How to Reach Expert (or at least Class A)

Here's just a few ideas for you if you want to better your game:

1. Tactics - it's repeated constantly for good reason. But you want to do it correctly, eg, don't simply blast through as many as you can. Take your time, calculate variations and only when you have a concrete solution do you make your move. If you get it wrong, mark it for later study. Try building your own collection of tatics. Those, you CAN blast through quickly to help drive home the pattern recognition.

2. Less blitz - Utilize blitz for practicing new openings quickly and as an enjoyable way to pass the time. Don't take it seriously. No more than 10 blitz games per day. It creates bad habits.

3. Books - Here's a few that I strongly suggest. Which ones work for you will depend on the level you're currently at.

Chess Lessons by Artur Yusupov

Lessons with a GM by Boris Gulko

Pawn Power by Angus Dunnington

Elements of Chess Strategy by Alexei Kosikov

Winning Pawn Structures by Alexander Barburin

Logical Chess Move by Move and Chess Strategy for the Tournament Player, both by Lev Alburt

Pandolfini's Endgame Course

And of course any of the classics, Capablanca's Fundamentals. Nimzo's My System, etc.

4. Endgames - By studying Pandolfini's endgame book as well as studying pawn structures, you'll be pretty well-equipped to handle most endgame positions. Practice drills here on chess.com as well.

5. Master games - Start with Morphy, Anderssen, Zukertort, etc. Then look at Capablanca and Fischer. Study Tal for the tactical flair we would all love to see in our own games. Run through the games quickly, then go and annotate them yourself - without an engine. Using your own logic, explain why each player made their moves, discover their long-term and short-term goals. Feel free to study any master whose games you enjoy.

6. YOUR GAMES - Specifically, losses. Study them. Annotate them. Find where you went wrong. Was it a missed tactic, or was it poor strategy? Was it a dropped pawn or piece, or a weak dark-square complex on the king side that your opponent was able to take advantage of after you traded your dark bishop for his knight? After all of this, and ONLY after this, is it okay to plug in an engine to double check your work. Stay away from engines until you've adequately used your own brain.

7. Openings - This is last on the list for a reason. People overestimate the value of memorization of lines. Use a database (I use Chessbase) to build your repertoire. Find 2 openings as white and a solid defense as black to each of whites most popular initial moves. Learn them thoroughly and practice them (where blitz comes in handy when trying something new).

This is how I made it. It's not a superhuman feat and it's not that hard to do, but you have to put forth the EFFORT and study CORRECTLY, otherwise you will get nowhere. Have patience, it won't happen overnight. But if you put the time in, results will come. Good luck to you all, I hope this helps some of you.

And this is by no means a definitive guide. 1800+ players, feel free to add appropriate material.

Has no bearing whatsoever on chess. This is a silly comparison. The introduction of the shot clock did nothing to improve the skills of the players, nor was that the reason for the introduction.

The first is by Chernev.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf

+1 for overemphasis on openings

It is surprising how far one can get just with tactics and fairly straightforward positional play though.

There is nothing really wrong with blitz though, as long as you internalize that it's different from OTB. I should probably stop playing so much bullet regardless though.

Your comparison of the NBA shot clock had nothing to do with increasing skill in chess. The two are COMPLETELY different.

Understand why the shot clock was implemented and why 24 seconds was chosen. It was to prevent stalling and it was kind of arbitrary. In fact, the ABA used a 30 second clock until the 75-76 season (the season before they merged with the NBA).

The fact that professional athletes play better because they have a shorter shot clock than college is silly. Before the NBA shot clock was introduced (long before the NCAA shot clock in ), the players in the NBA were still far better that college players.  The Philippine Basketball Association has a 25 second shot clock. By your argument they should be better than the top teams in the NCAA since they have a shorter clock. I would put the Sweet 16 teams fro this year's tournament against the entire PBA league.

Your argument about the shot clock making players better is easily defeated by showing that MLB players are better than college baseball players yet they play the exact same game with the exact same time. In fact, some could argue that since college can use aluminum bats they should be better. But they are not.

Blitz has a place but you argument that blitz is bad only to people who can't think fast is silly and the example you used to prop it up (the NBA shot clock) is nothing but a logical fallacy.

I like this list, I am doing most of these more than ever and seeing improvement. 

However, are they in order of importance?

But should your games and master games be before endgames (if the points are in order of importance)?

If by order of importance, I don't think #1 would move. 

If you want to reach class A.  Work on middlegame planning.  

I agree. Especially at levels below 1600.

Nice post, TalSpin. Of course the first way you get repaid for volunteering your time to help strangers is with some angry teenager posting sarcastic "rebuttals".

I want to add a couple pieces of advice:

- Re: point #5 (analyzing your games): STOP BLAMING OPENINGS FOR YOUR LOSSES. I think this is a common error. I was stuck for years in the 2200-2300 range (not quite what you're talking about here, but still applies) in part because I would excuse my losses with "poor knowledge of the opening". And yet somehow, memorizing opening lines even harder wasn't helping. Openings provide a convenient excuse - you can tell yourself it's your KNOWLEDGE that's lacking, not your SKILLS. That's a lot easier on the ego. And it has an easy and obvious fix - just go study openings some more. But the only way to improve is to find the holes in your actual SKILLS and work on those.

- Re point #2 (blitz): There are two other uses for blitz besides practicing openings.

(1) Learning to become fearless. This means things like not being scared of going into complex, irrational positions, going for speculative (but justified) sarcrifices, etc. Better to lose a bunch of blitz games and learn what you can and can't get away with and how to play positions you can't fully calculate, than to be afraid of going for this stuff in a tournament game or panic when these positions arise.

(2) Practicing endgame technique. Learning how to hold a draw in a drawn position or win a won position with 100% efficiency and without having to stop and ponder every move, so that you can do it regardless of how little time you have on the clock, is very useful in tournament play. Blitz is excellent for this - people don't agree to draws, and often don't resign, and you have to play it out. Can you win K+Q vs. K+R with <1 minute on the clock? How about building a bridge in K+R+p vs. K+R? I find useful. I failed to give checkmate in a game on here with B+N before my time ran out with 15 seconds left + 2sec increment. Need more practice, clearly.

@TalSpin very helpful post, thanks!!! 

i am rated 1156 i cant improve give me some ideas

I would like to say that opening is the most important.  When i start learning chess at the age of 5, I had three good chess book. One opening book, one middle game book(I remember the titil -Combination, the heart of chess) and one endgame book.  As far as i can recall my beginner chess life ,earliest 7 or 8, I could read thoroughly the opening book and remember most main lines. So the benefits were that I could play Sicilian , Giuoco piano , Ruylopez, QGD etc. As soon as my opponents moved out of opening, i could take the advantage of opening benefit and knock him out in many games. The most difficult stage in my beginner life was that when I run out of my opening book, I had no idea what to do next though. The benefit of learning the opening book was that I could even knock down the strong opponents from the start. According to my memories, in my 20s, in around 2000, while my rating was around 1800, I won one opening Deep Junior 6.0 in pentium 3 computer while the computer does not have the opening book installed ( the computer rating might be around 2500 elo with pentium 3 pc)I could win the computer 10/10 when i play the same exact opening again and again as the computer software those days did not play much variations. The middle game is the core of chess and it take heaps of years to learn. It will also give you good benefits and tips if you learn simple (rook, king, pawn) endgame. So in short, learning the opening would give you a big advantage to your chess life and even give you the chance to win against stronger opponent in a short period.

The basics of each phase of the game

Opening:

Follow the Opening principles:

1.      Control the center squares – d4-e4-d5-e5

2.      Develop your minor pieces toward the center – piece activity is the key

Ø  Complete your development before moving a piece twice or starting an attack.

Ø  Move pieces not pawns.

3.      Castle

4.      Connect your rooks

Ø    By move 12, you should have connected your Rooks, or be about to do so.

Middle game:

When you have completed the Opening Principles, you are now at the middle game.  Now you need to formulate a middle game plan.  The middle game is a very complicated part of a chess game.  A simple way to develop a middle game plan is to perform the following steps.

1.      Scan your opponents 5^th, and 6^th ranks (3^rd, and 4^th if your black)

2.      Look for weak pawns, and or weak squares.

Ø  Weak pawns and squares are Pawns, and squares that cannot be defended by another Pawn.

Ø  Knights are excellent pieces on weak squares.

Ø  When deciding on weak squares, and weak Pawns to attack, the closer to the center the better

End game:

Start with the basics:

1.      Learn basic mates – KQ vs. K, KR vs. K, KRR vs. K

2.      Learn Opposition, and Key Squares

3.      Learn basic King and Pawn endings

Pre Move Checklist

1. Make sure all your pieces are safe.

2. Look for forcing moves: Checks, captures, threats. You want to look at ALL forcing moves (even the bad ones) this will force you look at, and see the entire board.

3. If there are no forcing moves, you then want to remove any of your opponent’s pieces from your side of the board.

4. If your opponent doesn’t have any of his pieces on your side of the board, then you want to improve the position of your least active piece.

5. After each move by your opponent, ask yourself: "What is my opponent trying to do?"

thanks friends for your ideas