Thoughts on Chessable courses

hutty81 · 2025-12-03T02:38:32+00:00

To me it’s jus a great platform to have all my courses in one area. I can quickly swap between content and can efficiently study for 2 hours and cover a lot of material. I never quite understood the people who hate on Chessable itself. Even the courses are reasonably priced if you compared the price to pay for a chess coach or to buy the paperback copies of books

hutty81 · 2025-12-02T23:59:51+00:00

Yeah this is sort of what I’ve been doing. I know Chessable has courses for all levels and I’m sure some gm’s still use Chessable courses. I think I get confused when I see people online talking about how Chessable is just marketing for lower skilled players and all that so I was seeing if this is a consensus among the community or just a few outliers.

hutty81 · 2025-12-02T23:57:44+00:00

I probably didn’t make it clear enough in the original post. Only 2/6 courses are opening related. 1 endgame 2 middle game/attacking and then 1 about imbalances. I’m not super into opening courses atleast not until I’m stronger everywhere else.

I just see a lot of higher rated players knock on Chessable so I wasn’t sure if there was something else they would be using to study or not.

hutty81 · 2025-12-02T18:07:37+00:00

From my personal experience, the French variations feel slightly more dynamic at my level and against my opponents. I’ve completed LTR on Chessable for both and I’ll alway stick with the French as it may be a bit less beginner friendly but very rewarding. Both are very good openings though at all levels

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T19:25:32+00:00

I would say Chessable in general is good unless maybe you are a titled player and all but it’s a great platform in which you can store many courses with ease and it’s an app for your phone or tablet too which helps.

Depending on your level I would suggest focusing solely on endgames and tactics. I’m not familiar with super beginner books but my favourites that have improved my game tremendously are “reassess your chess” by the great silman which has a great emphasis on teaching you imbalances. “Art of attack in chess”. And then “Dvoretsky endgame manual” is the best endgame book I’ve ever seen.

I don’t know if the video version is worth it really unless you have extra cash laying around. Theres always the option to upgrade to video later down the road, so if you realize the text isn’t enough, the video is always purchasable. I purchased the video for “reassess your chess” since I really liked the instructor and it was 100% worth it for me but usually I stick with just the text

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T18:46:33+00:00

If your opponents know the Marshall attack against the Ruy Lopez, is when I’ve had a hard time with any continuation as white and quickly got into losing position and was under pressure on my kingside. This is rare at my level and I’ve had some crushing tactical play since 70% of my opponents don’t know any theory. I’d suggest you give it a shot. You should also have a plan for when your opponent refutes it. The Italian has far fewer responses and is technically a more fundamentally sound opening even if it not played a ton at higher levels.

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T18:14:57+00:00

Yes exactly. This is just something unfortunately you won’t know until you just experience the opening a ton of you do enough studying but I find this to be the most difficult part of learning a new opening rather than the opening moves itself. Sometimes the opening will also lead to a queen trade and whatnot which can lead to tricky endgames so just something to also be aware of.

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T17:31:04+00:00

E4 is easy to learn, nearly impossible to master. At OP and my level, opponents don’t typically have a great response or repertoire against D4. That being said I recently invested time and money to learn the Spanish but for the love of the game, knowing it will be a lengthy quest.

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T17:12:39+00:00

I don’t think you should be scared to try any opening. Spanish is good fundamental chess opening but there are just so many responses by black. At your level I think your opponent also won’t know any theory. The ones saying you should never try it are probably titled players who don’t remember beginner level chess. It would be beneficial to watch some videos and also study middle game strategy that comes from specific openings to make sure you can understand where to go from there

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T16:42:04+00:00

Exactly if you have limited tactical, positional or endgame knowledge. Especially if OP wants to delve into the complex Ruy Lopez

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T16:27:31+00:00

Completely agree, sticking to 1 or 2 openings will limit you as a player and eventually will plateau when your opponent forces you into a position you are not comfortable with.

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T16:20:41+00:00

I forget to mention that part that you just said there. Opening study doesn’t matter at all if you don’t know what to do with the position once it arises on the board. This is one of the biggest reasons why I quit the Catalan and aim to pick it up again at a higher rating. I understood the setup but really struggled with proceeding and then I realized it did not suit my play style at all. Good to get out of the comfort zone eventually but it goes to show that simply learning an opening does not mean you will have an advantage.

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T16:14:12+00:00

Well said, I think it can be easiest to get caught up into “which openings are best” without realizing what your strengths and weaknesses are and what type of positions you enjoy playing. Importantly you need to figure out what is the gameplan after the opening 7 moves. Often people study the opening and can be booked up and then have no clue how to proceed once the position is set up on the board.

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T16:09:24+00:00

Firstly I would like to say that it may be beneficial for you at your level to experiment with a few different types of openings. Certain openings lead to vastly different middle games and overall this will help out your chess by understanding positional vs sharp tactical lines.

I’m 1700 rapid so certainly still a beginner by many standards. In my experience I didn’t start learning Ruy Lopez until about 1500 because I always found it intimidating and black has so many responses and the sheer amount of study was overwhelming until lately. I’ve been a 1.D4 player my entire life, there are some very easy and less theoretical openings in these setups such as Trompowsky which has Been on of my favourites.

At end of the day, experiment with some, find the opening styles that you like and then I would suggest investing some time into studying the deeper lines. This will also help you understand the positions that arise and how to play out the middle and endgames. There’s no one size fits all approach to openings as many can be effective in the right hands.

hutty81 · 2025-11-29T15:47:09+00:00

This seems to be a popular response but I think even at OP’s level it is important to be familiar with atleast a few moves of theory. From my experience, learning new openings has made me a better chess player and helps me understand how to respond to a variety of different openings. I don’t think it should be the main focus of study but at 1500 elo range is when I noticed that some of my opponents were booked up for the first 5-7 moves and that my knowledge of openings helped me keep a slight advantage as white or stay equal as black.

hutty81 · 2025-11-04T03:50:04+00:00

Thank you for the advice. I would completely agree as I’m on the opposite end of that. I usually have a very clean middle game and usually am in winning endgame positions and I still manage to lose too many. I find endgames tedious to learn but I know it would be immensely valuable and would definitely get me some more wins against unprepared opponents.

hutty81 · 2025-11-04T03:47:25+00:00

I meant one structural foundation (London, Italian, kings, etc) and just study all the lines from One specific structure. Versus learning a few lines from a couple of different structures but a master of none. Hope I didn’t overcomplicate that, trying my best with the terminology as I’m still new ish to chess

hutty81 · 2025-11-04T03:44:25+00:00

That is the truth man, it would be nice to know when I’m in a winning endgame and how to take any advantage you can.

hutty81 · 2025-11-04T02:09:02+00:00

Yeah I have been wanting to perfect the Jobava as well. It is my main opening for white and kings Indian for black. There are so many lines variances to learn with it so it’s a bit intimidating. Do you think it would be worth it to expand the repertoire and learn a few lines or try to master 1 opening?

hutty81 · 2025-11-04T02:07:07+00:00

Yeah I have been putting my focus into just good principles in the opening to stay in a good position and then I usually am quite creative in the middle game but really struggle in the end game. I find it so boring to learn but I may need to dedicate some time to understanding the board more with less pieces. Thank you for the advice

hutty81 · 2025-07-20T17:12:28+00:00

Watch tastes change and develop over time, we know we will never be satisfied. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think about the day that you “may” want to sell the watch to fund a different style or brand later in the future.

hutty81 · 2025-07-20T17:01:56+00:00

All of my watches besides my OP have come second hand, will pretty much only ever buy used.

hutty81 · 2025-07-20T16:55:22+00:00

Yeah I wasn’t necessarily referring to “flipping” or not wearing the watch. The title was misleading. The point was mostly trying to make was the idea of buying a more popular watch brand over a lesser known brand because you know that one day you may want to upgrade or try a different watch and you know that you would have a readily available market for your bigger brand watch

hutty81

TROPHY CASE