I Really Want to Get Better!

What you need to do is use your time and think. Don't play random moves.

This was your last game:

https://www.chess.com/game/live/121239232076?username=perryjames43

Black's move 4 (Qf6) attacked your knight again. You had multiple ways to defend it, but instead you played a random move (Bb5) and lost the knight. Now black is threatening mate-in-1, but you played another random move and got checkmated.

I repeat: don't play random moves. Use your time and think.

Looking at a couple of your games, you seem to have a reasonable idea of opening principles. You don't need to memorize openings and lines yet, other than this one: learn how to deal with early Queen attacks. You know, when White plays 2. Qh5 ... just bring out your Queen side Knight, and if they continue with their Bishop, chase away their queen with your KNP (King's Knight Pawn), and if they still try to attack f7, bring out your King Knight. Like this:

Other than that, just remember a couple things. Just because a piece is attacked doesn't mean it has to move. Can you defend it? Can you attack something of greater value? Before you move, think about how you would reply if you had the other pieces, and don't make the move you would hope to see.

Mostly, I think you'll improve if you just do that. You'll reach a new level in your play, and then you'll need to work on the next thing. But for now, focus on looking at the board with the idea of not making the move you would want to see if you had the other pieces, and even better, look for the move you would not want to see! Play the 2nd of those.

Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond

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

You should really change the Font color of your Blog.

Its impossible to read the Black & Dark Blue Font on your Blog.

Normally, I see you posting your Blog and I never really bothered to click into it.

Today - I decided to take a look at it sense you regularly like posting it on forums.

Once, I reached your Blog, I couldn’t really read anything. Most of the dark text are accompanied by dark background and it all blends together.

I have looked at the OP most recent game and found a horrifying discovery.

The OP was playing Black in this game.

When you look at moves #8 & #11, we discover something bad.

The OP is giving up his own pieces.

The OP is giving away the game.

What does the Knight sacrifices accomplish in this game?

The OP could of traded off Bishop or retreated the Bishop.

The Knight sacrifice didn’t do anything except cause him to lose.

Let use another computer. And you will win anyone into online! 😆

@Compadre_J -

You can toggle (click) the "Dark/Light UI" icon on the Main Menu between white and dark, to change the background color of the webpage from black to white and vice-versa. The blog article will then be very easy to read.

Hey there,

I am rated over 2400 online (https://www.chess.com/member/ppandachess). I created a free course that will teach you a training plan to improve. Feel free to check it out: https://www.panda-chess.com/daily-improvement-plan

Thank you, Russ - I didn’t realize I could toggle it.

I read your Blog after toggling.

I think your Blog is very well done.

I have a few mild negative marks, but they are just small things.

Not worth mentioning - just very good overall.

i love how some here think getting to 1000 is easy just do it they say --- 18 months playing still at 100 -- study watch videos read books puzzles puzzles etc -- so far the needle hasn't move much -- so buddy 1000 is not that easy for some i would care to guess for a lot of people that play here and pay here just like you --

It can take time to get better at chess and some pick it up faster than others. If you want help let me know.

Dear PerryJames43,

I'm 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 territories (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 really like it because the lessons are not boring (because we talk about more than one areas within one lesson) and they feel the improvement on the longer run. 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). I've started this channel 1 month ago, I've already created 71 posts there and I'm planning to upload at least 4 new videos per week, so you can get 4-8 hours of educational contents every month for only 20 USD/month. I think it's a pretty fair deal. 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!

I had a look at this game:

https://www.chess.com/game/live/127365614783?username=perryjames43

1. On move 2, you developed your knight to h6. This is usually a bad tactic, knights should normally be developed towards the centre, so Nf6 would have been a better move.

2. On move 3, you brought your queen out early, hoping to checkmate your opponent on f2. Your opponent of course defended against this threat, as they generally will. It is not generally good to bring your queen out early.

3. You left a bishop attacked although you could win it straight back with a fork.

4. Your opponent left a rook attacked on a1 but you preferred to capture the knight. As it is, if you capture the rook, your opponent may make things difficult with Nc3 which has the queen trapped in there. Even if they can't win the queen, the fact it is inactive on a1 may turn out bad for you

5. On a number of occasions you gave away pawns for free. Maybe pawns do not feel that important to you, but they are in general. They control squares and later on they can promote into queens.

6. Your opponent plays a move Ba3 which may look good as it appears to be a skewer, attacking the queen and if the queen moves, he can win the rook. But you have a good defence - you can move the rook first to e8 giving check, and your opponent has to address that so he cannot capture the queen. After that, you can bring the queen to safety.

7. At the end, your opponent moved a pawn to g5 attacking both your knights, but you can defend against that too. You can move one of the knights to attack his queen, and then move the other knight. If you move the knight from h6 to f5 it also defends the pawn on g7. But as it is, when you moved the other knight, that let your opponent checkmate you on g7 which indeed he did. That is a checkmate pattern you need to know.