Great insights and seems like you have found a good balance with chessable. I have done a bit similar and let the review number climb without worrying, while focusing on going through new material as I can and reviewing areas that I find need some attention. Going back through some courses I have neglected but enjoying things. Kept my streak going (currently at 1861) but the volume has shrunk through the year with other items taking attention. Still love the platform and the material for learning.
Thank you for this post. My guess is that a lot of Chessable users don't take advantage of the program's customization, to suit their learning style and time parameters. Here's what works really well for me:
If it's a course I have already 'learned,' and the 'space' in 'spaced repetition' is already great for most lines, but the concepts behind some of the moves is becoming hazy, I will (especially if I have a weekend coming up that is fairly open):
1. Delete all my progress in the course.
2. Pause the 'Quickstarter' chapter(s), if any. (Unlike a lot of people, who love these, I do not like them.)
3. Set Quiz to "Immediately" and to "All moves" (as you do also). I also make sure the timer is set to 60 seconds.
4. Open the course one chapter at a time, in order, and click on a variation title, then click through all the moves (often I have to click on the << button to start the variation at the beginning) and read the move-by-move explanatory text. And after doing this for each variation, I click on "See in chapter," and there's a little red bookmark that'll help ensure I go to the correct, just-learned or just-reviewed variation, and I will click on 'Learn' (or 'Review' or 'Overstudy'). It will quiz me, and I will not only play the moves but make sure I understand the reasoning, which I will have just read. Usually (but not 100% of the time), since I just read the explanatory text, I will get it right -- and this will put it in my Review queue in 4 hours.
5. I go all the way through the course this way, before doing any Review.
6. I then Review, chapter by chapter -- opening each chapter and then hitting the green Review button in the upper right, which is just for that chapter.
7. I keep repeating the previous step.
This is, I suspect, way too slow and repetitive for a lot of people, but I am older (62), and my brain is less plastic, and so I need a LOT of repetition, for things to sink in. I find this routine not only fairly effective but also more fun than just launching into a bunch of review, of things I might not have studied in a while, in which case my success rate is lower and frustration level is higher.
Giving myself 'permission' to tweak Chessable's settings to suit my needs and temperament -- especially as they seem to not match a lot of learners' - has increased its value to me.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts - you really seem to have gone for it with Chessable, and punching down the Review numbers down to zero day in and day out.
Kudos for that, but it must have been hard to be pushed like that over and over again. Good you could let go now!
I will - inspired by your post - turn to ANKI and fill in some positions/ opening position screenshots to practice. This does seem interesting! After all I keep forgetting or keep confusing variations in my main lines - so maybe with a cool ANKI review scheme, this might become better.
So thank you, and all the best for your chess travels in 2025!
I have a bunch of Chessable opening courses but never use the move trainer. I simply use them as reference works, and occasionally watch video if I've purchased it (rare). These days, if I want to do some extra opening training, I use openingtrainer.com.
For puzzles I either use a custom schedule that is very stretched out, or just ignore reviews entirely and focus on finishing the course. If I want to repeat the course I'll just reset it - simple!
I really appreciate this post. I think it's very easy to go wrong with Chessable, and it sounds like you've developed some hard earned wisdom. I especially appreciate your comment about enjoying Anki because it isn't gamified.
Just wanted to add that it's possible to change the default review schedule on Chessable: normally I set the first repetition after 1 day, the second after 2 days, and then double each time. This way it becomes closer to Anki schedule.
Openings need active work to embed the principles - there is a place for spaced repetition to an extent but it should focus on core variations and not go to deep. Something like chessbook.com is a good way of consolidating all your openings in one place to do spaced repetition with the advantage that it cuts off at a level where you are unlikely to see variations beyond 1 in x games (you specify x). I also tend to use mind maps to link together key ideas backed up by notes if time allows / if I feel it adds value - restating what you read in an opening book to yourself - redescribing the key variations / themes of an opening seems to require active regurgitation of what you think you have digested... mind maps / notes are a way of doing this. The opening courses (LTRs especially) become more like reference books.
For endings my focus has been on taking a book like Silman's and using spaced repetition on the endings I need to know up to my level.
For tactics - I've been looking for a couple of core books to read / learn / embed via chessable spaced repetition - so that I have the core building blocks become second nature. The recent Field Tactics book is looking good as a base set as is Chess tactics from Scratch. After that it's just repetition and using the concepts in puzzles books together with work on calculation - there are some good books here too.
For strategy - I have just purchased WoodPecker 2 - which focuses on core positional concepts you need to know. Seems suited to a woodpecker cycle of spaced repetition which chessable will support.
I've reached similar conclusions and adopted your opening course settings. Thanks!
Great insights and seems like you have found a good balance with chessable. I have done a bit similar and let the review number climb without worrying, while focusing on going through new material as I can and reviewing areas that I find need some attention. Going back through some courses I have neglected but enjoying things. Kept my streak going (currently at 1861) but the volume has shrunk through the year with other items taking attention. Still love the platform and the material for learning.
Thank you for this post. My guess is that a lot of Chessable users don't take advantage of the program's customization, to suit their learning style and time parameters. Here's what works really well for me:
If it's a course I have already 'learned,' and the 'space' in 'spaced repetition' is already great for most lines, but the concepts behind some of the moves is becoming hazy, I will (especially if I have a weekend coming up that is fairly open):
1. Delete all my progress in the course.
2. Pause the 'Quickstarter' chapter(s), if any. (Unlike a lot of people, who love these, I do not like them.)
3. Set Quiz to "Immediately" and to "All moves" (as you do also). I also make sure the timer is set to 60 seconds.
4. Open the course one chapter at a time, in order, and click on a variation title, then click through all the moves (often I have to click on the << button to start the variation at the beginning) and read the move-by-move explanatory text. And after doing this for each variation, I click on "See in chapter," and there's a little red bookmark that'll help ensure I go to the correct, just-learned or just-reviewed variation, and I will click on 'Learn' (or 'Review' or 'Overstudy'). It will quiz me, and I will not only play the moves but make sure I understand the reasoning, which I will have just read. Usually (but not 100% of the time), since I just read the explanatory text, I will get it right -- and this will put it in my Review queue in 4 hours.
5. I go all the way through the course this way, before doing any Review.
6. I then Review, chapter by chapter -- opening each chapter and then hitting the green Review button in the upper right, which is just for that chapter.
7. I keep repeating the previous step.
This is, I suspect, way too slow and repetitive for a lot of people, but I am older (62), and my brain is less plastic, and so I need a LOT of repetition, for things to sink in. I find this routine not only fairly effective but also more fun than just launching into a bunch of review, of things I might not have studied in a while, in which case my success rate is lower and frustration level is higher.
Giving myself 'permission' to tweak Chessable's settings to suit my needs and temperament -- especially as they seem to not match a lot of learners' - has increased its value to me.
Hi Nick,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts - you really seem to have gone for it with Chessable, and punching down the Review numbers down to zero day in and day out.
Kudos for that, but it must have been hard to be pushed like that over and over again. Good you could let go now!
I will - inspired by your post - turn to ANKI and fill in some positions/ opening position screenshots to practice. This does seem interesting! After all I keep forgetting or keep confusing variations in my main lines - so maybe with a cool ANKI review scheme, this might become better.
So thank you, and all the best for your chess travels in 2025!
Olaf
I have a bunch of Chessable opening courses but never use the move trainer. I simply use them as reference works, and occasionally watch video if I've purchased it (rare). These days, if I want to do some extra opening training, I use openingtrainer.com.
For puzzles I either use a custom schedule that is very stretched out, or just ignore reviews entirely and focus on finishing the course. If I want to repeat the course I'll just reset it - simple!
I really appreciate this post. I think it's very easy to go wrong with Chessable, and it sounds like you've developed some hard earned wisdom. I especially appreciate your comment about enjoying Anki because it isn't gamified.
Just wanted to add that it's possible to change the default review schedule on Chessable: normally I set the first repetition after 1 day, the second after 2 days, and then double each time. This way it becomes closer to Anki schedule.
Nice! But is that paywalled behind PRO?
Ah, yes, it's a Pro feature, I didn't realise that...
A similar journey here on chessable.
Openings need active work to embed the principles - there is a place for spaced repetition to an extent but it should focus on core variations and not go to deep. Something like chessbook.com is a good way of consolidating all your openings in one place to do spaced repetition with the advantage that it cuts off at a level where you are unlikely to see variations beyond 1 in x games (you specify x). I also tend to use mind maps to link together key ideas backed up by notes if time allows / if I feel it adds value - restating what you read in an opening book to yourself - redescribing the key variations / themes of an opening seems to require active regurgitation of what you think you have digested... mind maps / notes are a way of doing this. The opening courses (LTRs especially) become more like reference books.
For endings my focus has been on taking a book like Silman's and using spaced repetition on the endings I need to know up to my level.
For tactics - I've been looking for a couple of core books to read / learn / embed via chessable spaced repetition - so that I have the core building blocks become second nature. The recent Field Tactics book is looking good as a base set as is Chess tactics from Scratch. After that it's just repetition and using the concepts in puzzles books together with work on calculation - there are some good books here too.
For strategy - I have just purchased WoodPecker 2 - which focuses on core positional concepts you need to know. Seems suited to a woodpecker cycle of spaced repetition which chessable will support.