I am facing up to the fact i am bad. How do i improve?

Hi everyone,

I think reality has set in now that i like chess and love playing.  However i am bad and thats hard to get my head round.  

Time to improve - what is the best place for a beginner to start?  i already do puzzles and watch some videos but i am looking for a solid methodical course or approach to help.

My goal is only an 800 rating so that cant be that had with some effort.

Anything you have done that you found helped would be great.  I think my openings are fair but i lack middle and end game for sure.

TIA

Here is something concrete. I see you are playing 15|10 games. That is ok, you can play those, or maybe even longer games to give yourself time to think. That is a good way to improve.

The problem is your time usage. In the last 2 games, you played too fast, and were lost in less than 10 moves, while having more time on the clock than you started. If you are going to play that way, it doesn't matter that you are playing longer games, it is as if you are playing bullet, and that will not help you improve.

You need to train yourself to take more time on each move. If you lose on time, that is still better learning wise than lose out of the opening after a minute or two. That should reduce blunders to a more acceptable level.

Apart from that, the usual: try to follow principles, try not to hang pieces in one move, and learn about chess in general, play and analyze your games and try to learn from your mistakes (above else at that rating, try to understand big mistakes in your games).

A lot of it is to do with mental discipline...

I see you are playing a bunch of 3 minute blitz games - this is fine for a bit of fun but you are not going to improve if you're blitzing out moves and not taking the time to think carefully, assess the position, understand what's going on etc. In your last game you blundered a basic opening trick after spending 4 seconds on your move. If you spend 40 seconds this is much less likely to happen.

There are also two 15/10 games you played recently - this is much more the time control you should play to try to improve. However...in one game you again blundered after blitzing out moves in a few seconds and in the other you did take over 1 minute on a move which turned out to be a blunder, but then lost quickly after going back to blitzing - the guys you are playing are of similar level so if you make a mistake you should keep going and trying your best as they are just as likely to blunder as well.

So longer games, take your time, think carefully and never give up. A rating of 1000+, let alone 800, is quite achievable if you remove the majority of serious blunders from your games and make opponents work hard to beat you.

Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond.....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond

Play, identify your weaknesses, find material to fix those weaknesses, repeat.

I am really bad at chess, and was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice

@1

"what is the best place for a beginner to start?" ++ Endgames.

"i already do puzzles" ++ Overrated, but good as a warm-up.

"watch some videos" ++ Not useful.

"a solid methodical course" ++ Chess Fundamentals - Capablanca

"My goal is only an 800 rating" ++ Blunder check before you move.

"Anything you have done that you found helped" ++ Analyse your lost games.

"I think my openings are fair" ++ Does not matter.

Play the bots that are double your rating.

Follow the Bobby Fischer rule.

Remember CCAODW.

What the heck is that lol?

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