Frustration

I have been having some issues for a while with my chess experience, and I honestly do not know what to do with them at this point other then to write them down in hopes of getting some clarity of what I am doing wrong. 

I am currently bouncing between 500-600 rating and seem to be unable to get out of it. I play the London system and Sicilian Defense. I have been playing chess for about five months now and have done some light reading on some chess books.

Now that you know about where I am right now, I can list my problems:

-I focus really really hard on rating to the point of losing causes demotivation. I focus more on winning then anything else, neglecting the learning part of chess. Its added pressure that tends to makes me blunder more.

-Demotivation after blunders. Anytime I make a mistake, one that should be obvious, I usually concede or lose focus.

-Studying is really hard. Understanding the databases, chess notation, and understanding different openings and remembering everything is really hard as there is so much information being thrown at me, I don't know where to start or where to properly start.

-Its impossible to focus on one thing. I know that I am doing something wrong I just don't know what it is. Its hard to focus on what thing/things im doing incorrectly.

-I don't know how to learn from my mistakes, or study to see if I made a mistake.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I can improve on any of these things, it will by highly appreciated.  Sorry if some of the points are vague or confusing to more highly rated players, I really don't know how else to describe my issues other then this. 

Try some "daily" or correspondence games.  The rules let you check out databases and books while the game is going on (no engines though).  You are almost guaranteed to at least get into a playable middle game.  Oh and stop resigning after just a few moves.  Just because your opening isn't the ideal you had hoped for doesn't mean it's not playable.  Chess is not easy, but hang in there and you'll get better!

I don't even know why you're studying so hard openings.. A complete waste of time. At 550 You should do 0 memorization. Learn chess principles well (extremely important, there are many valuable books/courses on this topic). Study strategy (like understanding a position and making plans) and tactics ( do a lot of puzzles). And the most important thing: Have FUN... it seems you're treating it like a job, don't be obsessed about rating, it's just a game, relax. 

I agree with baddogno and NiceAndFlowy. Playing daily games can help you get better at chess because you have the time to play to your full potential, and be able to analyze the position better (you can use a analysis board, just no engines). And don't don't resign. I can't count how many games I have won even though I blundered a piece. At your skill level both players make a lot of mistakes so don't resign just because you made a mistake. Your opponent will make a mistake later, and you may be able to save the lost game. 

When it comes to openings at your level. You don't need to know a specific opening, or there lines. Learning, memorizing, and applying the opening principles will be far more useful. First reason is that our opponent won't know the opening your playing, and will therefore play non-book moves which means that you have play outside of the lines that you have studied. The opening principles can be applied no matter what your opponent plays. Here is a link for the article on them: https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-principles-of-the-opening .

Also tactics is the most important thing to study/practice. Puzzles and puzzle rush on this site are amazing for helping improve seeing tactics in games, and building on your calculating ability. Also here is an article that defines all the tactics definitions in chess (you only need to focus on double attacks/forks, pins, skewers, and discovered attacks (these are the most common, and almost all the other tactics are built on one or more of the basic tactics)): https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-tactics .

I would also study the most basics of endgames if you have not yet. What I mean by that is know how to checkmate your opponent in these situations (even under time pressure): two queens vs king, two rooks vs king, queen and rook vs king, king and queen vs king, king and rook vs king. These will be the endgames situation you will encounter in almost every game at your level, and if you can queen one pawn then you can checkmate without having to do a lot of calculation. 

The best way to learn from your mistakes is to analyze your games (especially your loses). Also keep a log of why you lost, or the mistakes you made in the game. This will help you identify what mistakes you are making over and over again so you can fix them. Here is a link to the Bring it all together part of the beginner study plan (This part of the study plan is a bit above your current skill level, but parts 3 and 5 may help you): https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-for-beginners-bringing-it-all-together2 . 

You can also post games in this forum or the game analysis forum where stronger players can analysis your games. If you do this first analysis the game yourself (don't ask someone else to analyze one of your games if you have not at least tried to analyze the game yourself), and include your notes on why you made certain moves, and maybe a different move you would make after identifying your mistake. This will help in identifying where you went wrong. Also you can include any questions about something specific that occurred in the game also. 

Hope this helps

Hi! Sorry to hear that you are stuck.  

My name is Lauren Goodkind and I’m a chess coach  based in California. 

I also offer a  free beginner’s free eBook on my website, www.ChessByLauren.com in case you are interested. 

   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.  

"I focus really really hard on rating to the point of losing causes demotivation. I focus more on winning then anything else, neglecting the learning part of chess. Its added pressure that tends to makes me blunder more." ++ Do not focus on winning, focus on not losing and not blundering first. When you have selected your move, check it is no blunder before you play it.

"Demotivation after blunders. Anytime I make a mistake, one that should be obvious, I usually concede or lose focus." ++ Good players have some tenacity and play as well as they can after making a mistake and they sometimes even save half a point or a full point. However, crucial is to avoid the mistake in the first place.

"Studying is really hard. Understanding the databases, chess notation, and understanding different openings and remembering everything is really hard as there is so much information being thrown at me, I don't know where to start or where to properly start." ++ Do not worry about openings. A good point to start is "Chess Fundamentals" by Capablanca. It is only 60 pages and contains all you must know.

"Its impossible to focus on one thing. I know that I am doing something wrong I just don't know what it is. Its hard to focus on what thing/things im doing incorrectly." ++ Focus on tactics.

"I don't know how to learn from my mistakes, or study to see if I made a mistake." ++ Take a game you lost. Now peel back from the last move backwards: at which point did the game become lost? Why did you select to play the mistake? What other moves did you consider? How much time did you spend thinking before playing your mistake? How much time did you have available?

Hi. Dont worry, Chess is hard work. Some suggestions. Understand that chess is about knowledge and skill. Both strengthen with practice. Many beginners focus on knowledge such as learning openings, but neglect to also develop skills such as calculation and board vision, so they continue to lose games by making silly mistakes and blunders. It's important to develop basic skills. Try doing 5 tactical puzzles every day. Dont rush, solve them fully in your head before moving any pieces. Give it time, months, and your tactical knowledge and ability to look ahead at the possible outcome of moves will strengthen, with fewer blunders. If you dont know how to solve puzzles post the question on here, but you need to know basic patterns suck as forks and pins, and the idea of forced moves such as captures, checks and threats. Watch John Bartholomew's Chess Fundamentals series on you tube. Two videos are on undefended pieces and coordination. The play practice games where you dont care about losing (unrated if you prefer) but instead the aim is to have good coordination.

Thank you everyone for providing so much information, I am going to give the resources a try and see what works! Thanks again for taking the time to help me out!

Keep grinding. If you don't like studying or analyzing games, experience is key. Try switching to unrated games, but keep playing. As you continue playing, you will avoid the same mistakes and raise your rating (albeit maybe slowly). Another thing to do is play a limited amount of openings. Having a diverse repertoire is nice, but playing one opening well is better than playing a lot of openings and not knowing what to do.

All these chess coaches be everywhere