Stuck at 400 ELO and I've been playing for a year.

Sort:
Avatar of crazedrat1000
Bodimango wrote:

Reading stuff like Sucialian opening or Ponziani makes me feel awkward and incompetent here. I didnt learn any terms about opening or development. I just used to play as I was a kid. And 30 years later, one week ago I just logged in to entertain myself ‘coz I know the rules = I know how to play’. After a while I started to lose one after another, and entertainment all gone lol. Now I realize my opponents scrutinize all these things from books whilst I just play intuitively with occasional blunders once distracted. Long story short, please recommend a similar web-site where people are less serious about it, where I belong. Thanks!

If your goal is to avoid the opponents opening theory - it's a worthy goal and one very easy way of doing that is playing 1. b3 as white, then 1... b6 as black in all your games. Vuala you will be out of your opponents opening theory in all your games after playing 1 single move, now just play chess. (it may be unlikely this is the actual problem at your level but I digress)

If you don't want to be on a site where people take chess seriously - you should not be asking for a link to some other chess site, nor should you be coming here. Instead you should just go find a site dedicated to socializing or maybe some other hobby like wood working, which you are capable of finding yourself via google. You're not going to find a chess forum online where people don't take chess seriously, because chess is the core purpose of a chess forum, it is why people come to chess forums.

Avatar of mikewier

There was a book some time ago that said that it took about 10,000 hours of practice to master any skill—piano, a sport, surgery, whatever. That is a bit of an oversimplification because correct study and innate potential can streamline the process. 

I get frustrated when I see forums in which people say they have played thousands of games but are still rated below 1,000. Why? They have wasted their time.

take a portion of the time you devote to chess and use it to study. Read Chernev’s Practical Chess Endungs and his Logical Chess Move by Move. And don’t just read these books. Get out a chessboard and play through the explanations in the books. 

I guarantee that a few hours of effective study of chess principles will help your game more than playing another thousand bullet or blitz games against other beginners.

Avatar of F4-Addict

I've been playing for a year as well, but I'm 1700-2000. I think the difference between you and me is that I've put time and effort into learning this game, but don't take my word for it. I'm just a guy on the internet.

Avatar of ImTrashLOL_91
FaizRiyaz wrote:

Same problem with me 😵‍💫

Same. Me too.

Avatar of The_Dude_Abides90
I got to 1200 in 6 months by dong as many puzzles as time allows for tactics and pattern recognition. I think that’s hugely important. As well as watching rating climb videos from Chess Vibes and Gotham chess for overall strategy and understanding. Being obsessed helps greatly too
Avatar of YanChessKing

Ok

Avatar of R0L

u should prob practice openings and learn opponent patterns

Avatar of taekwondochessman

Buddy there's no shame in being 400 elo I'm 400 elo and I beat my brother who's 1000 elo sometimes you just go against people who are on the path to power as I call it or people who really are wonderful at chess and can't really be stopped to technically 400 isn't even that bad also please just don't try Sicilian defense it can be easily destroyed

Avatar of sasadangelo
Chess_Polimac ha scritto:

"The Italian is the worst opening for beginners to start playing - the worst."

This comment doesn't make sense to me. Italian game is my favourite opening and I was able to go in 3 months from 230 rating (the lowest) to 500. Checkout my stats. It takes longer to arrive to 1000. At the beginning probably whatever opening is OK. I found Italian Game easy to remember. Moreover, I think the best source of info for this opeining is the Playlist of Chess Factor dedicated to it. It's free.
I am not always perfect to play it, sometime I lose with white. But I like it.

Avatar of MajdMew

Im def agree I used to be 1600 elo but I lost my account and I feel like these 400 elo players r so much better than they used to be but a lot of the time as a beginner Sicilian isn't all that bad because after playing u only have a few pieces left to develop a long with a pretty decent pawn structure which is hard enough to overcome as a decent elo imagine the 400 players figuring it out also if u want to learn the Sicilian I would definitely look into it deeper its very good and its one of my favorites, I'm still not too good at it tho.

Avatar of LSF

Do you like to play chess and learn with titled players?Join our club and there is a guarantee that you will play one!
https://www.chess.com/club/lsf-chess-palace/join

Avatar of Letoffsomesteam

I think it's just joever for you ngl maybe hop on the puzzles and the lessons?

Avatar of Noo0bb
sasadangelo wrote:
Chess_Polimac ha scritto:

"The Italian is the worst opening for beginners to start playing - the worst."

This comment doesn't make sense to me. Italian game is my favourite opening and I was able to go in 3 months from 230 rating (the lowest) to 500. Checkout my stats. It takes longer to arrive to 1000. At the beginning probably whatever opening is OK. I found Italian Game easy to remember. Moreover, I think the best source of info for this opeining is the Playlist of Chess Factor dedicated to it. It's free.
I am not always perfect to play it, sometime I lose with white. But I like it.

230 is not the lowest rating, 100 is. Also the italian is very common and most people know how to play against it.

Avatar of fifoma09

maybe you hear this all of the time but do puzzles

Avatar of ChessMasteryOfficial

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.

Avatar of PeterSaxton
InsertInterestingNameHere wrote:

Playing the Sicilian at 400? The Sicilian is way complicated, and a lot of people recommend not trying to learn it until like 2000. And after reviewing some of your games, you don’t even play the Sicilian, so why learn it? Just learn a basic line against it, like the alapin or smthn.

I’d recommend watching some videos and reading some books to help. From reviewing some of your games:

1. You castled directly into an attack. You played b3, didn’t fianchetto your bishop, and ended up with a weak pinned knight that couldn’t be defended.

(https://www.chess.com/game/live/39496790747

2. You have to evaluate what the opponent wants when they make a move, and what’s under attack before you play. I struggle with this a lot too, but hey, we’re all trying to get better. 

After 5...Ng5, you played d5, which is a square you control less than your opponent. Your opponent is obviously trying to fork your queen and rook, and your king still isn’t castled. So short castle would have solved all these problems. Try to find the optimal move. Also, I should mention, d5 isn’t a blunder. Often, d5 Na5 is played, but you played Nd4?. Then, after 7.d6, you failed to evaluate the threat and played pawn takes, got forked, and lost the queen.

(https://www.chess.com/game/live/39496752153)

3. Stick to the fundamentals. In this game, you moved your queen out on move two. Develop your minor pieces first, knight before bishop. 8...Nxd5?? is a blunder. Your queen was overloaded, and you need remember that before you snap take. I have trouble with this too, but just think “after [blank] happens, what would I do as [my opponent], or, “after [blank] happens, does [my opponent] have any very good moves?

10...bb4+?? is also a blunder. This is a danger level that doesn’t work. Your queen was under attack, and you gave a check and pawn blocks, resulting in two of your pieces hanging. You can only save one, so instead of being fancy, just move the queen. Before you play a move, think, “how would I respond” or “is this move really necessary?”, and visualize the complications you’re making for yourself.

(https://www.chess.com/game/live/39496191021)

4. You’re too quick to resign! You’re 300, if you blunder a piece you should always play on! Your opponent could end up blundering their queen or smthn, it’s not like they’re a grandmaster who’ll never make a serious mistake.

who knows though, I’m only 1450, maybe a more qualified person will come along. I make as many blunders as a 200 in some of my games

I play sicilian and I'm only 400. What I mean is that I play 1.... c5 and then make it up!

Avatar of KingsideCastleOnSpotify
Play slow time controls and think about your moves, look for hanging pieces, think about what your opponent is trying to do, etc. :)
Avatar of PeterSaxton

Players around 400 dont seem to leave many pieces hanging or dont take advantage of hanging piece. That seems to be people under 250.

Avatar of LOSTATCHESS

advice advice advice Everyone gives advice --do puzzles, don't do puzzles, learn openings, don't learn openings, learn tactics don't learn tactics, get a teacher, don't get a teacher -- when you at the bottom, say 400 and below it's all to much to get your head around,

you would think that web site like chess.com would have built a teaching system that actually works to give a straight way to improve, not that useless teaching lesson system they have now

Avatar of sasadangelo

Hi everyone,

Back in 2021, I went from 0 to 500 Elo in Rapid chess in just 3 months. I’ve shared my journey, tips, and lessons learned in this article:

👉 Breaking Through – A Beginner's Guide to Reaching 500 Elo in Rapid Chess

I’d love to hear your thoughts—feel free to leave a comment or reaction on the article!

Thanks and happy playing! ♟️