Me too spending money to remove ads instead using adblock and I am 10 years old. Fricking ads are my worst problem but staying free is amazing.
How to get better while staying free?
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I am an old man living on a very lmtd budget and I'm just getting back into chess, I'm unrated but I have been playing many puzzles on chess.com and so far I haven't gotten higher than the low 800's Plz help
Play a lot (also puzzles), analyze games, download free PDF books, watch YouTube videos
Apr 16, 2021
0
#6
Yeah, just do the 4-5 puzzles chess.com gives you daily, do the weekly lesson chess.com gives you (make it a useful one, not the series on the Philior defense or something ridiculous.) On youtube, Eric Rosen, GothamChess, St. Louis chess club, theChessWebsite (youtube channel's name)all have very good videos that'll improve you a lot. Once you're entering the intermediate-ish range (i'd say 1000) I would get a book or two (Modern Chess Openings, Chess Middlegame Strategies, Endgame, etc) and start looking at Master games. Again on youtube, Agadmator's channel is very informative. hope that helps, I too didn't want to spend money on improving so I went from 750 to where i'm at now in about 6 months for free all using youtube and the minimal resources chess.com gives you
Thank you, for the valuable tips. I am doing many of chess coms puzzlle's daily and trying to figure out what to watch and read. So far I have only reached 900 level once and I am stuck between 800 and 850, slow but sure. It's not easy for me but trying to do a little more each day. I am very grateful for your tips.
You don't need a subscription to improve, it makes everything more convenient but no one can stop you from improving if you really want to.
You can still use the engine to see how it evaluates the position, study the endgame and do everything necessary.
Remember most of the greatest players didn't have any of the luxury we have with engines and databases. It's all about studying your game and training your mind. If something goes wrong in your games, study it, for however long it takes.
Hello
Apr 17, 2021
0
#10
nTzT wrote:
You don't need a subscription to improve, it makes everything more convenient but no one can stop you from improving if you really want to.
You can still use the engine to see how it evaluates the position, study the endgame and do everything necessary.
Remember most of the greatest players didn't have any of the luxury we have with engines and databases. It's all about studying your game and training your mind. If something goes wrong in your games, study it, for however long it takes.
+1 Well said
Apr 17, 2021
0
#11
unfortunatebeginner wrote:
As a person who has gotten to 1300 without spending any money, the answer is simple. You can use the internet for information. There are YouTubers such as IM John Bartholomew, IM Eric Rosen, GM Daniel Naroditsky, and probably more out there who can provide great tips for beginner to intermediate level players while being able to watch high level play. You can still use the puzzles on chess.com, puzzle rush survival and daily puzzles are also good in order to improve on the game. As for theory, strategy or openings? YouTube is still a fantastic platform to get information out of, the St. Louis chess channel has a lot of long and informative videos which cover everything that you might be looking for. There is also another chess website which offers everything for free, and that is Li Chess.
I got over 1500 chess.com without spending any money (free chess.com membership level) and no real help from others - I didn't even find a local chess club to play at until after I was 1500 on chess.com
A local chess club can help a lot and so can a few chess buddies irl, but spending money isn't required as much - especially with so much free information available online nowadays
Wow, thank you for all of the great advice on how to learn. Still struggling but playing every day to improve. Chess puzzles are fantastic. Hope to see you at 1500 soon.
Apr 28, 2021
0
#13
I'm no master but I've gone from low 400's (brand new chess baby) to 750's in a few weeks. Just play, play, play. Playing against the computer where you can see how they rate each move as it's happening is helpful too! Good luck and if you need a buddy add me! I too play waaay too much chess hahah
Apr 28, 2021
0
#14
This might help players reach even 1000 chess.com rating or even a little more 
https://www.chess.com/blog/KeSetoKaiba/opening-principles-again
It might be worth at least a glance @Cuddlemonster37 and @DukeHanes
DukeHanes wrote:
Wow, thank you for all of the great advice on how to learn. Still struggling but playing every day to improve. Chess puzzles are fantastic. Hope to see you at 1500 soon.
good luck, sincerely hope you achieve that goal
chesspuzzle.net has a lot of free puzzles
Hello chess lovers,
In this weekly video on Friday there are 5 chess puzzles to solve! The video also includes a game analysis with a nice victory from one of my students using the Scotch Gambit. If you want to stay updated with weekly videos follow or add me. This is the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/DyiA8otgIVE
Enjoy and have a good weekend!
The way you get better at chess is to make a sacrifice to the chess god Zuzu. First of all you get a chicken, kill it and leave it as it is for now. Than you soak a sponge in bleach and attach it to a broom. You than put the chicken on the broom and put it in a fire. Once you are done the sacrifice is over. You should see an improvement of about 400 points. I did this and went from 900 to 1300!
You need no money at all to get better at chess, just time and dedication.
Study annotated grandmaster games e.g. from the candidates' tournament at Yekaterinenburg. These are on the internet for free.
May 9, 2021
0
#20
Hi, you can join my chess group to keep in touch with me and other chess players who want to improve. It is for free and open for everyone.
https://www.chess.com/club/gm-challenge/join
Hey, I love chess, I play it a little too much and i challenge all of my friends every day. However, I flaw a lot in chess, and Ive wanted to fix that for a while. I looked into getting a chess coach, but then realized that had costed money (my parents aren't to keen on spending money online, especially for something like this). You may be thinking, why not just pay for them yourself, well, I am 1 year from being able to get a job in my state (united states, state). So I am unfortunately unable to do that. The same thing goes for premium and lessons, I can't get premium at the moment and the lessons are very limited.
If anyone does know any possible way I could get much better at chess with help while staying on the frugal side? Thanks much.