"Deceived" by myself : Chess Improvement

Hello forum! I would be amazed If you could try and help me!

I have recently achieved a 1970 rapid (30m) rating here on chess.com. some days later... I lose everything; back to 1900ish. I understand that this is normal, but I also understand that something has to change in the way I play chess in order to evolve.

I realized that my biggest mistakes are

tactics (not finding or allowing) or

calculation (simply not calculating, due to laziness or -custom-)

Since then, I have been practicing a lot of tactics recently and reached 2500 puzzle rating in lichess, which is my record so far.

But it has been very difficult to figure out what to do to change the second circumstance; It seems that I play almost automatically, most of the time, even in criticam positions, not considering other possible moves for me or my opponent (when they are not obvious). As I said, this is kind of a -habit-, harmful for me. I would like to change it and open my mind to other possibilities on the board besides my absolute truth (which is, most of the time, proven wrong).

Can anyone report the same type of problem? Can you recommend something? I really want to improve in chess, but this has been getting in the way of everything.

@1

"a 1970 rapid (30m) rating" ++ Better play 15|10. Thanks to the increment you have 10 seconds per move to win a won position or draw a drawn position. That takes your focus away from the clock and onto the board, where it should be.

"I understand that this is normal" ++ Yes, it is.

"something has to change in the way I play chess" ++ Analyse your lost games.

"tactics (not finding or allowing)" ++ 'Chess is 99% tactics' - Teichmann

"laziness" ++ That is mental discipline, or playing to much and getting tired. Whenever you lose a game, stop playing and analyse it first.

"I have been practicing a lot of tactics" ++ Tactics puzzles are overrated. In a real game nobody tells you there is a tactic, or for whom. 4 tactics puzzles are a good warm-up, but no more.

"It seems that I play almost automatically"
++ Play 15|10 and spend all your time before move 30, to finish the game on increment.

"not considering other possible moves for me or my opponent"
'When you see a good move, look for a better one' - Lasker

Despite other generalizations, i really love the idea the play 15m +10 games so time recovers itself. Since It is similar to real OTB games (because of the increment) and it is also easier to find an opponent, i will take it seriously. Thanks!

Yes I struggle with exact the same thing.

Not sure if the not-calculating comes from laziness/custom. 30|0 and 15|10 even 90|15, it’s simply not that much time. Given the fact that I am a slow calculator. At least compared to what I see on YouTube vids.

And being slow is logical. It’s a bad circle: I am slow -> I don’t have time to calculate -> I don’t practice calculating -> I stay slow.

Yesterday I was a pawn up and a second one seemed en prix, but there were opposing mate tactics. I decided to really calculate: can I take that second pawn (and probably win the game) or will I be in trouble. That took me 30 minutes. I decided not to take the pawn and lost an hour later in time scramble.

I must get faster.

@4

"I was a pawn up and a second one seemed en prix" ++ One pawn is enough to win,
there is no need to win a second pawn, there is need to simplification.

"I decided not to take the pawn" ++ Was that right?

"lost an hour later in time scramble"
++ In 90|15 you have 15 seconds/move, that is no time scramble.

- was it right not to take the pawn? Not sure yet. But on my first analysis at home it think it was right indeed.
- 30|15 is no time scramble… you are probably right. But it felt that way and I missed mate in three for myself and was mated unexpectedly.

@6

"But it felt that way"
++ Many games are lost on the board for fear of losing on time.

Point taken.

Some truly terrible advice

Sit on your hands.

Make a habit of blunder-checking every time you pull your hands out from under your butt.

Worked for me. YMMV.

@GMSilva109 if you struggle to find tactics I think 3|0 blitz is better pattern recognition is everything but rapid helps for accuracy and thinking what I wouldn't do is take the advice if your struggling "just play longer games" what I would recommend is if you miss a tactic during a blitz game go back and analyze it try to find the tactic I wouldn't recommend analyzing the entire game i would recommend playing rapid against people and playing styles you know I can explain more in detail but not in one post

I would recommend 15|10 in otb games but rapid only works well irl online you sort of just miss everything and zone out after the first 5 min of the game at least that was my experience