Stuck at 500 after 1,600 games, what’s going on down here?

I've been playing for a while now.

I have over 1,600 games on this account, and my puzzle rating is over 1,400.

I've studied my openings (most of the times I do more book movments than opponents), I try follow principles, and I try to improve a little with every match.

But here I am, still floating around 500–600. And to be honest, it’s not even that it’s mentally exhausting. It’s that it’s starting to makes me feel stupid.

And the worst part? No one seems to take it seriously.

On Chess.com and Reddit, you say “I’ve got over 1,500 games and I’m rated 500,” and people assume you’re just terrible or not trying.

Maybe they’re just too good to relate anymore. Or maybe something’s changed. Because what I’m seeing today is not what people describe as the 400 level.

Players at 400 are giving discovered checks, punishing mistakes instantly, and putting up 80+ accuracy in games. I understand that accuracy can be misleading if the positions are simple, but let’s be honest, consistently putting up 75-80 accuracy, with a 55% win rate, in 500 rapid games, isn’t normal.

It used to be that 400 meant not knowing how to move the pieces.

Now, 400 players are pulling off tactics and clean openings.

Another thing: I run into players all the time with thousands of games played. Some with 5,000, I saw a guy with 55,000 games (YES 55K), still rated under 600. What exactly are we supposed to take from that?

And I know how the matchmaking works. If you’re on a good streak, it’ll throw stronger players at you, some who are rated lower than they should be, either because they just started, or they reset their accounts. I’ve seen players with 400 rapid but 1,000+ blitz ratings. You can’t seriously expect to beat someone like that fairly.

Here’s what’s actually happening to me:

• I win a few, climb near 600, then get crushed by clearly stronger players.

• Drop back to low 500s, sometimes even high 400s.

• Get stuck again, but now I’m facing new accounts that play fast and sharp.

• And when I lose too many, I end up facing chaotic players with random tactics and weird openings, some easy wins, some frustrating losses.

It’s like the 400–700 range has become a dumping ground for every type of weird case: new smurf accounts, veterans with thousands of games, real-life players trying online for the first time, and people who maybe don’t belong here at all.

I’m trying to do everything “right”:
I develop my pieces, fight for the center, avoid early queen moves, castle early, look for pins, forks, skewers, use the “checks, captures, threats” idea. I play Scotch with white and Petroff with black (although Petroff’s been terrible for me).

I know what I'm doing isn’t perfect, but it’s not garbage either. And yet I’m stuck.

Let not forget the Scholar's Mate professionals, guys that play 200 variations of QH5 and BF6, that now I win 60%, but is still very annoying because there is guys that can run away with it, just moving the queen, and after 60 moves, you got to an equal end-game.

So… is anyone else down here seeing the same thing? Or am I just fundamentally misunderstanding something about this range?

This is called Chess Plateau. It happens to everyone. Even Grandmasters. It can be frustrating, but its a very normal part of your chess career. I've played over 2,000 games and I have had many plateaus.

I made a guide on how to overcome plateau, please check it out!

https://www.chess.com/blog/Ethanchock7/how-to-un-plateau-yourself-and-win-more-games

A few tips:

Take a short break from chess to refresh yourself.

If you lose more than 3 times in a row, don't keep playing.

Keep studying, less openings, more positional content

You're not stupid.

I hope this helps and best of luck!

For the first part: Some people play a lot of freestyle (Chess960) or other modes that are not rapid.

For the second part: Blitz and Rapid are very different in terms of play. I'm 1080 in rapid yet I can hardly play 400 in blitz.

It is one of your recent games.

When you're saying that you're following some principles what you're talking about?

Just on move 3 you could take a free central pawn but you didn't do it. On move 6 he just put his queen on f6 where your pawn could take it but you didn't do it. No comments...

And this is what you call decent chess? All you should do to get above 1000 is just to gather free pawns and pieces like mushrooms in the forest.

thats true

This is a Beginner forum, with a title, stuck on 500, what do you expect?

You were black in this game and you say that you are playing clean games of chess...

Just take free pieces and dont give free pieces bro

idk theory questions?

tactic stuff?

take your pick

Bd6 is a clear 300 elo move lmao

Sure, this is a good analysis, for some reason I was thinking on the bishop pair, kind of sacrificed the knight to get, but didn't see the hanging queen backwards.
This is the games of my insights by the way
https://www.chess.com/insights/rodrigo-moraesI'm having peaks and lows
Ladder for 400 to 500, did many times, 500 to 600 few... 600+ never

So what's your actual advice?

My advice is before every move always look at the free pieces your opponent has. Do not play openings mindlessly, for example if there is a hanging pawn do not try to play the scotch. Also look if you have any hanging pieces before making your move. This will get you to 1000

If you are interested, I have Saturday streams on twitch where I do a deep dive into beginner games and come up with improvement plans. But for now, just based on what I'm seeing, this is my advice.

Quality over quantity: It could be that you'd benefit from 2 or 3 games per day and the rest of the time that you've been spending playing games, instead fill that time with thoroughly reviewing your games and study.

Speaking of Study - Puzzles!: A puzzle rating of 1400 isn't as good as you think it is. At any rate, you've spent 7 hours on puzzles according to your profile. That's not enough. You are going to need to spend MANY more hours than that for the tactics you are learning in them to become second nature. I'd spend at least 30 minutes a day on them. Other websites out there allow you to do unlimited puzzles for free.
Spend more time focused on the basics: Knowing a bunch of openings is good, but more important to get to 1000 elo are good habits - getting your pieces on good squares, castling, not hanging your pieces and taking your opponent's hanging pieces.

Be in a good state of mind: It's easy to tilt or miss things and then think your opponents are geniuses. They aren't. But if you aren't in a good state of mind, it's going to feel like they are and then you get into negative self talk thinking, "maybe this is the best I can do". Believe in yourself! You can do this! At the very least, you can get to 1000 elo.

All ideas of funny business have the problem of not being able to explain how others have no trouble achieving a high rating. One guy recently complained that he had been stuck in the 800 - 900 range for a year and said that he ran into a wall of players at that level who played like 1500's, "clearly using an engine", he argued. "players at that level just don't make moves like that."

I said,

Which is more likely, would you say, that your rating is 842 because that's how skilled you are or because you hit a 'wall' of cheating opponents? If the latter, why don't other players hit that same wall? Are they all cheating? When high rated players do a speed run, they can reach expert level in a matter of hours. How do you explain that? Why can't you reach, say, 1200 or 1500 or whatever it is you feel you actually deserve?

I looked at your recent losses. You are making very serious mistakes.

You don’t develop all your pieces.

You move pieces twice before all your pieces have been developed

You develop pieces so that they are in the way developing your other pieces

you don’t castle.

You don’t take free material.

You leave your material where it can be taken for free.

There is no reason to suspect that your opponents are sandbagging or cheating. Your play is at about the 500 level—about the level of someone who has learned the moves but has never heard about basic chess principles.

here are some recommendations.

Play slower time controls so you have time to think about your moves.

Read a few basic instruction books that explain how a master thinks and selects his moves. I recommend Reinfeld’s Complete Chess Course and Chernev’s Logical Chess Move by Move.

Dont get bogged down trying to memorize move sequences. Learn and then practice general principles.

Join an OTB club. Watch the stronger players. Listen to their post-game discussions.

A few visits to a club or one week with one of the books I suggested will likely help you more than the 1,500 games you have played against other beginners

Maybe start by creating your own thread rather than hijacking OPs. This is the beginners forum.

Chomp on free pieces. Look at every piece every diagonal every rank/file to see if there is a free piece and especially knights. See if your pieces can be chomped on

chomp on hanging pieces