How to get better at chess (and everything else)

• AI News Team
• May 7, 2026

​I’ve been following chess grandmaster Avetik Grigoryan for his chess improvement tips for a while​. He has a tonne of great stuff on his website. The following is an extract from an article I think would be interesting to a bunch of people on LessWrong.The chess improvement formulaIt’s quite simple.Study -> Practice -> Fix -> (Repeat) You learn something first.You practice it; otherwise, you’ll forget it.You fix the mistakes you make.Then you learn new things, and the cycle continues. Anything to add?Yes! The sauce.Everything you can do — studying, practicing, and fixing you can multiply the results with the secret sauce — the right mindset!Let’s go through this formula separately, and then I’ll tell you how I used it for learning my openings.Step 1 – StudyMy friend who was reviewing the article argued with me that the cycle should be practice 1st, and then 2. Study, and 3. FixI asked, “Did you start playing chess and then learn the rules?” After laughing, the topic was closed. So the 1st step is clearly “Study.”The mistake many experience is either never coming back to studying or not coming back frequently enough.I’ll tell you something astonishing.If you’re 1,500 on chess com, you’re better than 94% of all other chess players on the platform! A screenshot from my friend’s friend’s profileGuess why?Many start grinding after learning the rules, but never return to learning opening principles, or basic tactics like forks and pins.They never learn how to use weak squares, attacking and defensive techniques, the general principles of winning won positions, or basic endgames.Not surprisingly, they never improve, or if they do, it is only slightly.Step 2 – PracticeOn the contrary, many make the opposite mistake.They decide to study everything and then play.This is also wrong because you really really learn when you do.If you keep learning things one after another but never practice them, all your knowledge will be vague, and you’ll easily forget to use it during the game.Step 3 – FixAnd while there are chess players who have some balance between studying and practicing (soon we’ll speak about what should be the correct balance), most of them fail in the 3rd step.They never check their games to fix their mistakes. As a result, they keep repeating the wrong things they do in the openings, middlegame and endgame.The Secret SauceAll those steps can be done better and more effectively when you do them correctly and with the right mindset.Study with SauceIt’s not about just studying x hours a day. It’s about the quality of your study time. It’s about which source you learn from. What’s your study plan? Who gave it to you? How do you study? Who do you study with?Imagine how fast you will grow if you do those things right.Practice with SauceAnd It’s not about just playing chess x hours a day. What time control do you choose? Do you play bullet or rapid games? Who do you play with? Against an engine, a stronger opponent, or a weaker one?Do you play 50 games in a row in 1 day, or do you go with 9-game sessions? All this will matter!Fix with SauceAnd how do you fix your mistakes?Do you do it with online platform engines and let them convince you that you’re the worst player ever? Or do you do it with a coach?Do you take your mistakes personally or do you fix them and focus on growth? Do you make wrong conclusions from your mistakes, and think that you should change your opening, while you just lost the game because you didn’t know the basic Philidor endgame?Or do you learn the right lessons and make adjustments?Imagine what kind of competitive advantage you’ll have over your peers if you add the right sauce to the 3-step formula…In a minute, I’ll show you how to have a better sauce than Heinz ketchup. But before that, let me share with you something important.The right balance between studying and playingSo, how many games should you play, and when should you come back to studying? Or how much should you study before practicing?Here I have a very nice and practical tip for you, which I use in every area. I ask the following question: “Do I have anything to digest?” The analogy is the following. You gain vitamins not when you eat some food, but when you digest it, right?And you “eat” information by studying. But it becomes yours, and you “digest” it by practicing!My advice is simple.You just finished a course on opening principles? Time to play chess and digest your new knowledge. You watched a course on tactics, learned about forks, pins, and other 5 tactics today? Go play and digest them.  You learned how to play French or Dutch attacks? Practice them with your training partner. And if you don’t have anything to “digest,” go back and study, “eat.” Keep in mind that question, and you’ll see how deeper you learn things. Ask, “Do I have anything to digest?” If the answer is yes — time to practice. If not, and you don’t have anything to “digest,” go back and study. Time to “eat.”Discuss ​Read More