How to Improve from 800-1300 Part 2
Hello friends, opponents, and viewers for another blog on the series: "How to Improve from 800-1300" In our last blog we talked about the three P's Plan, Practice, and Patience. This time we'll be talking about the three T's: Time, Tactics, and Tournaments. Let's spend some time in our first T shall we?
The worst enemy of the strategist is the clock. Time trouble ... Reduces us all to pure reflex and reaction, tactical play. Emotion and instinct cloud our strategic vision when there is no time for proper evaluation. - Garry Kasparov
Timing in a Chess game is key because you have to look at all the candidate moves to see which one is the best like captures, checks, and tactics. When you play Online games you need to spend lots of time looking at the advantages and weaknesses you and your opponent have. You then need to spend time coming up with a plan to use your advantage and win. Here's an example when you don't think and just play without putting any time into the game.
Now that we know we should take time with moves and such, what is the main thing Chess.com, Gm's, Chess players, quotes, and such tell us to do? I'll let a GM tell you:
Tactics involve calculations that can tax the human brain, but when you boil them down, they are actually the simplest part of chess and are almost trivial compared to strategy. - Garry Kasparov
Tactics are the key ingredient to a great game! They can be crazy and wild and they can be simple and spectacular! Do you know all the tactical combinations? You can find all of them here. Now time to test you! Here are a few puzzles and a game to help you with tactics, spend time and think about every move ;)
Now that we've talked about Time and Tactics it's time to put both of those together for: Tournaments! Tournaments help you in many different ways from learning from your wins and losses to giving you expectations to reach. They give you important educational benifits and a rating ladder to reach the next level. When I joined my first official Chess.com tournament on here I went from 992-1078 On my 2nd Official Chess.com tournament I went from 1357-1389+ Tournaments give you the will to win that will drive you to victory or defeat. They guide you through your Chess learning and that's why you should join the next (September) tournament that fits your rating. It starts in a week and that should give you plenty of time to read my last few blogs in this series and apply the information learned.
A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will is required to become a great chess player. - Bobby Fischer
With Time, Tactics, and Tournaments you'll grow in Chess. With the right timing you'll learn how to look for the best moves that will lead you to victory! Tactics may seem hard at first but they are the most important part of a Chess player's game. Lastly tournaments will give you that edge of will you need to gain victory.
I hope you have enjoyed the three T's and are planning to read the next blog on the three G's. Please comment below if you have enjoyed this blog and have advice for the next one or if you see any mistakes in this one. Thank you so much for reading and have a great rest of your day. -Kingdom_Hearts
