Resources to improve your skills (like RCT)
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Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Next Level Chess Podcast. I am your host, Grandmaster Noël Studer, and today I wanna talk about different resources that you can use to improve your skills, specifically to train under game-like situations and to train in uncertainty, which will really help, bring those skills out and then transfer them into your real games

Now, I wanted to do that episode because, as most of you might know, I have, Real Chess Training, which is my test membership. So every week, students get a six-position test. All these positions can vary from tactics to positional to stopping threats. It's just real game thinking. You get 45 minutes, and [00:01:00] you write down something for all these six positions, and then you get a walkthrough video where you get explained in which position you should have spent some time, uh, what you could have thought about, what was the right move, what were decent, good enough moves.

And that really helps you improve those skills that are so important for your game and that very often don't get trained that well, right? Because you might just be doing tactics, and tactics is fine, and that's definitely a part of training. But in tactics, you know that there is a solution

And I love Real Chess Training, and I think everybody from 1500 to 2000 should at the very least check it out because, , in the description, you can just get a free test of it so that you get the feel, you can solve it, you get the solution video, just as you would with a membership. I'm also about to launch the same thing for 1000 to 1500.

ETA is end of October, beginning of November. So I'm super excited for that. [00:02:00] Stay tuned for it.

But I still wanted to do this episode because, well, not everyone listening to this is in the rating range of 1,000 to 2,000. And also some of you might be already in Real Chess Training and ask me, "Hey, how can I do more of it?" Right? It's once a week. Maybe you wanna try more of it, or maybe you want to try, Real Chess Training is the really hard version of it, 45 minutes a week, right?

And maybe there is a version that is a little bit lighter and can be done in 10-minute segments

So what I'm going to do in this episode is to talk through different ways of training in game-like situations or at least getting closer, okay? So we have the kind of space between tactics and you know there is a tactic and the game. And there are different versions of this. And, well, the, quote-unquote, ultimate, in my opinion, best version is real chess training.

But there are other ways to train it, and so this episode is about that and comparing them and [00:03:00] what you get out of each. And we'll go through, some resources. If you want the link to all the resources, it's better that you check out the article I wrote on this. There you will find all the links for all the resources that I mention.

Okay, so that is in the description of the podcast. You can listen to the podcast without having to click on the links because I'm going to explain different ways of doing it. And then if you say, "Yeah, this is a way I wanna try it out," you can go search for the link. Okay, that was a long intro. Let's jump right in.

So we're moving from tactics closer and closer to the real game. And the first thing that is moving a little bit closer is, uh, a training... Let's just call it like that, Tactics Or Not, okay? So there was a very famous and viral clip from Magnus Carlsen recently where he said, quote, "This is why you don't do puzzles, kids," end of quote.

And that was because he was basically playing a game, and there [00:04:00] was a tactic somewhere very hidden. If you knew there was a tactic, you would find it. But in a real game, there was , no chance. And I think his opponent missed the tactic if I'm correct. So shortly after, someone, said, "Okay, let me, let me create that."

So they created a website that is called Tactics Or Not. So this is a very simple way of not only doing tactics but having an extra step. So basically, all you do, all this site does, is you're going on the site, you see a puzzle. And first you need to decide, is it tactic or are there several good moves?

And if it is a tactics, you find the tactics. If it, several good moves, you still take a decision.

Now, over the last months, there have been a lot of websites kind of adding this as a feature or specifically doing this as well. For example, there is Floor Chess, which is a completely free and open source way of doing it. On Floor Chess, I might talk more about it in the future. I do know the developer.

As I [00:05:00] mentioned, completely free, open source. So yeah, on Floor Chess is just , one thing you can do on the website. And there is also a site called ChessRiddle, which is developed by a Simplified Chess Improvement System student. And ChessRiddle is a little bit more specific even, because it's not only having that mode of tactics or not, but it also forces you to put in the full line without moving the pieces.

Basically, you just move the piece where it would stand. You move the full variation without seeing it happen on the board, without a check of the computer saying, "Hey, this is correct or not." And then only once you put in that full line, you click okay, and you get the solution

And there are all these different ways of training, or these, you know, different applications of kind of the same idea of training. It's really to get you to spot more, like, is there even something? Okay, to think about is there a tactic before [00:06:00] just executing a tactic

So it is a good first step, but there are a few things that you don't train when you do that. So only doing that wouldn't be enough because those are, at least for those I know, are not humanly selected positions, okay? Mostly they, uh, they take it from a, a Lichess tactics database or from your own games maybe or whatever.

So the explanations are also not human, so it's everything based on engine lines, which makes it hard to understand sometimes, well, why is that the best move? There are no real explanations of the non-forcing puzzles. Basically, what they check is are you within a certain amount of, the first, let's say, five engine moves, or are you not too far away from the, evaluation from the first engine move, something like that.

You don't really get the directions of how to solve these puzzles, right? You might get it right or wrong, but nobody's telling you, "Hey, do this instead. What was your process? Do this instead." There's no real decision-making training, no training [00:07:00] on, how to use your time. And one key thing, and I hope somebody adds that in the future, is that there are no positions where the only thing you should do is to spot an opponent's threat, okay?

Because, well, it's between positional, where many moves are good, and tactical for yourself, right? And this is so important. Spotting opponent's threats are, is so key. And so, yeah, it, it does something, but it's not yet, you know, kind of that complete training that you might know if you do already real chess training.

So a little step up is what I call mixed positions. And very, very often they do happen in book format. And I'm a huge fan still of book formats, not too much because book versus digital, but just because books have been written by coaches, by, you know, people who studied the game for a long time, who thought about it for a long time, who [00:08:00] trained many students and have kind of a feeling where you're at, okay?

So the quality of positions in books, if they are not just dragged from an online source, are way higher than, if you're just checking, you know, an automated, um, puzzle done based on games or, or whatever it is, by an engine or AI or however these algorithms work that create these puzzles

It is also very nice to put positions on a board or solve them in a book, right, and not be on the screen all the time, especially if you plan to play or already play over-the-board chess. Some training away from the screen actually helps a ton, right? You wanna train in the way that you will play the game.

So if you favor playing over the board, if that's what you care about, then you gotta train also over the board, because the jump from looking at the screen all the time to a physical chessboard will be too big again.

So what are these resources? Now, there [00:09:00] are quite limited resources, that really have, like, best move positions, that you don't get any hint. So I will kind of move up from books that have a few mixed things to then all the way to, you know, what is extremely similar to, real chess training

So a lot of books, they explain a chapter. Okay, so you have, for example, Yussupov's award-winning series that is fundamentals. Then,, I can't even remember the names. There are three times three books, okay? There is a Yussupov series, and, those are absolutely fantastic books, and they work in chapters.

Okay? But they don't only have tactical chapters, they have positional chapters, they have endgame chapters, and every chapter has a test. Okay? So based on this chapter, you will get tests. Now, you get a little hint, but at least you're forced to think about, let's say, something positional, right? So you get that kind of first step with these, chapter tests.

And then what [00:10:00] happens, for example, with the Yussupov, series, is that for the fundamental series, he has a fourth book that is just tests. Okay? So these tests will be based on what you learned in the first three books, okay? And you can find some material like that, and this is quite beneficial, right?

You don't have any position, but you have whatever has been done in the three previous books, which is a lot of chapters, a lot of things. And now, if you even just say, "Hey, I just want to train thinking like in a real game," you can just get the revision and exam book, right? And you don't know what's going on.

You don't even want to know what chapters there are, and you just think as you would be, in a real game

And now there is also another way that you can do it yourself with basically, you know, any book. You can mix books like this together. So basically what you can do is you have these, positions that somebody tests you in a book, okay? [00:11:00] And you know the topic you have. , This is about open lines, this is about this.

You take positions from many different chapters or even different books, right? You can have one tactic book, one endgame book, one middle game book, something like that. And then you mix those into a Lichess study, okay? So you randomly take one from each chapter. You put them, six of them in a Lichess study, and you forget about them, okay?

So you wait one or two months. You can create a few tests like that. You know, you take one day where you just, mix these positions up, put them into Lichess, and you have your own tests, okay? And then once you forgot which chapter which position is from, you now created your own tests. You could also do that with someone you know.

You could say, "Hey, I create a test for you, you create a test for me." Okay? So that could be kind of a way of getting closer. And what you're doing here is, well, if you know the topic, then you just are forced to think about this topic. But if [00:12:00] you don't know the topic anymore, you created your own test.

Now, I highly recommend, especially if you're not very experienced, that you're not taking positions where you don't have clear solutions, okay? So you gotta have books where a human, a coach, is really explaining different moves. This is super essential because if you just take random positions online or from your games or whatever, well, you can't provide for yourself or for your friend that level of, , explanations that is needed to actually learn, okay, what should I have done, right?

And that is a slight downside of books because, well, books, solutions need a lot of space. So sometimes in these books you have the right solution, maybe one or two moves that didn't work, but there is a lack of, here is what you should do instead

Now, there is another alternative that, are books with clear tasks and several possibilities. Test Your Chess Skills by the Gulyov brothers, , is a good example of such a [00:13:00] book. It basically presents you with positions and then asks you, "Hey, would you play bishop F5, rook F3, you know, H3, or, bishop takes A7?"

So you get four candidates, and you need to calculate through all of them, and then the advantage of this is that you're sure that all of these candidates that are outlined will be explained in the book, right? So you don't pick a move that is not explained. But the downside is that you are not training, your candidate move selection here.

Okay? So this is kind of important is if you think, "Okay, I usually find the candidate, but I struggle a lot with evaluating. I struggle a lot with calculating properly, but candidate move is not really a problem for me," then this can be very, very interesting, right? Because you get a book and

you know that the move that you will be calculating is explained, and you can compare that to a solution of a coach. So that is nice. But if you're like, "Well, [00:14:00] usually I struggle coming up with candidate moves," well, that, that's not your, your type of book

And then we have the best move books, and here I have one big recommendation, which is Practical Chess Exercises. It's one of the very few books I know that is fully in the, okay, what is the best move? It is roughly in the 1700 to 2200 range, okay? , And you will get closer to what is a real chess training, right?

So you will get positions. You don't have a time where they force you to like, okay, spend five minutes, spend 10 minutes, or 45 minutes on six positions. You can do that yourself if you want to, but you won't get the feedback from the coach of like, "Hey, here you should have thought not so much," or whatever.

But you usually get quite interesting solutions. You get positions where it might be about calculation, it might be about positional chess. You don't really know

And obviously, as it is in a book format, it is a very affordable way [00:15:00] of doing these tests. So definitely try that out if you are in the rating range. That can be interesting. If you feel like, okay, I would love to have even better explanations or deeper explanation as why my move might not be good or how I can even get to the solution, , then it is smart to make the step up to something like Real Chess Training where, you get that solution video where I can really dive deep into the thought process and say, "Okay, how can you find that move?

How long should you think for a certain position? This should be a bit easier. You should, have saved some time," and so on

And then the last step would be these real proper tests. As I mentioned in the beginning, there are, you know, not a lot of books I know of, or basically no book I know of that is properly just tests, right? It mostly is that first you get some explanations for a topic, and then you get a test about that topic.

And then, for example, in Aagaard's calculation book, by the way, one of the best chess books ever written, in my [00:16:00] opinion, but for a very strong player, so don't touch it if you're not 2300 plus and really wanna make a push in over-the-board chess. But in Aagaard's book, what happens is you get these different chapters, then a chapter test, and then at the end, you get tested on everything, right?

So similar to Yusupov's book that made revision and exam and had these tests in there. And at least for Aagaard, I know that he has very clear time, expectations as well. It's like, if you're this rating, spend this amount of time. If you have this rating, spend this amount of time on these tests, which is very nice.

And yeah, then you get, the solutions per position

It's no wonder that I recommend, these coaches, Aagard, Yusupov. I've worked with them. They did test formats with me, when I was working with them. As many of my other great coaches, that is a very common way of training young and upcoming strong players, and somehow I feel like it hasn't translated as much [00:17:00] into amateur chess, okay?

It's like if you talk with someone who was maybe in a national team, or like recently I did it in a youth training and there was a girl that is already, in kind of a national team in Switzerland. And I asked her, "Hey, did you do tests already?" And she was like, "Yeah, for sure." And if you ask an adult improver that, for example, also was in this training, we have a nice mix of juniors and then also adults.

When you ask some of the adults, they're like, "No, I n- I never did this," right? So it's kind of like a... You can't even say secret weapon because these big coaches talk about it a lot. But because it's so hard, I believe, it didn't fully translate into amateur chess

Now just a few words on why I chose my version of it, which is, a video-based solution version before we get into clear rating recommendations. And I will be short on the rating recommendations because as mentioned, you can click on the link and then get all the links that you want. [00:18:00] So Why did I create Real Chess Training in a video format?

The key here is that I have a huge focus on not only what is the right solution, but moves that aren't ideal, and then discussing the thought process. And I find that having that in video format is so much more useful and logical than having it in a book format, because the book would just explode, right?

These videos are anywhere between 25 and 45 minutes of explanations about the positions that you've solved. So I can really go deep into, okay, here you should find this move. Do the tapes thought process, right? Here are all the threats. Let's count all the material. I really go through the whole thought process that I recommend for every single position and explain how you can, you know, improve your thought process to get closer to the solution.

So it's not a binary, oh, I got it, or I didn't get it, the thing that you might know from, you know, online tactic sources. And then if you didn't get it, you click [00:19:00] through the solution and you're like, "Well, the engine says this is good, but I don't really know." I don't want you to have that feeling. I really want you to have that feeling, even if you didn't get it correct.

And as I, get never tired of mentioning, you will get a lot of positions wrong. This is intended to be hard, this, especially if you do it for the first time. It will be new, right? It will be just as hard as a game or maybe a little bit harder, which is good because then the game feels easier. But anyway, you get these positions wrong, but it's not like, "Oh yeah, I failed.

That's it." No. Now you get kind of a masterclass about this position and how to improve, and that's really, the biggest benefit that I see from Real Chess Training if you compare it with books or similar resources, , that do that test format. But it doesn't mean that if you don't do Real Chess Training, you're not going to improve.

That's not the point. It's kind of the, in my opinion, best way of doing it. But the key of this episode is that you understand, okay, there are many different ways of [00:20:00] filling a gap between just doing puzzles and then going to the game and playing. And the most important thing is that you pick something and you start doing it.

That's really kind of my main goal, that you listen to this episode and you're... For any reason you weren't in Real Chess Training yet, you weren't doing it, okay, you got alternatives. Do them, right? Do something. And then you can feel, oh yeah, it would be beneficial to maybe hear someone explain the whole thought process.

Okay, Real Chess Training is there for you. Or you're not in the rating range yet. Maybe you're below 1,000 rating, right? And, you don't know, we'll get to that, what to do. And then you get kind of that feeling of, okay, I did something else than puzzles. I'm prepared for Real Chess Training now

So let's talk about it. Recommendations 0 to 1,000. I will try to keep this short, okay? In this rating range, what you really need is simple tactics, not hanging pieces, okay? And do that for you and for your opponent. [00:21:00] So, I actually don't recommend here yet the exact test format because I don't know of any resource that is adapt for your level and in test format.

I might do that in the future. It would be simpler. It would be shorter than 45 minutes. It would really be about find the simple tactics or check for your opponent threats, find the simple tactic, or play a developing move. That's it, right? One of these three. And how you can do that at the moment is just using the first step that I mentioned, that tactics are not styled training.

You can, for example, go, to ChessRiddle, right? If you even don't wanna get the giveaways, so you are forced to put in the lines before you see if it's correct or not, so you don't get tempted to just make a move and see if the computer says, "Yeah, that's good," or not. Or if you don't do it in, the tactics or not, I highly recommend if you want a high quality source, [00:22:00] then go for Steps Method, go for books that are adapt for your rating.

They are higher quality than most online tools that you find

Then 1,000 to 1,500. As mentioned, I will soon publish real chess training, so if you wanna get notified, when it gets out, just subscribe to the newsletter. You will, get an email once it is out. Highly recommend testing, trying, and joining if you are in that rating range. Up to then

I still recommend the same as, zero to 1,000 ChessRiddle or, Mixed Step Method or Tactics or Not, one of these things. The reason, again, is the same, is, you know, these test formats can be really difficult, and if it doesn't exist for your level with the language that you need, then it can be overwhelming and kind of, you know, destroying your confidence.

Okay? So I had also quite a few students that kind of said, "Yeah, Noël [00:23:00] published it for 1,500 to 2,000, but I'm 1,200. I will do it anyway." And they were like, "Oh no, this is really hard." And it's like, yeah. It is already hard for the people in the rating range, so it's important that you really do something that is for you.

So, before Real Chess Training is out, you can try out Mixed Step Method, ChessRiddle, Tactics or Not, something like that. And then, highly recommend joining or trying out the 1,000 to 1,500 Real Chess Training. 1,500 to 2,000, well, Real Chess Training is out, so that is my biggest recommendations.

I generally only do products when I believe something is missing in the market, and I believe that what I provide is, at the moment for my understanding, the best I can, help you in that. It's always going to be difficult and always going to be, you know, on the harder side when I do something, because I'm not going to make you just feel like you learned something and then you're, going to get stuck.

So it if it should really work, well, you need to put in the time and energy. [00:24:00] That's kind of the main thing for all of these methods, to be honest. And then as an alternative, you now got a few, options. You can, , check out Yussupov's Fundamental Series. That would be kind of like, oh yeah, I get everything I need, because you get the three books, okay?

And you can go through the chapters, and then at the very end, well, you get the chapter test for every chapter, right? At the very end, you get the revision and exam. Or what you can do is you, if you only want the way of solving, you know, real game positions, you just get the revision and exam book.

That's it You can also get, Practical Chess Exercises by Ray Cheng, that is now slowly in your rating range as well And for the easier online trainers, you can use them for five to 10 minutes sometimes, when you feel like warming up instead of doing tactics, right? You can say, "Okay, let me do tactics or not."

So I need to first think if it's actually a tactic. But it's not going to be a separate, , study tool. For your [00:25:00] rating range, it makes sense having a book or having RCT to really go deeper in that Then we have for 2000 until 2200, now I start recommending Aagard's work. You still have Yussupow because Yussupow is building up, right?

It's a series, so when you have the fundamentals, you then get to a second step and then the third step of books. So, that is very, very cool And as mentioned, , Aagard, it's not yet that I recommend the books because those are usually really hard, right? His, kind of crown jewel of book series, I would say, is the Grandmaster Preparation, which, it has grandmaster in the word, right?

Um, it is about preparing for the grandmaster title. So this is still a bit too hard. But he has an online membership, which is called Killer Chess Training, and there they have also weekly homework. And, this is kind of in that... I think the lower, or the easier version of the homework is roughly this rating range.

[00:26:00] So, that is, I'm not fully certain if you get a video or just written solutions, but you get... I believe it's also six positions, and you get a specific time, so you can try out or check out, Killer Chess Training for that. You also get a book that is Test Your Chess Skills, by Gulyov. I mentioned that already.

Very interesting. And, still Step Method, also fine. I'm a huge fan of Step Method. It's not, you know, you know it by now, not the perfect, , test, , way of doing it, but it is getting close to it And then for everybody stronger than 2200, first of all, congratulations, and second, welcome to Dreamland, because this is where, as I mentioned, a lot of very strong coaches that teach very strong juniors are doing these ways of training.

That's why I know it, because many coaches with me did all the same thing. Gave me positions, said, "Think like in a game. Write down. Let's discuss it." , Aagard's Killer Chess Training, arguably even more fitting now. You [00:27:00] have books like Think Like a Super GM, which is an interesting format.

You have books like Perfect Your Chess. Ooh, that's really difficult. Really, really, really hard. You have books like Calculation by Aagard. You have the whole Grandmaster Series from Aagard. These are really phenomenal books. Now, not all of them are properly in the test way of doing, but most of them are really going to challenge you, and that's really what matters, right?

These are written by very experienced and good coaches, and it's all about, like, getting the most out of you and training you. It's not reading a book. It's really solving a book. That's really what helps. You're also now ready to tackle Dvoretsky's work slowly. Really, really difficult, but amazing quality.

You know, just been a coach at heart for, I don't know, 40, 50 years. And, , yeah, for those that don't know, Dvoretsky was Yusupov's coach, and they also wrote books together. And yeah, it's just [00:28:00] fantastic work. So if you are above these 2200 rating range, suddenly a, a whole plethora of new options open up for you.

That's, by the way, also one reason why, , I decided to limit it at 2000 at the moment, RealChess Training, because I'm like, "Hey, if you're stronger than that, well, you got alternatives." Okay? I wanna create the stuff that doesn't fully exist yet, or I feel like, I can really add extra value. So yeah, for those that are much, much stronger, check out Aagard, check out, Grandmaster Series, his work, Dvoretsky's work, Perfect Your Chess.

So many good things. Ramesh RB, great coach. So, , you are well covered. Uh, you might not find your stuff on YouTube anymore that is more beginner-focused, but holy, the books are good for you

So that was a super long one, , but I think it was very important. I hope you will pick something, okay? Make sure if you listened until now, what is your next action, okay? If you want, [00:29:00] there, you can click the, there is a link in the description for a free RCT test. The idea is 1,500 to 2,000. If you just wanna try it out, how does it feel, well, you can also do the free test if you're not fully in that rating range.

But then the key is, hey, what am I doing? What is the one thing? Even if it's just 10 minutes of, like, the simple tactics or not a day, it is still something, okay? Do something that lies in between tactics, puzzles, just doing puzzles, and playing games. That will help you improve your skills That's it from me

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