing lots of bullet/blitz and watching videos of actual chess games. My board visualization and tactical ability have suffered a little bit but I can get that back by cutting back on the fast time controls and practicing with puzzles. I consume chess content daily in some form or another and currently I have a study plan similar to the one you described here. I'm fully aware of my weaknesses and I'm working on them.
regarding chess puzzles on websites: would you recommend to set a timer for each exercise that when expired i just try the best moves i came up with or take enough time to solve every puzzle on my own and only continue when iam sure i found the solution? iam currently 1200 blitz/ 1400 rapid. When i went with the latter approach i went to 2000+ on puzzles in lichess but i guess its not that realistic to take too much time per puzzle. sometimes i would set up the board at home and solve the puzzle over a 2 day timespan or so
Mr. Ramirez Thank you, i learned a lot from your video. Great content with a lot of useful information to get. Thanks again. Pirc is just a Bomb!
Thanks for the great training tips. My only concern, with playing online games, is online cheaters. I have thus stuck to just working puzzles. I don't do well with speed chess (bullet & blitz, etc.) What's the best way to confidently play online games without someone cheating (using an engine) against me?
Ojalá pudieras traducir tus videos o los videos que parezcan importantes, al español. Gracias por los.videos
100 end games, en palabras de.su autor deberia ser leido al llegan a 2000 de.elo fide
Opino que sería de gran.ayuda recomendar libros por.rango de.elo
Sir I'm very grateful to you for all the content you provide for free. Helps a lot. I promise to buy your coaching/ support you once I start earning myself (next year). Thank you again. Leavin this comment as reminder of my aim.
Hello sir. ..what is a best tactics book and strategy book for beginners and intermediate level players? Plz tell me Sir. ..
I want your help. I hope you will reply. I live in third world country. I am 18. There is no chess couching centre in our country. Then it is not possible for me to buy membership in website. But I want to be an advance player. Can you suggest me how I can be a qualified player for tournament ? Do you know any website that provides unlimited free lessons ?
I really love your videos, specially this one. I was playing chess for hours like a mad instead of training. I was both wasting my time and decreasing my rating. I will definitely train for an hour every day.
Question – Do you recommend getting the Kindle version of a book or the hard copy. Which is better? Is it just personal preference? Thanks Coach.
Very useful.
Thanks for your quality content !
This is exactly the type of video I've been looking for and the type that seems to be too often missing from most chess education channels and pages. There's plenty of content to help teach or train any given aspect of chess, but there's far less information about how to structure your entire training regimen itself. Thank you so much for touching on this topic. And I can't compliment this series enough. It's another thing that I feel is badly needed and yet isn't very common to find: a path of training material laid out with the goal of helping a player to level up from beginner level up to master level in a mapped out, almost step-by-step fashion.
Thank you for this video. I am preparing a 7 day plan. I have added a day for the Middlegame on Friday, Pawn Structure for Saturday, and an "All around" chess day on Sunday (sort of a day for anything regarding chess overall, or a general book on chess, chess history, game study, etc. Do you have a recommendation for books covering these three additional daily topics? Also: Have you read the "King's Indian Attack – Move by Move" by Neil MacDonald? Is it any good for the attack portion of the KID? Also – Do you have a recommended book for the London System? (Do you know anything about the book "Win with the London System: Sverre's Chess Openings" (I have heard good things about the book)? Finally, I have added a portion for watching a video lesson by NM Robert Ramirez (One would think that this great resource should be part of any training plan), and also videos by IM Levy Rozman at GothamChess and lectures by GM Ben Feingold [the truth hurts] and other lectures by the St Louis Chess Club. (Do you know of any other great chess videos you would recommend)?
Very good stuff!!!! Is there a place where we can download the form you use? PLEASE!!!!?!?!?!?!?! LOL
Happy International Chess day Coach
I will gain a lot from your videos I am sure Thanks
Love ❤️ from INDIA
Hi Coach. I think the best part of the video is your advice that a training plan should be REALISTIC! Work training as short, periodic add-ons into your day. I train my shoulder for a left rotator cuff. I could never stick to a dedicated hour of weight and elastic band training. So, I put a band on my bedroom door. And a weight in front of the TV. Every time I walk by my bedroom, I do 20 reps of 2 exercises. When I watch TV, I do 3 reps of weight exercises. Problem solved.)
thank you for the idea I have tournament in 2 days
Coach, besides all this training plan, do we need to play chess everyday? Or how many times we need to play chess game versus opponent in a week?
Drills are so important in all of my life. I currently have my kids on behavioral drills 😂
Also, add to schedule: 15 minutes NM Robert Ramirez video M-F