How to Improve Fast in Chess?
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I want to improve my chess skills quickly. I play daily, but my rating is not increasing much. What should I focus on—openings, tactics, or endgames? Are puzzles and game reviews enough to improve fast? Please share your tips and routines that helped you get better at chess.
- Analyse your own games to find out what your mean weaknesses and sources of errors are.
- Depending on what you find out from your games, ask yourself the following:
- Do I play at time controls that allow me sufficient time to think through tactics and threats? (If you're not playing slow chess, then probably not.)
- Do I have a thinking process that allows me to spot tactics and threats, avoid hanging pieces and capture the opponent's hanging pieces?
- Do I know the basic checkmates, endgames and basic tactics?
- Ask yourself how much time you want to invest into actually studying chess instead of just playing?
Depending on your answers, you should be able to draw up a study plan. For inspiration, check NM Dane Mattson's Starting Out Study Guide (0-600 Elo) and NM Robert Ramirez's Beginner Study Guide (600-1000 Elo). Ramirez's study plan requires around three hours of study per week.
Update: I just saw this: A less discussed way to improve fast: "watching live games of players who are slightly higher rated". But that should not replace the study methods recommended by Dane Mattson or Robert Ramirez.