A couple of days ago I was chatting with Quality Chess Co-founder Jacob Aagaard and I made the remark that I felt that it would be possible to go from an Elo of 1800 to 2200 using only books put out by Quality Chess.
Although the remark was made somewhat off the cuff at the time, the truth is that I believe that this is genuinely possible.
So what I am going to do starting now, is dedicate the rest of this year to using only Quality Chess books to see how much improvement is possible.
I think it’s important to point out that this idea is mine alone and is based on nothing more than my belief that QC puts out extremely high quality material.
The controls for this experiment will be as follows:
I will primarily use only books by Quality Chess as outside study materials. The exceptions will be that I will continue to use Susan Polgar’s Chess Tactics for Champions to work on simple tactics, and that I will not be so dogmatic that if there is no QC book I won’t go without.
So for example, I play the 5.Bf4 QGD as White. Quality Chess does not have a book that covers that line as far as I am aware, so I will continue to use other resources for those lines.
When there is a QC book that exists, but that I don’t own, I will order it. So for example if I decide to learn the Nimzo then I will buy the recently published book by QC on the Nimzo. However, as I’m not working with unlimited funds here I won’t be able to do everything I like.
My starting point right now is A Spanish Repertoire for Black by Mihail Marin. I have been working on 1…e5, so this fits in naturally. However, my main drive will be to begin work on the nine volume (now ten volume) Yusupov set. I have ordered the first book, and you can bet that once it arrives that’s what I’ll be working on.
I will keep everyone informed and up to date in regards to what I am working on, along with any progress that occurs. I would also like to state right now at the beginning that any stumbling blocks or failure are mine alone. I will not blame any publisher for any lack of improvement that would necessarily be due to my own lack of effort.
My goal is to be over 1900 Elo by the end of the year. That would represent a gain of nearly 100 points.
My hope is that this effort will give me just a little bit more ability to focus since I’ll have something that I’m mentally tying my training program to.
I envision each month of effort being split out with about 50% analyzing my own games, 40% reading Quality Chess books and solving the exercises within, and about 10% playing.
I do plan on trying to play more this year than I have been. I know that it’s vital that I go from 45 or so games a year to 80 or so this year.
So with that in mind, let’s get going!
(Please note that I will continue to do product review for other publishers so some crossover effort is unavoidable.)
Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott