Iv'e gotten worse at chess, how can i get better.

I'm 15 and in late april 2013 i got into chess and in august i stopped playing because i wasn't making any progress, but now I'm back into chess and now I'm worse than before. how can I get good at chess.

Play someone higher rated who will explain to you what you are doing wrong.

Ian Beale ffs!

Ian, First I would suggest that you learn some basics of the openings you play. Second, you need to be more careful with your pieces. Take a second look at each move to see if it leads to a CheckMate or the loss of a piece. Third, Look at this game and read thru all the notes and variations. It will help: http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2013/1/9/Game18587862.html 

Bobby

Hi IanBeale,

Perhaps you gave up too early and perhaps you are too quick with drawing conclusions.

In my experience it can happen that a chessplayer has moments that everything seems to go wrong. That is no reason to give up though.

I also think that you should play chess for your own enjoyment.

Having said that, I can imagine that when you are losing almost all of your games, things are different.

With chess you will however need to do some homework, and the results from that homework might not appear within a few months, rather years.

When I started with chess as a teenager, I played chess games against a family member who taught me chess and who showed me chess games from Bobby Fischer and told me about that crazy WC match in 1972.

Soon after that I started playing at a chess club after a teacher at school told me about that chess club, and I lost perhaps the first 10 games.

I could have given up, but I continued and I started to win and draw games as well.

I studied more and more chess, and my chess skills and results got better.

Why did I not give up after those first 10 lost games ?

Not only because I wanted to continue playing, but also because it was a nice atmosphere at the chess club, and some players encouraged me and said I played well, even in those lost games.

Playing chess in real life can be great fun. If you didn't play at a chess club yet, try it. Find a chess club that suits you. It might help you a lot with your chess.

And do tactic puzzles here every day, as well as more chess mentor courses, and go through annotated master games, but above all, don't forget to enjoy the game of chess itself.

Good luck, have fun !