i am at monh 7. There is a delay in publishing but i think the chess school guys are committed and caring. AS far as my improvement is concerned, I feel that I am improving and picking up more wins and my friends in the tournment also confirm this.

Muralidhara

I'm doing this and pretty damned impressed so far. It's very insightful.

how many pages do they send you monthly??

It depends, off the top of my head I'd say usually around 60-70 pages.
If the month topic is a test, then you would have a bit less, just the quizzes on their own and then the solutions.
However some "theoretical months" can go over 80 pages (strategy plus commented games)

C.

Are you keeping up?

Yep,

since last july I'm just one month behind due to the my summer holidays
but apart from that I think a month is enough time to go over the new material you get every month

C.

Just to see if I've understood this right...

This "lessons" are in fact just written materials that you recieve every month. The only difference between a book and this "lessons" is that you recieve one chapter at a time...

This GM might as well publish this materials as a book, with strong advice to do one chapter a month. It would practicaly be the same, wouldn't it (with assumption that one can control oneself and follow given advice).

12 x 25 = 300 USD - not a small amount for a book.

Or maybe I got something wrong?

Thank you.

Well, yes, that's one way of seeing it

In that case, the International Chess School is just another book... In that sense, telling that "this is better than a book" is a nonsence.

It doesn't mean it's stupid though.. it is a well known thing that it is easyer to be systematic if someone gives you chapter after chapter (with next chapter assuming that you have masterd the previous). It's also a well known fact that you are more disciplined if you have payed money for something.

I know it from personal experience - in the high school I had gym for free, and I hardly ever went there. Later, the gym wasn't free anymore and I had to pay some monthly fee - I hardly ever missed the term

I only know one thing.. if I decide to go with the International Chess School (which is possible, although not most likely) I will definetly share that material with my friends. Like I would share any other book. Unforntunately, it is illegal to share it over the internet

P.S. A question for those of you who take the on-line courses.. What do you do when you get the materials? Do you print it on paper and study it over the board, or do you read it from the PC screen? Just curious... Thanks

That's exactly my point, for the first time in my life I'm "studying" chess systematically, in a "coordinated way" and putting much more effort into it.

Personally, I print everything out and study it over the board, though in some cases you also have the option of going over the games in chessbase format or using browser-based interface.

C.