loc7777777 wrote:
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Beginner advice please sitting on 638 on rapid
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Dear Gramfin99,
I am a certified, full-time chess coach, so I hope I can help you. 
Everybody is different, so that's why there isn't only one general way to learn. First of all, you have to discover your biggest weaknesses in the game and start working on them. The most effective way for that is analysing your own games. Of course, if you are a beginner, you can't do it efficiently because you don't know too much about the game yet. There is a built-in engine on chess.com which can show you if a move is good or bad but the only problem that it can't explain you the plans, ideas behind the moves, so you won't know why is it so good or bad.
You can learn from books or Youtube channels as well, and maybe you can find a lot of useful information there but these sources are mostly general things and not personalized at all. That's why you need a good coach sooner or later if you really want to be better at chess. A good coach can help you with identifying your biggest weaknesses and explain everything, so you can leave your mistakes behind you. Of course, you won't apply everything immediately, this is a learning process (like learning languages), but if you are persistent and enthusiastic, you will achieve your goals.
In my opinion, chess has 4 main territories (openings, strategies, tactics/combinations and endgames). If you want to improve efficiently, you should improve all of these skills almost at the same time. That's what my training program is based on. My students really like it because the lessons are not boring (because we talk about more than one areas within one lesson) and they feel the improvement on the longer run. Of course, there are always ups and downs but this is completely normal in everyone's career.
I hope this is helpful for you. Good luck for your chess games!
can you guys see this last game I played, I tried to embed it?
What is wrong with my endgame here? I couldn't get a checkmate?
Bgabor91 wrote:
Dear Gramfin99,
I am a certified, full-time chess coach, so I hope I can help you. Everybody is different, so that's why there isn't only one general way to learn. First of all, you have to discover your biggest weaknesses in the game and start working on them. The most effective way for that is analysing your own games. Of course, if you are a beginner, you can't do it efficiently because you don't know too much about the game yet. There is a built-in engine on chess.com which can show you if a move is good or bad but the only problem that it can't explain you the plans, ideas behind the moves, so you won't know why is it so good or bad.
You can learn from books or Youtube channels as well, and maybe you can find a lot of useful information there but these sources are mostly general things and not personalized at all. That's why you need a good coach sooner or later if you really want to be better at chess. A good coach can help you with identifying your biggest weaknesses and explain everything, so you can leave your mistakes behind you. Of course, you won't apply everything immediately, this is a learning process (like learning languages), but if you are persistent and enthusiastic, you will achieve your goals.
In my opinion, chess has 4 main territories (openings, strategies, tactics/combinations and endgames). If you want to improve efficiently, you should improve all of these skills almost at the same time. That's what my training program is based on. My students really like it because the lessons are not boring (because we talk about more than one areas within one lesson) and they feel the improvement on the longer run. Of course, there are always ups and downs but this is completely normal in everyone's career.
I hope this is helpful for you. Good luck for your chess games!
thank you def helpful
Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell
I feel I did a lot better in this game?
Mar 13, 2021
0
#28
gramfin99 wrote:
I feel I did a lot better in this game?
Your opponent made a critical mistake not to defend the f2 square, but you were solidly ahead the whole time and probably would have won anyway. Nice job!
Regarding your earlier game, this position, with white to move, is a mate in 1. Can you find it?
Mar 13, 2021
0
#29
I love your advice in general, but I think you undervalue the potential learning experience of playing against well-matched opponents at a low level.
“One gets used to expect blunders from the opponent, and hope they will overlook own blunders, which is called "speculative play", and is a terrible fault and habit.”
You don’t think that it’s simply possible to decide not to consciously gamble on an opponent overlooking one’s own blunders? I certainly think that’s possible.
At my level (let’s call it 850 rapid) I could gamble on my opponent missing an en passant capture most of the time, for example, but I don’t, because I have the discipline not to bet on my opponent’s error.
Anyway, computer analysis catches blunders I miss, and since my personal success metric is zero blunders whether I win or lose, speculative play just makes me fail at my metric. Meta-analysis of games also lets me track my long-term blunder rates over time. This has been very effective at getting my rate of blunders down (though like everything about learning, it’s a slow, incremental process.)
To the OP, if you do use the computer to analyze your play, make sure to look at each blunder the computer reports, whether or not your opponent punished you for it (often they won’t!), and look carefully at why the move made your position worse. As the previous poster said in his earlier post, your primary concern right now should be stopping those mistakes before they happen.
“One gets used to expect blunders from the opponent, and hope they will overlook own blunders, which is called "speculative play", and is a terrible fault and habit.”
You don’t think that it’s simply possible to decide not to consciously gamble on an opponent overlooking one’s own blunders? I certainly think that’s possible.
At my level (let’s call it 850 rapid) I could gamble on my opponent missing an en passant capture most of the time, for example, but I don’t, because I have the discipline not to bet on my opponent’s error.
Anyway, computer analysis catches blunders I miss, and since my personal success metric is zero blunders whether I win or lose, speculative play just makes me fail at my metric. Meta-analysis of games also lets me track my long-term blunder rates over time. This has been very effective at getting my rate of blunders down (though like everything about learning, it’s a slow, incremental process.)
To the OP, if you do use the computer to analyze your play, make sure to look at each blunder the computer reports, whether or not your opponent punished you for it (often they won’t!), and look carefully at why the move made your position worse. As the previous poster said in his earlier post, your primary concern right now should be stopping those mistakes before they happen.
If you are black and you ever face Bc4 in an Italian or a Fried-liver or a Bishop's Opening setup then always remember to play d5 and gambit the d-pawn as soon as Bc4 is played , if they take you with the pawn then remember to get any pieces like a knight or anything out of danger first and if they're not in danger than remember to play Bd6 to blockade the pawn and if they take you with the bishop than play Qf6 first followed by Ne7 then Be6 and try to trade off their light squared bishop or in some lines blockade that bishops diagonal with a pawn so that it goes from 0 to hero .
Here are 2 sample games in which it's demonstrated :
and also always remember the importance of transitioning your defensive pieces to attacking pieces to win games . and believe me I have tried these lines in my games and had a very high success rate .
Paleobotanical wrote:
gramfin99 wrote:
I feel I did a lot better in this game?
Your opponent made a critical mistake not to defend the f2 square, but you were solidly ahead the whole time and probably would have won anyway. Nice job!
Regarding your earlier game, this position, with white to move, is a mate in 1. Can you find it?
thank you, is it rook to H6? if it is took me a good 5 mins to find it lol
MelvinGarvey wrote:
The rest of the time, you should be busy practicing against yourself, endgames such as K+2 Bishops vs K, King+pawn vs King, etc.
I aint got a real board, can i practise these online? Is it a gd idea to play yourself?
this guy blew me away, where did I go wrong lol! he had every move covered!
Mar 13, 2021
0
#34
“Of course, and long before the Internet, I practiced a lot on a board. My first rating, when I finally felt ready for the real game, was about 1500 Rapid, and two years, later, my first slow games rating was at 1700.”
This guy’s telling you what worked for him, but everyone’s different, and the internet’s here to stay. Don’t get hung up on not having a chess set (but they can be cheap and are nice to have around for when the power goes out!)
This guy’s telling you what worked for him, but everyone’s different, and the internet’s here to stay. Don’t get hung up on not having a chess set (but they can be cheap and are nice to have around for when the power goes out!)
Mar 13, 2021
0
#35
gramfin99 wrote:
this guy blew me away, where did I go wrong lol! he had every move covered!
A few points on that game. I am not very good at chess and have only been playing for a few months but I think there are some lessons here which are simple enough that I can explain.
1. After 5. ...Nxe4, the queens on d1 and d8 attack each other and are almost inevitably going to be traded. Normally in this position, you want to be the one taking the queen, because the other player is forced to weaken their position by responding (either with Nxd8 or Kxd8). Because its check, Black has to respond, so you don't need to worry about the fact that your knight on f3 is hanging - you can do something about that later. So the best move is 6. Qxd8. It isn't unusual in beginner games for there to be positions like this in the opening and taking their queen first is almost always the move.
2. Your specific move 6. Nxe4 was awful in at least three ways. First you missed Qxd8 and second because you hang the knight. But beyond that, the knight was defending the queen. Now once Black takes your queen, you are forced to retake with Kxd1. This is bad because once your king has moved, you can't castle. Now your king is stuck in the middle of the board and vulnerable. Before you make a move you need to think - what is the piece I am moving doing? If it is defending something, then you need to think about the consequences of losing that defender - this is sometimes called continuity.
3. Your next move 7. Be3 was great. I hope that you made this move because you saw that if you didn't defend c7, Black could play Nxc7+ with a fork on your rook. Then when your opponent plays the move anyway for some reason (9. ...Nxc7+), even though its defended, you are able to take his knight for a pawn.
4. After 11. ...Bbd+, I think you panicked and played 12. c3 blundering another piece. This is another example of continuity but also illustrates a concept of counting attackers and defenders. Your bishop is attacked twice (by the rook and bishop) and defended twice (by the c2 pawn and the king). A rule of thumb is that an attack will (usually) succeed if the attackers outnumber the defenders. When your pawn leaves the defence of the bishop by moving to c3, there are now two attackers and only the king is defending, so your opponent can win the piece. If you just moved your king to e2, then you would not have lost the piece because it would still be defended twice. You can see the same concept after 15. ...Bg5. Your opponent's rook is now attacked twice (by your rook and king) and only defended once (by the bishop). That means you can take it! After Rxd3 Bxd3 Kxd3, you would have been back in the game.
5. With 17. ...Re8, your opponent is setting up a discovered check because when he moves his knight anywhere, you will be in check. You played 18. g4. I think your idea was that if he took your knight, you would take the bishop, but it doesn't work because of the discovered check. Your move did nothing to deal with that. After he takes your knight or pawn for free on the next move, you simply don't have any play left and the game is lost.
Keep at it - you will get better. Do the chess.com lessons, do lots of puzzles and read some articles or watch some videos on Youtube.
Mar 13, 2021
0
#36
“But no, this is what everybody was doing in that time.”
Yes, I was around back then, I remember. Still doesn’t mean OP should feel bad for using the computer or a mobile phone instead of a physical board.
Yes, I was around back then, I remember. Still doesn’t mean OP should feel bad for using the computer or a mobile phone instead of a physical board.
terrytodd925 wrote:
gramfin99 wrote:
this guy blew me away, where did I go wrong lol! he had every move covered!
A few points on that game. I am not very good at chess and have only been playing for a few months but I think there are some lessons here which are simple enough that I can explain.
1. After 5. ...Nxe4, the queens on d1 and d8 attack each other and are almost inevitably going to be traded. Normally in this position, you want to be the one taking the queen, because the other player is forced to weaken their position by responding (either with Nxd8 or Kxd8). Because its check, Black has to respond, so you don't need to worry about the fact that your knight on f3 is hanging - you can do something about that later. So the best move is 6. Qxd8. It isn't unusual in beginner games for there to be positions like this in the opening and taking their queen first is almost always the move.
2. Your specific move 6. Nxe4 was awful in at least three ways. First you missed Qxd8 and second because you hang the knight. But beyond that, the knight was defending the queen. Now once Black takes your queen, you are forced to retake with Kxd1. This is bad because once your king has moved, you can't castle. Now your king is stuck in the middle of the board and vulnerable. Before you make a move you need to think - what is the piece I am moving doing? If it is defending something, then you need to think about the consequences of losing that defender - this is sometimes called continuity.
3. Your next move 7. Be3 was great. I hope that you made this move because you saw that if you didn't defend c7, Black could play Nxc7+ with a fork on your rook. Then when your opponent plays the move anyway for some reason (9. ...Nxc7+), even though its defended, you are able to take his knight for a pawn.
4. After 11. ...Bbd+, I think you panicked and played 12. c3 blundering another piece. This is another example of continuity but also illustrates a concept of counting attackers and defenders. Your bishop is attacked twice (by the rook and bishop) and defended twice (by the c2 pawn and the king). A rule of thumb is that an attack will (usually) succeed if the attackers outnumber the defenders. When your pawn leaves the defence of the bishop by moving to c3, there are now two attackers and only the king is defending, so your opponent can win the piece. If you just moved your king to e2, then you would not have lost the piece because it would still be defended twice. You can see the same concept after 15. ...Bg5. Your opponent's rook is now attacked twice (by your rook and king) and only defended once (by the bishop). That means you can take it! After Rxd3 Bxd3 Kxd3, you would have been back in the game.
5. With 17. ...Re8, your opponent is setting up a discovered check because when he moves his knight anywhere, you will be in check. You played 18. g4. I think your idea was that if he took your knight, you would take the bishop, but it doesn't work because of the discovered check. Your move did nothing to deal with that. After he takes your knight or pawn for free on the next move, you simply don't have any play left and the game is lost.
Keep at it - you will get better. Do the chess.com lessons, do lots of puzzles and read some articles or watch some videos on Youtube.
thanks, mate I appreciate the time you took to write that and I will take it on board, , I felt he had played the opening positions so many time he knew what to do when I made certain moves!
Mar 13, 2021
0
#38
No the opening was a bit odd. It was a Four Knights Scotch. If he knew the opening he would probably have known that 4. ...exd4 is the main move. I wouldn't get too hung up on openings though.
You lost the game because he did a better job of capitalising on your blunders than you did of his. If you look at the computer analysis, you had similar accuracy, but after you made blunders, he played the best move and when he blundered, your didn't follow up accurately.
Blunders are not blunders if your opponent fails to notice them - which I suppose is the point that Melvin is making.
Mar 13, 2021
0
#39
Learn an opening repetoire that is solid enough so you know all the stuff at least 10 moves into the games. I myself started increasing in rating when i knew how to play against the 20 most common openings. You also should have a look at basic strategy: why do i play the moves i do, what do i want to achieve, why is central space so important. Last i think you should solve puzzles, they're an effective way to get better.
Mar 13, 2021
0
#40
Hi! My name is Lauren Goodkind and I’m a chess coach based in California.
I have tips to help you improve your chess skills so you can win more games.
I recommend playing with a slow time control, such as game in 30 minutes. You need time to think. Beginners tend to make a lot of silly moves with very little time. This makes sense since there’s a lot of pieces on the board.
I also offer a free beginner’s free eBook on my website, www.ChessByLauren.com in case you are interested. The book is about asking questions before each move.
Before each move, I highly encourage you ask questions before every move such as, “If I move here, is it safe?”, “Can I safely capture a piece?”, and more.
Also consider all checks and captures on your side and also your opponent’s side.
Learn basic tactics such as the fork, discovered attack, pin, and more. I offer interactive puzzles on my website: https://www.chessbylauren.com/two-choice-puzzles.php
If you are serious about chess, I highly recommend you hiring a chess coach to help you.
I hope that this helps.
OH and Puzzles puzzles puzzles