There's No Secret to Beating Me - Here's How

It was only two months ago that I was overjoyed to break 1300 in rapid. Now I've wormed my way up to 1354 with my best victory yet (over a 1481) and am on the eve of my first daily tournament.

I can't really say I've arrived at a better understanding of the game, or that my tactics are better. It is mostly due to good fortune and cutting down on egregious blunders. You'd be amazed how much your rating can improve if you just stop giving up free pieces! Who knew?

I've also discovered that on those occasions when I don't really know what move to make — and that happens often for me — sticking to fundamentals bails me out. Protect hanging pieces, strengthen the center, look for productive checks, watch out for long diagonals... it all helps.

Still, it's pretty easy to beat me. I don't memorize openings or lines, and my ability to think ahead stops at about three moves. In fact, if you're my opponent, you really don't have to worry about what I'm up to. Just make accurate moves.

I've played more than 300 games now on Chess.com, and it's obvious from analysis where my weakness lies, and it's in my opponent's accuracy. Finish a game against me with 80% accuracy or more, and you probably won. I rarely "out-accurate" accurate players.

My record against opponents with 80%+ accuracy is 23-69-5. Yikes.

Sure, I can fall into opening traps and botch wacky positions, but the more solid you are, the more likely you are to mop the floor with me.

Why would I provide advice on beating me? Because I think it would work on most players. When in doubt, don't be cute. You can still lose by playing boring, elementary chess, but you're less likely to rage quit chess forever because you blundered your queen four games in a row.