How to Actually Improve at Chess a Practical Guide

Introduction

So, you want to get better at chess? Congratulations! You’ve just signed up for a lifelong battle against blunders, opening traps, and that one opponent who always plays the London System. But fear not—I’ve been on this journey too, and I’m here to help you improve without losing your mind.

Whether you're aiming for 2000+ or just want to stop hanging your queen every other game, this guide will show you how to level up your chess skills—one blunder at a time.

 
1. Learn Enough to Survive ( Don’t Become a Theory Addict)

 Openings

You don’t need to memorize 30 moves of Najdorf theory to play good chess. You just need to follow three simple rules:

• Control the center.
• Develop your pieces

Here is an ideal postion with good central control and development.

• Don’t move your queen out too early (unless you want it hunted down like a fugitive.)

Here's an example game of what is most likely to happen if you bring out your queen to early.

How to Get Good at Openings Without Losing Your Mind:
Pick 1-2 openings with White and 2-3 with Black (against 1.e4 and 1.d4).
Learn the ideas, not just the moves—otherwise, you’ll forget them faster than you forgot your homework deadline. And try to  play training games and analyse  them.

The best method which I have found to do it, is playing against coach in chess.com

If you love chaos, play the Vienna Gambit. If you like solid play, go for the Caro-Kann. And if you play the London, just know your opponents are rolling their eyes right now.(JK, London is actually good)

 
2.  Where the Magic and the Blunders Happen.

THE MIDDLEGAME

The middlegame is where things get spicy. You’ve developed your pieces, castled safely (hopefully), and now it’s time to actually do something. But what?

Here’s where tactics and strategy come in

 What are tactics and strategies?

Tactics

 Usually a small move combo pattern which gives you an immediate advantage positionally or material vise.

Strategies

Are the long term plans you make in a game of chess.  Think what you would have done if you had gotten 5 moves in a row. Try to implement that in your game slowly. This is strategy 

 Random Chess in the Middlegame

Most players do not know what to play in the middlegame so they just play random moves. This actually really impacts the game in a negetive way.

How to stop random chess 

• Solve puzzles daily—because nothing builds tactical vision like realizing you just missed a mate-in-one.

Let's see if you can find the right move in this position 

• Learn the classics

 Forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks. Basically, all the ways to make your opponent’s life miserable.

Let's see if you guys are able to find basic tactics. I've given some positions below try to find your move and type it in the comments.

• Think before trading

Think if you are getting rid of your best attacking piece just because it “looks like a fair trade”? (Hint: Don’t.)

Should white trade his knight with black's bishop?

Study games of Mikhail Tal if you want to attack like a lunatic, or Anatoly Karpov if you want to squeeze the life out of your opponent slowly and painfully.

 
3. The Part of Chess Everyone Ignores Until It’s Too Late

ENDGAMES

So, you've survived the middlegame. Now, it's just kings, a couple of pawns, and maybe a rogue knight. This is where many players suddenly realize they have no clue what they’re doing.

Endgames might seem boring, but knowing them will win you games others would throw away.

How to Become an Endgame Wizard (Without Reading a 500-Page Book)

• Learn basic checkmates: King + queen vs. king, king + rook vs. king. These are the building blocks.
  Master pawn endings—because nothing feels worse than pushing a pawn one square too early and losing the game.
  Know Lucena and Philidor positions in rook endgames—this will save you from embarrassing rook blunders.

Lucena position

Lucena position is a really important rook endgame position where we are up a pawn and trying to win and the opponent is trying to draw by pinning and checking us

Here we first cut the king of to the g file with rook check and black cannot come to the e file because we do the same with our king and promotion is unstoppable. After the black king goes to the g file we play rook f4 which is the only winning move because as we can see it allows us to block the check in the future.

Philidor defence

Philidor defence is a special type of defence in a rook endgame where we are down a pawn and are trying to draw.

Here we play Ra7 to cut the white king off from coming to the 6th rank and so forcing him to push the pawn.(if the pawn is not pushed we can wait in the same rank). After the pawn push we have unlimited checks and if white hides using his rook then we can capture the pawn drawing the game.

__

Play out won endgames instead of assuming your opponent will resign (spoiler: they won’t).
If you ever hear someone say, “Endgames are boring,” just know they probably lose half their games because of bad endgame technique.

The way which I felt is the best to learn endgames is the Endgames features from chess.com

 
4.  If You Don’t, You’ll Keep Making the Same Mistakes

Analyzing Games

Want to improve? Stop playing game after game without looking at what went wrong. That’s like touching a hot stove, burning yourself, and then doing it again because “maybe this time it won’t be hot.”

• How to Analyze Your Games Without Crying Over Blunders:
  Review key moments without an engine first. Try to figure out where you went wrong.
  Use an engine (like Stockfish) after you’ve done. Otherwise, you’ll just mindlessly accept whatever the computer says.
• Identify recurring mistakes.--Are you missing tactics? Rushing moves? Playing too passively?
• Keep track of your progress                                                                                                                       If you are dedicated and keen on improving at chess, I suggest keeping a small notebook with you write your progress daily and how you did it and in the future if you are struggling with something just look whether you have studied it before and then study it again.( It feels good seeing a notebook with your progress)
  Trust me, analyzing your games will skyrocket your improvement.

Ok here is a little something for you this is a real game played by me and my friend. You are playing as black try to find the move where or the moment where the game's trajectory changed ( don't use stockfish  try to find the moment yourself ) let's see how you do.

 
5.   Bullet Chess Won’t Make You Smarter

Play the Right Time Controls

If you want to improve, play slower time controls.

• Rapid (10+0, 15+10, 30+0) is the best for improvement. It gives you enough time to think but not so much that you start overanalyzing.
• Blitz (5+0, 3+0) is fun, but don’t rely on it for improvement. It helps with pattern recognition but can reinforce bad habits.
• Bullet (1+0, 30s) is pure chaos. Play for fun, not improvement. Unless you want to train your flagging skills.

If you ever find yourself blundering pieces in every game, slow down. Chess is hard enough without self-sabotage.

 
6.  Stealing Ideas:

 Learn From the Best

Grandmasters have already done the hard work of figuring out how to play good chess. So, why not learn from them?

How to Study GM Games Without Feeling Overwhelmed:
Pick a player with a style you admire (Tal = attacking, Karpov = positional, Carlsen = endgame grind).
Go through their games without an engine first. Try to guess their moves.
Focus on key positions where the game changed.
Write down one takeaway from each game (in the notebook from earlier )and try to apply it in your own games.
Basically, copy what works and make it your own.

 
7. Calculations

Train your brain

If you can calculate just one move deeper than your opponent, you’ll win more games.

How to Train Calculation and Visualization:
Solve hard puzzles that require thinking 4-5 moves ahead. 
Use the Woodpecker Method—solving the same tactical puzzles repeatedly to burn patterns into your brain.
Before making a move, visualize the position 2-3 moves ahead.
Being good at calculation is like having x-ray vision—you’ll see threats before they even happen.

Buliding calculational skills

Building calculational skills is important. A method that I found to practice your defence and calculational skill is to  Play against stockfish in a position where you are up a piece and try to maintain the advantage and finish the game off. If you make a mistake or blunder take back the move and try to find the right continuation and do it until you win the position.  Do this on a regular basis. This is what I did.

Another way to build calculations is the Solo chess feature on chess.com, it even works while we are offline and it is really good, I use it all the time

Knowing squares

Just like knowing all the rules in chess and several tactics knowing your squares is also very important because it will help you visualise more effectively and efficiently. the best way to do it, is to use the Vision feature in chess.com. 

 
8. Mindset

 Stay Cool, Even After a Blunder
Chess is a mental game. You can be a tactical genius, but if you tilt after losing a piece, you’ll never reach your full potential.

How to Stay Mentally Strong in Chess:
Accept that losing is part of learning. Even Magnus Carlsen loses games.
Don’t tilt. If you lose two games in a row, take a break. Seriously.
Trust your preparation. If you’ve studied an opening, don’t abandon it just because you lost one game with it.

Now as we talked about how to stay cool after a blunder lets look at how we can stop them

 Cut the Blunders: The Fastest Way to Get Better

Most games at sub-2000 level are decided by simple blunders. Before making a move, use the “T-I-M” rule:

• Threats – What is my opponent threatening?
• Improvements – Can I improve my piece positioning?
• Mistakes – Is this move blundering a piece or a tactic?

Spend five extra seconds before making a move to double-check for hanging pieces or one-move tactics. You'll be amazed at how many Elo points you save by not giving away free material.

Enjoy the journey. Improvement is slow, but if you stick with it, you’ll see results.

 
9.Final Thoughts: Your Next Steps

Chess improvement is a marathon, not a sprint. If you want to get better, focus on:
✅ Learning openings that fit your style
✅ Practicing tactics and middlegame plans
✅ Mastering basic endgames
✅ Analyzing your games
✅ Playing rapid games and studying GMs

Now, go forth and crush your opponents (or at least stop blundering knights for free). Let me know how your improvement journey goes—I’d love to hear about it!

• If you want a really simple guide on how to Skyrocket your elo click here
• Join me on my Journey to mastery
• Check out my other Blogs