What Makes Me A "Good Player"?

I know this sounds like compliment fishing but bear with me for a second. I've been playing on this site for a bit now and I've been playing with a lot of higher rated players who have been generous enough to help me out in unrated daily games. A lot of them keep saying that I play really well and even "Better than my rank". I don't really understand.

I know at my current level the bulk of what I should be doing is recognizing my strengths and weaknesses, but I honestly couldn't tell you what I do that separates me from most 200-800 rank players. It seems that almost all of us may have a few openings we prefer and may know some of the ways to go about them, but that's the bulk of my chess knowledge. I am trying to follow opening principles but when I play against the higher ranks these guys are basically so well versed in multiple openings they can counter literally everything I do from the opening til at least the mid-game. I find the same thing with people even 600-800. 

I can kind of see that I'm better than the 200-400s to some degree because they do make pointless moves and blunder heavily but I still blunder my fair share as well and beating somebody who plays like that isn't exactly what I'd consider "Good". I'd consider myself maybe decent or average at best and I am still regularly getting beat by similar ranked players hence why I'm still just barely inching towards 600. 

I am recognizing some of my weaknesses though and that's still with assistance from analyzing my games and also having some other more experienced players analyzing my games as well. I don't see what exactly I'm doing well though. 

I'd stop playing rated games against higher opponents, unrated games fine but your hurting your rating for no reason. I find the bots help as the middle difficulty setting indicates the strength of the moves. Bots do blunder silly though, or play really strong there's less middle ground with bots. Well done for your journey do far😃😃👍

I honestly don't mind as I don't lose any rating to significantly higher rated players. 590 vs 1100 means gaining 15 if i win, 5 if i draw, and 0 if i lose. I literally lose nothing If I lose to a higher ranked player.

There's likely little difference apart from spotting a few tactics between where you are and a thousand player, puzzles help, focused puzzles especially.

Aah, I didn't realise. Well I guess it's great experience then 🙂

There are a few questions here.

On the pessimistic side, I've noticed that players can only really "see" about 400 points above and below their rating. In other words it's extremely common for a coach (let's say a 2300 player) to tell their 1600 student that they play much better than their rating... this is because everyone below about 1900 looks the same to him, so he's honestly not sure why his student is 1600.

Also on the pessimistic side, many people confuse cause and effect. For example completing developing during the opening doesn't make you a strong player... in reality it's the reverse... being a strong player causes someone to complete development. Another way to say it is mimicking the symptoms doesn't give you the disease. So casual coaches may give you a few tips, and you copy that, and they confuse that for coming from some underlying skill rather than you just copying.

On the optimistic side, there are plenty of one tricky pony types at every level. Players who you can tell it will be very hard for them to improve beyond where they are because they're terrible at everything else. A coach can tell a fairly new player that they're better than their rating and it may be true in the sense that the only thing they're really lacking is experience... if they just keep playing they'll improve a lot vs these one trick pony people who need to stop playing and rebuild their game from the ground up.

There are also people I play who I can tell they're really thinking about each important decision, and even if I win easily, I think to myself, this person is going to be much better 1 year from now. They're not just playing moves on autopilot, they're obviously thinking and learning.

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To answer the title (what makes a Good player), chess has such a wide continuum of skill that there is no answer. I often say it depends on your goals and your friends. If your buddies are all 1300 and your goal is to get a 4 digit rating then somewhere around 900-1100 is good to you. If all your friends are titled players and your goal is a title too, then maybe "good" doesn't start until someone is close to 2200.

I mean, I'm not saying that to discourage you... as you can see almost everyone is below master level -- but all masters also started below 1000. In that case "good" could mean you're learning from your mistakes, studying / practicing your weak areas, and improving. You've improved over 100 points in less than a month, so that's excellent. No one can hope for more. So this is a "it's the journey not the destination" point of view. As long as you're improving and having fun you're doing as well as anyone on the planet.

There are some more concrete milestones. For example almost entirely removing simple 1-2 move blunders from your game is a big one. Getting a 4 digit rating is a big one. Beating that friend or family member who used to seem invincible is a big one.

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So in conclusion, umm, I don't really have any conclusion in mind. Just sharing some thoughts which is what you were probably looking for.

I'm not the op but I did enjoy reading that lengthy post. 👍

I am the op I, too, did enjoy reading that lengthy post.

For me, whenever I play a casual player and they demonstrate the following, I am often impressed:

1) They do not blunder free material (At least not because they didn't see it... bad sacrifices can be made at all levels!).

2) They can calculate at least 2 moves deep. eg. If I capture this piece, my opponent can move here and threaten checkmate and I can't seem to stop that threat any more which means I get mated next. So I shouldn't capture this piece... (Train tactics/puzzles to help this!)
3) They know basic checkmates and basic endgames like K+P v K, and K+R+1P vs K+R.

Work on accomplishing this, and you'll find your rating will increase naturally!

I would argue that the very fact that you're asking questions and trying to improve is maybe the most important thing in play here.

I work in restaurant management, with an emphasis in training new staff, so I always find it exciting personally and professionally when the new people have their "light bulb" moment on whatever we have been working on and they own whatever skill going forward. 

I haven't studied any of your games- heck, I barely have time to do more than a cursory glance of my own games most of the time- but, are you recognizing opportunities that you didn't see before? Are you taking an extra time between moves to make sure you're not overlooking something? (advice I should follow!) Most importantly, are you enjoying the journey? Few of us will ever reach a mastery level of this game, but if you're getting overly frustrated or discouraged, take some time away- sometimes "fresh" eyes or a refreshed mind makes all the difference in the world!

I have 2 mantras I use for guidance-- "I can teach skill, but I can't teach effort"  and "Try your hardest and do your best." The first doesn't really apply here as I'm not your coach/instructor/manager, but if you're doing your very best (and only you know if that's the case), then the results will eventually follow. Believe in yourself!

For me, this video helped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjZKRoNuAvY&t=304s also i would play too fast and then blunder so deep thinking and really seeing what your opponent can do after your move helps.

 I think a good player is not defiend by the rating. I mean clearly a grandmaster is a good player. But it's not that simple. A good player understands what creates a winning position. Like lets take a 400. In all rights a 400 is not going to be a challenging game. But if that 400 for example understands the value of a passpawn. But they have a hard time creating one or destroying one. They still get it. They have acheived a concept of a winning position. A good player understands what things will create winning board positions and they know what they need to improve and learn. Now that they are a good player. The can focus on learning the patterns that result in checkmate. They understand basic theory and can improve now. 

Hearing compliments about "better than your rank" simply means they see your chess has potential. You still must work hard to reach those levels and learn a lot to literally reach those ratings.

In the opening you develop your pieces, play in the center and castle. You take free pieces. On move 29. you pinned the rook to the opponent's king, winning the exchange. On move 33. you forked your opponent's king and rook, winning the rook. These things aren't easy to spot for players of your rating. On move 39. you cut off the king very nicely but still giving it 1 square so that you don't have to worry about stalemate and you proceeded with a nice ladder mate. You have posted another game in another forum where you also did all of those things and you punished your opponent for nonsense play. You will be over a 1000 in a couple of months and you will probably be over 1500 in a year or so. You are on the good road to becoming an intermediate player.

I'm a good player because...I believe that I can still improve.

I am a good player because... 1. I know I have the capacity to improve 2. I respect each and every move 3. I never resign a losing battle. 4. I'm not afraid to use my imagination. 5. I enjoy playing.

He should still finish the development of his pieces whether he does it because he copies others or because he feels in his veins that that is the right course of action. Completing development and playing with all your pieces is good, regardless of why you do it. When I started playing chess, at first the only reason why I developed bishops and knights in the opening was because I heard masters and gradmasters like Ben Finegold say that that's what I should be doing. Only later did I feel the need to do it not because somebody told me to do it but because I felt the need to do it, or even because I was afraid I would get blown off the board if I don't do it in some cases.

Kwmw,

Today a couple of games ago I saw my opponents intensions three moves ahead.... figured out I could lay a trap with a discovered check and rook capture which would put me up 3 points after the 5 piece exchange and it all went right. First time I thought this must be what being half decent at chess must be like 😂😂😂

You are constantly improving, you are rated over 600 already and you were 400 just 10 days ago. You are rapidly improving (probably because you are acomodating to online chess as opposed to OTB chess and you are well on your way to 1000! Good luck!