How to systematically improve chess?

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Avatar of KarlandLenin
I have tried to take lessons doing puzzles, doing analysis and so on. But it seems that my chess has not improved in recent months…… I don't know what to do now.
Avatar of blueemu
WinstonArmstrong wrote:
I have tried to take lessons doing puzzles, doing analysis and so on. But it seems that my chess has not improved in recent months…… I don't know what to do now.

Nearly all the games you've played have been Blitz or Bullet. Of course your chess hasn't improved.

Play SLOW games to improve. Play fast games for fun, and to test your knowledge.

Avatar of Bgabor91

Dear WinstonArmstrong,

I am a certified, full-time chess coach, so I hope I can help you. happy.png Everybody is different, so that's why there isn't only one general way to 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. happy.png

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. happy.png

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

Avatar of jay_00

Like the coach said above me, everyone's different. But I will give you useful tips that might help. First off never stop doing puzzles. Try to get about 25 a day in. I wouldn't do survival or puzzle rush tho because most of the first 10-20 puzzles follow very similar themes (so many back rank mates, you will hardly improve this way). Instead go to this link on chess.com. I have it saved on my favorites. You can choose the specific themes you want and the specific rating range. So if you have a problem hanging pieces, finding basic mates, or finding forks, work on those 3 themes first. https://www.chess.com/puzzles/learning?ref_id=28583276

Another way to improve is to check your stats on your openings. You can do this by clicking stats, and from the drop down menu click on openings. It will tell your win percentage against specific openings. Whatever opening you have the lowest win percentage against, I recommend looking up a better refutation. You could find opening refutations on Youtube, but those videos can be 30+ mins long and all the info might not sink in. Instead I recommend chessable.com. Instead of watching a video on Youtube and listening to all the different lines, YOU get to make the moves. It forces you to do each move correctly three times in a row before advancing to the next lesson in each chapter. That way it sinks into your brain easier. Simply pick a course on there and learn it. Maybe you keep getting beat by the London opening. I would suggest learning the free Anti London course on there then. Or maybe your own opening with white isn't good enough. You can learn new openings on there for free as well. Chessable has endgame courses that I recommend you do as well. 

Also like someone else said, stop playing fast games. Bullet is guaranteed to make you a far worse chess player. Instead I recommend playing rapid only for quite some time if you really want to improve. Try to do these things daily or at least 5 times a week. My rating has gone up around 125 points this summer to the mid 2000's so far doing these things almost daily. I plan to get to 2200 by the end of the year.

Avatar of tygxc

A rating of 487 is a sign of frequent blunders. Always check your intended move is no blunder before you play it. This little mental discipline alone is enough to get you to 1500. As long as you hang pieces and pawns all the rest is in vain. If you are too impatient, then sit on your hands.
Play 15|10 and use all your time before move 30 and finish the game on increment.
Whenever you lose a game stop playing and analyse it first so as to learn from your mistake while the imprint is still fresh.

Avatar of Guest7754369014
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