I've been complaining about how I'm not getting any better a lot on this board recently and I think I've finally determined my problem. I think I'm experiencing diminishing returns because of my ego, I'm trying to study things that are beyond my understanding. My foundational knowledge is not solid yet. I've no business learning specific opening lines without THOROUGHLY understanding opening principles. I've no business trying to read Reassess Your Chess without having finished Amateurs Mind, etc.

So as much as it hurts my ego, I'm going back to the beginner books. I already own (or am borrowing) these books, so my plan is to study:

Opening:
Fine's 'The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings'

Middlegame: Silman's 'The Amateurs Mind' in conjunction with the tactics that I already study daily.

Endgame: Pandolfini's Endgame Course.

Annotated Games: Both of Chernev's Books, 'Logical Chess: Move by Move' and 'The Most Instructive Games of Chess ever Played'

My question to you wonderful folks is, what is the most efficient plan for studying these books? In what ratio and order should this material be studied? Should I study all of this material at once? Or should some topics be studied at the same time as another? Are there any subjects that definitely should NOT be studied together?

Basically if you can help me create a study plan with all of this material it would help me out. Something specific that I can just sit down every day to and know precisely what I should study. Now that I'm coming to terms with my actual infancy in this game it'd be nice if someone could take me by the hand and show me how to study this stuff.

And just for the fun of it...

The list of books I've read that I have no business reading yet, and having done so significantly increased my frustration and disapointment when I never got any better, take heed fellow beginners:
-Chess openings for white explained
-Chess openings for black explained
-Excelling at chess calculation
-How To Reassess You Chess
-Secrets of Positional Chess
-My System
-Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy
-Improve your Middlegame Play
-Chess Strategy for the Tournament Player
-Capablanca's 100 Best Games

You'd think I would be a master from consuming all of that GOOD and VITAL knowledge, but it just falls on deaf ears if you're not ready for it. And worse yet, it frustrates and disapoints you A LOT when you lose, which is often. GO BACK TO THE BEGINNER BOOKS!

Dan Heisman told me that roughly half of study time at the amateur level should be tactics puzzles, roughly a third should be studying annotated master games, and only the remaining 1/6 of your time should be spent on other reading. In other words, 5/6 of your time should be spent looking at positions and trying to find good moves, as you would in a game, and only the remaining 1/6 should be spent on explanations. This sounds reasonable to me.

--Fromper

It seems the only thing I've done right with my study of chess thus far is to focus on tactics. I study tactics daily and have a good and thorough lesson plan for studying tactics. I'll focus secondly on my annotated games. Thanks for the help thus far Fromper.

Fine's 'The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings'

Shelve that one for the time being.

Middlegame: Silman's 'The Amateurs Mind' in conjunction with the tactics that I already study daily.

Endgame: Pandolfini's Endgame Course.

I think Silman's endgame book is much better.

Annotated Games: Both of Chernev's Books, 'Logical Chess: Move by Move' and 'The Most Instructive Games of Chess ever Played'

Very good choices.

I would add "The Art of Checkmate" by Renaud and Kahn, unless you pick it up in a bookstore and can INSTANTLY solve every problem in the book. (Okay, there are two or three problems in the book which might take a few seconds of calculation - but if these problems aren't EASY you need to do this book next). Don't study anything else until you finish this book.

Then I would mix up my time in this way:

30 min tactics
1-2 Chernev annotated games (30-45 minutes)
30 min endings
30 min tactics
30 min Silman Amateur's Mind.

Repeat.