How can i improve

Dear Weirdgerman,

My name is Gabor Balazs. I’m a Hungarian FIDE Master and 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 given way to learn and improve.

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 analyzing your own games. There is a built-in engine on chess.com which can show you if a move is good or bad but the only problem is that it can't explain to you the plans, ideas behind the moves, so you won't know why it is so good or bad.

In my opinion, chess has 4 main areas (openings, strategies, tactics/combinations and endgames) and 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 enjoy the lessons because they cover multiple aspects of chess in an engaging and dynamic way, keeping the learning process both stimulating and efficient. Of course, there are always ups and downs but this is completely normal in everyone's career.

If you would like to learn more about chess, you can take private lessons from me (you find the details on my profile) or you can visit my Patreon channel (www.patreon.com/Bgabor91), where you can learn about every kind of topics (openings, strategies, tactics, endgames, game analysis). There are around 61 hours of educational videos uploaded already (some of them are available with a FREE subscription) and I'm planning to upload at least 4 new videos per week, so you can get 4-6 hours of educational contents every month. I also upload daily puzzles in 4 levels every day which are available with a FREE subscription.

I hope this is helpful for you. Good luck with your games!

im not reading that, too long

Hello, everyone

Can you tell me about yourself?

You have to think of Chess as a combative sport (using your mind) ...

You have to work the heavy bag.... (Thats tactics !) at least an 1/2 hour a day...Chess is 99% Tactics.. it is developing a vision of the board, and deep calculating.

You need sparring session, at least one time a week.... Not skittles .. (i.e. Bullet and Blitz time controlls don't do squat for your improvement) ... it needs to be Rapid game or longer. The longer time controlls promote better thinking habits, and better calculating ... reguardless if you win or loose. Its better to loose a rapid game where you delved into multiple positions, calculated as deep as you could ...than win 5 skittles games.. that you won by playing by nothing but intuition.

Then you need to analyze you games to the fullest... breaking them down to the 3 phases, grading your play in those 3 phases.

Once you get that going ....

You will need to work on your grappling .... (endgame technique) Masters and above are jujitsu masters of the Endgame! ... one can not neglect chess grappling. Its where the real wins, draws and defeats take place!

Last..and in my opinion the least important.

What style of fighter are you going to be... ???

Study openings theory... but! Only with the goal to reach playable middle games! Do not chase opening advantages, do not play traps ..(let your opponent's playing into traps come to you)

95% of the openings out there are perfectly fine all they up to master levels... time for opening prep is OK, but not for chasing opening advantages...Imo to get good... one should never prioritize opening theory over tactics and endgame practice.

Just my 2 cents

I love people who give advice to higher rated people, so annoying

A ) Im a lot higher over on LiChess.

B) WAS ANY OF IT UNSOUND ??

C) I FEEL the same about ignorant sparky comment too.

Lichess is inaccurate, im 2200 on LC, your tips dont help me, i need actual advice that propells me, not advice that ive been following since i was 950 c) i feel the same way about such an arrogant comment

I'm 1700 on Lichess

Point proven, LC is inaccurate and inflated

AT THE END of both our chess endeavors your game scores goes into the same trash heap as mine and 99% every player here... think some humility might be in order

What you just said makes 0 sense

wow, i‘m only 1400 on lichess but on chess com 1300

I have my own chess improvement goals as well - I can tell you what I've been doing and maybe it'll help you with your approach:

1. Visualization (Seeing the board in my head) - I started by memorizing the colors of each square. Then I envisioned a knight moving from point A to point B on the board, or a bishop moving along the diagonals, or just getting simple checkmates (I used board editor in Lichess, and turned on the Speech sound effect so that I can hear the moves, and then I just type my moves in). I'm at a point where I can play into a middle game blindfold, but still forget where pieces are sometimes. I noticed it has improved my calculation. One of my goals is to play blindfold chess with ease.
2. Solve puzzles religiously - I'll use the Woodpecker Method - here's a link to a video explaining the method (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0r04qwD54g&t=958s) - great book in my opinion. I do puzzles on chess.com religiously. I also like on Lichess there is a puzzle theme feature, and you can select an opening you play, for example the Sicilian Defense, and it'll give you puzzles from that opening from both white and blacks' perspectives.

3. Analyzing games - obviously everyone has heard this one, and we all know the importance of that. chessbook.com is a nice, spaced repetition platform I like to use.

4. Playing over the board - From my experience playing OTB has really helped my chess, particularly playing some OTB tournaments. In OTB tournaments I've played very strong players, and I don't think I used my brain more. It's very stressful, but its the most amazing feeling when you win.

5. Using CCTO - Checks, Captures, Threats, Optimization - in that order, I look for CCTO for not only my moves but also my opponent's moves. I kind of do it automatically without thinking about it, but its a good acronym to say to myself if I find myself struggling to find a move in a certain position.

I would say consistency has been the main key to success, so just making sure I do a couple of these things every day has helped. Good luck

Great, thanks, love the tips, i just played a blindfold game yesterday, ill play it a little more, that way i can get better at visualization, my biggest problem is with the pawns, im never sure if the pawn is on h2 or h3 (from my opponent)

why type so much?

Im bout to block u

I thihk the Pepillo System is the best. The King attack all the pieces and win the match

that explains a LOT

nope, you are an absolute NOOB