The Reason Why 99% of Intermediate Players Fail To Go Pro

Hi, there. Its been some time, and I am back with a blog after ages.

As the title states, this blog series will help you to understand why MOST intermediates fail to make it even to the crust of their potential, leave the core.

In this series, we will be dividing the reasons into five, based on tactics, stats, analysis and facts.

The main reasons are, I have to say

• Openings
• Psychological Factors
• Endgame Play
• Style, Approach and Understanding
• Middlegame Strategy

And on that note, lets get into the main content of this blog!

As a starter, we are going with openings.

It is no doubt openings are the "deciders" in low level chess, as a huge advantage can be all in the rest of the game. But why do players struggle due to openings??

A - Familiarity - People generally overlook the real idea of the moves and rather memorize it, in my opinion. When they see an unfamiliar opening, they struggle due to this factor. Furthermore, they overlook traps and threats in unfamiliar openings. Sometimes, they even tend to play unfamiliar openings, only because of......

B - Hyped Openings - People tend to play certain openings, simply because they see it somewhere online or as a recommendation, without understanding all the key elements properly. They tend to venture into unknown territory and in due course, fall. Look, the Hikarus and the Mamedyarovs can play openings simply because they understand it properly. But for you and me!? Its gonna take time, boy. I still remember playing the Scandinavian without prep and getting smashed ages ago but anyways...

C - Co-Relating Openings With MiddleGame - Perhaps, the main course I had prepared for today lol. Openings and Middlegames co-relate with each other at the start of the middlegame. Things like pawn structures, piece placements, open/closed play, positional/tactical ability, attacking/defensive play, etc play a VERY IMPORTANT factor in the middlegame and the opening sets up all of the above. Every opening has a pro and con for everyone, and a pro and con especially for you.

For example, the French will give you a lot of counterplay, but it often leads to that bad bishop weakness on c8. However if it is played by the proper person - someone who relishes tactical play, someone who is capable of making a fortress through that c8 bishop or someone who can transform the c8 bishop weakness by aggressive play to open up the light squares to light up the positions. Sorry, couldn't stop myself for that one...

Lets look at a game:

Here the attacking intermediate player did not know how to defend from the attack. Moreover, he didnt know how to evaluate the attack. He got a very uncomfortable endgame position and lost to White easily.

D - The Switch - Intermediates never stick to one opening. I understand its a business secret but yes, constant switching without even learning one opening properly only leads to self-destruction after some point of time. Generally, people never tend to switch from a favorite opening, which is generally from white. However, with the other color, they struggle and go from opening to opening, without finding a opening, they can actually settle with.

I feel, if the same players got a similar pawn structure with their favorite opening in the opposite color, they would be a lot more successful. For example, 1.b3 lovers would also love the Katalimov Sicilian due to the similarities between the both.

With the above tips, the opening phase of this series comes to an end! I do know that all of these tips may not work for few as I have taken the majority of the starter intermediates. However, rest assured the next part will work for you!

Speaking about it, have you ever faced any such problems in the intermediate phase? How did you overcome them? And what do you want to be the next part? Your insights would be very handy.

Regards,

@Dragondom1