How can I get to 1000?

Sort:
Avatar of ChimkinGang

I'm currently a 800 rated player who is trying to get to 1000, my long term goal is 1600 ish, but I'm nowhere close. I went into chess about a month ago knowing basic fundamentals and tactics. For those wondering, I have a 1700 rating in puzzles. I have a platinum membership. When I try to win games, I push ~30 points, then sometimes tilt about 50, and when I try to take a break and come back later, I constantly lose the games after. I frequently blunder my pieces and have very bad positional gameplay. I would like to know if anybody could help me or give me information on how to improve my chess. Are there any books or resources anybody knows of for this? You can look at my profile and games to see what you think is my problem, but I feel like it's my positional gameplay and my blunders. I have a strong passion for chess, it just isn't fun when I lose over and over and never progress. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. 
One last thing, I play 15|10 games

Avatar of nklristic

Here are some tips that might be helpful:

https://www.chess.com/blog/nklristic/the-beginners-tale-first-steps-to-chess-improvement

Apart from things mentioned, as you have membership, use it to do lessons, you can practice some endgame positions and the like thanks to drills as well. You are already doing puzzles and that is good, you should do those for sure.

Avatar of mrizzo14

Playing longer time controls like 15|10 is a good start, but it's only useful if you actually use your time. In your last game you blundered on move 11 (and then resigned) with less than 1 minute of your total time used up. And you only used 18 seconds to think about that move. Just slow down.

Avatar of ChimkinGang
mrizzo14 wrote:

Playing longer time controls like 15|10 is a good start, but it's only useful if you actually use your time. In your last game you blundered on move 11 (and then resigned) with less than 1 minute of your total time used up. And you only used 18 seconds to think about that move. Just slow down.

thanks!

 

Avatar of Paleobotanical
I’m not quite 1000 yet, but I was 800-ish a month ago and currently 936. There isn’t that much difference in play between these levels, but there are slightly fewer single-move blunders and players are better at setting up basic tactics like forks, pins, and skewers, plus catching opportunities to mate in one.

The best thing you can do (other than playing more slowly, which I also recommend) is studying and practicing basic tactics. The lessons are a great resource!! Also, puzzles are a great way to improve your tactical skill and experience. Hint: in custom puzzle mode you can drill individual themes like pins or forks. This way you’re not trying to guess the goal of each puzzle.

Also, make sure you’re following good opening practices (For example: try your best to move each piece just once, to get it into a better position to hit the center, before you move any piece a second time. This is not a hard and fast rule, but a guideline that helps you get pieces working toward your objectives as fast as possible.)

With solid tactics, more care to prevent blunders, and an opening that gets all your pieces moving, you’ll be well on your way to beating 1000+ opponents regularly.
Avatar of DasBurner

1. Just learn what you're supposed to do against main openings, I saw you blunder like 50 pieces on the 3rd move of a Caro-Kann for no reason. 

2. Stop trying to Scholar's mate people

3. Stop resigning after 1 blunder, at your rating people are gonna blunder, you just have to recognize it and take advantage of it, so equalizing a position will be more common than you think

Just don't look at my games for inspiration cause im going through the worst tilt of my life

Avatar of Paleobotanical
Regarding “Stop resigning after one blunder.” YES! I can’t count how many games I’ve recovered my blunder worth and more. Losing any one piece isn’t fatal. Hang in there and play for the win until it’s truly hopeless.
Avatar of ChimkinGang
DaBabysSideTing wrote:

1. Just learn what you're supposed to do against main openings, I saw you blunder like 50 pieces on the 3rd move of a Caro-Kann for no reason. 

2. Stop trying to Scholar's mate people

3. Stop resigning after 1 blunder, at your rating people are gonna blunder, you just have to recognize it and take advantage of it, so equalizing a position will be more common than you think

Just don't look at my games for inspiration cause im going through the worst tilt of my life

Thanks! I just wanted to say I haven't tried to scholars mate people, but otherwise, all your advice sounds good happy.png

Avatar of DasBurner

Whats this then? cmon mane

At the very least an ugly queen move that doesn't help you

Avatar of ChimkinGang

I was black, idk what I did lol

Avatar of MarkGrubb

I haven't looked at your games but from reading the posts above it seems like you should slow down. If you can do 1700 puzzles then you know how to calculate candidate moves, anticipate opponent replies, etc. So if you're blundering, this suggests you're not allowing yourself time to do this properly on every move (yes every move). One way to improve positional chess is to play through GM games. Try Logical Chess by Chernev. It is a collection of GM games selected and annotated to teach basic principles to beginners. Every move is explained. On you tube, John Bartholomew's Chess Fundamentals series is very good.

Avatar of Paleobotanical
Looking at the game you posted: On move 8, when you took the bishop on c4, you were taking a trade which had the net effect of moving their queen closer to the center, and protecting their other knight which was hanging before. If, instead, you’d played Nxe4, you would have taken a free knight and attacked their vulnerable queen all in a single move. When their queen just started running around eating pieces after that, it was clear you got frustrated and lost your concentration.
Avatar of Paleobotanical
Sorry, DaBaby posted it.
Avatar of ChimkinGang

no its fine happy.png 
you read my mind lol

Avatar of MarkGrubb

Google Opening Principles. Looks like you are chasing stuff round the board with you two best pieces when you should be developing everything and castling your king to safety. What's with the c pawn on move 1? Get your e and d pawn out, then knights, bishops, castle, centralise a rook, find a square for your queen, then look for something to attack. Develop first. Meet any threats, but dont attack until your full force is in the game. If you do that on every game and only blunder minor pieces or larger every few games, you should make 1300 soon. Play with all your pieces. It will teach you a lot.

Avatar of llama47

When players get stuck at low ratings it's because they're not being greedy enough. You're still new so you're probably not "stuck" but this is still good advice.

Try not to lose a single piece for free... not even 1 pawn!

When you lose something, even a single pawn, that should be a big deal to you. After the game think about what went wrong and how you'll fix it for next game. I don't mean "what does the engine say" I mean ask yourself why you didn't foresee what your opponent could do. A common reason is players get so distracted by things they want to attack that they miss what their opponent can do. Another common error is not looking at the whole board, so missing an opponent's bishop or rook that's far away.

Sometimes it's not an oversight, sometimes people give away pieces on purpose... but again you have to be greedy. When your opponent attacks something of yours that's not defended, 9 times out of 10 you must defend it, or retreat it.

Avatar of ChimkinGang

Thank you!

Avatar of x-0460907528

get to 1100 and then lose a few games.

Avatar of M_Chavez

I'm just starting to learn just like you, but two things that I've noticed are:

- 15/10 is not enough time to think (might be age related lol);

- Today you've played 10 games so far, 4 of them over 50 moves. I'm usually tired after two full 30/0 games (again, might be age related lol), so there's little chance of me being able to maintain focus and think straight. Much better to switch to studying/puzzles after a couple games in my case.

 

Good luck and feel free to steal a few points off me wink.png

Avatar of ChimkinGang

Thanks! 
I find 15/10 games to be fine for me to think, as I'm utilizing my time now (I used to end up with more time post game!) Everything you guys have told me is working out amazingly! I really appreciate you all helping me