How can I reach 2000 elo?
Sort:
Hi. I'm 15 and I have a goal to reach 2000 by the time I'm 25. I dont play in tournaments as there arent any in my area, so I'm relying completely on online rating. What are some early habits and tips I can use to help me reach my goal? Thanks
Oct 17, 2022
0
#3
DeathToCucumbers wrote:
What are some early habits and tips I can use to help me reach my goal? Thanks
When you solve puzzles, calculate until you're confident you know the whole solution before playing the first move... but don't spend more than about 10 minutes on a puzzle. At that point you're trying to brute force you way through it and it's more productive to give up and spend that time studying the solution.
Any puzzle you fail, save it, and try it again a few days later. If you fail it again, that's fine, try it a 3rd time a few days later. Keep doing this until you solve it correctly at least once. If the only reason you solve it is because you've memorized it, that's fine, but be sure you've reviewed the solution and understand why it works.
-
Play rapid games. You can play blitz and bullet too if you want, but they're not a main part of improvement. After each game, choose 1 mistake and write it down. It can be anything from a specific move to an idea like "I forgot my opponent's bishop was there" or even "I played too fast / too slow." As your list grows, you'll be able to easily see which types of mistakes are the most common, and that's useful because working on those will give you the most improvement.
-
Read 1 book on endgames and 1 book on strategy. Try to follow a variation in your head as far as you can, then put the moves on a board. Not only do you learn the book's material better, but you're also practicing visualization. Read amazon reviews, and it's best to choose a well respected or classic book.
-
It's useful to start collecting things. Save any position you find interesting or instructive. It can be from any source, for example something from your game, or your analysis, or someone else's game, a puzzle, a video, etc. In just 1 or 2 sentences write down why you think it's interesting or instructive and save that. As the collection grows, review it from time to time to help get those ideas and positions into your long term memory. Try to add a few a week. If you're having trouble finding interesting or instructive positions, you can google for things like "best attacking games" or "[your favorite player's] best games" or look up a world championship match... but ideally the move or sequence has an idea you're personally interested in. Don't include something just because someone else says it's great. This is your personal list, so of course you can also include positions others may not like.