Don't give up on the game!
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Hi friends, hopefully I can inspire some of you to keep going and not give up if you feel like you're not getting any better. I joined in mid January after watching the Queens Gambit (lol) and I had NO clue what I was doing, I was getting kicked around and my elo dropped under 200 at one point, I was ready to call it quits and give up on chess but I was determined to get better (I'm just stubborn like that). I developed a borderline obsession with the game, burned through the lessons on chess.com, and watched tons of videos from the likes of GothamChess, John Bartholemew etc...learned a solid white opening (London System) which i can play somewhat competently against players my level. I even found watching pogchamps was also a learning experience and entertainment rolled into one (the master commentators) explain the downsides and upsides of moves made really well, also a lot of the competitors did lessons with people like Hikaru and Levy which are also on YouTube (like a free chess lesson!). Puzzles are great too although I don't do enough of them, I would rather just play haha. I am now 1000+ and feel pretty comfortable, it's been super rewarding learning the game and seeing my rating climb after putting all the hours of study in. Although I never expect to reach master level (or anywhere close) it shows that with time you can do it if you just keep at it and put some study in!
Just out of interest, I watched back some of my first games compared to my games now under two months later and the level of play is night and day.
Keep at it friends, and happy climbing!
Thank you. I've just started playing chess after hearing what happen with GothamChess and dewa_kipas. Chess is interesting indeed.
Thanks for the encouragement old Bean! Might I say that you are a very handsome fellow indeed. My experience is almost identical, save that I have not yet been able to match your impressive progression. I wish you all the best and hope you continue to excel.
As a side note, do you London players encounter the King´s Indian very often? It's the only thing I'm really comfortable playing against D4 at the moment, and I'm afraid I'll be running into the London a lot more often soon enough. How well do you do against it?
Cheers all and happy chess!
Thanks for the responses, it's great to hear from other people who are relatively new to the game.
Scott, the London has been working pretty well for me so I'll definitely keep it as one of my alternate white openings when I get stuck into a good e4 opening. Out of curiosity, which e4 opening did you settle on?
Panda yeah King's Indian is what I play against d4 openings too it usually works pretty well, there are counterplays they can do but the King's Indian is solid.
Also I can't believe i forgot to mention this, but analyse every single game, win or loss! I like to initially focus on any mistakes or blunders, it's usually pretty easy to see where you went wrong, also sometimes if you're unsure about a move when playing and it turns out it's the computers best move for the position you can feel good about yourself for finding it and feel more sure when playing a similar move in the future. Sometimes you'll make mistakes because it leads to some five move tactic where you end up down on material but realistically people at our level aren't going to see those lines through very often, still it's useful to see. But yes, always analyse!
Excellent, thanks Fella. Yes, I agree that analysis is crucial - even if, as you said, it's highly unlikely we'll see even half of what the computer is able to see.
I like playing the Ruy Lopez too Scott, if possible. Which variation is your favourite? I mainly play the Exchange because I'm lazy and hate all the theory haha. The Scandi always throws me off balance for some reason; except if they go for the check after the recapture 
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Im new to Chess but been finding GothamChess very good to learn aswell
I heard the Ruy Lopez was a super complex opening so I've shied away from it up to this point, have been interested by the Vienna though. 1. e4 2. Nc3
