Getting better?

Okay, so I've been playing chess on and off for about 3 years and I've kind of hit a wall. Lately I have also been playing like garbage. I'm thinking there are just some things I don't understand. I play an opening, and then when my opponent plays something different that I don't know, I can never seem to find the right move. I'm stuck at the 900 level, so I guess I'm rated under the beginner level? That makes me feel terrible because I feel like I do know a lot about this game. Are there any articles or videos I can watch that might better my understanding on playing good chess? Thanks, guys.

Play longer games. Blitz will not make you better at this point,

Hi Dr. !...will you show us your smiley dance again ?.....hehe

oops...sorry...everybody continue ?

Do you opening several correspondence games would be better? Or just playing one longer game at a time?

As the doctor mentioned, it can't hurt to play longer games, but I'm not sure that's really the main issue. Looking at a few of your games, it appears to me that you're studying openings, but you've never really studied tactics or opening principles. Did I guess right?

I have the same problem myself- its hard to know what mistakes you are making in a game (other than the obvious where you hang a piece) and then use that information to self coach yourself. You might try to join a club where you have access to better players who will be able to tell you in what areas you have a weakness.

You probably could stand to work on tactics, but that is just a guess since it seems to be the weakest area for the majority of beginers.

Blitz is a lot of fun.  Blitz is also useful to try out new openings to quickly get a feel for them.  Unfortunately that's about all it's good for unless you're already a very good player.  Until you've successfully built up the kind of pattern recognition that comes from playing thoughtfully in thousands of games, you're pretty much wasting your time.  Best witty explanation of this I've read was this: "Blitz serves as a showcase for your chess skills.  Below 2000 that showcase is largely empty".  Correspondence chess is a good way to get better, so is playing long standard games.  Heck, even 15/10 games would be better than what you're doing now.  And yes, of course if you haven't been spending time on tactics training on a daily basis then that is what will make the fastest change in your skill level.  It almost doesn't matter whether you're going old school with books, or digital with web sites/software.  Susan Polgar said in an interview that she still spends an hour a day on tactics!  Good luck.

Playing blitz in the early phases of learing can be really destructive

Well I only just started practicing on chess tempo with tactics, so you're sort of right with that, but I do know them. The principles I know, but I never know where a proper placement for my pieces would be. Like when I want to play Italian game, but at this level of play, other people don't know a lot of opening, so they open something that isn't in the book. When this happens, I'm not sure if I should proceed, or just start following the principles.

Yeah, whenever I hang a piece I see it immediately after. I do have a very good feel of the game, and I'm not really a newcomer, but I still play at a low level. I'm in a chess club, and I constantly play people better than me.

Whenever your opponent leaves your opening book, you have no choice but to start following general opening principles (if you're still in the opening).

I would suggest a few things to do:

1) Read up on general opening principles if you haven't already done so. (Like Reuben Fine's 10 opening principles, etc.) You can find these on either the Exeter Chess Club's web site or Dan Heisman's web site:

http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/ten-rules-opening

http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Articles/Dan_sayings.html

2) Read Dan's article on counting:

http://www.chess.com/article/view/counting-vs-counting-material

3) In addition to the online tactics sets, consider getting a basic tactics book like either Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics or Heisman's Back to Basics: Tactics. (Something that actually explains the basic tactics.) There are many options here, although I do like Dan's book.

4) Go over some of Dan's Novice Nook articles. He has one that discusses a basic improvement plan; He has others that discuss not playing "hope chess" (always looking for your opponent's checks, captures, and threats). Dan's Novice Nooks are a treasure trove of guidance, although some of them are for more advanced players. He has the Novice Nooks indexed three ways - alphabetical, reverse chronology, and by subject.

http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Articles/Novice_Nook_Links.htm

And don't only look at Dan's Novice Nook page. There's lots of other information scattered about his other web pages.

I'd say those four things would be a good "new" beginning.

play blitz and nothing else. That is wha carleson did to improve precipitiously brah

Check out the videos on Youtube, especially the ones by GM Yasser Sierawan & as others have suggested stay away from Blitz. Once you get to higher levels use Blitz to sharpen up your game.

Yes, I agree... If all u did was play blitz and nothing else then you would definitely improve precipitiously.

yes, yes it is. Quite Quite

The general consensus here seems to be to ditch the quick games. I hadn't given any thought to not having the time to think during blitz, but of course it certainly makes sense. I suppose that since I've mostly been playing blitz, it hasn't given me the foundation that my playing needs. I should start playing the longer games and looking long and hard about what will come about after each move. Maybe since I'm spending more time on each game, I'll give more consideration to analysing them to see where I went wrong, or maybe when I pulled something off right. I have been training tactics at chesstempo, so I am starting to build that section of my play. I really want to be a great player so I am willing to give it all I have. Thanks for your help, as well as everyone else too.

Thanks a lot everyone, I'm going to start changing some things up.