100 Games - Zero Improvement

Hey all,

As the title says, I have played over 100 games, I'm actually approaching 200 at this point, and I have not gone much past 450. I have played mostly 10 minute blitzes, so I don't know if that is part of my plateau. Have I played enough matches to give up on chess at this point? Every forum that I have come across seems to say that 1000 - 1200 is the bare minimum for beginners. I sometimes have to abandon games, or try to force an endgame, when my infant daughter needs attention. My main question, I suppose, is how can a grown adult play over 100 matches and not show any improvement? Am I just that dense? Or is this just a part of the game? How many matches should it take to go from 400 to 1200ish? 

it is not easy to improve just by playing and 10 minutes without increment is not optimal.

Play 15|10 or longer games and analyse the games. Find the mistakes and try to avoid them next time.

Blunder check and do the checks, captures, threats checklist before evey move, twice if you have the time on your clock.

Do lots of tactics puzzles and do the novice/beginner lessons here on chess.com.

Familiarize yourself with opening principles (develop your pieces fast, castle for king safety etc).

Also learn some basics about endgames like opposition, activating the King etc.

Improvement takes effort, not just playing games. Especially for us grown adults.

Good luck.

Hey,

You aren't dense - learning how all of the pieces move is easy, mastering the intricacies of chess is not.

You'll get differing advice from lots of people but I think that one of the keys to improvement (as advocated by the guys at ChessMood) is to have a mix of study, play, and review. So, read a blog post or book, or watch a video, on a particular topic, then play some games trying to incorporate what you studied, then review your games to see what you did right and what needs improvement.

By far the biggest issue for beginners (and I'm one of them) is blundering. That one moment of inattention that results in you missing a checkmate or giving away your queen. So, before every move, take some time to think about the options available to you ("When you have found a good move - look for a better one!" is a quote from former world champion Lasker). Consider checks, captures, and threats. Also consider, in light of your opponent's last move, what does my opponent want? You may find it easier to blunder-check if you play longer time limits.

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.

As already mentioned in the comments above, improvements are made by finding your errors and fixing them in later games, not by the number of games you have played. Analyze lost games to see which errors led to your defeat. Without proper feedback, playing a lot of games may not improve your skills.
For your main question, I would say with cofidence that it is just a part of the game.

1000 is a pretty strong rating for a real beginner's view. (The view that says 1000-1200 rated players as beginner is a view from experienced players) 1000 rated players are familiar with the basic dangerous patterns and have the ability to spot immediate risks in most situations.
 The most players on chess.com range from 400-800 ratings. A rating of 800 is enough to easily beat people who don't play chess as a hobby. (They are already stronger than 60% of players in this site.)

What you should do is try to learn from your mistakes.

Sample games from the last few days:

https://www.chess.com/game/live/107280649974?username=haibai2313

https://www.chess.com/game/computer/126255375

https://www.chess.com/game/live/109729296341?username=haibai2313

https://www.chess.com/game/live/109746692995?username=haibai2313

In all 4 games, the exact same thing happened. Your opponent threatened mate-in-1 on the f2 square, you played a random move, you got mated.

Sooner or later you need to notice this, and try to avoid this particular mate when it comes up again.

Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond.....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond

You joined 14 days ago, don’t expect huge increases in playing strength that quickly. It took me 76 days to increase my first 100 rating. Since I created my chess.com account, I gained on average 1.58 blitz rating per day. Your rapid rating increased 79 rating in 14 days, which is 5.64 per day.

Dont worry, your doing great!

keep going

i checked out a couple of your games. can i suggest at your level that you castle within your first 10 moves, and there were also a few games where you resigned when things were even. play your games out to the end, even though it's super frustrating.

the best way to gain some points is after your opponent moves, count to 5, ask yourself 'why did he do that', and spend a few seconds thinking about it.

I recommend going though checks, captures, & attacks. This process, even by itself, should be able to take you up to 1800-2000 with practice. At around 1600, it becomes more important to learn about strategy, but I think you have a long way to go. Best of luck with your chess improvement!

Thank you all very much! I am feeling much more encouraged and motivated to continue on my chess learning journey. I think I've placed too much importance on a number rather than just enjoying the journey of learning, which is why I started in the first place. Thank you all!