How I Got To 700 From 400

To preface I know 700 isn't a huge ELO or the final goal for anybody (even me), but so far this is the highest my ELO has been since starting out here, and I do seem to be progressing at a relatively steady level now. So I figured I'd share some of the things I've learned in my rise to 700 and hopefully onward. Rising in the 200-1000 ELO is difficult and climbing that ladder to the coveted 4 digit ELO is a hard slog that according to the average ELO on this site, is something at least half of the people reading this have had trouble reaching. So here are a few tips that have helped me both in rising and dealing with the times when I start going on losing streaks.

Recognize That Losing Is Inevitable

There's something most people in the chess community refer to as tilting. Basically when you take a really crushing loss or are just having an off day/week, you go on a lengthy losing streak. It's important to remember when these things happen that even GMS lose even on good days. There are  an estimated 93 million users on Chess.com. It is highly unlikely that at any given day you're going to just beat all of them. I don't even think Magnus could if he dedicated a whole year to it. Losing is going to happen. The key thing here is to accept it for what it is. You are one of the millions of Chess.com users who lost at least one game. Accept it and move on.

Learn To Take A Break

With how psychological the game of chess is, it's common to want to avenge a loss by any means possible. When you start trying to avenge said loss you may find that you start playing even worse than before. There's a reason for this. Human beings make horrible decisions when they are emotional. This isn't just a fact of chess, it's a fact of human psychology in general. When you lose any game of Chess either through a stupidly simple wayward queen attack or a hard fought game that went to an endgame, you're going to take that to heart. Chess has a stigma for being tied to ones skill and intelligence, and with the lack of luck in display you can only blame yourself for said losses.

That being said, this is Chess, not a Rocky movie. Turning around with an increased level of adrenaline and desire to win isn't going to make you better. In situations of logic, diplomacy, and skill the old adage "Cooler Heads Will Prevail" rings truer than ever. Somebody who takes their time calculating before making their next move is going to play a lot more methodical and with a lot more skill than somebody who is rushing to try to get a mate. With emotions clouding your judgement you're going to be more likely to make a blunder or not see an x-ray or pin aimed right at you. It's better to just take a break, cool off, and come back in at a later time when you're less focused on avenging losses. 

You Don't Need To Break From Chess Entirely

One of the most common responses to people complaining about losing streaks in the forums is "Just stop playing chess for a while.". This would be really good advice if it were easy for most of us to completely step away from chess entirely. Doing anything nonstop will lead to burnout and in Chess will cause the inevitable tilt. There's a reason titled players who discover youtube end up retiring from playing pro games shortly after getting big. 

That being said, said titled player youtubers are huge now with the covid boom, Queen's Gambit movie, and the recent Magnus/Hans drama going on. There's a good chance if you're playing here, you're subscribed to a chess youtuber of some kind. Makes it really hard to separate yourself from Chess when you go to take your break and see a new "Guess The ELO" pop up in your news feed. So you've got the itch to play despite trying to break, what do you do? Two words. Daily Games.

Daily games are great during breaks for a few reasons.

• It's a game you can play at your own pace. You have at least a whole 24 hours to actually look at and focus on your plan of attack and your opponent does as well. This gives you the incentive to actually think your moves ahead and build that confidence back on in a steady pace as you play a more even game.
• Most users on here tend to heavily disregard Daily ELO. When gauging a player's skill most will go off of rapid, blitz, or bullet score depending on what they play primarily. This makes losses a lot less impactful. It allows for a much more relaxed chess experience and bonus is you can play as many at a time as you'd like.
• With how long it takes to finish a game, it's highly unlikely you'll end up "Tilting" in daily. Almost every Daily game I've played on here either in tournaments or one on one, have been on average 3 day time controls. Nobody is on tilt for three days straight and you may even find that facing people of higher elos you might get the upper hand once in a while in a daily game as you may be having a better day than them on one day of the game. 

All that being said it is still important to maintain your break from rapid/blitz/bullet if you are taking a break though. The more you play back to back, the longer your losing streak will go until you eventually get that one frustrated win. And even then you'll find per analysis that you really haven't done that well in it. 

When Should I Start Playing Again?

Another common thread in the beginner forums is "I just reached X rating and now I'm afraid to play in risk of losing it.". I've been here myself especially after finally reaching a solid 700 even for a minute. I've found that this is one of the things the bots are pretty good for. Before anybody comes at me saying "the bots aren't good because they make mistakes humans don't make", keep in mind that they are computers designed to play a decent game of Chess. I am well aware of their quirks and would not wanna suggest that their elo reflects anything more than a minor suggestion.

That being said, typically when I hop on to chess.com, I will play a few games with the bots I'm about even with on wins and losses. This is going to be different for everybody based on how far they can go up the bot scale and if they have a premium account or not. I have the middle tier premium chess account which gives me access to all the bots and I find myself falling within range of Karim (850). Everybody higher than him gives me a challenge that's a bit much for me to comfortably beat without playing a full blown classical game, and most of the bots below him are too easy for me. Usually I'll start at Aron (700) and play a game with all the bots leading up to Karim and if I can confidently play up until that point, I will know I'm in the mindset to play. This may seem silly, but so far it seems to have worked for me and when I do take a loss within those bots, I usually end up taking an equally tough loss in my games with humans. 

This method isn't foolproof however as much as I swear by it. It even only works for me maybe 75% of the time and I will still eat a loss after wiping the floor with bots, but when that happens, it is important to go back to the first suggestion and just take a break after your loss. 

What Should I Do In Actual Games Though?

Well this is going to sound like what everybody in the forums say but stop blundering.  Yes, this is the most slap-in-the-face response somebody could give. It doesn't answer much and gives very little explanation as to what somebody can do to actually prevent blunders in the first place. It's also kind of annoying because everybody blunders occasionally. Yes everybody has blundered from 400 to 2400. You've blundered, I've blundered, Magnus has blundered, llama36 himself has even blundered.

The key to improving your ELO no matter your rating is to minimize blunders as much as possible. When you analyze your games and look at higher rated players you'll notice the biggest difference is the lack of mistakes and blunders. The bulk of a titled players skill is preventing blunders multiple moves ahead through calculation and memorization of lines and positions. At our rating, however, it's catching those one move blunders. Those simple blunders that one silly move or misclick turns the Evaluation bar the completely opposite color. And I know  many of these tips have been talked about to death, but I'll lay them out here anyway as it's these that have helped me improve the most.

• Develop your pieces: Pawns are underrated, yes. A checkmate with a Pawn is satisfying but also incredibly rare, it's your pieces you're going to want to get out and make active as soon as possible. I've played a few games where I was able to turn things around and get a foothold just because I had a lead in development alone. I know the common principle is Knights first, then bishops, then the queen, but I've found in many openings, that's not always feasible. Just develop if possible without hanging pieces.
• Don't Hang Your Pieces: This seems really simple in theory but in practice can be difficult. What helped me most going from 400 to around 650 was making sure my pieces were covered before making any move. Take a minute before each move and make sure that the piece your moving isn't going to be at risk of being taken without an even trade at the very least. If you must move a piece out of safety, make sure there's not an immediate threat to said piece and cover it as soon as possible. 
• TAKE YOUR TIME!: One of the more common pieces of advice is to player on longer time controls. I play 60 mins rapid which might as well be classical, and I can assure you that alone will not improve your skill. You actually have to use the time allotted to you. Definitely play on the longer time controls, but use said time too. You are not going to win/lose on time in a 60 minute time control. Take your time between EVERY move, even in the opening. Yes you may have watched the gotham course on the Carro-Kahn or English, but these openings work the way they do for a reason. Take the time to understand how and why they work as you play them and how you can use them to your advantage as the game continues. In most cases, the person who takes the most time to play in a classical game, tends to be the one who comes out victorious because they took the time to calculate their move. 

On Openings

And on that last note. I've heard a bunch of conflicting advice on beginners studying openings. Many say opening principles should be enough to get a beginner through most games. Others say a beginner should dedicate time to studying openings for when they bump up in rating and have to play a more organized game. In my opinion, I've found that a compromise could be made here. I think some people have suggested it, but it bears repeating. Study one opening for white and one for black. 

The most common first move is e4. So an opening that starts with 1.e4 is probably the best for a beginner to study. I personally prefer the Italian because it allows me to castle early and aim for a fried liver attack, but to each is their own. As black I prefer Petrov's defense. Go with what you're most comfortable playing. The more you study that opening and get more proficient at it, the more you'll learn the lines of that opening and what to do when people respond to it.

GothamChess Isn't The End-All Of Chess Youtubers

I love Levy Rozman. His Guess The ELO series has entertained me greatly since I first hopped on this site. That being said, not everyone learns the same way. In that same respect not everybody teaches the same way. A Gotham video got me into chess.com, but upon hopping on here, no amount of his videos actually helped me personally. That's not to knock him as I know many players who excelled to the four digit elo swearing by him, but I'm not one of them. Keep in mind Chess Youtube is bigger than ever now and there's too many youtubers for me to list them all.

If you're having trouble improving and want a study companion and more instructive serious chess videos, I would personally suggest Nelson M (Nelsi). Going from 550-700, his videos were the ones that helped me the most. I've also heard a lot of great things about John Bartholomew's Climbing the ELO Ladder series as well. Chessable also has more interactive book-based courses as well that are worth checking out (thank you KMWS for that suggestion). And on one final note...

Don't Be Afraid To Ask For Help

I'd love nothing more than to say I'm not one of those people who when they started losing would immediately go to the forums and throw a temper tantrum. I'd be lying if I did say that though. I hate to admit that this is my 3rd chess.com account after deactivating my previous 2 because I was on tilt and got so frustrated that I ragequitted my account. That being said, please don't do any of the above.

When you're struggling, hopping in the "for beginners" forum to throw a hissy fit may get you some attention, but it might also get you flagged as a troll. When you're on tilt and nothing seems to help you, throw your game in the "Game Analysis" thread or be civil and ask for some advice in the Beginners forum. I can almost guarantee you'll get 4-5 random messages in your inbox offering help. This is how I've found some of the coolest people who have helped me improve my gameplay exponentially.

Many will look at your games, analyze them and help pinpoint what exactly you're doing wrong. Many will give advice, and to be honest I've found some I'd consider almost online pen pal friends this way. Despite a lot of the drama in the chess world, I've found the Chess.com community one of the most friendly and helpful ones I've been a part of (and I use Reddit). When you're struggling you may just need that little extra push or assistance from a higher rated player and if any of my friends on Chess.com are reading this, I'd just like to remind you guys that I appreciate the heck out of you for how much you guys have helped me get to where I am. When I eventually reach the four digit ELO, I'll def hold like a party or something. 

Conclusion

Lame emotional respect for strangers on the internet aside, I understand that Chess is an incredibly frustrating game at lower ratings. Believe it or not, it's just as frustrating for those of higher ratings too as I've learned from some. If you're in a lull or just not progressing, hopefully this helped you in some way, but nobody stays 400 elo forever. You will improve in time and one of the strangest things I was told was how good a player I was despite only being a 500 elo at the time. Most of us tie too much of our worth in chess to that arbitrary number, but in the end we'll all end up being at least 1000 sometime. Don't get discouraged, don't hesitate to take a break, and breathe. Keep on Chessing!