I feel like my progress is unnoticeable

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BasicChess22

Hey guys, i'm feeling a bit frustrated my games and i don't know what to do to improve anymore. I feel like with how much i put in and how much i try to understand the game i should at least be able to get around 1600. However, i feel trapped at my rating. I practice every day, i do all the tactics and all the lessons i can. I watch as much content as possible on chess (really love the Saint Louis chess Club). I joined a chess club and started trying my hand in the tournament they offer....but yet no matter how well i feel l play i cant seem to push past my position. My daily games go okay, but I feel like i should be able to do well in 15|10 and 30 minute games.  

 

I feel like i out play most of my opponents but then lose like patzer every time. Now it could be that i just really suck and im ignorant, i can understand that. But its not like im trying to become a master i just want to know what its like to understand the game like 2000 rated players do. I just want to be a decent chess club player and have fun. This losing and feeling like i dont understand anything really hits my self confidence hard. I feel like i can be good at this game but i feel also like even though i study hard and understand it more and more everyday i dont get anywhere.

 

I have tried to reach out for free coaches, and i have made some decent friends who have played some daily games with me to help me learn but even with the little bit of guidance i still feel so stupid at this game. Here some examples and ill try to explain in them my thoughts.

 

Than i play another game and all of a sudden its like my brain works, or my opponent was just terrible and i got lucky....idk how do i get better, why do i suck so much

 

I play black in the game above.
 

Am i really that bad, should i just give up, do i even deserve to try and be good at this game....

IMKeto

You have been a member for 10 days.

Member Since: Feb 6, 2018

Patience...

BasicChess22

FishEyedFools wrote:

You have been a member for 10 days.

Member Since: Feb 6, 2018

Patience...

I have been playing chess for about a year before this though

yureesystem

Chess might take longer than one year to improve.

yureesystem

Looking at first game and your annotation help me understand your thinking process; you have a huge lead in development, trading down to an endgame makes no sense, Why?, because all your advantage dissipate. It take chess knowledge and experiences; Let take move 15. Bxg5?, you trading a good bishop, every trade need to have a reason. Better is 15.Nxg5 ( first you are winning the bishop pair, always a good thing  and your f2-pawn is not block, you will know why  this a necessary. 15.Bxg5 Nxg5 16.f4! Nh7 ( knight has no good squares  to go and back h7, you are not trading a bad piece) 17.f5 is chrushing, you are going to open the f-file and black king has no safe place to go. All this take chess knowledge and experience. I go deeper later, I need to go. I hope this help.

hitthepin
Hello!

I have a friend who’s rated 1450ish on this site and he gave me the following ideas as a mental checklist (slightly edited):

1. Watch for checks, forks, and pins.
2. The piece your opponent moved, why did they move it? What is it no longer doing?
3. Are there any holes in my opponent’a position? If so, can I exploit them?
4. Do I have a lead in development? If so, seek pawn breaks.
5. Does my opponent have a weak pawn? It’s a target!
6. Do I have a weak pawn? Try to exchange it off.

Also, before you make your move, ask yourself, “what wonderful thing does this move do for my position?” If you cannot answer the question, find another move.

Hope this helps!
Sarozen

Analyze your games immediately after. See if you can pinpoint where you went wrong if you lost, and what you did well in every game. 

Keep track in an excel spreadsheet (I recently started doing this and have been seeing good results). You'll start to notice trends and areas that you need to improve. 

 

For example, I know that my greatest opening weakness is the french exchange variation. Other french defense i'm almost 100% with winning, but ironically with the exchange my winning % goes down. Based on the trends I know I need to study and improve this area. Once I win more of these, It will increase my rating.

Find those trends and small holes in your game and fix them. You'll start making gradual and steady improvement.

yureesystem

Buy a good chess book this will help  you improve quickly; the best book to start is Logical Chess Move by Move by Chernev, all the games deeply  annotated and every move is explain, your chess understanding will increase and you will be able to make better plans.

yureesystem

The Scotch opening should be for advance player, the Italian Opening is more easier to understand, 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3, it good enough for an opening advantage and less complicated than Scotch opening, your 8th move Bc4 was less optimal, is more solid 8.Be2.

BasicChess22
DeirdreSkye wrote:

 You are actually very good. The second game was like it was played by an 1800+ player.

 

The first game had some mistakes but I want to emphasize in the most serious one.

       One of the most  irrational moves I have ever seen is 17.c6 . I can understand blunder , I can understand bad moves but I don't understand 17.c6. You spend 5 moves advancing your q-side pawns only to end blocking all the q-side and achieving absolutely nothing! 17.c6 could have a meaning if you could follow with 18.e5 locking his queen's bishop and queen's rook.

    Instead of 17.c6 , the simple 17.cxb6 followed by invasion of the queen on c7 would give you a huge advantage. You should open lines(usually the main goal of most attacks) , not close them.

  

    You fall in a trap that most inexperienced players fall. He played a bad opening and you felt obliged to do something about it. You started an  unprepared attack without knowing what you want to do. Next time , be sure you develop your pieces and be sure you know what you want to do. Be sure that you have a goal .Your attack , either right or wrong had no goal.

   You need more good games like that one. More games that will help you identify your deficiencies.

    Play long time control games and analyse them . Try to find out what you did wrong and what you could do better. My guess is that soon you will play much better than that if you combine all this with some serious study.

Your right coming up with a solid plan in the middle game is my biggest weakness right now. I don't understand how to look at the structures and come up with solid plans that don't involve 3 move tactics. I try and study different openings to learn the theory of the "Why" you make certain moves, but I haven't yet found a good resource or book that explains the "why" of chess without being 20 pages of theoretical lines on a particular opening. How do you go about studying plan making?

BasicChess22
yureesystem wrote:

Buy a good chess book this will help  you improve quickly; the best book to start is Logical Chess Move by Move by Chernev, all the games deeply  annotated and every move is explain, your chess understanding will increase and you will be able to make better plans.

That kind of looks like exactly what i was trying to find, thanks for the information

BasicChess22
yureesystem wrote:

The Scotch opening should be for advance player, the Italian Opening is more easier to understand, 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3, it good enough for an opening advantage and less complicated than Scotch opening, your 8th move Bc4 was less optimal, is more solid 8.Be2.

The scotch has always kind of been my pet opening, I started playing the Italian alot in the past but maybe ill revisit it. I know in the scotch typically the move g3 is played and you fianchetto the bishop, but I was worried about being attacked by taking the extra time to play g3 with the queen being out. But maybe something like Be2 would have been better like you were saying. I just know in the open Sicilian games i play the bishop usually does really good on that square with possible Ne6 tactics but now i kind of see that, that does not apply at all here since 1. the queen has moved and 2. black still has the c-pawn

BasicChess22

I have a chess club tournament game tonight, i'm probably going to be up against another 2000 rated player. I might post my game on here afterwards if I feel like i played my best chess. Maybe it will help to see how a strong player can push through against me and why/how i allowed it. Unless i win of course but these guys know there theory and I havent won a game yet

IMKeto
BasicChess22 wrote:
yureesystem wrote:

Buy a good chess book this will help  you improve quickly; the best book to start is Logical Chess Move by Move by Chernev, all the games deeply  annotated and every move is explain, your chess understanding will increase and you will be able to make better plans.

That kind of looks like exactly what i was trying to find, thanks for the information

A former coach of mine suggested that book, but also suggested going over the games playing "Solitaire Chess"  Play over the first 6-7-8 moves, and then cover up the rest of the moves.  Using a real board, and pieces, play over the games trying to guess what move was actually played by the losing player.  Use pen and paper to write down your thoughts, analysis, notes, ideas, how you were feeeling , etc.  

BasicChess22

Note to self: dont play games in the morning its the perfect way to feel stupid.... yiiikkes, i dont know how i even keep from smashing my head through a wall sometimes (figuratively) Well well see how the afternoon goes...

 

EDIT: added comments, In hindsight its kinda funny this game above. I have to figure out how to not beat myself up so much. Im so used to being in a world where if you work harder than others you get farther, but i feel like chess is a such a different animal. 

BasicChess22

ilovesmetuna wrote:

why do you want to improve at chess ? because you have given up on being a better person ? getting better at chess just to beat up on the lower rateds, ill gotten gains dude.

No I want to get better at chess because I love the art and beauty of it

BasicChess22

Hahaha okay way too many books lol, it's gonna take me a bit to get them/read them but I'll start

hitthepin
When you’re playing those rapid games, eat a snack or drink some water as you go through it. Blunders often occur during lapses of concentration and eating something should (key word: should) eliminate some blunders in your game.
hitthepin
Besides now I’m going to lose my daily game to you and you are going to get a ton of rating points. :(
BasicChess22

Thanks guys, ill try to figure out my middle game, and work on that alot