Resources For Improvers

I have my own beginner improvement series!

BEGINNERS FLAIR 3! OPENING PRINCIPLES! - Chess.com

That is my latest edition.

Other editions:

Beginner’s Flair, Episode 2! QUEEN ENDGAMES! - Chess.com

Best suited for 300-850 rated players.

Rapid GM game in the Carlsbad by Neiksans https://youtu.be/JX00-qr7eVE?si=fHsuNRCSy1bODhQk

Hello!

Analyzed games from top level tournaments: https://www.youtube.com/@ImaginaryChessClub

Some playlists you may like:

Women's World Cup 2025

Grand Chess Tour Croatia 2025

Aktobe Open 2025

Uzchess Cup 2025

Need help folks, Granddaughter lives in small ranching community in Texas, small town called Dimmitt. She needs a book that explains how to analyze Chess games. Also a book on Tactics or Calculation. I have purchased several Chessable courses for her, but she would like books that she can hold and use highlighters. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Where I live, have several large book stores and also live near 5 large Universities, so getting the material will be easy, for me at least. She lives 90 away from Amarillo and it’s harder for her. Thanks in advance.

Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman doesn't fit the Chessable format otherwise Calculation: A Complete Guide for Tournament Players is pretty good if the first book is too easy. That covers tactics. 
For analyzing games I would recommend "How To Analyze Your Games: A ChessDojo Guide" which I plan to read if I need it and it was released recently in 2024. https://www.amazon.com/How-Analyze-Your-Games-ChessDojo/dp/B0DP2X1T9D

Hi

If u are looking to improve from 1000-2000 and you belive your weakness lies in the endgame. I have recorded a kinda long video about that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE89c40goZU

If u have any questions u can ask.

Czemu nie po polsku? Potrzebujemy młodego Jaskóła

I recommend GothamChess YouTube Channel. He has many tutorial videos on openings etc.

Helllo

chessinsights.org is a cool website for those who want to train blindfold chess! It allows you to play against the computer at varying strengths and there is an option to peek at the board in case you forgot the position.

https://youtu.be/GFFrx1_yO6g?si=4KcI_dU5G4jR5Yy_ I like how the presenter introduces an example on how to read a position, there's a big skill gap between between lower rated players, intermediate players and advanced players when it comes to middlegame plans and how they assess a position and come up with candidate moves. Also, people tend to present the Checks, Captures and Threats (CCT) method as the only method to find moves in a position, when it's only the first part of looking at a position and finding the best move, when a position doesn't have a direct win, how do you keep building on it? When you chose your opening repertoire, did you look at some model games to see why do the pieces go on each square? How do you attack in the opening you chose? Should you direct your attack on the queenside or kingside? Why are moves such as h3 or h6 bad when your opponent hasn't castled but good in other positions? Why would you move one rook to an open file rather than the other one? Those kinds of decisions in a game often result in you gaining rich tactical opportunities or winning pawns, pieces or an exchange, but are built on the basis of strategy, not tactics, and involve a deeper understanding of the board. (A deeper look on how to identify more complex tactics can be found on this video, in case you also see a lot of 'missed wins' in your game reviews)

Everyone knows bishops need good diagonals, but how do you identify pawn breaks that create them? Everyone knows knights have to be centralized, but how do you identify where your knights have to go and how? (re-routing of knights was a game changer for me). Everyone knows rooks belong to the open files, but why do you still find yourself with your rooks trapped in the corners of the board without ever moving to other squares? (for example, in d4-d5 structures usually the c-file will open, it makes sense then to move a rook to the c-file, yet, many people neglect their rooks!) Why do you find yourself trapped, or without any space to move when your opponent appears to make random pawn moves? The concept of space usually scares people, they'll be too scared to push a g-pawn without actually noticing their opponents have no actual counter-play.

In my experience, and, for the higher rated brackets, in the experiences or friends, bloggers, writers and youtubers, the skill gap or key-changes are something along these lines:

• Lower rated players will often tunnel vision into what they want to do and ignore threats, thus, blundering pieces and basic tactics. They also tend to focus too much on one side of the board, that's when the classic "why wasn't it checkmate?" to lose the queen to sniper bishop comes from, i.e poor board visualization.
• Intermediate players usually do ok at the opening, in the middlegame they are capable of capitalizing on their opponent's mistakes via short tactics but fail to come up with a sound plan against a solid opponent, eventually blundering out of impatience or not activating their pieces correctly and ending up with an entombed knight or bishop. Misreading a position as an intermediate player often comes with strategical mistakes, such as exchanging too many pieces, exchanging good pieces for bad pieces or not being able to evaluate who is winning or losing aside from material count, which results in them being too pawn-grabby and materialistic (unwilling to sacrifice an exchange or pawn unless there's a clear material gain tactic afterwards).
• Advanced players tend to outplay intermediate players even playing relatively unsound openings because they read the positions better, they put their pieces in their best squares and exploit the weaknesses created by their opponents. They could, but very often don't, have theory knowledge. They have either a lot of constant tactical training and/or play and have played a lot of games and their experience shows in the form of better pattern recognition which results in a better intuition in certain positions, which helps them beat intermediate players also on the clock. 2,000 online players will beat 9/10 a <1800 solely based on waiting for them to make a mistake by playing incrementally better moves, they have understood there's no need to go for crazy tactics if there's none and will usually be consistent at converting the advantages they get in their middlegames. Losing while a piece up or with 2+ pawn advantage here becomes rare, in intermediate to lower levels there's usually hope if you have either a space advantage and/or active pieces.
• Expert level players excel at strategic planning, but they also complement it with deep theory knowledge, extensive tactics training and deep calculation abilities, I've read several articles speaking on how reaching 2,000 FIDE rating is almost exclusively about calculating abilities aside from a sound repertoire and basic endgame technique. Being able to out-calculate your opponent gives you an edge when you reach complex positions. Finding the right candidate moves, being able to compare them and look for the most possible outcomes apparently seems to be a game changer and a big differentiator of titled players when compared to advanced players.

In my case, I believe a good way to start consistently outplaying intermediate (1600-<2,000) players is to improve my strategic thinking, keep working on my tactics and practicing more deep calculation by reading long sequences in me chess books and visualizing them in my head, along with deep game analysis and endgame practice, both theoretical and practical endgames. Playing higher rated opponents and reviewing the ideas together over call has helped me a lot and I usually can play good games in longer formats, but struggle to calculate efficiently on rapid/blitz, which translates to some embarrassing time scramble moments once in a while. Opening-wise I usually outplay +300 rated opponents which is why I think I shouldn't stress too much about openings for a while unless I'm preparing against someone specifically or I've noticed a pattern of struggling against certain openings.

Hopefully, my case and thoughts on the video and my path to further improvement helps someone else to organize their thoughts and identifying their weaknesses, which is a crucial part of starting to actually gain chess skill

👍

Great blog on reaching 2000 (from 500) by @Candythechessplayer https://www.chess.com/blog/Candy7449/how-to-go-from-500-to-2000-on-chess-com

"How to Reassess Your Chess" by Jeremy Silman is really good for 1200-2200 for focusing on strategy and middlegame development.

And doing mate in 5s where you calculate to the very end of each variation has been very useful for me when aiming to improve my calculation.

Hey guys I have been watching Dr can's chess clinic on YouTube since past 3-4 months and have found really instructive and very underrated. If you guys are serious improvers, I highly recommend visiting his channel. He is a great but really underrated teacher!

His channel is awesome. I am really enjoying his chessable courses specifically the preventing blunder one, my opponents move, beginner starter kit, and the chess elevator.

Here I explain how to prepare in a really easy way for a classical OTB game:

https://youtu.be/cMHjud3nAHo