Can anyone look at my last couple of games and give me ideas on things to work on?
I seem to be stuck around 900 elo after ~600 games and 6 months of playing chess. It appears I'm playing pretty well for the first 15-25 moves, developing pieces, until all of a sudden I'm not. I'm easily duped when put on the defense side of things. What should I be focusing on improving at my current level? I've been watching Chessbrah's habits series, which i've found helpful in general but I'm still failing to progress.
I'm not really an expert but am rated a few more hundred points higher and mostly play blitz - which is not really good for your chess but anyway, here's my 2 pennys worth looking at your last 3 losses...
v Dorinass
1. Your opponent brought his Queen out early which is never a good idea for beginner level, when you see that, you need to think about punishing early Queen attacks, you made the right move on move 6 with the central pawn push but instead of pushing your E pawn next to attack the Queen you played a Knight move which brings me on to the 2nd point
2. Don't make One Move Threats that lead nowhere, think further ahead, on move 7 you played Knight to A4 to attack the Bishop but you should have asked yourself can the bishop move to a safe square and if so, what is my follow up move, there wasn't one which meant your knight was stuck on the side of the board restricting the number of squares it can move to, moving the knight back to where it was is known as a sad move.
3. You took 1 minute 43 seconds to play the 8th move which was a pawn move to seemingly protect your two pieces for no good reason as neither were under attack nor needed defending, instead you need to start looking our for PINS for and against, your two pieces were then pinned and you lost one of them, which brings me onto point 4.
4. When you were down a knight/material at this point, you made the cardinal sin of trading off your Queen on move 20- you should always, by logic if you think about it, a) never trade off material when you are down material unless you have a very good reason to, try to keep as much mating material on the board as you can when down a pieces and b) last thing you do is try to give away your most powerful piece in this position, strangely your opponent turned down the request but that's by the by. You then continued to trade off material with your bishop and knight and then again tried to trade your Queen off when again your opponent turned down even though it'd have meant going into an end game with him/her up a bishop and winning. Finally you then traded off your rook leaving you with literally zero chance of a mate. Makes no sense.
Conclusion, look to punish early Queen moves, don't trade off material when you are down, be on the lookout for pins, for and against. Resign in a completely lost position out of respect.
v Fahrudin96
1. Don't allow your opponent to double your pawns for no good reason, you played Bishop E6 on move 5 which allowed your opponent to do this, you defended the Fried liver attack well but then all you had to do was to Kick the Knight away by playing pawn to H6 and then your opponent had to make the sad move back to it's original spot.
2. On move 12 you pushed a pawn, a one move threat, to attack the Knight, but you need to ask yourself the question, if I do this, where will the knight go, the knight took one of your pawns instead and then he traded with your knight on F6 which forced you to take it with your Rook - you don't really want to move your Rooks up the the ranks til the end game unless for good tactical reasons as it becomes an easier target in the middle game.
3. Don't have Tunnel vision, on your last move of the game, you took 30 seconds to move your Queen to the second Rank which was not even a one move threat as it threatened nothing, your opponent had Checkmate covered with his Queen, every move you make has to be to improve your position, this move blundered checkmate.
4. Considering you are playing Long Rapid game, - use that time wisely, look at the move you want to make over and over and think in 3 simple steps - Look for checks, then look for captures and then look for attacks, and above all look out for what your opponent wants from his next move and if you need to do anything about it First!
Conclusion Don't double your own pawns, don't make needless one move threats, don't have tunnel vision, ask yourself what your opponent wants, there's two of you at the table and use the ample time you have on the clock wisely, it's not bullet chess, no need to rush whatsoever.
v Shining_Tuko
1. Look out for central control, on move 9 you played Queen to D7, if you'd have pushed your D pawn to D4 attacking the knight, you then have to ask yourself where does that knight go - it didn't have any good squares to go to and really would have had to have gone back to it's original square, a sad move, so use the time you have to look at all the moves you can make to decide which one is best.
2. Again, USE MORE OF YOUR TIME TO THINK THROUGH MOVES, on move 14 you attacked the knight in a one move thread blundering your Bishop - you took 19 seconds to play this move? you're playing a 25 minute rapid game, you have to start using your time instead of making quick moves, it's not blitz or bullet, there's just no need, a game that long especially that early on, blunders shouldn't really occur when you don't have time pressure, keep asking yourself before you play a move....what happens next, where does this piece go if I attack it? then you'll start to get better. Straight after this blunder, it took you 76 seconds to make the next move, which was another 'one move threat' attacking the knight, but you did not ask yourself the question, where will this knight go if I attack it - look at the squares it can move to - and so the knight forked you
3. Don't trade off when down material, as above, again, on move 20, when you were down material, you traded, you need material to mate, it's a lot harder to do when you have less of it, you took their knight with your bishop, there was no need in the bad position you were already in - on move 20 you then tried to trade queens, as per the first game, don't trade off your most powerful piece when you are behind in a game and it's not necessary,
Conclusion, look for central control, use your time to think through every move - a lot of time when you are playing long time controls and don't trade when down unless there's a good reason.
And don't do what I do which is play blitz, as it's not good for your chess, I'm just a Blitz addict, eventually I'll move into rapid but at the minute I prefer face pace action, you're doing the right thing sticking with Rapid chess, it will help you in the long run. The basic premise of chess is to try to make the best move on every move, so just Keep asking yourself the main question, if I make this move, what happens after that? what will my opponent do and will that worsen my position ? etc
Can anyone look at my last couple of games and give me ideas on things to work on?
I seem to be stuck around 900 elo after ~600 games and 6 months of playing chess. It appears I'm playing pretty well for the first 15-25 moves, developing pieces, until all of a sudden I'm not. I'm easily duped when put on the defense side of things. What should I be focusing on improving at my current level? I've been watching Chessbrah's habits series, which i've found helpful in general but I'm still failing to progress.