How to improve without puzzles, bots, chess analysis?
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Fruits and vegetables. And chicken. Drink water, do some exercise, and have good sleep.
snoozyman wrote:
Fruits and vegetables. And chicken. Drink water, do some exercise, and have good sleep.
Specifically chicken? Granted, these are all good suggestions to improve in life rather than just chess. I really don't see much difference in my habits from last year as opposed to right now and at times I'd say I've even improved.
If you improve your life and health you improve your brain and improve chess.
If I get 4 hours of sleep in the night and get 3-4 hours of sleep in the day, is that fine?
Depends how deep you are asleep and how refreshed and energized when you awake.
How often do you exercise?
A 20 minute physical activity once a day is good, like walking the dog or cleaning, gardening, swimming, biking etc…As long as you’re not in bed or on the couch all day everyday. Blood flow to the brain is good for chess.
CybermanKing wrote:
Are there any practical tools that actually work that haven’t been suggested? I was perfectly fine at the 1000 level until it was suggested that I play against the bots 400+ above my level, do puzzles often, and analyze lost games. Sure, I have a high 1300 score in puzzles, can hold my ground against 1500 level bots, and see where I make mistakes, but that doesn’t stop me from staying in the same rating hole I went into 10 months ago. I’m not a beginner anymore. I’ve been playing since I was a kid and was in chess club for a few years in school. For months I was above 1000 and now I get defeated by anyone who plays as white.
So tips that don’t work/I have already tried for several hours/days:
- Practice with bots
- Puzzles
- Analysis
- Playing more
- Videos
- Chess.com lessons
I want something practical that actually WORKS. I’m not feeling iller than I was a year ago. I’m not depressed or have severe anxiety. My memory is just fine. So what’s the problem and how do I solve it?
You’re respectable with the white pieces.
I think we went over this in another thread? You were losing as black (almost a dozen games in a row) from experimenting too much with openings; particularly against e4. Have you tried :
1.e4, e5 or pick one reply and stick to it? > 80% of your problem. Looking at your stats, your scoring wins with the French and Sicilian.
1.d4 20% of your problem
Add 1 and 2 is where all your ELO points went to.
1.c4, e5
Pick one reply to e4, one reply to d4 and play e5 against c4. Own it.
Ditch the chess.com videos. Find your footing and taste of play, then join a group with similar interest, encouragement and advice. Don’t be too sociable because your are there to improve first.
Personally, I like to experiment and do it way too much but I reserve that for 5/5 not 15/10.
I would also seek out playing partners. I’m very fortunate to have a handful of playing partners (1600-2300 range) as they do challenge and teach you in unrated or valuable ways. For you, find players in the (1400-1800 range); they’ll easily get you to 1200 quickly. Keep all things from a human perspective; not engine or master level stuff because they don’t always apply to 2000 and under players like us.
Definitely continue with the rated puzzles; shoot for 3000.
Quit playing bots and save yourself the valuable time.
Continue with the game analysis.
Hi,
Why don’t we meet up in a Chess.com classroom this weekend and go over some games of yours. It’s hard to stay stagnant if you’re truly solving puzzles routinely, playing games and analyzing them, following good opening principles/theory, and not hanging pieces. My hunch is you’re not analyzing and weeding out your mistakes properly and repeating errors or not addressing some key concepts to move you into the next level of your chess. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s going on and how to get you moving forward again! You can message me if you’d like to set something up (free offer, not trying to get you to pay for lessons). 
-Jordan
Chuck639 wrote:
1.e4, e5 or pick one reply and stick to it? > 80% of your problem
1.d4 20% of your problem
The problem with 1. e4 e5 is that I'm terrible at it. 5/7, I lose and my performance is rated below 800. White often likes to play wayward queen attack and though I've won a couple of games against it, I don't know how well I can do against it every time when so many at my level go 2. Qh5.
I win most of the time with 1. d4 so it's not that bad.
The English opening I've only played once. It was a good game, but my opponent who was my friend is pretty new to chess.
CybermanKing wrote:
Chuck639 wrote:
1.e4, e5 or pick one reply and stick to it? > 80% of your problem
1.d4 20% of your problem
The problem with 1. e4 e5 is that I'm terrible at it. 5/7, I lose and my performance is rated below 800. White often likes to play wayward queen attack and though I've won a couple of games against it, I don't know how well I can do against it every time when so many at my level go 2. Qh5.
I win most of the time with 1. d4 so it's not that bad.
The English opening I've only played once. It was a good game, but my opponent who was my friend is pretty new to chess.
I would not argue with you on playing the London System; it’s respectable and you play it well.
As black against e4, play the Sicilian or French; you’re scoring wins. Pick one and own it. I’m bias so you know my answer but there are numerous Sicilian and French fans that can help you out if you go down that road. Both can be transpositional, so they would layer well down the road when you expand. You obviously know the rules and how the pieces move so I wouldn’t be surprised for you learn and play well. Some guy name Anish Giri is a proponent of the two.
The French is also transpositional against d4. I train with a 2300 and this is her main preparation.
Against d4, pick one and own it. Don’t ask what I play lol but it’s a coin flip for win.
Opening principles is fine for all else.
If I were you with the black pieces:
1. e4, e6
1.d4, e6
1.c4, e6 (Agincourt)
CybermanKing wrote:
Chuck639 wrote:
1.e4, e5 or pick one reply and stick to it? > 80% of your problem
1.d4 20% of your problem
The problem with 1. e4 e5 is that I'm terrible at it. 5/7, I lose and my performance is rated below 800. White often likes to play wayward queen attack and though I've won a couple of games against it, I don't know how well I can do against it every time when so many at my level go 2. Qh5.
I win most of the time with 1. d4 so it's not that bad.
The English opening I've only played once. It was a good game, but my opponent who was my friend is pretty new to chess.
Personally, I don’t have one game with 1.e4, e5 with the black pieces on this site, the other site or OTB; the Sicilian is what I exclusively play. I avoid heavy theory and cheap tricks so 1.e4, e5 never attracted me.
As I have grown, I expanded from the Old Variation to the Najdorf, Dragon and O’Kelly lines where they all have their place but the main things are:
1. I am equalized out of the opening
2. I have a playable middle game
3. I’m enjoying the positions and having fun
4. Being better than a coin flip for the win is a bonus
You have not done it yet. It is called gut.
GeorgeWyhv14 wrote:
You have not done it yet. It is called gut.
What do you mean? My gut instinct?
Yes that one.
I just lost with my gut instinct.
jg777chess wrote:
Hi,
Why don’t we meet up in a Chess.com classroom this weekend and go over some games of yours. It’s hard to stay stagnant if you’re truly solving puzzles routinely, playing games and analyzing them, following good opening principles/theory, and not hanging pieces. My hunch is you’re not analyzing and weeding out your mistakes properly and repeating errors or not addressing some key concepts to move you into the next level of your chess. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s going on and how to get you moving forward again! You can message me if you’d like to set something up (free offer, not trying to get you to pay for lessons).
-Jordan
I appreciate the offer and maybe we can but I'm also a 24-year ol- busy college student. I actually do put in several hours each week analyzing my past games, though chess.com makes the classical game of chess into a "pay to win" game so when I'm limited to my resources on here, I use Lichess and OpeningTree. I also watch several videos of popular chess players to familiarize myself with common mistakes and tricks my opponents use, as well as some opening principles and endgame strategies.
play hyperbullet to improve. i beat a titled player yesterday
CybermanKing wrote:
Chuck639 wrote:
1.e4, e5 or pick one reply and stick to it? > 80% of your problem
1.d4 20% of your problem
The problem with 1. e4 e5 is that I'm terrible at it. 5/7, I lose and my performance is rated below 800. White often likes to play wayward queen attack and though I've won a couple of games against it, I don't know how well I can do against it every time when so many at my level go 2. Qh5.
I win most of the time with 1. d4 so it's not that bad.
The English opening I've only played once. It was a good game, but my opponent who was my friend is pretty new to chess.
The problem has always been 1.e4 and 1..e5 for me,
but you said your gut failed you so I don't know how to recommend you an opening.
Are there any practical tools that actually work that haven’t been suggested? I was perfectly fine at the 1000 level until it was suggested that I play against the bots 400+ above my level, do puzzles often, and analyze lost games. Sure, I have a high 1300 score in puzzles, can hold my ground against 1500 level bots, and see where I make mistakes, but that doesn’t stop me from staying in the same rating hole I went into 10 months ago. I’m not a beginner anymore. I’ve been playing since I was a kid and was in chess club for a few years in school. For months I was above 1000 and now I get defeated by anyone who plays as white.
So tips that don’t work/I have already tried for several hours/days:
I want something practical that actually WORKS. I’m not feeling iller than I was a year ago. I’m not depressed or have severe anxiety. My memory is just fine. So what’s the problem and how do I solve it?