I think all the stuff I have read on the forums about chess has improved my understanding of the history of chess, as well as making me understand the specific problem/position in a given thread. I really just like reading people's opinions on chess since I no longer have someone well informed about the game sitting next to me. My failure to translate the advice given in the forums, to my own chess playing is entirely my fault, I know
How much have you REALLY improved?
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Nov 27, 2012
0
#2
I went From a low of ~900 on this site to about 1400 in a few months on corresespondence chess (I don't play much live chess). I have used tactics trainer quite a bit, and I believe that that has helped. I also watch the videos and use chess mentor, which also have helped.
Nov 27, 2012
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#4
I was 1900 - 2000 ish in tactics trainer when I first started doing it. I was overjoyed to have climbed over 2100, overshocked once I crossed the 2200 threshhold and over utterly electrified when the counter showed an 2300ish thing for the first time. Later it shot up to 2353, 2361, 2379!! seems that there's no limit and I keep astonishing myself.
Then also, my rating suddenly refuses to go below 2000 blitz. 2000 freaking blitz!! I really have no idea what is going on... is it improvement? Going to meet an old time friend in an hour and find out... I wonder what the result of our OTB play session will be - he's an 1800-1900 IRL, but come to think about it already in the past I used to crush him pretty badly, so maybe he's no indicator...
Nov 27, 2012
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#5
A Lot! From 548 to 1039 in Live Chess Standard. I started playing chess late in life, around 50.
Nov 27, 2012
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#6
Musikamole wrote:
A Lot! From 548 to 1039 in Live Chess Standard. I started playing chess late in life, around 50.
How old are you now, Musikamole?
well i started playing chess in august, i knew how to move the pieces before that but had only played about 5 or 6 games and had no idea what i was doing. when i started playing here i dropped to around 900, after playing a decent amount and reading bobby fischer teaches chess it went up and seemed to level out in the mid 1000s. i continued playing quite a lot and read through a few different books but nothing really happened to my rating, then a couple of weeks ago it all seemed to click and my rating just kept going up.
i'm now at 1350~, which i'm very happy with. aiming for a solid 1400~ by January, then grandmaster by the end of next year ;p
i thought the sticky out tongue winky face made it obvious that was a joke.
i played when i was young but started seriously studying in march. I went from a low of 900 standard to around 1670 or so on chess.com. I am a visual learner so i watch a lot of chess.com videos and those (particularly Meliks lectures) have been pretty helpful. I havent studied a lot of tactics but i have an old checkmate book that I always have around if I feel like doing tactics. Yeah I also always look at my games after I play them and try to notice any mistakes. Also it helps to go over openings in the database after you play a game to see where you diverged.
Good thread.
I'm here from 1st of July, 2012. On 4th of July my rating was 597 in live standard 30 min. Now, after 5 months, I'm getting close to pass 1300.
What helped me:
- chess.com beginner study plan
- chessmaster grandmaster edition (josh voice does wanders when you are asking what you're doing stuudying chess)
- 1 hour of tactics everyday (now I'm bored)
- a stronger study partner which helped me to analyze my games. Sometimes we did this for 4 hours in a row.
Looking to hit 1500 chess.com by 1st of May 2013 and by the end of the same year I think I'll be able to beat Houdini 3 :)
Good luck
0%
THETUBESTER wrote:
Looks like the Planet is staying at an even keel, which is cool.
No it isn't.
Nov 29, 2012
0
#13
I have no idea whether I'm improving, staying level, or getting worse.
After not touching a chess piece for twenty years, I joined chesscom about half a year ago, with the usual provisional rating of 1200. That's gone up to 2080 or so in five or six months... but Hell... twenty-odd years ago, I used to be around 2000 OTB, and good enough to make a grandmaster have to think a little to beat me.
Also, you can scale down online ratings by several hundred points.
THETUBESTER wrote:
Conflagration_Planet wrote:
THETUBESTER wrote:
Looks like the Planet is staying at an even keel, which is cool.
No it isn't.
At least you're not declining? Fischer declined greatly from '72 to '92. It was painful to watch. We are NOT watching you decline, so that's a battle you won.
When you're darn near as crappy as possible how can you decline? Besides, I am anyway. I was at 1354 for a while.
From 650-ish to 1370-ish. Mainly just by having a real-life mentor and playing a lot of games.
my rating is still going up so i need to readdress my expectations: 1400 by december, grandmaster by spring time!
900 to gm in six months, no problem.
i lost a couple of games :[ putting off grandmaster title till summer.
OK, there's been a ton of advice in these forums to those who want to improve--much of it stressing the study of tactics, the chess.com study plans, mentors, etc.
Since joining chess.com and getting serious about improving, though, how much have YOU really improved? Did you come in with a 900 blitz rating and raise it to 1500? Did you begin at 1000 in tactics trainer and get up to 1900?
As I have spent a lifetime as a patzer, I'm interested in stories from people whose game has taken a surge upwards through disciplined study.
Chessplayers all give GREAT advice to those wishing to improve. How many of you have actually made substantial gains--especially by using the materials at chess.com? What was the timeframe?