My Caissa Plan

The Caissa Plan

Opening Maintenance
1. Pick one opening that you can live with for the rest of your life. I pick the 1.d4-2.c4 complex as White and the Caro-Kann and Slav Defenses as Black.
2.Examine, choose, and script the first repertoire choices within the Opening complex.
3.Memorize the repertoire.
4.Play the repertoire as often as possible, against computer, FICS, and local club games to learn it under game conditions.
5.Maintain the repertoire by staying current with theory, refurbishing or altering deficits, and researching for novelties.
6.Add additional variations to the repertoire to make preparation more difficult for opponents, and provide play to win or play to draw options.

Shot and Blunder Recognition
1.Work through a basic workbook of typical shots (Palliser) over and over until they are down cold.
2.Repeat with the next book
3.Spot shots from within the repertoire and from Game post mortems. Never make the same mistake twice.

Technique
1.Work through the fundamental endgames (Grivas) over and over until they are down cold.
2.Repeat with the next book on more complicated endgames.
3.Learn endgames from within the repertoire from GMs and from post mortems.

Strategy and Planning
1.Study complete GM games from within the repertoire and take note of the nuances.
2.Study general strategic thought from texts.
3.Conduct regular post-mortems in order to understand the heart of the positions I play.
4.Conduct self-assessments regarding psychological strengths and weaknesses as well as clock management.

Mental Health
Enjoy Chess. You are not a professional. Play what you like. Do your best, and don’t permit harmful accusatory self-talk. Be kind and courteous to everyone. Enjoy chess people and chess culture. The ratings are what they are. Accept finitude with grace and peace.