Improving!

Hello!

I am 60 and learned to play the basics with my father when I was a child. No tactics, tips etc, where given to me. I quit chess games when I was 12 years old, and I started again playing only a few months ago on chess.com in early 2024 (although I have subscribed to chess.com in 2021).

When I started playing in January, I entered chess.com rating my self as a beginner (800 rapid), however since I had no experience, my rate quickly dropped in the 200s!

Then I started reading a few tactics manuals and read some articles about the basics. I have read about a few classic openings, although I have never memorised them. I basically play instinctively, and I am now in 700s, after playing 395 games.

My current limits:

• Blunders. Sometimes I don't realise that one of my pieces is under attack, which quickly brings to a very hard game, if not a lost game
• Right after the opening phase, which is usually good, I have no ideas about attacking using a larger "project"/scheme in my mind. I usually wait for the opponent error.
• I cannot predict more than 2/3 nested moves from my opponent
• I need improving the end of the game, particularly using the king, which can be very effective

Questions:
- Should I play as much as possible (is there a suggested/optimal number of games per day which should I aim to?),
- Should I learn and memorise the openings, although if feel comfortable in replying to well known openings?

- Should I take lessons to improve?

Well dont expect too much. I'm around 50 and I'm already far worse at getting better at chess than I was as a teenager.

Like, I suddenly can no longer remember openings well.

I would suggest doing puzzles for a quarter hour every day, or whatever time you can keep doing consistently without losing motivation. Puzzles give you the tactics portion of chess in a high dosis, without having to worry about other aspects. You also gain more awareness of the chess board in general, so you get far less likely to do stupid things like leaving pieces completely undefended, or overtaxing a piece (make it defend too many pieces at once).

You should also look into endgames. Like, learn the most basic ones, and watch the awesome videos form GM Naroditsky on YouTube. For some reason he deleted the playlist, so I guess they'll never be finished. The videos themselves are still up though, and they already give plenty of insights.

GM Daniel Naroditsky says you should start looking into openings from around rating 1000 onwards, and you're getting close. In general I would suggest playing 1. e4, 1. d4, 1. Nf3 or 1. c4 and then intelligently react to whatever the opponent does. Especially never forget to develop ALL your pieces. And try to open the position, close position are harder to play.

Plans could be for example:

- What weaknesses does the opponent have ?

- Can the position of your pieces be improved ? Like, is there a great outpost for your knight ? Or is there an open file for the rooks ?

- Does the opponents king look poorly defended ?

- Can you do a positive trade, i.e. is one of your pieces without much function, and can it be traded for a good piece of the opponent ?

But yeah, just waiting for the opponent to make an error stays unfortunately a valid strategy for a very long time, reportedly up to about 2000.

Oh, and about games per day, people (like Hikaru, Naroditsky) suggest doing one or two 15|10 or doing two to three 10|0.

Great forum post @ironical_cord and super helpful suggestions @MariasWhiteKnight!

Always happy to come across these threads, we all learn together.

Thanks for your advices!

@1

"Blunders" ++ Blunder check before you move.

"I usually wait for the opponent error." ++ OK

"I need improving the end of the game" ++ Study endgames, especially rook endings

"Should I play as much as possible (is there a suggested/optimal number of games per day which should I aim to?)" ++ One 15|10 game per day with analysis if lost is best.

"Should I learn and memorise the openings" ++ No, certainly not.

"Should I take lessons to improve?" ++ No not necessarily.
I recommend Chess Fundamentals by Capablanca. It contains all you should know.

Hello and thank you for your support.

Questions,

+ why it's not important to learn openings?

+ Usually, I play rapid. Is one game per day enough to improve? If I had enough time, I'd play 3/4 games per day, although I suspect this can lead to burnout!

@6

"why it's not important to learn openings?"
++ It does not matter if you make the first mistake, the loser is whoever makes the last mistake.
The most you can get out of the opening is an advantage of 1 pawn, you need endgame technique to convert that.
What you learn does not happen, and when it finally happens you will have forgotten.

"Is one game per day enough to improve?" ++ Yes. Key is to analyse after you lose.

Sorry bud, but no one cares for your advice until you get to 2k blitz. Anyone below that is just a noob like the rest of us

Stop playing fast chess and play daily. I'm seventy.

my kudos to you getting that high a rating with such limited experience you must have the mind for said game mind you -- as i to started in the mid 70's playing and for two years now i never gotton above 200/300 and only for limted time those books you have read must have left something in your brain even though you say you don't memorize -- anyways all the power to you -- i wish i could say the same but it looks like iam stuck at 100 to 150 maybe highs of 200once in a while each week

Yes always make sure you are having fun with chess, otherwise there is no point.

GM Nakamura says if you want to improve, you should play long time controls, not blitz or worse bullet.

The amount of games I specified (ca 1-2 15|10 or 2-3 10|0) is the amount games one should play as an old geezer like me or the OP to keep the brain fresh.

There are apparently a LOT of players who play TONS of games and they never really improve. If you dont review your games, if you dont try to localize your weaknesses and improve on them, if you dont train your pattern recognition and board awareness with puzzles, you can really easily stay in the same place.

Btw the reason why I keep recommenting Naroditskys YouTube is also because GM Nakamura says if you want to improve, Naroditsky is the best source of this kind, not GM Nakamura's channel. A lot of what Hikaru Nakamura and GothamChess do is more entertainment that really teaching.

Learning openings of course helps getting a good initial position in the middle game, without falling into the many possible opening traps, and avoid general pitfalls in the opening. The lower the rating, the more likely you are unable to punish your opponent for a poor opening.

By the way 1000 is what GM Naroditsky says, early in his first Speedrun; others say its 1800. Thats chess.com rating, not Fide Elo. So its not strictly necessary until 1800, but it sure helps.

good post

Learn and apply the most important principles of chess.
Always blunder-check your moves.
Solve tactics in the right way.
Analyze your games.
Study games of strong players.
Learn how to be more psychologically resilient.
Work on your time management skills.
Get a coach if you can.

ok

Tactics and positional play is most important

Study endgames

Openings are sorta mid you can play whatever you want but you need to understand them not just memorize theory

A couple of openings that are way to learn/understand are

Itialian ,French defence,gambits are good but complicated ,Sicilian isn't really worth it but you can look at it learn whatever you want

Positonal play/endgames

Tactics

Openings

Anything else I'm forgetting that's also really really important

Longer time controls can be helpful if you don't have the pattern recognition but some people learn better in short time controls do the one you improve the fastest in 12 blitz games can be better than 2 30min games but it can be the other way around where 2 30min is better than 12 blitz

Hi! My name is Lauren Goodkind and I am a well established chess teacher based in California. I like what the other people wrote. It's important to pay attention to the captures before every move, so you can avoid making silly mistakes. Ask questions such as, "If I move here, is it safe?", "What am I attacking?", and "What is my opponent attacking?". The bottom line is that you should strive to never make any silly mistakes.

Also, I am offering a free chess online workshop this Saturday, 5/25 from 3pm to 4pm Eastern Time. I'll be happy to analyze one of your chess games and give you endgame tips. Here's more info: https://www.chessbylauren.com/blog/SaturdayMonthlyChessWorkshop

Yep checks captures attacks

I recommend playing the London System Opening.

It is a solid opening which is very forgiving.

It also doesn’t have tons of theory.

Try playing the daily game - 24 hours per move, to help develop your tactics.

I'm not an expert - I do specialize in blunders therefore my low ratings, LOL., but the longer games feel more like chess and less like a race to move a piece.

How do you analyse your games? Do you use chess.com paid service? Or?