BEWARE: this may change the entire trajectory of your chess career! When you think about studying chess tactics—also known as chess puzzles—you may imagine a set of moves that transform some initial losing/neutral position to a significantly more winning one. Though that is true, the reasons you should study them are not only to help you find those winning combinations of moves. In fact, thinking solely in that way will ruin your chess improvement and strategic thought by making you more prone to find “cheap tricks” to win.

Many club players feel that after a long time of studying chess they don’t see enough progress in their chess. This brings a feeling of depression and it sometimes leads to quitting the usual training plan or the idea of making progress in chess. However, thinking that you are not good enough or that you are not going to make it and deciding to settle for club play only is not the answer. You should review your training schedule, look for any mistakes you are making or just keep training harder; the results will most certainly show.

Chess training is different for everybody. Everybody wants to get better, but the goal of a training schedule is not the same for everybody. There is no universal recipe for success; each player has to create their own training program based on their weaknesses. Some players need to improve their positional skills, others their calculation. Some may need to work on their openings, while others should study and get better at the endgame phase.