Return to Revisions

In my perspective, brain skill is statistically correlated to health. What we can do? Sleep 7-9 hours, reduce stress, do exercise, good nutrition, eliminate smoking, alcohol, and drugs. We need to do aerobic exercise, but also anaerobic exercise. Some research suggest that anaerobic is fundamental. I would say that we need to do both. Besides this, there is research that we need to challenge our brain outside of our comfort zone. Do something difficult. For that reason, I do not play blitz. Only classical chess. Puzzles are extremely difficult. There are excellent books. Do middlegames and endgames puzzles. I like Maxim Blokh and Dvoretsky books. But, there are fantastic books written by John Nunn, Jonathan Speelman, Jacob Aagaard, Boris Gelfand, Boris Gulko, Steve Giddins, etc. It is important to do 50% endgames, 50% middlegames. If you have time do as many as possible every day. About chess games, I play a daily chessgame, 5+30, on lichess.org. Do not focus on the results. Just play one game per day and analyze it. If you have money, hire a nutritionist and a chess trainer. You can find a trainer for $10 per hour. It is a myth that we cannot improve. If you have time, learn a new language, learn to play a musical instrument, study the great philosophers, and the great mathematicians. It is extremely important to study the last research about the brain and health in general. Subscribe to American Mind. In chess, more important than reading is to solve exercises without time limit. I had the opportunity to listen a lecture from one of the best chess trainers of the world, Ramachandran Ramesh, he emphasized that puzzle exercises are important if you get 100% or you are close. So, quality is more important than quantity. Puzzle rush, it is a very bad idea because, according to Ramachandran Ramesh, you "learn to be mediocre." We need to fight to achieve excellence.However, if you do not have good health, your chess ability will decline no matter what you do. Physical and mental health must be your priority! Best of luck!