Restructuring my Training Plan

Current issues

I have probably played the thoughest tournament I will play this year two weeks ago. With my opponents having an average rating of around 2050 (DWZ and FIDE) I had ample oppertunities to see my flaws as a chess player. I have also seen flaws my training plan has and problems it did not fix. Here is a list:

1. It did not fix my short-sightedness/tactical Issues

   If you remember my first tournament I wrote about here, you'll maybe remember some of the stupid one- or two-movers I missed. I thought that if I were to invest a lot of time into tactical exercise I would fix that flaw ... but no can do.

2. I did not spend enough time analyzing my games

   Almost every strong player mentions self-analysis being a cornerstone of chess improvement ... I only spent 30 minutes per game. That's simply not enough to go deep and draw the right conclusions ...

3. I am studying/learning about new ideas way to little

   In general there is nothing wrong with taking your time, which is what I have been doing with Hellsten's positional book ... but I feel like I'm dedicating way to little time to actually learning new ideas. Not only did I feel completely outclassed by the positional understanding of these players (I was even more hopeless in the endgame), which was to be expected, but also seeing how much time I invested into an aspect that was not a problem (shortsightedness =/= tactical problem, as I learned) while not really dedicating myself to the one that ultimately really was the difference maker a lot of the times was though.

4. There was no space for opening study at all

   Opening study is probably one of the biggest pitfalls in chess improvement, but it's also sometimes necessary, especially when you're becoming stronger. I definitely have holes in my repertoire, which I could've noticed sooner. Patching them up and spending some time on them would have definitely not been a waste of time.

5. I lack practice, especially OTB

   I'm probably just playing way to little. I tried fixing that issue by playing a lot of online classical tournaments, and while that was a nice try it's just not quite the same. It's still something I'd consider doing in the future, but I feel like trying to get more actual OTB in is the way.

6. I don't have enough of a fighting spirit

   Not necessarily a problem with my training but definitely a flaw in my game. When I get into a bad position I stop resisting properly way to early, when I get into an equal position I am way to willing to make a draw. Not sure how to adress that in my training, but it's a flaw.

The new plan

So, I have thought about it a lot and I came up with the following solution: I'm dedicating entire session (2h) to just one aspect.

I will try to take every oppertunity to play a classical OTB game. Those almost always have priority over any session. I will also be experimenting with setting concrete goals for OTB games (e.g. focusing to notice a certain aspect I learned about, ...). Otherwise I'm doing one of the following:

Analysis:
-Always "forced" if there is an unanalyzed OTB game. Not always very fun but a necessity.

Study:
-Will probably be mostly consisting of reading books and reviewing patterns I have already learned.

Tactics/Calculation:
-I imagine warming up with something like Puzzle Rush(/Storm), still in an attempt to combat my short-sightedness, and move on with either a focus on tactics (So basically Woodpecker) or calculation (I could imagine fetching some interesting studies for this).

Opening:
-The smallest part of my training. I will probably be only doing it if I discover a hole in my Repertoire

I imagine dividing up my time roughly like this:

So, the plan for the next ~two weeks is clear: A lot of Analysis and some patching up of holes in my repertoire. See you next week :)