Too many 5 minute games where you don't have time to think and have to move too fast. You can only play well at this speed if you are a strong player in the first place.
Some advices?
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#1
Play 15|10, use all your time, analyse your lost games.
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#4
tygxc hat geschrieben:
#1
Play 15|10, use all your time, analyse your lost games.
Do you know some good ressources for how I analyze my games? For what should I look. This is something I don't figured out until today
Hello there. You’ve probably heard about studying tactics and endgames and playing longer time controls. Here are a list of some basic positional concepts I have compiled:
Understanding positional play comes from understanding what each piece should be doing, what each piece’s job is.
Holes: This is a square that can no longer be controlled by pawns. If you can get a minor piece (or even major), supported by a pawn, on the fifth or sixth rank, your opponent should resign. Having a piece cemented in your opponent’s position can prove to be truly disruptive to their coordination.
Weaknesses: You need to know what it a weakness, and realize what pieces can target it. A backwards pawn, doubled pawn and isolated pawn are all examples of weak pawns. A square can also be weakened if only one pawn is controlling it. This is because if that pawn moves, the square is now a hole.
Captures: Understanding what the game plan is comes in here. Let’s say you have a closed Italian Game, and want to expand on the Queenside. You might understand that doing so will come with some pawn exchanges. So you keep the bishop pair, because bishops work best on long, open diagonals, where they control a lot of squares.
Bad bishop: why should my bishop be hiding behind pawns? It’s an attacking piece, made for pressuring and slicing. Get your bishop outside the pawn chain, advance your pawns to let it out. If you can’t, be willing to have a trade, in fact, look for a trade. It’s a useless piece. If an opponent wants to trade a bad bishop for your good bishop, decline (unless you have a massive winning advantage).
Good bishop: The opposite. Strong attacking piece, outside the pawns, pressuring pieces, in the game.
Bad Knight: it’s just not in the game. Sitting on the second rank, chilling at home. Be willing to trade it.
Good knight: I think I mentioned it before, but if you have a knight on the fifth or sixth rank, your opponent should resign.
Rooks: Want to get the rook in the game? Double them up on an open file. When the time is right, you can consider infiltrating on the other side of the board. A nice outpost square might be on c6, supported by a pawn, where it’s difficult for your opponent to remove you.
Queen: Your pieces need to be harmonious. Your Queen is not the strongest piece, it’s the weakest. Every time it’s attacked, you have to move or block it! So annoying! Your Queen doesn’t always have to be at the heart of an attack. It can play a supporting role from the background.
Targeting pawn structures: you need to know how you can weaken a pawn structure. For example, in a rapid game I played, I captured a knight, doubling my opponents pawns. This doubling of pawns also locked in my opponent’s bishop for the rest of the game. The doubled pawns could not move. And I had a pawn chain on the other side. A pawn structure can change the game.
Clamping on a pawn structure: Have a pawn on A5? Move it to A6. This might disallow the opponents pawns to move any farther if it’s a 2 on 1 majority situation. 1 pawn hindering 2 can limit their ability to create a passed pawn.
The element of time: Understand that in the opening your goal is to safeguard the king, and prepare your troops for battle. No time for one move threats. A tempo in chess is a move. Make sure your pieces are on stable squares. Before you make a move, ask yourself “can this piece be attacked by my opponent in the future? If so, is it worth placing it here right now?”
Understanding positional play comes from understanding what each piece should be doing, what each piece’s job is.
Holes: This is a square that can no longer be controlled by pawns. If you can get a minor piece (or even major), supported by a pawn, on the fifth or sixth rank, your opponent should resign. Having a piece cemented in your opponent’s position can prove to be truly disruptive to their coordination.
Weaknesses: You need to know what it a weakness, and realize what pieces can target it. A backwards pawn, doubled pawn and isolated pawn are all examples of weak pawns. A square can also be weakened if only one pawn is controlling it. This is because if that pawn moves, the square is now a hole.
Captures: Understanding what the game plan is comes in here. Let’s say you have a closed Italian Game, and want to expand on the Queenside. You might understand that doing so will come with some pawn exchanges. So you keep the bishop pair, because bishops work best on long, open diagonals, where they control a lot of squares.
Bad bishop: why should my bishop be hiding behind pawns? It’s an attacking piece, made for pressuring and slicing. Get your bishop outside the pawn chain, advance your pawns to let it out. If you can’t, be willing to have a trade, in fact, look for a trade. It’s a useless piece. If an opponent wants to trade a bad bishop for your good bishop, decline (unless you have a massive winning advantage).
Good bishop: The opposite. Strong attacking piece, outside the pawns, pressuring pieces, in the game.
Bad Knight: it’s just not in the game. Sitting on the second rank, chilling at home. Be willing to trade it.
Good knight: I think I mentioned it before, but if you have a knight on the fifth or sixth rank, your opponent should resign.
Rooks: Want to get the rook in the game? Double them up on an open file. When the time is right, you can consider infiltrating on the other side of the board. A nice outpost square might be on c6, supported by a pawn, where it’s difficult for your opponent to remove you.
Queen: Your pieces need to be harmonious. Your Queen is not the strongest piece, it’s the weakest. Every time it’s attacked, you have to move or block it! So annoying! Your Queen doesn’t always have to be at the heart of an attack. It can play a supporting role from the background.
Targeting pawn structures: you need to know how you can weaken a pawn structure. For example, in a rapid game I played, I captured a knight, doubling my opponents pawns. This doubling of pawns also locked in my opponent’s bishop for the rest of the game. The doubled pawns could not move. And I had a pawn chain on the other side. A pawn structure can change the game.
Clamping on a pawn structure: Have a pawn on A5? Move it to A6. This might disallow the opponents pawns to move any farther if it’s a 2 on 1 majority situation. 1 pawn hindering 2 can limit their ability to create a passed pawn.
The element of time: Understand that in the opening your goal is to safeguard the king, and prepare your troops for battle. No time for one move threats. A tempo in chess is a move. Make sure your pieces are on stable squares. Before you make a move, ask yourself “can this piece be attacked by my opponent in the future? If so, is it worth placing it here right now?”
#4
"how I analyze my games"
++ Identify your mistakes.
What was the good move?
What moves did you consider?
Did you consider the good move?
Why did you decide on the mistake?
How much time did you spend on the mistake?
How much time did you have available?
Good Positional Chess, Planning & Strategy Books for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/introduction-to-positional-chess-planning-strategy
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell
0
#8
Hey many thanks for all your advices. I will try to play more 15|10 games. I use aimchess too and they have tasks for playing blitz games too.
I recently climbed from 600 to over 2000 between 2019 and 2021. Here's my two cents.
Focus 80% of your study time on tactics and calculation exercises.
I'd recommend starting with checkmating patterns - there's a course on chessable called "Checkmate patterns manual", then move onto the standard puzzles on chess.com.
Rated timed puzzles are good - I'd recommend watching John Bartholomew's climbing the tactics rating ladder to get an idea on how to solve them.
I'd also recommend puzzle rush, because it exposes you to a lot of simple tactics over and over again in quick succession which helps your pattern recognition.
Even if you have spent plenty of time on tactics already, continuing to do more will always help as its more and more patterns. This is the best bang for buck area in chess improvement at the 1200 level imo.
In terms of endgames, prioritise your time with rook endgames and king and pawn endgames first. Simply because Rook endgames are the most common, and king and pawn endgames give you a good practical appreciation for endgames generally and many minor piece endgames require basic king and pawn endgame competence.
If you want to learn strategy, pick up Sillmans "How to re-assess your chess" book. It's cheap and will go into as much detail as you need through to 2000.
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#10
Kraig hat geschrieben:
I recently climbed from 600 to over 2000 between 2019 and 2021. Here's my two cents.
Focus 80% of your study time on tactics and calculation exercises.
I'd recommend starting with checkmating patterns - there's a course on chessable called "Checkmate patterns manual", then move onto the standard puzzles on chess.com.
Rated timed puzzles are good - I'd recommend watching John Bartholomew's climbing the tactics rating ladder to get an idea on how to solve them.
I'd also recommend puzzle rush, because it exposes you to a lot of simple tactics over and over again in quick succession which helps your pattern recognition.
Even if you have spent plenty of time on tactics already, continuing to do more will always help as its more and more patterns. This is the best bang for buck area in chess improvement at the 1200 level imo.
In terms of endgames, prioritise your time with rook endgames and king and pawn endgames first. Simply because Rook endgames are the most common, and king and pawn endgames give you a good practical appreciation for endgames generally and many minor piece endgames require basic king and pawn endgame competence.
If you want to learn strategy, pick up Sillmans "How to re-assess your chess" book. It's cheap and will go into as much detail as you need through to 2000.
Thank you, I have the books "100 Endgames you must now" and the "How to re-assess your chess" book here and I'm currently working through them.
The biggest problem is, that many games from me end in the middle game 
and I think this is the biggest issue I have.
The more comfortable and confident you get with endgames, the more control you will be able to exert over your middlegames.
If you know a particular endgame is winning, you will have a better sense of drive and direction with your middlegame to bring it towards the advantageous endgame. If you don't understand the potential endgames arising from the middlegame position, you might as well play randomly.
In Silmans book, during the opposite coloured bishop exercises, one example speaks about making sure you trade off your opposite coloured bishop so that the resultant endgame does not feature opposite coloured bishops which is easier to draw. You'll only proactively do that if you're aware and confident on opposite coloured bishops being drawish, for example.
Point is - by mastering the endgame, you'll improve your middlegame!
100 endgames you must know is a good easy course - I'd still say pretty much just focus on Rook endgames and King and Pawn endgames first.
I bought the course myself 2 years ago and barely completed 20% of it... we just need to get through it. It's still on my list to get through!
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I try to follow all the the advices from Chessbrahs Building Habits series and some other YouTubers. But maybe I’m just blind at the moment.
Totally thanks in advance