5 actionable tips for chess adult improvers

Bonjour hi! (as we say where I live)

When a chess player presses “Start Game”, they are assigned an opponent. But adult players have an additional opponent that is always playing against us, even when we are not playing. It is time. Time is our worst enemy.

The oppression of time in adult life puts pressure on every aspect of our existence. In just 24 hours, we have:

• to get to work
• work
• to come back from work
• try to sleep
• eat
• cook our meals
• do the dishes
• go grocery shopping
• go to the drugstore
• try to see friends
• shop for gifts for all our love ones since we are always in some holiday
• watch that TV shows that our friends keep pestering us about
• spend quality time with our partner
• spend real quality time with our partner 👀
• and somewhere in all of that… play chess

And THEN, try to improve at chess.

No wonder kid and teenager achieves high rankings easily. Their brains soak up everything like a sponge, and on top of that, they have time and energy. They can play all night and still be productive the next day. Me? I’m so tired. All. The. Time. 

When I was young, my dream was to become an astronaut. Nowadays, I only dream of ONE restorative night of 8 hours of sleep!

Being an adult chess improver comes with its challenges, the biggest one is that we’re always playing against the clock. That’s why today, I will give you 5 tips that have helped me get to 1332. Yes, that’s +32 points elo since last time we talked - a new personal best!

Look, I’ve worked so hard to gain those 32 points that I will showcase them everywhere I can.

So, we all know the eternals “play longer time controls” and “analyse each game!”. This time, let’s skip the obvious and focus on actionable tips.

1- Set an Elo floor for your opponents

Since we don’t have time to waste, we want to make every game count. Go into your settings so that you never face opponents rated more than 100 points below your elo.

Why? Because, Elo-wise, you gain very little while risking to lose a lot more by making a blunder. But I already told you, your elo isn’t important (except for the 32 points I’ve won this month!)

But mostly, you learn nothing by crushing a less-skilled player and the victory doesn’t even taste that good. In Act II, scene 2 of the play Le Cid by Corneille, a character says: "To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory."

It means that no chessboxer earns bragging rights by KOing an 8 years old kid.

The real reason you need to face people of your caliber is that you need to be challenged. The goal here isn’t to win games. If that’s your main objective, well, just head over to the bot section and play against Martin for the rest of your life.

By the same logic, I don’t set a ceiling for stronger opponents either. I might lose a few elo points, but I’ve gain the greatest gift of all: 🌟 KNOWLEDGE 🌟

And sometimes, I manage to beat them! I get to be super proud of myself! I even gain like 10 elo points! But, hey, remember: those don’t matter (except for those 32 ones I gain last month.)

2- Revisit your failed puzzles

As I said, the hourglass is always running out of time when we are an adult. That means that not all puzzles are equally relevant to our improvement. 

For me, as much as I love Puzzle Rush, I know that the first 15 puzzles are too easy. I solve them without thinking. I mean, I know what a back rank mate looks like. I see them coming in my sleep.. So… what’s the point of practicing them when time is limited?

The puzzles that deserve your attention are the ones you failed. If you didn’t know, this website features a section where you can retry your failed puzzle. Just go on your custom puzzles:

Select the shameful “Puzzles I’ve failed”.

If you’re struggling with particular topics, you can select them there. Right now, I’m working on mate in 2 because, just as in life, mating is fun.

3- Flip the board during puzzles

Back when I was taking driving lessons, the instructor always said: “You have to learn to drive for yourself, but for others as well.” He meant that I would have to anticipate how all the other drivers would react to my driving. Same thing in chess.

As adults, we don’t always have the time (or the energy) to play a rapid game. The urge to play a bullet or blitz game is real and hard to resist. But here’s a little game I recommend: go into puzzle mode and flip the board. Try to find the best move for your opponent!

First of all, it also reminds me that my opponents are as strong as I am and constantly looking for tactics from their point of view.

That way, you are also using a different part of your brain. Your luggage of pattern recognition grows and will always be there to travel with you on the journey of life. Next destination: Checkmate city!

4-  The puzzle doorman

When you walk into a fancy bar, there’s always a doorman. He’s there to make sure that you are dressed properly, that you are old enough to get in and let’s be honest - not totally hammered(… yet). Once he’s vetted you, you can go in.

I apply the same principle to chess. I call him the puzzle doorman. (she can be a doorgirl too!)

When I started to play chess, with everything that goes into an adult life, I realised something: With everything going on in my adult life, it took me several minutes to get my mind into chess mode. The result? Frustrating losses where I played below my full potential. I played like I just got woken up by a loud BANG outside in the middle of the night.

Since I don’t have all night (or all day) to play, my puzzle doorman makes sure that I’m ready before I step into the 64 squares for a match. That’s why, before each game, I give myself one rule: I have to complete a certain amount of puzzles first. No puzzles, no play.

That way, the puzzle doorman makes sure that I’m ready for what is - most of the time - my one and only game of the day.

5- Set the ultimate goal (Spoilers: it’s to have fun)

When I became a comedian at age 34, I knew that a middle-age latino breaking into mainstream culture was nearly impossible here in the province of Quebec. And, well… that didn’t exactly happen.

However, I still achieved great things. I'll try to stay humble and say that I’ve self-produced two tours, I’ve written a double bestseller, I’ve been nominated three times in a major televised gala in front of 1,4 millions of viewers, got featured in the news, got 26,000 views on a show posted on YouTube and a lot more that you can read here if you speak French.

Puzzle doorman: You have to solve this mate in 2 to continue reading!

Look, yes, we are trying to get better, but let’s get real with ourselves. I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade, but certain goals are just out of reach for most adult chess players. Take the GM title, for example. Most grandmasters learned the game when they still believed in Santa Claus.

Meanwhile, we are juggling full time jobs and a life full of surprises, all while trying to learn a sideline of an opening of a somewhat niche game. The bad news is: We are probably going nowhere with this skill. The good news is: We are probably going nowhere with this skill!

Yes, that’s a good thing! We don't have to put ourselves under useless pressure!

Our income doesn’t depend on any tournament results. We are never representing our country in any of our games. Let’s take advantage that our parents aren’t breathing down our neck, demanding we win. Our family won’t berate us if we blundered in our last game. We are not Josh Waitzkin in Searching For Bobby Fischer where our dad needs us to win more than we do. 

Let’s play for fun! Let’s learn for fun! Studies show that people learn faster and more effectively when they have fun. You will literally become better at chess if you focus on the pleasurable journey more than chasing title norms and Elo thresholds.

Let’s remind ourselves that, at the end of the day, chess is just a game. A game should be fun - and chess? well, it’s pretty fun if you ask me! 

(Especially with those sweet sweet 32 elo points I gained this month!)