How do I win more chess games?

I haven’t been playing chess on chess.com that much and I only went back about 2 weeks ago, but I pretty much know every common opening and I can identify basic tactics.  However I’ve been really struggling to win games in particular including puzzle rushes.

I make a lot of blunders, I take up a lot of time, I struggle with calculation, and I have a hard time building a plan. For blunders, I’m not talking about easy 1 step fixes that can easily be prevented by looking at the entire board. I’m talking about blunders that put me at a disadvantage that aren’t seen. I’ve tried training and puzzles to improve but I find that no matter how hard I train, I still don’t improve and I still keep making mistakes. (I can’t beat that Wally chess bot and I get destroyed by Li.)

As said before, I really have a hard time calculating and building a plan. I find that no matter how in depth I look at the board, I still can’t find the right move. It’s also just hard for me to build a plan overall and identify weaknesses and strengths. Every time I think there’s a weakness or strength, it just gets prevented and I lose the game. 

I seem to be fine on the opening but I know that learning how to play a opening is definitely  not enough to win the game. I’ve previously looked before on chess.com and other resources online on how to solve these problems, but they really don’t help. All they say is to learn the basic principles, keep playing the game, and they don’t give any advice on training, calculation, and building plans. Does anyone have any advice?

That sounds like most people of around our rating. The common advice is to really hammer home tactics (and find the right move rather than moving fast like on puzzle rush). As for specific advice, I would look for common themes (hanging pieces, pawn structure, exposed king, pinned pieces, etc.) and see where they might apply in the future of the game if that makes sense. I also sent you a PM if you are looking for ways to get better with other players of around our strength

Dear Lilsylveon,

I am a certified, full-time chess coach, so I hope I can help you. Everybody is different, so that's why there isn't only one general way learn. First of all, you have to discover your biggest weaknesses in the game and start working on them. The most effective way for that is analysing your own games. Of course, if you are a beginner, you can't do it efficiently because you don't know too much about the game yet. There is a built-in engine on chess.com which can show you if a move is good or bad but the only problem that it can't explain you the plans, ideas behind the moves, so you won't know why is it so good or bad.

You can learn from books or Youtube channels as well, and maybe you can find a lot of useful information there but these sources are mostly general things and not personalized at all. That's why you need a good coach sooner or later if you really want to be better at chess. A good coach can help you with identifying your biggest weaknesses and explain everything, so you can leave your mistakes behind you. Of course, you won't apply everything immediately, this is a learning process (like learning languages), but if you are persistent and enthusiastic, you will achieve your goals.

In my opinion, chess has 4 main territories (openings, strategies, tactics/combinations and endgames). If you want to improve efficiently, you should improve all of these skills almost at the same time. That's what my training program is based on. My students really like it because the lessons are not boring (because we talk about more than one areas within one lesson) and they feel the improvement on the longer run. Of course, there are always ups and downs but this is completely normal in everyone's career.

I recommend you to solve around 4-5 puzzles before playing games. It's not the best if you solve too many puzzles (e.g. 20-30 pcs) because you'll be too tired for the game.

On the other hand, solving too many puzzles in a row can be dangerous because you can lose your patience quickly and you won't think on the right way. The quality is more important than the quantity! It's much more useful for you to solve only 10 puzzles per day with at least 80% accuracy than solving 50 puzzles per day with 60% accuracy.

You have to think ahead without moving the pieces and make your move when you see the solution from the start till the end. This is very important! That's how you can improve your visualisation and calculation skills on the most effective way!

And that's why I would never recommend you to play too many Puzzle Rush or Puzzle Battle games because they are time-limited, so you have to make fast and superficial decisions. And this is very harmful if you really want to improve at chess.

Of course, you can try this '4-5 puzzles before the game' method and if you feel that you are able to solve more without being too exhausted for the game, you can increase the number of the puzzles. But again...quality over quantity!!

I hope this is helpful for you. Good luck for your chess games!