The Only Secret To Reach 1600 Elos
"In chess, there is only one mistake: over-estimation of your opponent. All else is either bad luck or weakness.
- Savielly Tartakower
Hello chess aficionados,
Welcome to the blog space where sharing knowledge is the sole purpose and growing together is the prime motto. I have been uploading the middle game series, which is greatly supported. Thanks to all of you guys. The idea for this blog arose from several people connecting me on Instagram, Facebook and Chess.com.
People have the same issue related to the rating plateau. This is the prime reason we feel chess is 'TOUGH'. I want to tell you that getting stuck in some rating range is very common. It's just like in any anime where the protagonist achieves a certain level of skills he is able to defeat that level of rival. For the next one, he requires new training.
Like our son Goku says,
"I could go one step farther If I wanted to.
# Introduction -
Today, I will give you the total blueprint of the way to increase the rating to at least 1500. I have recently broken my records reaching,
RAPID - 1700
BLITZ - 1620
Bullet - 1350
I want every one of you to grow more from your current stage. Now this blog is focusing on intermediate players, who are between 800 - 1400. I will show you the opening, plans and tricks and things you need to boost your rating.
If you're in the range
900-1120
1300-1450
This blog is highly recommended for you.
# Get your openings prepared -
I was a 'Queen's Gambit' player in my beginning phase. It worked till 850 and I reached my plateau. Here I decided to go for new opening ideas like Blackmar–Diemer Gambit. Queen's gambit failed for me since I didn't know how to play against Slav setups. Now in the 800 - 900 range, I won't go deeper since no one plays lines and generally, they blunder pieces that go unnoticed.
To my advanced folks, I will show my Ideas of openings that I play,
Vienna and Caro kann. If you are at 800 Players, you can learn this too. Since this setup will give you more attacking and tactical chances.
# Vienna Gambit -
If your "IM Leavy Rozman" fan, You sure have heard about vienna. The idea is to gambit the f-pawn to get a central space advantage and use an open f-file for the attack.
# Central space advantage -
# Some lines are sharp so that the opponent is in a losing condition.
@ Falkbeer variation
What more do you want than these
central space
Open phile for rook
Pieces developed
# What if he copies us?
@ Copycat variation
# What if he/she dosent take gambit ?
@ Vienna Game: Max Lange
# Caro Kann -
The Idea of caro kann is simple to form a solid light square structure and play a slow manoeuvring game.
# Key things in caro kann-
- Knight outpost on f5
- Trade light square bishop for opponent strong knight
- Dark square bishop on d6
# One of the traps can be creating a battery and checkmating if the opponent is not careful.
This is mostly for bullet chess since the opponent finds the knight hanging and forgets to see the battery. I have 1300-rated bullet players who fall for this trap. In rapid you can find this trap working but not after 1300 elo.
# Identify your playing style -
This is self-exercise and one of the most important. I was a d4 player playing positional chess without really understanding it till 1150. Once I started e4, I realised that this is more easily understandable to me.
The most critical mistake we make as a beginner is we try to play the closed position without really knowing pins, backward pawns, isolated pawns etc.
Some people prefer closed positions whereas some prefer open. For instance, my friend @itsSAHU is a positional player whereas I am the person who plays an open position. This happens because he knew chess already before playing online. For the person who has played overboard, close positions generally are understandable to them.
# My suggestion
If your beginner start playing opening which gives an open position finding pieces mobility becomes a lot easier.
# Rematch -
Although this trick seems funny, it works to a greater level when the only thing you consider is rating. You have to identify the person who is blundering in your games losing pawns a lot. This is because not every day is a good day for someone, even if he is good at it. You have to pick such an opportunity to make use of it the most.
One thing to remember is to try this only if the person is higher rated than you to get maximum points.
# Purchasing membership -
This option is totally over you, considering your economic conditions. Generally, the purchase will result in more advantages since you will be exposed to several new opportunities. These may include
Multiple puzzles -
I won't lie major transformation of me started after I topped the Global daily chess Puzzle on chess.com. This was possible only due to diamond membership.
Solving more and more puzzles gives you more understanding of tactics.
!! GOOD NEWS !!
For these, you can refer to lichess, where puzzles are not good compared to the level of chess.com, but it's good enough to teach you several concepts. Also, try to improve your puzzle streak. This will bring consistency to your thinking.
Theories -
Learning theory is easy when you refer to chess.com videos. There are many ways to know the theory,
Youtube -
Chessable -
Game Review -
Now this is one thing that no one does better than chess.com. I can't tell you how important it is to "REVIEW" your games. I am playing with 1700 opponents. We still blunder positional moves. Many times none of the moves are mistakes still the game is decisive since one positional placement was better than the other.
# Following correct youtuber -
This might be a question of debate. I am just giving my view with my experience and not intending to insult any of the players in any manner.
So there are many social chess content creators. They are generally good in certain categories. If you follow Gothamchess ENTERTAINMENT is what you will get with a little bit of understanding. When we compare it to GM Hikaru Nakamura, his stream will be full of deep lines but those are for advanced people.
So whom to watch and how to learn?
chess study can be divided and understood in the following ways
Opening ideas -
In any world, I will suggest GM Daniel Naroditsky's channel. He will teach you why that structure and why a particular move is played in a given opening. Everyone calls him sensei so know he is best at it.
Tactics -
Here I suggest you to watch Remote Chess Academy He provides traps in that line.
End Games -
Well, here you should not have any doubt you should keep watching Hikaru and how he defends and create threats at the same time. It's not about understanding just watching him will give you an idea of how certain pieces can be tactically protected or forming a bond of pieces.
General Mistakes -
Here we will refer to our favourite Gotham chess. He might not give you an exact theory but he will provide you with ideas and lines and possible mistakes we might do. His 10 Min opening explanation is best to get the idea of it quickly. I have learned a lot in vienna from his chessly, so if you can afford it, you can buy his course.
If you are reading here, you are really awesome and serious about your chess. As a result, I will give you bonus content that will show you that 1600 is not at all as dangerous as you think. Here same things happen just with a lot of understanding.
# If you want to know what happens at 1600, I will show you now,
This is a series of matches I played against the same person who is really strong. I was trying to reach 1600 when I met this guy and played almost 14-15 Matches. If you go by my last logic, I said even if I lose 6 Matches out of 14, I am winning a rating which was my intention.
But sometimes you find people more interesting than your goals he was a strong chess enthusiast and really interested in our competition. I owe a thank you to him to allow me to use our games in this blog.
# Blunders are common just try making an acceptable threat
# One move blunder in Endgame
# Positinal play and piece activity with plan
# Complications make opponent blunder
# Oppenent takes you out of theory
In such cases play don't extend your pieces and develop a plan. Generally, try Fianchetto the bishop and use more of the knight when you are unaware of the position.
Also, isn't this one amazing due to smothered mate?
# False threat -
Guys this match desrves some respect ...
Now this is not worth bragging about since it's an opening blunder and I have played caro for more than 300 matches so I know this is not a line so it was easy to identify that it was a pseudo threat.
Guys, I would like to end this blog here due to its length, and I might give you more tricks and tips in upcoming blogs. For this blog, these are the conclusion.
# Conclusion -
- The journey is not easy, but it is not hard either.
- Understanding chess takes time.
- Learning lines will take time.
- We have to identify our playing style.
- We need to be aware of our opening so that if you are playing bullet in 5 sec you can premove 7-8 moves.
- We can think about purchasing the membership.
- Analyse your matches
- Solve more puzzles
Once again thanks for your precious time.
See you on the next blog.
Till then
" Lets us all grow at chess together.
- Siddharth Ingale.
