I don’t feel like I have improved.

I’ve been playing chess for a few years now and I’m improved my scores, openings, and tactics. Thank you chess.com puzzles!

But over the course of this year I’m having trouble improving from this point in my Blitz games. I’m going back and reviewing my games, but I noticed that my pre middle game and middle game is constantly deteriorating based on my reviews. Almost every idea I have never works, or if I’m a better position or ahead material, my opponent almost always finds great to near perfect counter-play.

I acknowledge that I’m horrendous at chess, I blunder pieces or miss mate in 3 etc. But I feel like I’m reaching my peak here at 1000ish and I don’t want that to happen. I want to get better but the struggle just to maintain my elo is very difficult.

I understand that the most obvious answer is to either keep practicing or take a break from chess. I don’t know if it’s best for me to continue playing online and maybe I should just stick to playing with the training bots to get better.

I need help or some advice here to improve my confidence. (I’m probably gonna get roasted here)

Hey, I’m not gonna roast ya, I’ll tell you I know exactly how you feel.

I used to play a lot a while back and have recently picked up chess again but despite playing a lot lately (and doing + enjoying the puzzles too), I still feel like I’ve got absolutely no board vision. I’m hanging pieces in the opening and missing mates.

Two things I’m about to do are:
1) really making an effort to play OTB, and finding local clubs where I can play starting with casual games.

I feel like this will help me start regaining my overall feel for the tenor of a game, plus a friendly environment (and maybe a nice chat every now and then after a game to go over how it went down) will probably providw encouragement

2) trying to “shake up” my approach. I just found copies of Jeremy Silman’s “How to Reassess Your Chess” and “The Amateur’s Mind” hidden in my closet—maybe there are a few things in there that are really relevant to my current game.

And as a bonus, if those books are considered to be obsolete, people can flame me instead for suggesting them, ha

Hello! In my experience, playing lots of blitz hurt my game. I'm trying to focus more on rapid. But I get how, especially if you are streaming your games, it might feel more entertaining to your viewers to play faster time controls. If you were lower elo I'd have more advice, but you are around the same as me. I guess the one thing I'd argue against is playing bots because they don't play at all like humans and I haven't found any real value in playing against them myself. It feels good to win against an 1800 elo one... until you realize that it played way worse than an 1800 human ever would.

You're doing great though! I'd just try to stay positive! Yeah, your blitz rating is slipping but again, maybe work more on your rapid, level up in that time control, then come back to blitz later.

Good luck!

Have a good objective look at your blitz and rapid stats. You are improving without any doubt.

> don’t feel like I have improved

Just know that you are not alone and cheers

if you look at your all time rapid rating chart, you will see you are still improving.

Try playing slower time ?
I may try a Chess Club soon ..for the first time 😳

Learn exactly how to think in the opening, middlegame and endgame — this is what I teach.
Always blunder-check your moves.
Solve tactics in the right way.
Analyze your games.
Study games of strong players.
Learn how to be more psychologically resilient.
Work on your time management skills.
Get a coach if you can.

Hi @TrufflesMilano,

Your sentiment you share is very common for a lot of chess improvers, so firstly, don't feel alone! Lot's of people will have different advice here, but as a coach and adult improver I hope I can offer you some insights that can help.

Chess is a game, that unfortunately is very difficult to figure out on your own. It's not like we can just sit at a board, and realise, "oh hey, my knights should manoeuvre like this in the middle game", we have to be SHOWN, then PRACTICED.

This is where really good books, or just getting a coach/mentor helps. It cuts down the learning time and provides structured resources to improvement. I really recommend taking notes of chess principles you don't know/utilise fully, or endgame techniques, or even how many moves of opening theory you know of your opening. And then one by one, actively aim to improve these things, not just playing more online games. If you do, your rating will eventually follow.

As you have mentioned though, if you are losing from blunders still, implementing the correct thinking style in Chess and removing these is your #1 fast-track to gaining 100-200 ELO.
If you have any more questions, just let me know!

- FinkeChess

Three suggestions.

1. play at slower time controls so you have time to think and to put into practice what you have learned.

2. Read some instruction books on how masters form plans and think during a game. Dont get bogged down by books that provide long sequences of moves. Chernev, Reinfeld, Fine, and Silman all have several books that emphasize chess understanding and planning.

3. Play OTB chess at a club Find stronger players who are willing to talk about their thinking during a game

There is an old saying: if what you have been doing doesn’t work, then you should do something else.

In my opinion, beginners make more and more rapid progress from studying chess effectively than they do by simply playing blitz and rapid games against others at their level. yes, you can learn from playing other beginners. But you can learn much more quickly from following my suggestions.

Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond…

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

I fell the same way- ive played 800+ games and im still 700 rating. i play more otb than on chess.com, tho.

Maybe after I solve a few hundred thousand more puzzles, I'll feel ready to try and peak bullet again.

I’m at the point where I feel like I’m improving from beginner to slightly better beginner