Currently, my USCF rating is in the mid-1900s for standard play. My first goal to help me achieve becoming a Grandmaster in 5 years is to complete the last three books in the Yusupov series. This should put my playing strength between 2050 and 2200. After that, I plan to read Jacob Aagard's series Grandmaster Preparation in a 6-month time frame. The final step in my series will be to read Dvoretsky school of chess excellence within a 6 month to 12 month period. My hope is that these series along with other less vigorous parts of my studying will put me at least International Master strength.
I will make about 3 -5 hours of chess studying daily this will mainly include the chess series books along with tactics and endgames. My opening will be covered by playing blitz games and seeing where the holes in my theoretical knowledge are along with playing many correspondence games.
Tactics:
As for tactics, Chesstempo seems to be the best way to go. Normally my chesstempo is at the lower 1900 range as of this post I have boosted it up to 2040. My method is simple. I look at a problem and I will take as much time as necessary to solve it. I allow my self to take up to 30 minutes if I need to on a single problem to work out the subtleties. If I am to believe what I've heard having a rating of 2000 on chesstempo means my actual tactical strength is equal to a 2000s. The main difference now is probably that my openings are very weak compared to 2000s so I am always playing behind. Another advantage of using it is I've talked to IMs and seen some do puzzles on chesstempo. It seems as though international masters tempo rating mainly lie in the 2100-2200 range which means I have a way of comparing myself.
Chess.com tactics. I am using it as a free member and my tactics were at around 2500 when I was using their free trial. This is obviously an accurate assessment of my playing strength so I should probably end my journey here. Jokes aside chess.com tactics ratings should never be taken seriously. I believe chess.com blitz ratings are useful. If you are reading this and you are like me a slow processor meaning it takes you time to understand things and you play positionally I believe your blitz rating is much lower by maybe 100 or 200 points compared to your USCF standard rating in general. The opposite is probably true if you are fast at processing then your bullet rating will probably be much higher than your standard rating . I have a couple of friends whose bullet ratings are 2100 on chess.com, but there USCF standard ratings are similar to mine. If you only play blitz this correlation will probably even out. This is just my theory you can take it with a grain of salt.
Tactics books that I think will help me get to 2000 are Forcing Chess Moves and Think Like a Grandmaster. I will probably take periodic breaks from chesstempo. Which is probably good seeing as how the engine wants you to get at least a 3 point advantage to get a win. In reality, winning a knight or a bishop for 2 pawns may be enough to beat another human.When I take breaks from chesstempo I should try to finish Forcing Chess moves. I also have 1000 checkmate combinations which I have heard is a classic, but I'm not as fond of it.
Openings:
My openings are probably the weakest part of my game followed by knight, rook, and queen endgames. I know this may put me at a disadvantage in chess tournaments, but as someone, I talked to says if they beat you with an opening you play that just means you have more to study.
White openings:
Currently, I'm attempting to learn more about the English opening. The advantage it has for me is less study time. Not only this but it gives me an equal semi-open middle game which I love. I hate having closed games. The Grandmaster Repertoire series, as well as Opening repertoire: The English, should help me. I will also read the Wojos weapons series as a back up in tournaments I really need to win.
More experimental openings I'll play against players slightly lower rated than me are the Nimzo Larsen attack Play 1. b3! along with the birds opening. In case the player plays 1.. e5 I can mix it up by transposing to the king's gambit.
Black Defences
Against e4
Bologans weapons for black I'll learn e5. Along with this, I have the Caro Kann as well as the accelerated dragon.
Against D4
I'm learning the slav the nimzo indian semi slav and my biggest weapon will be the kings Indian if I'm in a need to win situation
against C4 the reti
I have a book called attacking C4/ and the reti I'll probably need something else but this will probably be more than enough to get to 2000 hopefully I can make time for all of these.
Endgame books
I have quite a few I have borrowed Domination in 2545 endgame studies which is the most difficult book I've read. I'm hoping I make progression similarly to Sharpen Your Tactics 1125 studies where it was hard before then became elementary at least for the first half of the book.
Fundamental Endgames is another Classic by Mueller I enjoy going over the minor piece vs rook endgames it's interesting how in some positions a king rook and pawn vs a king with a minor piece can sometimes force a draw!
This is my training schedule I will hopefully be updating my readers weekly on how each day has progressed and what setbacks I will be facing.
