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Everyone who plays chess wants to be good at chess. And there are an endless number of methods that bring about improvement. However, these methods are inefficient, and often costly. So, how does one get good at chess quickly without having to spend a dime? All you have to do is follow the steps in this post. I promise to cut the bull and get to the juicy stuff. The most common reason beginners lose chess games is because they hang pieces. Giving away one's pieces makes it incredibly difficult to do anything; defending and checkmating become almost impossible for the average beginner. So, we must eliminate that. Here are my two solutions. 1. DO TACTICS Tactics help build pattern recognition. Therefore, you will train your brain to pick up on hanging pieces and quick mates. 2. Before every move, ask yourself these two questions: What checks and captures does my opponent have? And what checks and captures do I have? Alright moving on... Now you blunder less. What is there now to improve? Easy. You need to know how basic endgame checkmates work. So, learn them. Here is a list of the important ones: 1. Rook + Rook + King vs King 2. Rook + King vs King 3. Queen + King vs King 4. 2 pawns + King vs King 5. 1 pawn + King vs King That's it. Beginners will seldom encounter other structures, so it is pointless to learn them until at least 1700 ish. Next up, you need to learn openings, and how to deal with your opponent's plans. Easy. Don't learn any openings (at least as white). Instead, opt for systems for quick improvement. Systems allow players to go on autopilot and still move like a Grandmaster. Systems I recommend: London System King's Indian Attack Notice how there aren't any good systems for Black? It is unfortunate. Instead, I prescribe learning 2 (and only 2) openings as black. The French Defense against e4 (learn the Advance Variation, the Rubinstein, and the Exchange variation) and the rat against d4 will prepare you well for all opponents. Next up is the middle-game. Easy enough. Just learn the basic positional principles listed below: 1. Space 2. Outposts 3. Good Bishop vs Bad Bishop vs Good Bad Bishop vs Bad Good Bishop 4. Minority attack 5. Pawn structures and how they work 6. Pawn weaknesses and how to exploit them 7. tempo (counting-up opening tempi and counting-down endgame tempi) Finally, ask yourself this question after every move (both for yourself and your opponent): What does this move do, and what does this move no longer do? That's it. That's how to get good fast. Just learn this. And to apply it, just play a ton of blitz games to hammer in these principles. (note: This article assumes knowledge of piece movement and castling)

Bullet Chess? What's that? Is it healthy for chess? Is it important? How can I get better at Bullet Chess? There have been many questions around Bullet Chess and, in this article, we will go through all of these questions and know how to get better at it! Introduction How to Improve Your Bullet Chess Skills? Conclusion Introduction Bullet Chess is a variant of Speed Chess, where the time control is less than 3 minutes! Yes, it's really fast! You might be thinking who plays this crazy variant? But according to recent Chess.com Stats, over 550,000 bullet games are played on Chess.com every day! Before, people used to tell that Bullet Chess is not good and it is just a waste of time. These days, the importance of Bullet Chess is clearly visible, even the Speed Chess Championship matches have a bullet segment! We can see that Fabi is the world's 2nd highest-rated chess player, but he lost to Duda in this year's SCC because of the bullet segment, even though, he was leading with 3-0 at the beginning. There are several other examples, where bullet experts came on top! On the other hand, playing too much bullet games is worse. I myself have experienced it! I played about 20 bullet games before a rapid match, and then, during the rapid game, I was just playing very fast and blundered everything! Are you playing in the Bullet Open Championship this December? How to Improve Your Bullet Chess Skills? Now that we know playing bullet chess is not that dangerous as we used to think, we can look forward to knowing some tricks which we can utilize in our next bullet game! 1. Time Management Time Management is one of the most important aspects of Speed Chess. You have to use your clock wisely. I have seen many players, who start the game slowly and when they fall into time trouble, they start playing fast. This is not going to work in Bullet Chess. You have to play fast from the beginning of the game. I generally, follow the 20/50/30 rule, that is, spend 20% time in Opening; 50% in Middlegame; 30% in Endgame. When you are below 30 seconds, try not to think more than 5 seconds unless it finds a clear checkmate. Don't think so much in a Bullet Game! 2. Openings In Bullet Chess, almost any opening works, but playing the opening that you know well is better. Although I know a bunch of openings, I tend to play Reti Opening (1.Nf3) in Bullet Chess because I can premove almost every move at the beginning. ExtremeLearner (2522) vs. FahadRahman (2576) 1-0 Live Chess Chess.com 02 Nov 2020 Round: - ECO: A05 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a b c d e f g h 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 7. b3 Nc6 8. Bb2 b5 9. c4 bxc4 10. bxc4 Rb8 11. Rb1 d4 12. Ba1 Bb7 13. Qc2 Qc7 14. a3 Ba8 15. Rxb8 Rxb8 16. Rb1 Na5 17. Nb3 Nxb3 18. Rxb3 g6 19. Qb1 Rxb3 20. Qxb3 Kg7 21. Bb2 e5 22. Ne1 Bxg2 23. Nxg2 Nd7 24. Bc1 Qc6 25. Bd2 Nb6 26. f3 f5 27. h4 e4 28. fxe4 fxe4 29. Bf4 e3 30. Qd1 Bf6 31. Qf1 Qa4 32. Bh6+ Kf7 33. Bg5 Qc6 34. Nf4 Kg7 35. Nh3 Bxg5 36. Nxg5 Qf6 37. Qxf6+ Kxf6 38. Ne4+ Ke5 39. Nxc5 Kd6 40. Ne4+ Ke5 41. Ng5 h6 42. Nf3+ Kf5 43. Nxd4+ Kg4 44. Kg2 Na4 45. Nc2 Kf5 46. Nxe3+ Ke5 47. Ng4+ Ke6 48. Nxh6 Nc3 49. Ng4 Nb1 50. Kf3 Nxa3 51. c5 Nc2 52. e3 Nb4 53. d4 Nc6 54. Ne5 Kd5 55. Nd7 a5 56. Nf6+ Ke6 57. Ne4 a4 58. Nc3 a3 59. d5+ Kd7 60. dxc6+ Kxc6 61. Ke4 Kxc5 62. Kd3 Kb4 63. Na2+ Ka4 64. Nc3+ Kb3 65. e4 Kb2 66. e5 a2 67. Nxa2 g5 68. e6 g4 69. e7 Kb3 70. e8=Q Kxa2 71. Qb5 1-0 In the game above, I was almost able to premove the first 10 moves, and took the time advantage, which helped me convert the game at the end! 3. Premove Carefully Premoving is very important in Bullet Chess, but premoving too much can backfire! It is good to premove only when you are sure about your opponent's move. Shield12 (2656) vs. ExtremeLearner (2577) 0-1 Live Chess Chess.com 31 Jul 2020 Round: - ECO: A04 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 h g f e d c b a 1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. d4 c6 7. c4 a5 8. Nc3 Bf5 9. O-O Ne4 10. Nd2 Nxc3 11. Bxc3 a4 12. e4 Bc8 13. Qc2 a3 14. Rad1 Nd7 15. Rfe1 e5 16. Nf3 Qc7 17. Qd2 b5 18. cxb5 cxb5 19. Rc1 Qa7 20. Bb4 exd4 21. Bxd6 Re8 22. e5 Bb7 23. Nxd4 Bxg2 24. Kxg2 Nxe5 25. Bxe5 Bxe5 26. Nc6 Qb7 27. Qd5 Bg7 28. Rxe8+ Rxe8 29. h4 h5 30. Rc2 Kh7 31. b4 Re6 32. Rc1 Re5 33. Qf3 Re6 34. Nd8 Qxf3+ 35. Kxf3 Rf6+ 36. Kg2 Rd6 37. Nc6 Rd2 38. Na7 Rxa2 39. Nxb5 Rb2 40. Nxa3 Bd4 41. Nc4 Rxf2+ 42. Kh3 g5!? Tricky Move in Bullet Chess! 43. Rd1?? Premove?? 43... g4# 0-1 4. Never Give Up! Never resign, even if it is mate in 2 or 3. In Bullet Chess, anything can happen at any moment of the game! There are many stories, where players had blundered or got timed out at the end when they were just going to checkmate in 1! Example vs. Never Resign 0-1 Live Chess Chess.com 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a b c d e f g h 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 Nbd7 7. O-O-O c5 8. d5 a6 9. h4 Rb8 10. h5 b5 11. hxg6 hxg6 12. Bh6 b4 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Qh6+ Kg8 15. Qh7+?? Mouse Slip?? 15... Nxh7 White Resigned 0-1 In the game above, we can assume that White mouse slipped 15.Qh7+ and Black won the game! 5. When to Simplify / Complicate? When you have a big material advantage or down on time, try to simplify the position as much as possible. In simple positions, premoving is much easier than in complicated ones. If your opponent is down on time or has a big material advantage, complicate the position as much as possible. In complicated positions, premoving is much harder than in simple ones! Manon-reja (2207) vs. ExtremeLearner (2500) 0-1 Live Chess Chess.com 15 Dec 2020 Round: - ECO: B00 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 h g f e d c b a 1. e4 b6 2. e5 Bb7 3. d4 d6 4. exd6 cxd6 5. c4 Nf6 6. d5 e6 7. Nc3 exd5 8. cxd5 Be7 9. Bg5 O-O 10. Nf3 h6 11. Be2 hxg5 12. Nxg5 Nxd5 13. Nf3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Bf6 15. O-O Bxc3 16. Rc1 Be5 17. Qc2 Be4 18. Qxe4 Nd7 19. Rcd1 Qe7 20. Qd5 Nf6 21. Qd3 Rae8 22. Nd2 Bxh2+! Simplify the position when you have material advantage 23. Kxh2 Qxe2 24. Qxe2 Rxe2 25. Nf3 Ng4+ 26. Kg3 f5 27. Rxd6 Rfe8 28. a4 Nf6 29. a5 Ne4+ 30. Kf4 Nxd6 31. Rd1 R2e4+ 32. Kg3 R8e6 33. Ng5 Rg4+ 34. Kh3 Rh6# 0-1 Conclusion Finally, we can conclude that these days, Bullet Chess is important, and the old saying about Bullet Chess is not completely correct. If you can control your nerves & don't get addicted, you can play it (as long as you limit yourself to 30-60 mins).