![]() ![]() I took the blindfold exercises as strict as possible (much stricter than the book recommends) and I struggled mightily with it for a few months. The Thinking Ahead book I did was hard as hell and absolutely blew my mind. I recommend doing all the books: the trainer’s manual along with the Basic workbook and the Plus workbook, followed by the Extra and Mix workbooks. Step 2 took me about two months and step 3 took more like five months, I don’t remember exactly. ![]() ![]() If this doesn’t bother you, you can probably skip step 1. In addition, step 1 introduced me to the teaching methods they advocate and their training philosophy, which I was happy to see from the ground up. You could probably skip this whole step, but there were definitely some passages in the manual and a number of exercises that made me stop and think about chess in a new and interesting way. It was very easy and quick to get through, and took me about one month to read the trainer’s manual chapter by chapter and do all the associated exercises in the workbooks. I started with the very first book, in which the tactics are not much tougher than “capture a hanging piece”. I picked up the Chess Steps series in an attempt to more methodically study and internalize the various themes and to drill them into my head. For reference, I had a Chess Tempo standard rating in the 1900’s, but I found I was still overlooking relatively simple tactical ideas and opportunities in my games, which signaled to me that while my calculation was decent, I was seriously lacking in pattern recognition and a basic tactical foundation. Hello! I started going through the Chess Steps series around January/February 2017, when I was 1300-1400 USCF. ![]()
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