How to get to EXPERT LEVEL?

Hi all, I play in many OTB tournaments. I would say that I play on average every other weekend. My current USCF rating is about 1850 and I have been stuck around there for quite a while. Several times I have been close to getting to 1900, but some really stupid mistakes have been setting me back. I want to know what it takes to get to the next level, to get to 1900-2000 expert level. I don't read many books but I follow big GM tournaments and watch videos on ICC and elsewhere. How do I break out of this plateu and improve to the next level?

All feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

KnightDwarf

change what you're doing but make it better.  beat more dudes better than you.  play more but play better.  be better.

yah, better is key.

Yes, but how do I get better is the real question? Of course it is easy to see what a bad move I made after a game, but the question is how to avoid it during a game and improve my play?

typing dog beats talking dog 7/10 times.

i'd say just stop making those bad moves.  make better moves.

you have to beat 2000's to get to 2000.

the key may be seeing what is a good/bad move.

like you know.

Can anybody give some deeper feedback than just play better. How do you get better? Experience is not everything. Do you study books and books and books, get play slow games on a chess server, study openings, positional chess, what??

I got to 1500 by reading every bishop vs. knight thread.

Basically play many tournament games (at least G/60 I'd say).  Analyse the games.  Talk to stronger players.  Read books.  It sounds corny, but what you put into it is what you'll get out of it.  You can also identify an area you're weak.  Middlegame, endgame, tactics, strategy, calculation, time management and maybe even opening if your openings are terrible and choose to focus on that.

There's no magic formula for getting a 2000 rating.  To get specific advice you talk to players who know your game (or at least post a few games so we have a vague idea) or get a coach.

I guess my comment was pretty general... this is good.  Be honest with yourself about positions where you don't understand something and then explore that topic and learn more about it.  Like he said it's not a flick your engine on for 5 seconds.  It's sit down with your games / a book for a few months and iron that area out.  Maybe it's rook endgames or positions where your king is under attack or any number of things.

I guess that there are 2 areas to work on. [1.] is self-management which is clock use, getting enough sleep, being motivated to do your best, preparing for opponents is that is possible etc etc. [2.] is your actual chess skills such as endgame knowledge, calcualtion depth, positionla judgement etc.

I have said my opinion before on these threads that the endgame is where to start to get to anything that could be called an expert level. BCE is a must. I know that it's dry. But you can't avoid it.

There is an interesting book that I am reading right now called How to develop Chess Talent that may be worth getting as well.

i was stuck at the 1800s for a whole year and then suddenly i jumped over 2000 uscf in like 4 tournaments.  What i was doing wrong is playing people at  the class A level all the time and it wasn't helping me improve.  You need to play much higher rated players constantly otb.  Play up at tournaments into expert or master level sections and then after your games analyze and learn different ideas from your opponents.  The other thing I did was change my openings.  I used to only play d4, but now I expanded my repertoire and this is very useful because you learn different ideas by playing different openings and this could really be beneficial to your overall understanding of the game.  

Well, I'm not rated nearly as high as you are. My strategy for improving my chess is to practice. Practice makes improvement. The best form of practice is going over your own games. Learn what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. I played a game today where my higher rated opponent blundered a piece. I had him beat. Squashed. But, I let him escape by letting my knight get trapped. He ended up in time trouble (we were playing 30 minutes each) and he offered a draw in a bishop vs knight endgame which he was probably winning. Go over games like this and try and see where you can improve. Another idea is to play a game against the computer (put it on a teh level you want to get to) and study what it does to you and try to emulate it!

I know you are good at middlegames and endgames. However, I would get caught up on the latest theory in openings. For my type, I believe playing aggressive will always give you good winning chances. Play to win, not draw (even against strong players). I also agree on playing strong players, and please read more chess books.

Change your habits.  You need to read books, otherwise your plateau will remain that, a plateau.

There's a second problem with your philosophy, and maybe won't believe this one but it's true.  When you are observing GM games and on ICC, you are either looking at a 2-D board, or some fake 3-D effect on a 2-D screen.  You need to start studying with a board and pieces.  This may sound stupid, but it's true.  I'd say between 50 and 75% of my studying is on a 3-D board.

Lastly, not only do you need to start reading books, but you need to read the right books.  Opening books are not the right books.  I would recommend the following:

Chess Lessons - Vladimir Popov
Forcing Chess Moves - Charles Hertan
My Great Predecessors (All 5 of them, in sequence) - Garry Kasparov
The Grandmaster Battle Manual - Kortronias
Advanced Chess Tactics - Psakhis

Read the first two before the last two.  You can go thru the MGP series throughout the process.  Do not just play the main moves.  Also, do not just mimic the moves like a monkey either.  Look at the position, try to figure out what you would play, and look to see what was played.  If it matches your move, and Kasparov doesn't comment it as being bad, great.  If it doesn't match, or it does and it's a bad move, try to figure out why.  In come cases, it will be spelled out for you in the notes, but other times, you have to figure it out.  Some of the games are complete games, others are fragments.  For the complete games, a game should take you at least an hour to go thru, and in many cases a lot longer than that!

And by the way, being in the 1900s is not expert.  Expert is 2000 to 2199.

yeah like you know!

do an ivanov :P