Enjoyed this - a lot resonated. I’ve become interested in chess in the past few months (nothing crazy - just going from “knowing the rules and not being 4-move checkmated” to “above the 50th percentile on Lichess”).

A good move in chess is _elegant_. It’s impressive when you’re playing a game and have to give your opponent credit for trapping you in a way that you didn’t see coming. Conversely, there is no better feeling than when your opponent makes a move you _knew_ they would make, and you have a better move to counter.

Would love to hear your plan of study to progress that far.

When I played competitively (for reference I was USCF ~2200) the most effective way to study was the following (as agreed upon by many coaches and others in the field)

1. Tactics tactics tactics. You should spend so much of your early time here

2. Study the endgame. Those skills translate to all Parts of the game because I’m studying how the end game works itnrellay opens your up to understanding longer term strategy.

3. Don’t focus on openings too much. Pick a few (like Ruy Lopez, Sicilian, or KIA/KID) and learn them enough to recognize some basic patterns around them. Consensus as I recall is that opening theory adds little value until you hit ~2100+ competitively

4. Once you are consitently at 1850 or so, start really studying in depth the middle game.

5. Finally, analyze great players of the past - pick a few who’s play style you like - and annotate those games yourself. Do this before you read the break downs from the pros, and compare notes. You’ll rapidly get better at this once you do it consistently. Also do the same with your own games

I did something similar over the past four months, going from 1100s to 1680s on lichess.

At this level, you just have to find one tactic your opponent doesn't spot and you'll win the game if you have decent endgame skills.

I never spent much time learning openings but many people at this stage do. They'll learn certain traps to spring in the opening. But with careful play and some practice you'll be able to remember enough good openings to get into the middle game without much of a disadvantage.

Learning common mating patterns is very useful. In several games, I have been able to win with significant material loss because I could set up a mating net my opponent didn't foresee.

Lastly, it may help to know certain basic principles - control the centre, secure your king, don't isolate your pawns etc. But if you are an absolute beginner, it can be premature and you may start following these principles rigidly which will be detrimental to your game.

I would second the other reply. While it might seem natural to get good at Chess in a chronological way (early, mid, end), its actually the opposite you want to do. You need to know where you want to go (what endgames are good for you) before how to get there. As far as openings, Id learn 1-2 openings for white (Ruy Lopez and Jobava London for me), and then two openings for black (one for e4 and d4). Id learn the first 15 moves or so and all their variations in case your opponent makes a mistake. Youll win a lot of games that way and then just play conservatively until you are near the end and up a piece.