How To Un-plateau Yourself and Win More Games

Have you ever been in a situation when, no matter how hard you tried, no matter how many games you've played, you simply can't improve your rating above a certain point? You're not alone. Many a grandmaster has suffered this same fate, called chess plateau. A plateau is a very frustrating experience, but don't despair. Today we will go over tips to overcome plateau and get that rating up!

Tip 1: Don't Play Doom-Chess

After a string of losses, resist the urge to immediately keep playing. You will only increase fatigue and stress and decrease motivation, leading to more losses and serious discouragement. Take a break and come back when your brain is fresh.

Tip 2: Take a Break

While this might sound counterintuitive, taking a break from chess can be extremely beneficial. Taking a break, even just for a few days, can refresh your skills, gain new perspective, and increase motivation to play. In fact, GM Ding Liren and IM Levy Rozman both took some time off from chess to refresh their skills.

Tip 3: Find the Cause

Finding the cause of your losses is crucial to winning more and ensuring that you will not make the same mistake over and over and over again.

Take a moment to think. What is it that is causing me to lose my games? Maybe you are resigning to early, or making moves too fast. Maybe you need to stop blundering your pieces. Try to find ways to combat these problems, like not resigning after a blunder, or checking for the best moves before moving.

Take a look at your tactics. Take a look at your losses and try to spot a pattern. Is your go-to opening causing you to lose in the beginning? Are you stuck on trying long-winded attacks rather than adapt to the position? Embrace a growth mindset (more on that later!) and shift your tactics to fit those of your opponents.

Review your games. I don't just mean using game review (though I encourage it). Take a look at what went wrong and how your opponent won. This will help you gain insight and learn new tactics.

Tip 4: Study Smarter, Not Harder

Don't overdo it. After reaching plateau, you might want to ruthlessly study any and everything from openings to endgames, but this will likely not help. Instead, you will end up exhausted and having improved very little. All this will do is burn you out and decrease your enthusiasm. Remember, chess should be fun, not boot camp.

Play rapid, not blitz. While blitz is entertaining, it encourages impulse moves, or moves based on instinct, not intuition, which can lead to blunders.

Do Puzzles. To increase your precision, I strongly encourage doing puzzles. Puzzles have been shown to increase your rating, so you might as well give them a shot!

Diversify. Don't just study one thing or in one way. Try different study methods and cover many topics.

Tip 5: Step It

Instead of hoping to achieve immediately, set small goals for playing and studying. For example, instead of a goal being "Win 8 games in a row", break it up into steps of winning two games, then four, then six, and slowly build up to the final goal.

Tip 6: Embrace a Growth Mindset

Always be ready to learn new things and change your style. This will keep you on par and a step ahead of your opponents. Try to use the same tactics that are used against you against your opponent and pay attention to different styles. Having a closed mindset is dangerous as it does not give you the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and play more diverse chess.

Adapt, adapt, adapt. As your rating gets higher, so are your opponents' playing styles. Learn to adapt to these new styles and learn new response tactics instead of sticking to one playing style. This will help you win more as you improve. Also, adapt to your position. Check out responses to individual moves and change your outlook as the position changes.

Learn to accept loss. Loss is a normal part of learning. Instead of seeing loss as you failing, take it as a learning opportunity. Find out what you did wrong and how you can avoid the same mistake.

Think like your opponent. This is crucial. Think. Why did my opponent do this? Don't just think from your perspective. Try to reason your opponent's moves. This will help you gain better understanding on how to respond and help you see threats early.

Be patient. Victory does not come instantly. Be patient with yourself, your skills, and your failures. Remember, chess plateau is tricky to overcome, but with the proper mindset, you can achieve it.

Tip 7: NEVER GIVE UP

Chess plateau can be demoralizing, but it is not impossible to break. Be confident in yourself and your skills and have a confident mindset. Remind yourself that victory is in sight!

Conclusion

Chess plateau can be one of the lowest points of your chess career, but with the proper mindset and determination, you can conquer it. I hope this taught you something and good luck!