Reach 2000 in 1 year!

Preamble

‘Having spent 200 hours on the above, the young player, even if he possesses no special talent for chess, is likely to be among those two or three thousand chess players who play on a par with a master.‘ - Lasker
On par with a master means: such that a master like Lasker could no longer give piece odds, which loosely translates as 2000 rating.

200 sessions of 1 hour fit into 1 year.
1 hour is fine as a 15+10 game fits into it.
Sessions of 2 hours (a 30+20 game) or 4 hours (a 90+30 game) are great if possible.
Sessions of half an hour (a 10+5 game) are only borderline useful.

Play!

Chess is a practical game. You must play it. You cannot learn to swim, ride a bicycle, or drive a car from a book, or a video, and chess is the same. Study without play is sterile.

Play no variants! Crazy House, Racing Kings, 3-Check are fun, but help you no more than a game of midget golf, badminton, or snooker.

Never play without increment! Play without increment creates an alternative win condition: flagging, which detracts from the real goal to checkmate.
The goal of chess is to checkmate before you time out.
The goal of bullet is to flag the opponent before he checkmates you.

Do not play blitz or bullet, as these breed bad habits: playing too fast and superficial.
‘Yes, I have played a blitz game once. It was on a train, in 1929.’ – Botvinnik
‘Blitz chess kills your ideas’ – Fischer
‘I play way too much blitz chess. It rots the brain just as surely as alcohol’ - Short

Blitz games are not worthy of analysis, so useless for progress.
‘He who analyses blitz is stupid.‘ - Nezhmetdinov

Solve a few tactics puzzles before you play as a warm-up.
Apart from warm-up tactics puzzles are overrated.
In a real game nobody tells you there is a tactic, or for whom.
‘Tactics flow from a superior position’ - Fischer

Analyze lost games!

Play without study is futile.
Whenever you lose a game, analyze it thoroughly for the same duration as the game itself.
If you can analyze right after the game, when the imprint is still fresh.

‘Those who wish to perfect themselves must regard their losses as lessons and learn from them what sorts of things to avoid in the future.’ – Capablanca

‘He evidently has an extraordinary good memory, for he always makes the same mistakes’ - Steinitz

Identify your mistakes and especially your decisive mistake.
What was the correct move?
Did you consider it?
If no, why not?
If yes, why did you select the mistake over it?
How much time did you think about the mistake?
How much time did you have available on your clock?
The pain of the loss helps you remember the mistake and the lesson learned from it.

Do not analyze won games!
‘You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win.’ - Capablanca
You learn less from a win and your time is at a premium.
Won games may contain mistakes too, but you will remember the win and forget the mistakes.
All is well that ends well.
Analyzing a win may be more fun than analyzing a loss, but makes you cocky.

Study annotated grandmaster games!

‘The best way to learn endings, as well as openings, is from the games of the masters. ‘ - Capablanca
Preferably study games from whole tournaments, as these present a realistic view.
Selected games convey an unrealistic image of chess.
Study thoroughly, preferably with two chess sets, one for the main line and one for variations.
Grandmasters spent like 4 hours to play the game, you should study it for as long.
Mindless replay is no study.

What you would play in the position?
Why?
What did the grandmaster play?
Which is the better move?
Why?

Study rook endings!

‘In order to improve your game you must study the endgame before everything else; for, whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame.’ Capablanca
1 hour of endgame study reaps more half points (wins instead of draws, draws instead of losses) than 1 hour of any other study. Expect no immediate reward, endgame study is a long term investment.

‘Endings of one rook and pawns are about the most common sort of endings arising on the chess board.
Yet though they do occur so often, few have mastered them thoroughly.
They are often of a very difficult nature, and sometimes while apparently very simple they are in reality extremely intricate ‘ - Capablanca

Rook endings are most frequent, so spend most effort on their study.
You will be unable to reinvent he Philidor or Lucena position over the board, and even less when low on time. You must know in advance what endgame to aim for and what to avoid.

Do not study openings!
It is a bottomless pit with little reward.
Just develop your pieces towards the center and castle, preferably king’s side.
Pieces should be developed in reverse order of worth: first e- and d-pawns, then knights, then bishops, then rooks after castling, last but not least the queen.
‘Just forget about the openings and spend all that time on the endings‘ - Capablanca