Advice on continuing to improve

The discussion of how a beginner should start learning chess comes up fairly frequently and I found the advice very helpful.  But now I seem to have hit a glass ceiling and I'm wondering how to go forward.

Here is where my game is:

Study: I've read Play Winning Chess, Winning Chess Tactics, and Winning Chess Endgames.  "Endgames" was by far the most useful ... I often find I can win or draw games simply by knowing the principles of endgame play (without extensive calculation). 

I've gone over games from Logical Chess: Move by Move.  I often find when studying a game that I don't calculate very deeply so I've tried "pausing" at particular points and trying to calculate the players next move.  This is especially rewarding in highly tactical games (Andersson, Morphy, Kasparov) where there is often an objective path to checkmate or winning material.

I've started How to Reassess Your Chess but it seems aimed at a more advanced audience. 

Correspondence play: I play regularly here on chess.com - no more than a handful of game at a time.  A few months ago my rating was 1777 - it's now dropped to 1432.  This is largely, I think, because of the way I think about chess.  When chess was "new" to me, I'd think about it all the time, even while away from the computer - I played better as a result of that.  I now blunder frequently and lose a lot of games as a result of that.  I go over each game and annotate it using ChessCat.

I've included a game where I blunder a couple of times as a "typical" example of my play - I had no business winning it but my opponent evidently didn't know much about endgames.  This game isn't well annotated; I'm not really looking for comments just a general example of how I play.

OTB play: not much here.  There's a local chess club but they mostly play blitz games, I don't get much out of it from an educational standpoint.

Problems and tactics: I do tactics trainer once every few days - just a few problems at a time.  I also do the daily puzzles.  My tactics rating is quite low, it generally fluctuates between 1100-1300 or so.

Internet play is great but it has it's limits - you don't meet people and you don't get to think about chess or focus on one game for a long time.  What's the best way to prepare to become a tournament player?  Which books would be the biggest help going forward?  Should I take a lesson?  Are timed games more useful than correspondence games?

Any advice is much appreciated!

Hi,

I'm working on the same problem.  It's a whole way of enjoying chess, no matter how much progress you make/don't make.

In my opinion, different things work for different people.  But mostly, we can get unstuck by working on improving our worst problem.  For most players below master level, it's usually tactics. 

Try Micheal De La Maza's controversial book: Rapid Chess Improvement.  His emphasis is on intense workouts with the ct-art program.  I started this myself last year, and I am very impressed with it.  I actually didn't know how bad my tactics skills were until I started this project.

To paraphrase De La Maza:

"What good does it do to memorize opening moves if we drop a piece a couple of moves later?  What's the use of learning endings if we arrive there down a rook?"

For fastest improvement and getting "unstuck" I recommend these four steps:

1. After opponent moves, first determine the threat (ala Dan Heisman).

2. Use a "Blunder Check": before touching the piece to be moved, ask:

    A) After I move, what checks will my opponent have?

    B) After I move, what captures will my opponent have?

     (Examine all)

3. Initiate an intense training program in tactics involving repetition of problem sets. "Rapid Chess Improvement" makes a case for a "Seven Circles Program". With that, you repeat the whole problem set 7 times. Sounds nutty, but.... it works! 

It is impractical for many players to do 7 circles of 1200 problems, but I break them down into smaller groups to do it, and that works for me.  The training method of repeating problem sets is not exclusive to "RCI" and "7-Circles".  I saw the same kind of recommendation at Dan Heisman's website and at Chessville.

4. Going forward with improved tactics skill set, determine your greatest chess weakness and work on improving that.  This is where a knowledgeable and experienced coach/teacher can help.  He/She can help you identify what you should be working on.

I have intentionally left out a lot of stuff I know of that can help.  (I'm sure other posters will notice that and fill in the gaps). The reason I did that is because starting out when you're stuck should (I think) be simple and easy to implement.

If you get unstuck and advance your skills, please get back to me and tell me what helped you most so I can try it too.

Good Luck        

At this point in your chess career, you should focus on three major things:

1) Playing as many games as possible.  These can be online, OTB, blitz, standard time control - whatever gets you playing more!  This is by far the most important step.  Spend at least 75% (I would even go higher, honestly) of your "chess time" actually playing the game.

2) Start devouring chess literature.  Classic titles like Zurich 1953 by Bronstein, Think Like a Grandmaster by Kotov, as well as Dvoretsky's series helped me out a lot later on.  For now, just try and read as much as you can get your hands on.  You know you're doing it right when you have copies of Chess Life or New in Chess lying around all over your house :)

3) Keep doing those tactics.  You have to build up your tactical ability to the point where it becomes almost second nature.  The puzzles here are great, but you might want to look into buying a tactics book.  I highly suggest purchasing this monster...it is a classic: http://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549

My biggest gain in rating (I'd say USCF 1200-2000) came almost exclusively through #1 and #2.  I logged thousands of hours playing online blitz and standard as a kid, and I firmly believe chess is a game that you really have to "do" before you can "study."  I also read anything and everything chess related - in the car on roadtrips, before bed, waiting in line somewhere, etc.

You might notice that I left out opening and endgame study completely from that list above.  Honestly, you should hardly focus on openings at all right now.  I know that's hard when it seems like everyone and their mother know the Najdorf 25 moves deep, but you would do yourself a great disservice by trying to study a lot of theory at the moment.  Pick a few defenses to 1.e4, 1.d4, and 1.c4 that you are comfortable defending Black with, and try to decide whether you are a 1.e4 or 1.d4 player as White.  Endgames are important, but don't spend a huge amount of time on them either outside the really important stuff (i.e. be absolutely sure you know all the basic K+P vs. K endgames, as well as the critical R+P vs. R positions).  As you said, you can win (or save!) a lot of endgames just by knowing the basics.

Hope this helps!  Above all, keep playing and making a conscious effort to get better.  You WILL see results if you stick with it.

1 Look at the game as yourself and you want to win

2 Look at the game as your opponent and he/she wants to win

3 Look at the game as an observer who doesnt care who wins

4 make the move that the three agree is best for you

P.S. it helps if you are a nutcase and if you are not you will be.......

how to get better at chess

1) get better at tactics

2) get better at middlegame strategy

3) get better at endgame

4) get better at opening

here u go

Analyzing your own game is a great way to improve. When I go over my own games first I find my mistakes, and then figure out why I make them, did I not take enough time to think, or was it because I didn't understand the position well enough to find the correct move. And if I didn't understand the position, I make sure I spend some time figuring all there is to know about the position.

You also need to improve your overall chess knowledge. Which includes openings, endings, mating pattern, middle game stradigy, tactical patterns, ect.

Look at the game you posted you first mistake was 5.Nbd2. This move is bad for a number of reason. First it loses a pawn, so tactically you overlooked a combination.  Black is threatening Nxg5 giving black a very strong bishop on g7 and your without a dark squared bishop. 5.Bf4 was really the only logical move, After 5.Bf4 d6 6.Nbd2 Nxd2 7.Qxd2 0-0, you can play 0-0-0 followed by Bh6  removing blacks dark squared bishop, which weakens blacks kings position which is great since you are ready to start a pawn storm on the king side.

Hi, you might want to try this site for tactics, as the ratings are slightly more forgiving than the ones on the tactics trainer:

http://chess.emrald.net/index.php

I'm in your shoes too. I'm around the same rating and asking the same questions you are so I can relate. The things I have been trying to do to better myself are

1. Taking my time between moves. Often I get excited in a game I am winning and move too fast and end up making things harder or even losing the game. Just take your time.

2. Make sure you are playing people who are higher rated and more challenging. It's easy to just pick the pockets of lower rated players for rating points but you aren't really learning much from it. Rather if you are playing someone more experienced, you can learn from them.

3. Don't be afraid to lose. I know this sounds crazy but I honestly almost enjoy losing as much as I do winning. When I lose, I learn. I see what my opponent did to beat me and I build off of it.

4. And most importantly I think is just play. Play whenever you can, as much as you can. Don't swamp yourself with more games you can handle but when it isn't your turn to move, try playing live chess or going to another site. Yeah, I think books/study/tactics are important but I think at this stage the most important thing is just to play.

Hope something I said helped. If you'd like a game or just to chat or whatever, just message me. :)

@ to urworstknightmare, also while taking time inbetween move, write down the possible moves and see which one is the best. ( and using the analysis board if you want to.)