How do I improve? (I am utterly stuck)

Hello there. I am desperately trying to improve at chess, but I can't seem to do so. I am currently rated 1793 and my peak rating has been 1880. I have been 1750-1850 for more than a year now and I just can't seem to improve! As you can imagine, it is very frustrating and annoying. I'm very sure that I'm either doing 1) something wrong or 2) not enough.

I used to have a chess coach (FM) but I quit about 4 months ago because the lessons were not helping. I'm thinking about getting a chess coach on ICC, but I'm still not sure about that. (Any recommendations?)

I have analyzed my tournament games and frustratingly, most of my mistakes are psychological. For example, I'm a horribly passive chess-player, I almost always run into time trouble due to over-analyzing of everything, I'm terribly unconfident, etc. I don't know how to get past this obstacle and my former coach didn't know how to either. I am very afraid that this problem is unfixable and that I'm just not suited to chess.

I'm very dedicated to becoming a better chess-player; I admit that I haven't been so the past few months, but now that I've gained an understanding of what is truly important in my life, I am very determined to become a better chess-player.

My studying basically consists of these things: 1) Read chess-books 2) Play in tournament games 3) Play on ICC + do tactics.

Am I omitting something terribly important? Am I wasting my time with one of these activities?

Also, I have a terrible time with openings; my former coach recommended the London System as white, e5 + Nimzo-Indian as Black. I've stuck to this, but I don't get that certain vibe from the London System. I simply cannot imagine myself twenty years from now still playing the London System. I'm thinking about playing 1. d4 but my former coach nearly threw a tantrum when I told him that and said that the London System matched my style (I don't know if that was a compliment). What do you guys think about the London System? How do I study openings in general? I have MCO, but I hate memorizing variations and lines. Should I just buy opening books?

Also (Sorry this is so goshdang long), how do I get rid of my psychological problems? Should I seek therapy or join a monastery (just kidding)? No, but really. How do I go about fixing this?

AND, do you guys have any chess book recommendations?

Thanks so much!

Well I don't know if this would be a good suggestion as I am much lower rated then you, but have you considered playing blitz.  From what you said it seems like you tend to over analyze options and hurt for time in most of your games.  Playing faster games has helped me with this problem.  Anyways just a sugestion.  I hope that you get over/around this wall that you have hit.  Good luck.

On the time management side, I have the same problem, and no matter the time control (even long tournaments) I find myself getting into terrible time trouble.  What helped me is Heisman's observation that more calculation may improve your analysis, but it's impossible to improve your judgement.  Meaning a judgement move, lets say in an equal middle game trying to decide which rook to put on the d file.  Go ahead and calculate a little, but the judgment/evaluation you make after 5 minutes isn't going to change with an extra 20 minutes of calculation... and it does come down to trusting yourself.

You said you're not confident, and this trait is what also makes me go so low on time I believe.  You have to learn to identify these judgement positions, and then trust yourself.  You can do one last blunder check, one last does this move make sense check, then play it!

You hate memorizing variations and lines, then you should probably adopt a system.  The london system is... well a system so it seems to suit you   You said you're a passive player but can you be more specific?  People often talk about passive play, but it's useful to point out passive play is never good and there's no such thing as a strong player who plays passively.  There's quiet-maneuvering-positional-strategic play, but passive play should never be part of any one's game.  Maybe you like closed games then?  Anyway experienced players should suggest different openings and only you can ultimately decide if they suit you -- don't get bullied into playing an opening that isn't what you're looking for or it can hurt your results not to mention your enjoyment.

To get rid of your psychological problems, who knows :) but I'd suggest setting a goal to change how you play and then go to tournaments and practice your new behavior.  eg resolve to spend no more than __ # of minutes on a judgement move and record your time on your score sheet to review after the game.

Anyway, I'm not nearly strong enough to coach you of course (you'd want at least a master) but as far as the psychological things go, I hope you get some good advice by asking here.  In the way of streamlining a thinking process for players around your level, Silman's Reassess book is very good.

Good luck!

You say you read books, what books have you read?
Need to find books that are the right level for you, and not jump in too high.

As well as the London System, the repertoire given in "Killer Opening Repertoire" is quite good. Unlike the London System, there is more of aggressive plan to go for in most lines.

If you play passively then perhaps you should choose openings that open up the position so that you can't give your opponent space (though going into a shell). So maybe the Queens Gambit vs 1.d4 in order to ensure that you have a pawn in the centre. Maybe even the Tarrasch to get your pieces out.

1..e5 vs 1.e4 sound good as long as you maintain space (pawn in the centre). Learning the theory here would be good as you need to know some critical moves. If you're happy buying books, the "Starting out.." series is possibly just right level of theory and explanation. Also maybe flick around an opening tree (eg; chessok.com).

Start a tornament on this sight (or other) in a specif opening, say 6 moves in, and see how you get on. Play Online (not Live) so that you can use book and data to check the opening.
Practice against a computer (blitz is ok) starting from moves 6 or so to get a number of games in. Swap colours, and see how the computer handles 'your' opening while you play the other side.

Find top games to go through in the line you play (eg; chessgames.com).
Maybe you'll find someone who plays your favourite line - check out what else they play!

Silmans Complete endgame course looks a very good endgame book.
"Simple Chess" is a good read, and a bit more substantial is "Chess Strategy for the Club Player".

When practising tactics (try a little each day if poss), work on a single theme per session. Don't aim too difficult and spend hours per puzzle. Instead, try and rattle through them spending 5mins at the most, in order to see the patterns (this is not an exercise in calculation). If got some money to spend, there is some decent software (CT-Art, or lower level by same company).

- Tickly

Tactics + Endgames + Practice.  That's the whole recipe to 2200.

I can feel your pain :) A lot of players have been there and it is not easy. I once lost 6 games otb in a row with bizar blunders. I also had your problem of being too passive for some time.

Best you can do is to look objective and practical to your problems. Try some experiments for example:

- I stopped playing too solid openings and started to play more fightning openings. This way i didn't have a chance to be passive right from the opening. Expect some losses in the beginning, but the wins will give you more convidence.

- I minimized my nerves at the board by practicing deep concentration. This way i had no time to be nervous and can focus better at the board.

- I made the biggest improvment(+300 otb) rating wise when i start looking at the board with a structured thinking proces. Before this my thinking proces was complete chaos and i basiclly played hope chess or worse. One game i outplayed a very strong player and the next game i lost silly by some simple blunder against a 1600-1700 player.

Basiclly i do this in most positions: Look for checks, look at all the captures, look for threats/danger(never allow a threat you cannot answer), look for known ideas/patterns in the position and only now i start looking for possible candidate moves(calculating). If you keep looking this way to positions it will became natural to you so it will cost less and less time. For me this minimized my blunders to almost zero.

Another problem for example i had that i didn't finish the different variants. I stopped anaylysing sometimes when a piece was captured. Also i had trouble removing the captured pieces visually in my mind sometimes.I think practicing visualization is important it will improve your calculation and also give you more confidence.

You can practice btw with the clock by buying a chess clock and play against the computer.

Last thing which is important i think is awareness of danger. Most strong players know when they need to calculate or when the need to focus more. They feel when there is danger in the position and you can practice this against the computer.

Mental attitude.

Chess is a game of conflict, often times you will have to play moves without being able to see all the way to their confirmation, sometimes the right decision in a position will be double edged and uncomfortable. You can't avoid this.

Forget about your rating, and focus on coming to the board ready to play.

The fiddling around burning your clock has to stop. Here's how: Listen to your gut, that's your intuition. Tune into it. After you look around the board for obvious tactics, make the move you feel is right. If you do this there will be no more time trouble and more importantly you will learn to trust your feelings without needlessly wasting time second guessing yourself. Your internal dialogue may now be saying, "Yeah but..." Tell it to shut up.

Are you kidding?  Jonathan Rowson's the Seven Deadly Chess Sins was written specifically for you. Go order it now, end of story.

This is not like any other chess book you've read. It's so NOT what you are doing now.

Go to a hypnotist and ask them to plant a suggestion that you will play with utter confidence and aggression. It may sound like a joke, but I've read accounts of where this really dramatically improved performance. I don't remember where I saw it, unfortunately.

Wow. Thanks for all the responses!

mattconn - Thanks for the suggestion. I am working on my blitz right now on ICC. (Except it's getting addicting :)

orangehonda - Thank you! I've finally realized what's been my obstacle - I need to be more confident and trust myself. You're completely right. Thanks for all the suggestions - I really appreciate it.

Estragon - I will definitely incorporate studying master games into my study-plan. Thanks for all the suggestions - they're really helpful.

dimis - Thanks for the suggestions. I have decided to switch to a more aggressive opening - 1. d4! (I couldn't resist the exclaimation mark :)

Ticklytim - Thanks for the suggestions. "Killing Opening Repertoire" sounds like a good book. Thanks!

sparenone - I have considered that I might just be burnt out. Thanks for replying.

DBWarrior - Thanks for replying!

Twistedlogic - Great suggestions. I am definitely going to change into a more aggressive opening (1. d4)

nimzo - Thanks for the psychological advice. I recently watched some Nakamura interviews and he's definitely inspired me to "play to win. Always."

gbidari - You're right. Your psychological advice was great. I am definitely working on my psychological problems, especially learning how to trust myself.

JG27Pyth - Thanks for the suggestion - I'm definitely going to read it one day.

Baddbishop - Unfortunately, therapy costs $80 per hour. I'm not that rich. :P Thanks for replying though.

...and change your coach : I mean, you are a class B player = you DO know some chess

I have a question : you say you lack confidence and you lose time because of that problem, but when does it show up ? When the position becomes unfamiliar, when you have to calculate ? when your opponent is attacking you ? This is important, because if you manage to narrow this part of the field, you can work on this problem efficiently.

My experience is that many players lose confidence when the position becomes a bit more complex, and that's often because they're not comfortable with the calculation of variations. However, your case may be different.