Who has actually finished the course?

I rather randomly stuck my head into the forum today and was pleased to see some recent activity. Serendipity? Synchronicity?

Other than for the purpose of visiting as an homage to Blue Devil Knight, sort of virtually lighting a candle at his chess shrine, as someone serious about chess improvement I'm still curious about the actual benefits of completing the course. There's a fair amount of posting about months 1 and 2, as well as on openings, but then a big dropoff, and there's nothing I can see in terms of an overall AAR (after action report) by someone who has in fact completed the whole thing. I caught a couple references by people mentioning that they had (BQ for example), but that's about it.

It's natural for this sort of pattern to occur with any program that's based on personal motivation...much enthusiasm and motivation at the beginning, then increasing dropouts as time goes on...but it would be good to see some firsthand feedback on people's experience over the full course.

Stick with Hoskins. He's thorough. I'm on the verge to join him.

ChessAdmin wrote:... it would be good to see some firsthand feedback on people's experience over the full course.

I'd defo be interested in this as well. I'd also be interested in your experience with the course, CA - did you ever take it up?

superlychee wrote:Stick with Hoskins. He's thorough. I'm on the verge to join him.

Blimey, don;t try this at home folks!

I've looked at the publicly available materials, which I think are high quality. I haven't taken up the course otherwise...yet...partly because I'd like to get a better idea if it's worth investing the time and effort in doing the whole thing.

It is a hugh effort to get through the course, only the most dedicated can finish it. A year is a year, and will take anyone three years to complete the whole program and do it justice.

I have 15 Loose Leaf Binders filled with printouts of Years 1 & 2, and that does not include the e4 openings (I only studied the d4 openings). Obviously the bookshelf does not show the hours of videos that accompany the course nor does it include the Year 3 material that I have loaded onto ChessBase so I can study the opening systems with reference to more recent games.

ICS has been true to their word to keep your access to the materials available on line. I started 10 years ago and still access the courses regularly. There has not been many updates, but updates to appear occasionally. They did add an additional offering that doesn't show up as a course; 120 Test Positions in the format of the exercises in the final months of Year 1 - I loved them and purchased the test as well.

I study only for love of the game. If you are interested in ratings and achieving Master status just add practice and play in rated tournaments...

Thanks for the info. Albeit, it came too late for me.




I enrolled yesterday!

superlychee wrote:Thanks for the info. Albeit, it came too late for me ... I enrolled yesterday!

Yes, thanks from me too, PC.

... and welcome aboard, SL. If you are printing everything out, let me tell you it takes a long time! Over a thousand pages, IIRC for the core course alone. I bought a load of folders and got notebooks for notes and easy review, but I think you can just work from the pdf's online (just remember not to get lazy and do everything OTB). I also got the big tactics book and Silman's endgame book they recommended to work through in addition - so much better than doing it in online only.

But I ramble ... looking forward to seeing how you get on and swapping notes and thoughts on here as well. Oh, and looking forward to any other posts from alumni of the course here and seeing whether CA takes the plunge.

@Hoskins
Holy Spirit,
1000 pages? Double-sided?
I need a priint shop.

Not double sided, no (though it might be if you print all the opening material out, too) - but a print shop would certainly take the leg work out of it. Of course, you can always print it out month by month as you go ... hmmm, now why didn't I think of that before!

Fifteen notebooks, double sided!

What brand paper and ink do you use. I'm looking for a stock market investment...

Seriously though, you might want to just print the stuff for the lessons you are currently working on - it is too easy to get distracted looking ahead. I got through all of the materiel only by sticking to the monthly schedule.

That's a valid point @PawnCustodian.
I just imagine the stare of the clerk at me when she gets 100+ pdfs thrown at her.
The price won't be a deal-breaker. A rough calculation yields 50 € shipping included.
However, I'm sure I'll have to organise the stuff before giving it to printing.
This wouldn't be an issue with the monthly proceeding.

superlychee wrote:That's a valid point @PawnCustodian.
I'll have to organise the stuff before giving it to printing.

It will pay off in the long run. I tabbed and indexed everything from the start. Now, it's years ago that I studied the material and the effort is paying dividends every time I want to review a topic.

I would like to have my books similarly organized, but to be honest the course materials are far superior with very few exceptions. Not worth the effort.