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I think the key here is simply practice. If you mostly play blitz, you'll be good at blitz. If you mostly play rapid/classical, that's where you will be strong. Good luck!

This is an amazing course for working on pawn play: https://www.chess.com/lessons/every-pawn-structure-explained

Do a 20 minute exercise. Find a random position from a top GM game and do nothing but calculate that one position for twenty minutes. Try to dig up as many details as you can find. Write down your "top candidate move" at minutes 1, 5, 10, and 20 and see if you do better over time.

Also, do puzzles.

One great way to get better at that is to consume master analysis of amateur games. A bad player will make mistakes and a good player will be able to explain them. Ben Finegold analyzes viewer games every Sunday (including mine!) and often the explanation is as simple as "this pawn blocks the square where you should've placed your Knight." or "this opens up your opponent's Bishop." "This pawn trade alleviates his space disadvantage."

Most pawn moves control some squares but also surrender others. Do your pawn moves open more lines for yourself or your opponent? Is your pawn formation overextended and easy to break apart, or is it dangerous and space-occupying? Do you want to trade and open lines, or do you want to push and lock everything up? A lot of it comes with experience, but fortunately pawn play is one of the "positional" concepts which show up most in the Game Review.

Thanks for doing this. Anyways, im 2100 rapid chess.com but that’s obly because each of my playing sessions are 1-2 rapid games long. My fide is 1500 but that’s because after a few games, my game quality declines. Any advice on how to last longer in tournaments?

I try to maintain my mental stamina by not doing anything outside of the games. I go to sleep early, wake up late, maybe warm up a tiny bit/prepare any lines I absolutely need, and then I play. After I play, I find a quiet spot in the playing hall and nap until the next round. I definitely don't play blitz or socialize or read news about Trump, or anything else that might tire or stress me out. The only reason I wake up before game time is to check pairings and prep for my opponent if I can.
After you've lost all your games for the day, you can do other stuff, but you'll probably be so tired at that point you'll be able to acutely tell how much you needed that afternoon nap.
The other way to maintain mental stamina is to be a little kid.

And don't be afraid to take a quick or simple draw if you really need the stamina down the stretch. Half-point byes are also convenient, but they're harder to predict in advance if you're going for prizes. And if you're not going for prizes, do you really mind working extra hard and losing some more games for the experience?

Can you ask people to stop flooding the New Topics with things like "looking for a coach" or "need a training partner" or "ask me anything I'm so special"? We should just have one pinned "looking for coach/training partner" post where all the chitchat can be kept. Because those are not new topics.

I am stuck at 700

although i play 15|10 rapid but i seem a bit hasty in the openings and do obvious mistakes and loose pieces.

You seem to have identified your own problems. You play too hasty and you lose all your pieces. You might have to learn to slow down and consider what your opponent wants and what he will play in response to your moves.

I played as white in this game and was beaten comprehensively.

I feel like my opponent suffocated my position. By the time I hung mate I was already dead lost. What should white be looking to do in these kinds of positions. The computer seems to think things started to unravel for me around move 13 when I played g4 (I was attempting a pawn storm but I wasn't fast enough). It suggests I play a3 instead however I was under the impression that moving pawns in front of the king is bad during a pawn storm. Also I feel by that point I'm already on the defensive and getting cramped up. Does anyone have any advice?

I

Solution: Qb6, Be3, Qxe3

I just played this puzzle recently and was just curious if anyone had any explanation for the answer.

I recently looked at a course on chessable that went through methods of calculation, specifically 3-ply calculation, which suggested to 1. make a goal, 2. find potential moves to achieve that goal, 3. calculate three steps forward to determine the best move.

I find that I have a lot of trouble with the first step, not really knowing what my goal should be in a lot of puzzles, or in a lot of games. Normally, in puzzles, I set my first goal as attempting a checkmate, if nothing works, then my goal becomes trying to win a piece. Using that logic, however, didn't really work with this puzzle because I still don't understand why the computer just gave up a bishop.

Could anyone explain how this puzzle works? And maybe point out if there are any issues with the way that I'm approaching these sorts of puzzles and games?

Hi all!

First of all, thank you for the amazing recommendations and support you're sharing with fellow improvers in this club!

We just published my Beginner Improvement guide, targeted for 0-600 rated players. We're going to publish more study guides catered to players outside of this rating range, so stay tuned!

@cofil75k asked how to stop making obvious blunders. I think one important aspect to addressing this essential, but quite challenging subject is to reflect on your time control. If you're playing mostly blitz, you may not have the time to process the board and take your time in absorbing the relevant patterns.

In my improvement guide, I also share a link to my article "How to Beat Your First Bot." I think playing against Beginner bots is a great training tool to help you focus on observing the changes on the board with every move your opponent makes so we do not miss basic threats like checks and captures.

Without the pressure of the clock, we can also practice visualizing the move we're about to play, and check to see if that is a safe square or you are leaving something unprotected by moving a piece that already has a job.

The main thing is to be patient with yourself and consciously work on practicing your board awareness without the rush of a clock. You can also consider playing some rapid games, like Game in 30 minutes per side, or 15+10, and even 10 + 0 if you are crunched for time.

I'll keep an eye out for more comments and may also create some YouTube content to help address some of our typical community questions. I just recorded a three video series sharing my thought process when battling the first "Beginner Bot" Martin, which you can find on my Coach Dane YouTube channel.

Thanks again for joining our Improvers club and I will keep my eye out for more comments here.

Onward!

Coach Dane

Ok, recently I bought a chess book. This book is, of course, full of analyses of chess masters' games. And it made me wonder: how can I, as a regular chess player, get the most benefit from analyzing the chess masters' games?

Reviewing master games is a great improvement strategy! I recommend setting up the board and giving yourself a couple of minutes to try to guess each move for the winning side. If the master plays something else, hopefully the book explains why that move was better (if it was) than your choice. Enjoy!

I am at 1700, My goal for 2025 is to get 2000+, how do I get there ?

How do i get better at the Middle game? my Opening and endgame is usually okay but in the middle game my brain basically shuts off all of a sudden and i start making blunders without realizing

Am 1550 fide, do you have any good book recommendations for tactics?

I keep focusing too much on my own plans, and in the process, not seeing any opposing pieces trying to take me out (except the target). Any ideas?

How do you play 3 pawns vs a minor piece for both sides of that imbalance? I study a lot of positions with that imbalance and I can't seem to understand them.

how can i get better in the middle game and what is the best way to improve my tactical skill