How do i go from 700 to 1700 or 1600!
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Apr 24, 2024
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#2
Regarding your third point, I heard something recently that I liked (perhaps on Perpetual Chess Podcast) that you can’t learn to swim by reading a book.
I understand that some of these questions have a sarcastic tone to them, but some are genuine. The common theme I see with questions like this are “how do I improve my rating from X to Y.
We all have goals in chess and for some, we want to reach a number. That’s why I’ve styled this article based on ideas to improve to the next level, broken down by ELO rating.
All of these ideas build on each other, but I’ve formed each section with new ideas to add as you reach certain levels. I also made a cheat sheet in the form of a chart to help visualize everything in one place.
That being said, don’t think about your rating as an end all be all number.
Let’s get started. 1. Focus on openings and try to sacrifice pieces
2.Think about each move.
This is of course in an over the board scenario.
WRITE DOWN OPPONENT MOVE
ASK WHY DID HE DO THAT?
IS HE ATTACKING OR THREATENING SOMETHING?
DID HE LEAVE SOMETHING UNPROTECTED?
CHOOSE AT LEAST 2 POSSIBLE MOVES
ANY FORCING MOVES? (CHECK, CAPTURE, MAJOR THREAT)
AM I LEAVING ANYTHING UNPROTECTED?
DO I HAVE ANY FORKS / PINS / DISCOVERED ATTACKS?
FIND THE BEST MOVE
MAKE MOVE
WRITE DOWN YOUR MOVE
HIT CLOCK.
3.
Start exploring games by masters
Agadmator is a great example of a run through of why certain moves were played by higher players. He has gone through many classical games and modern games and his analysis can go further than a player between 1300-1600 ELO.
You may pick up some ideas just by passively watching YouTube rather than looking at the game yourself. Just be aware that watching videos and not internalizing them won’t do any good.
4.
Be able to identify openings
This is not 100% needed to know all the openings, but knowing in theory what opening you are in can help a lot. It will help you to realize what types of moves and ideas you should be going after.
There are certain openings you can “steer” your opponent into at a certain point. For example, playing 1. e4 nc6 can turn into a regular Italian game, but it is by black’s choice. If black instead plays e5 right away, then white can turn the opening into other things. The move Nc6 is less committal than pushing a pawn, which is a concrete move.
I’ve had some English openings turn into a King’s Indian Defense, which is a game I prefer to play.
5.
Review games with a coach and play people stronger than you
If you’re fortunate to have a chess coach or a friend who wants to help, then take full advantage of this. Ask them to help analyze what went wrong in your tournament game. This is crucial and it helps you to internalize ideas more concretely than if you analyzed yourself.
Ask for post mortems from your opponents in every tournament to see what you did wrong. Most players will be happy to analyze with you if you ask nicely and aren’t a jerk during the game. Always keep an open mind and even if you lose, remember you can always learn and improve next time.
6.
What to Focus On for Chess Improvement under 1,600 and 1,900 ELO
Short answer: Tactics, Position, and End Game Study
Begin exploring other openings
Play as much blitz as possible, but do it the right way. Playing blitz just to play blitz is fun, but don’t just play a lot of games and expect to learn from them. Learn from your openings and see where you went wrong tactically with an engine.
I’ve done this to see what the most played moves are in openings. Once I see what the most played moves are, I look at what games were played in this line at the highest levels. That way, I can see the ideas they were going for.
Chess openings are all about ideas. There are tons of openings that you can divert which way you want to go. I think playing white in the Najdorf is a perfect example of this. You can either continue with g4 or Bd3.
7.
Learn positional ideas
There are some common positional ideas you should be working on at this rating level. To take is a mistake is a key idea to start to remember.
Keep as many pieces as possible on the board to increase your odds of finding tactical maneuvers. If you trade all of your pieces down to a rook endgame, the chances of a draw increase exponentially.
Sure, either side could make a game ending blunder at this stage of the game, but you’ll find that at the higher levels of a tournament hall that many games will have both players with less than 20 minutes on their clock and just about every piece still on the board.
Sure you want to keep enough time to win an endgame, but these players understand how important it is to gain a positional edge and they spend as much time as possible trying to exploit a positional advantage.
8.
You should also start focus on endgame studies
Primarily rook endgames
Learn about drawn endgames like the bishop vs wrong color corner
Learn which pawns knights hate
Figure out how to position your pawns
Knowing when to enter an endgame
9.
Above 1,900 ELO
Short Answer: Tactics, Openings, Positional Play and Endgame Study
I read a thread on Quora that compares how 1400s think vs 1900s. Most of the answer was sarcasm, but the ideas were not far off. 1400s can over emphasize some aspects, like learning tons of openings, but 1900s can go deeper in a lot of ways.
1400 player: Hey look, engine suggests this was a huge mistake. Instead of initiating a sacrificial checkmating combination in 17 moves, he decided to win an exchange. What a patzer!
1900 player: Now that was a pragmatic decision. Yes, the engine points out a faster way to win, but no human would ever play it.
I particularly like this segment as it explains how Grandmasters think as well. An engine may say a particular move is “best,” but if it makes your game harder to play, then it’s not the best for a human. Magnus Carlsen once gave up a pawn in an opening and said that his game was just much easier to play without the pawn. He didn’t even think about the material.
Work on strengthening openings and getting better at lines
A lot of stronger players will start to get into opening prep a lot more at higher levels. This is because anyone above 1900 should
Mix up your openings. I once played a tournament where my opponent watched me play blitz before the game and went and looked up a few lines before our match, all without me knowing. I ran right into his traps because I played too predictably.
This is how higher players think and prep against you. Always mix up what you play and keep your opponents guessing.
10.
Continue improving
Tactics never ever stop. You should always focus on them even above 1900.
Endgame studies can go even further. You should know the Philidor and Lucena rook endgames by heart at this point.
Even positional understanding can be improved. I like using ChessBase and watching how GrandMasters analyze their own games. Right now, I’m on Shirov’s Best Games in the Spanish to improve my Ruy Lopez
11.
Your Turn
Did anything in this article help? Did you see areas to improve?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. I’m always open to playing a game as well to help you improve.
This took me so long to write and it took me 4 hours to make so pls take this as advice😭