The Method

Two questions I’ve been asked the most are: 1. How to study and 2. What to study. The answer to the latter is easier - openings, endgames, tactics etc. The answer to the former isn’t that straight-forward.

The reason for this is that often it depends on the player. I’ve come to my ways of studying after years of trial and error and lately I felt a need to clarify it and put it down in writing.

After several months of work I managed to write The Method: A Practical Guide to Chess Improvement. In it, I described the training habits that I developed during three periods of crisis.

Three personal crisis, three ways to train, three chapters in the guide.

The core of the guide is The Method. Described in the first chapter, it’s the manner of analysing games that allowed me to “become” the player I was studying. As you can probably guess, that player was Capablanca. I came to this way of analysing after reading Bronstein’s description of how Bobby Fischer was analysing and it somehow clicked for me. This way of analysis can be used for everyting, from openings, middlegames, endgames to calibration of one’s intuition and understanding. In fact, it was for the last two that I used it the most.

The second chapter is on puzzles. In the period when I was slacking for too long and I couldn’t cross 2500, I simply decided that I could no longer waste time, so I used my trusted Kasparian’s Domination in 2545 Endgame Studies to sharpen my visualisation and improve the quality of my calculation. In the chapter I describe the concrete steps that I took to take the maximum out of every study I solved.

The third chapter is about online chess. Once upon a time I became addicted to it and it threatened to become a major obstacle for my over-the-board chess. Luckily, I managed to snap out of it and then, upon reflection, I laid down the principles that I followed to use it to my advantage, without risking a relapse.

In addition to the guide, I added a database of the last three World Championship matches, all the games commented by me.

I did this for two reasons. The first one is that these matches featured the best players of our time and can serve as an additional study material. The second, and the more personal one, is that I was present at two of these three matches.

In 2021 I landed in Dubai on the morning of the 6th game of the match. I cannot say that that was the main reason for the game becoming one of the most legendary games in the history of chess, but I like to think I have a little bit of something to do with it. I stayed in Dubai until game 10, by which time the match was practically over.

Dubai was my second time at a World Championship match (the first one was in London in 2018 at the match Carlsen-Caruana) and being there gives you a completely different perspective and understanding of what a World Championship match means. It turned out to be Carlsen’s last match for the title, so I feel lucky to have been there and seen it.

The second time was even better. In 2024 in Singapore I was on the stage, two meters away from the players. As a Fair Play Officer, my desk was just next to the players and this time the feeling was even more intense, as I could observe the players from nearby, see their facial reaction for many hours on, their body language, their habits. I tried to connect all these personal impressions with the moves the players were making and I think that makes my commentaries unique.

If you want to learn exactly how I studied and what made me a stronger player and Grandmaster, download The Method here. Unlike everything until now, this time it’s not free, because it represents the most practical and detailed training protocol I’ve ever proposed and one that I have actually used.

P.S. In this week’s video I go over a game by Capablanca in exactly the same manner in which I describe it in The Method in chapter one. The only difference is that in the video I use a digital board, while in real life I would use a physical one. In fact, I recommend using a physical board because the tactile sensations of making the moves enhance the retention of the knowledge and the understanding. Give it a look and see if you can apply this way of work yourself.