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Improving Play-- Step Method versus Yusupov Courses

I am looking to improve my play with some sort of structured plan. Through my own research it appears that the two aforementioned training plans are reasonably effective. Does anyone have experience with either of these courses or know of another effective way to improve play? Thank you for your time and help.
I think the Yusupov books would be too advanced for you (unless he wrote for absolute beginners)
I would find the most basic of chess books.
My best advice for you to improve is to go play against real players in a real cafe/club.
My advice: forget about training plans. Carefully play through all the games of a top grandmaster tournament e.g. Tata Steel one game per day and try to figure out why they played as they did.
Lichess provides you first quality tools to improve your play.
Just try to resolve 5 to 10 puzzles each day, focus on classical games (2 to 4 each day) and use "learn by your mistake" at least 1 time a day. I'm quite sure it can't be wrong.
Regularity is the key.
You cannot go wrong with the Yusupov books but I have the feeling they are for more advanced players than the advertising says.
For instance, the orange ones are supposed to be for 1500 players.
I'm around 1950 lichess and I opened the first books thinking OK let's have some easy fun with some easy book.
Then I discovered than I was in fact learning a lot of stuff in certain chapters, and that I was maybe less good at chess than I thought I was.
Some chapters were very easy, and some chapters kind of challenged the way I was thinking about chess.
I have a feeling that a very good thing about the series is that it covers the blind spots you have in your earlier chess formation.
But it may be too advanced for 1400 lichess players ( but maybe not for 1400 lichess ambitious players:))

Yusupov books:
Here are the pdf excerpts from the publisher with the table of contents.

The Fundamentals (orange books: easier ones):
www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Build-up-Your-Chess-1-exceprt.pdf
www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Boost-Your-Chess-1-excerpt.pdf
www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Chess-Evolution-1-excerpt.pdf

Beyond the basics (blue books: more challenging)
www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Build-up-your-chess-2-excerpt.pdf
www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/BoostYourChess2-excerpt.pdf
www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Chess_Evolution_2-excerpt.pdf

Mastery (green books: the more difficult):
www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Build-up-Your-Chess-3-exceprt.pdf
www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Build-up-Your-Chess-3-exceprt.pdf
www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Chess_Evolution_3-excerpt.pdf

Each book has 24 chapters with 12 exercises at the end of each chapters (* easy, ** more difficult, *** most challenging).
There is another book in the "Fundamentals" series with 432 more exercises :
www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Revision&Exam1-excerpt.pdf
Do not think you can get away with finding the first move of the exercises: Yusupov wants you to find and write all the variations.
More than 3000 exercises total :)

I don't know about the step method. Link for the site is here:
http://www.stappenmethode.nl/en/index.php
It was developed to teach children how to play chess, so I suppose the exercises are maybe much easier than the Yusupov books (at least in the first steps).
Thanks @kifaru i somehow overlooked your post.

Consider reading "Chess Master ... at any Age" by Rolf Wetzell. This explains some important things. It is from the pre-computer time but one can also use his hints with todays software.

If you google for "wetzell chess master at any age" you actually find some downloads on the internet.

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