striking for 1500 - 1700 elo

right now I am a 1300 elo rapid chess player and i am struggling to improve. What should I practice more, in order for me to reach this goal.

Hey @Gordonbruhhehe, like @crotonninja1isagm mentioned you are doing very well for your amount of time actually played. I think I could give you a couple tips to help get to 1500 first then to 1700.

First, to get to 1500 I would highly recommend playing faster time controls. I know that's the exact opposite of what you commonly hear, but my reasoning is that I can see on your profile that you've hit 1400 for your max Rapid rating, while your blitz/bullet haven't yet hit even 750. Playing slow chess is really great for developing reasoning for your moves and playing positionally, but playing speed chess is really excellent for developing pattern recognition and tactics. Your Rapid rating is really good, and I think that learning to find good moves faster and to also spot tactics easier will help boost your rating. I would recommend playing blitz specifically. Bullet is crazy, but your rating in bullet is usually (in my opinion) just a reflection of your natural instincts and ability to predict your opponents ideas/moves and can give you a good idea of where you're at fundamentally. I would play blitz until your blitz rating is roughly the same level as your rapid rating, then go back to rapid and slow it down. I want to also briefly point out that as far as what I've seen, higher level players ratings are usually the same for all time controls (not all the time but very common). I think the reason is that you play slow to build a foundation and improve, play fast to reinforce that foundation, then repeat.

To get to 1700 its much simpler (although easier said than done)-- blunder less and play more accurately. I was stuck at 1500 for a while when I just focused on trying not to let my pieces get skewered to my king/queen, and avoided letting pieces sit undefended on the board (and more). The difference between a 1500 and a 1700 in my opinion is just consistency, tactics, speed, and making a conscious effort to blunder less. I will lose to 1500s here and there, but out of 10 games I will probably win roughly 8 depending on their play style.

In saying all this, I know it's probably not everything that's required to get to this rating range and I certainly didn't explain everything that you should do, but if you start with this and keep grinding I believe that for you it's inevitable that you WILL hit this range based on how well you're doing already.

Good luck

some of the things that i mainly struggle on is finding common tactics, this is what is holding me back from reaching 1500+ elo and i seem to see that i have been commonly blundering pieces.

Yea that sounds accurate to me because I also struggled more with tactics at around your rating range and also up to ~1500-1600. I think your game plan should be to grind puzzles and play more speed chess until finding tactics is much more natural. I would also review your blitz games after to see if you missed any tactics or very strong positional ideas.

hey @neenjazz and @crotonninja1isagm could you analyze 1 - 2 of my recent rapid games i have played so far and tell me what i need to focus on. plus extra other tips please. i have improved my blitz rating and have been doing puzzles on lichess, but still do not what i am doing wrong. thanks

An even better way to learn common patterns is to play through annotated master games. Rather than have to wait for such patterns to occur in games against other players at your level, you can see them in master games. Moreover, by playing through master games, you will see how these patterns develop from the openings and then impact middlegame play. In my opinion, this is a much faster way to improve.

what are master games? are those games that are played by strong players?

Yes, those are games by masters.

There are many great collections of master games with annotations for various skill levels. When u was beginning to play in tournaments, I played through many hundreds of master games in books on famous tournaments or on famous players.

Just be sure to look for annotations that are aimed at the general level rather than the master level.

hey @mikewier

where can i find annotated master games? and how many times should i play a master game and at what specific level? the level i'm trying to strive for or the current level i am at?

thanks!

@crotonninja1isagm i viewed your profile and i have noticed you have went from a low elo to a 1600 in like couple months, then reached 1700 in a couple weeks. What videos do you watch or what do you do regularly?

sorry if i'm doing to much

Focus on studying one opening for white. Master it. As for black, focus on two openings since it depends on what white plays one for E4 and D4. You dont need to complicate it. Until you reach 1800 u dont really need to study too hard. When you learn one opening, you save urself the hassle of studying and learning theory and you can focus more on tactics midgame plans. Unless you have alot of time then dont study theory for now. Also, I watch alot of Danya videos which actually helps alot.

Good luck

Good Positional Chess, Planning & Strategy Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/introduction-to-positional-chess-planning-strategy

hey @mikewier following up to my question, how do i play master games, because i can not find any annotations or anything. i am very confused. also, im still very confused on how to reach 1500. i have been trying puzzles, etc. nothing is clicking for me. am i doing something wrong?

@SerieTheGreatMage do you know what sites i should use to try mastering openings? and what is strategy to be able to master them and finding tactics easily.

There isnt a specific site that you can use. Lichess has puzzles tailored towards the opening you want so that can be helpful. I literally watched YouTube videos and just went and practiced in game. Speedrun videos of GMs using one opening to crush 1500s was really helpful in my case. Danyas educational videos are really helpful for general strategies and tactics.

@Gordonbruhhehe I'd be happy to analyze a couple games then give you some feedback. Might take me a week or so as I have a few things going on but when I find some time I'll certainly check out a couple games and point out whatever I can that will help.

I also wanted to briefly touch on something NM @mikewier said about analyzing master games. While I do agree that there is value in analyzing master games that are broken down for non-master level players, I have found that a lot of masters play at such a high level that some moves even just seem robotic and its hard for anyone to follow their ideas when you're below even 2000. Of course this is NOT always the case and I'm sure there is a fair amount you can learn from master level games depending on where you look, but this next part is totally my opinion and my own experience.

I personally don't think anyone under 1800 or so should MOSTLY ever learn from master games. This may be a controversial opinion but let me explain. I truly believe that most people can reach about 1700-1800 by practicing tactics, common checkmate patterns and learning basic/intermediate positional ideas that will give you an advantage while also having a repertoire of openings that you're comfortable with. Master level games (again in my opinion) will very often focus on very refined and advanced ideas and nuances of the game that are yes important, but not more important than finding basic/intermediate tactics and limiting blunders like what you see in a typical player under even 2000.

Studying master level games DOES in my opinion teach a very important, and in fact a critical skill to have as your elo starts to climb: And that is what to do when the position is equal and neither side is making any mistakes. Master level games can show how you should and how you should NOT try to improve your position when neither side is yet to have an advantage.

A common strategy among many intermediate players (myself included) to climb elo at lower levels is to just play strong positional moves until your opponent makes a mistake, and to then capitalize on it while not blundering yourself. Chess as a whole and master level games are the same concept, except that masters RARELY blunder and must rely on building their own position while not giving away powerful resources to their opponent. My point is that master level play assumes near perfect execution which doesn't exist at the intermediate level (which is why I don't like analyzing master level games even when broken down to the intermediate level). At the intermediate level it seems much more logical to me to focus on building pattern recognition through repetition and reducing blunders.

To conclude I don't mean to say that intermediate players should not study annotated master games EVER, I just mean that it should only incorporate a minor part of training rather than the main focus. There are still so many other fundamentals that need to be refined first before more advanced concepts are the main focus.

I want to point out that this is my own opinion I have, and it may or may not be accurate but I would love to hear from other people on their thoughts on what I've shared, specifically from NM @mikewier.

Very few are willing to admit this, but you're gonna have to do a little bit of everything. Study new openings, play a variety of time controls, review games, watch YouTube videos, watch/read through master games, read chess books. You're gonna burn out focusing on any one thing.
I've been playing for 8 years and I've tried everything under the sun. If I were to sum it up, it's a cycle of learning motifs from better players and trying to apply them. Your rating doesn't define you, it's a variable estimate of how complete your understanding is.

@GTSerafin Great response! I also do agree with you that you really do need to do a bit of everything in order to grow your overall skill. For me I like sharing with people below me how I was able to push past a certain elo range and what I focused on specifically. As you mentioned it is a variable estimate of your overall understanding of the game, so even if someone employs the same method of improvement that I did it is true that they may not see the same results. It's just my opinion that reaching 1500-1700 DOES require certain things such as faster play and the ability to spot more tactics more consistently and more that I mentioned previously.

Loved your thoughts on this!

Hey y’all, im sadly still
Stuck in the 1300 - 1400 region. I try escaping it but when I do I just tilt right back. I take breaks nothing works. I do puzzles and vision practice but nothing clicks. Honestly im hoping to get some tips on what I am doing wrong. If not, it’s okay. I’ve been trying to follow what you guys have been telling me but is clicking. It’s probably just my brain not being able to understand anything. I watch videos from Gotham and remote chess academy, but nothing is really going into my head. I try calculating for best positions but nothing is working. Me myself seems confident but when I play a game my brain just starts moving all over the place. Thanks for all the tips you guys gave me, I’m
Going to keep on trying to follow them. But idk when I’m
Going to escape this region of elo. Ima first take a small break from playing then hope to see what are some crucial mistakes I am making that is causing me to not get to 1500. It’s up to you all if you want to share your tips, I’m not trying to seem forceful. And please don’t read this forum as in I am complaining. I’m not, I’m just a little stressed about myself on what I am doing wrong. You guys are awesome and hope to reach your guys level. One more thing, idk what type of puzzles I should be practicing, what themes, etc. anyways thanks. Have a good day!!

Btw where can I find annotated master games in my level, because I can’t find it anywhere.