Study plan
A study plan is a written, realistic schedule that divides your chess training time among tactics, endgames, openings, game review and playing, aimed at the specific weaknesses your own games reveal.
Also called: training schedule
Most improving players do not lack effort, they lack direction. They watch a video one day, memorize opening lines the next and solve puzzles when they feel like it. A study plan replaces that drift with a repeating structure.
Start from evidence. Review your last dozen games and list what actually cost you points: missed tactics, shaky endgames, time trouble or unfamiliar openings. Then assign weekly time to each area in proportion to the damage it does. Tactics and game review usually deserve the largest shares for club players, with smaller regular blocks for endgames and openings.
Keep the plan small enough to survive a busy week. Four sessions of forty-five focused minutes will beat one ambitious weekend that never happens. Put the sessions on a calendar and decide beforehand what each will contain.
A common mistake is never revising the plan. Every month, look at your recent games again and shift the time toward whatever now causes losses. Another is filling the plan with passive reading. Include active work such as solving without moving pieces, playing out positions against an engine and annotating your own games.
Compare it with Coach. A chess coach is a more experienced player or teacher who helps a student improve by diagnosing weaknesses, structuring study, reviewing games and keeping the student accountable to a steady training routine.
Also worth reading is Deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is focused training aimed at a specific weakness, done slightly beyond your comfort level with clear goals and immediate feedback, as opposed to simply playing or reading about chess for enjoyment.
A neighboring idea is Repertoire building. Repertoire building is the process of choosing a small set of openings that suit your style and then learning their ideas, typical plans and key lines well enough to play them confidently.
Habits like "Study plan" stick when someone checks them against your games. A first lesson with George Li ends in a written plan and homework for the weeks after.
Related terms
Chess training is the organized, repeated practice of specific skills such as tactics, endgames, openings and calculation, designed to raise playing strength steadily rather than relying on playing games alone.
Deliberate practice is focused training aimed at a specific weakness, done slightly beyond your comfort level with clear goals and immediate feedback, as opposed to simply playing or reading about chess for enjoyment.
Tactics training is deliberate practice at spotting and calculating short forcing sequences, such as forks, pins and mating attacks, usually through puzzles, so that these opportunities are found quickly in real games.
A game review habit is the routine of going back over your own games soon after playing them, first by yourself and then with an engine, to find the real reasons behind your decisions and mistakes.
Endgame study is the focused practice of reduced-material positions, learning the basic checkmates, pawn endings and rook endings that decide many games and sharpen your sense of what each piece is worth.
A chess coach is a more experienced player or teacher who helps a student improve by diagnosing weaknesses, structuring study, reviewing games and keeping the student accountable to a steady training routine.
Guides that go further
What to decide first, the questions to ask, what a first lesson should show and the red flags to avoid.
How much does chess coaching cost?
Published rates for private, group and subscription chess coaching, with the source and the date of each.
A game review, a read on your level and a written study plan from George Li.
Want to spot this in your own games?
A first lesson starts with your games: George reviews them and builds a study plan around what he finds.