How I got to 2000 elo in Chess.com

Sort:
PennsylvanianDude

Greetings friend,

I know the game of chess is a very difficult one. It requires calculation, intuition, and speed to win in chess. Many chess players often give up or have spent a long time stuck in the same Elo range. As a 2000 advanced(-ish) player of the game, I decided I could give my advice to sub-2000 rated players and help them achieve this goal, too. With that in mind, here is how I got to 2000 in under 2 years of playing chess. I will post one tip at a time so it's not too much.

1. Learn Your Openings

The opening phase often sets the tone for the game. If you play aggressively in the opening, you will have attacking opportunities. If you like to have a solid position, then you will get exactly that with a solid opening. Here's where I find players make the error. They play openings to simply develop the pieces, not to create different imbalances on the board. For sub-1000-rated players, play to develop your pieces, and don't worry too much about what I'm about to say, but those from 1000-2000 would benefit greatly from this. Here's an example:

Take this common position that arises in the Caro-Kann Defense. What are the advantages/disadvantages of the position? For White, they have space on the kingside and have bishops who can move. For Black, they have a solid center, a good light square bishop, and chances on the queenside. Play for certain advantages in the opening, not just mainly developing the pieces. Here are the openings I recommend for different types of players(And the ones I used)
Aggressive players:
White: Italian Game, Kings Gambit, Scotch Game
Black: Kings Indian Defense, Sicilian Defense, Grunfeld Defense.
Positional Players:
White: London System, Queen's Gambit, Ruy Lopez
Black: Caro-Kann Defense, Modern Defense, Slav Defense
My Favorite Openings:
White: Vienna Game, Smith-Morra Gambit( vs.Sicilian), Fantasy Variation( vs.Caro-Kann)
Black: Alekhine's Defense, Budapest Gambit, Giuoco Piano Game

JosephReidNZ

Thank you for sharing