Help with studying chess

I'd consider myself an intermediate player, I've been playing seriously on Lichess and Chess.com for a little over a year now. (I'm mainly on Lichess now) I used to study chess willingly a few hours a day during the summer and strongly improved, these days I just don't have a motive to study anymore and I want to get back to taking chess seriously. Do you guys have any tips, or is there a way to motivate myself to get back into studying chess?

Thanks

You can maybe search for free time maybe??Good job!

@Aaravsharma2012 said in #2:
> You can maybe search for free time maybe??Good job!

I mean I have free time. During the weekdays, I have school so I can't really study, but on the weekends I'm free, I just don't want to study

How many hours did you study unwillingly ;) ? You just need to find a way to make studying fun/rewarding. I was going through Silman's books a while ago until I got bored started doing more chessable and I'm sure when I get tired of that format I'll try something else.

The other technique is to put something easy to do at the start of a session. Eg if you find puzzle rush (or whatever it is called on lichess) fun and easy start with that and then you will find it easier to do the the more difficult work as you are already sitting there studying chess so the barrier to entry is lower. End with something fun like playing a game so you leave on a high and want to come back tomorrow.

If you lose play blitz games until you win one, delude yourself into thinking you are great and forget all the losses (works for me).

@Knight-School said in #4:
> How many hours did you study unwillingly ;) ? You just need to find a way to make studying fun/rewarding. I was going through Silman's books a while ago until I got bored started doing more chessable and I'm sure when I get tired of that format I'll try something else.
>
> The other technique is to put something easy to do at the start of a session. Eg if you find puzzle rush (or whatever it is called on lichess) fun and easy start with that and then you will find it easier to do the the more difficult work as you are already sitting there studying chess so the barrier to entry is lower. End with something fun like playing a game so you leave on a high and want to come back tomorrow.
>
> If you lose play blitz games until you win one, delude yourself into thinking you are great and forget all the losses (works for me).

Thanks for the advice, I'll try starting with something easy.
Hours I studied unwillingly....about 15 minutes each time? somehwere around there

@GabeMiami17 said in #3:
> I mean I have free time. During the weekdays, I have school so I can't really study, but on the weekends I'm free, I just don't want to study

Playing makes me want to study more. But why force yourself to study? Play for fun. Expect the losses and also lower your expectations. This will help lower the pressure. Why so you want to get better?

@GabeMiami17 Every generation has Chess Books that Inspired them like a refesher ... I still remember books from older generations like the Golden Trasury Of Chess & Dynamic Chess by RN Coles ... Interesting books like Chess for tigers by Simon Webb & The Battle of Chess Ideas by A Saidy now called The March Of Chess Ideas but these books are seriously outdated' . . Now to you @GabeMiami17 A book has come out in October 2022 called The Most Exciting Chess Games Ever by Steve Giddins

Figure out the hours per week you can allocate. Make it relaxed.

If you set 10 hours and just do 6 hours, that's no good. You'll just feel bad.

It's better if you set 4 hours and do 5. I've heard this from GM Noel, and this makes a whole lot of sense. Setting something and being able to do what you set out to do is a good habit to build. The reverse is also true. Setting high training hours and continuously not doing them builds bad habits. It might even spread to other areas. This is not good.

Now, if you've set a realistic hours goal per week. Next step is to find out what to study.

Looking at your rating and what you've mentioned, it looks like you focused primarily on knowledge. I recommend setting your hours for skills training instead of acquiring more knowledge.

@swarminglocusts said in #6:
> Playing makes me want to study more. But why force yourself to study? Play for fun. Expect the losses and also lower your expectations. This will help lower the pressure. Why so you want to get better?

I'm a competitive guy, I accepted a while ago that I'm not the best, but that can't hurt me from trying. I can still try to get good at chess ;)

@ThunderClap said in #7:
> @GabeMiami17 Every generation has Chess Books that Inspired them like a refesher ... I still remember books from older generations like the Golden Trasury Of Chess & Dynamic Chess by RN Coles ... Interesting books like Chess for tigers by Simon Webb & The Battle of Chess Ideas by A Saidy now called The March Of Chess Ideas but these books are seriously outdated' . . Now to you @GabeMiami17 A book has come out in October 2022 called The Most Exciting Chess Games Ever by Steve Giddins

True, every book used to inspire me, and I never got bored. Now, the feeling is gone. But the book that you recommended seems nice from the preview I looked up, some lines and some helpful annotations. I'll check it out. Thanks.