An Adult Beginners First Year in Chess

Wrote this article that might be useful for anyone getting started! 

https://www.chess.com/blog/TheOnoZone/the-adult-beginner-diary-my-first-year-in-chess

You are doing fine, just keep at it.

Great article!

I applaud your dedication and work ethos. I'm sure that if you keep going, you can go on much further still. 

One thing that I was wondering when reading your article: you seem to be taking chess advice from many different places at once. Is that not a very frustrating thing, having to search for bits and pieces of information from all sorts of places? 

Nice.  As an adult beginner myself, I can relate.
I started out in 2019 with no experience; still remember my first game, 1.A4!

Mixing in some blitz will help you get more experience with games/openings, and playing under time pressure etc.
I noticed I made a significant shift from the 1700-1900 mark, when I started consciously playing a lot more aggressive and sharp openings. A lot of dubious play in longer time controls, but as I play for fun, and mostly blitz - I can get away with it - and it is enjoyable!
I'd also recommend using openingtree.com to analyse your openings and where your weaknesses may be (based on win-loss percentages) and either fixing them, or changing the opening choice entirely. You may be surprised to see that statistically you may be just simply worse in certain variations over and over. (You may not! for me, I used to not even know how bad I played against the French and Caro (-40% win rate) until I used that tool. Now I'm roughly 55% having known where to put my time and effort.

Tactics and endgames will always remain a fundamental part of ongoing study, just to stay sharp if nothing else.

Good luck!

Dont everyone do that? Learn a little here and there. Or what is the alternitive? Getting a coach? 

Exactly what I was wondering. As for the alternative... I have an idea, but it'll take some time.

What's mean beginner?? What's a beginner's level?

Thanks very much! 

I listen to the Perpetual Chess Podcast a lot and hear about what works and what doesn't from other adult improvers and trainers. I'm not really changing what I do on a day to day basis - for example I still do tactics everyday I am just refining the method I use to try and get the most out of my time. Hope that answers your question.

And for me finding these new training methods is a joy, I'm really interested in the process of improvement itself.

I am looking forward to hear your idea. As long as its not a "get a coach btw im a coach" Post. God damn im tired of people promoting themself in this forum. Its like the buy followers spammers on twitch. 

Elo 100 - 1500.

After 1500, the game becomes about small advantages.

Before 1500, someone usually makes at least one game-ending mistake per game.

I'm 1400 in rapid and blitz and still consider myself a beginner.

Agreed. I grew up without a coach, had to learn it all on my own. Times should be different now with the internet.

Great article. I really enjoyed the read. I'm also an adult beginner. Only two weeks in.

Message to all adult beginners -- I strongly recommend Dan Heisman's A Guide to Chess Improvement (info at https://www.danheisman.com/a-guide-to-chess-improvement.html)

What makes this book different than the rest?

It doesn't teach you chess, rather, it teaches you *how* to get better at chess.  What things should you be focusing on?  Which things are a waste of time?  What can a good coach do?  (How can you tell if you coach is good?)  At what level should you start learning x, y, or z.  Etc.

He also has a website, twitter feed, and youtube channel, and has won a number of awards from the Chess Journalists group for his writings.

He first made a name for himself as an educator when he wrote a monthly column called "Novice Nook" for chesscafe. The first 10-12 years or so of his columns are still available for free at https://web.archive.org/web/20140714190611/http://www.chesscafe.com/archives/archives.htm  The best of those columns, edited and put into a logical order, are what makes up the book.

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

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