I cant improve!

I've been playing chess almost daily for near a year now and I just cant seem to improve! In fact my rating is barely 1000! Overall I win more than I lose but I feel like I am going no where! 

Someone please help. How can I force myself to progress?

Cheers,

Mitchell White

but do you study openings, endgames, tactics and so on. Some people just can't improve by just playing. I used to only play for fun a lot and when I started actually learning stuff I started to really improve.

Baved2 makes a good point. Playing blitz games over and over is fun but you tend to fall into the same habits without really improving. By focusing on tactics, basic mating patterns, developing ideas, pawn structure, endgames etc, your games and your chess knowledge will really improve. The tools on chess.com, like lessons and puzzles, I think really help. The videos are awesome but If you aren’t premium there are still some good videos on YouTube. The St. Louis chess club has some that are really worth watching. I think studying endgame fundamentals such as opposition and rook and pawn, even though it’s basic, really helps to give a solid foundation on which to keep improving. Especially for those of us who play for fun and act as our own coach.

10 minutes games are fun. And enough time to double check before you make the move. Study simple tactics.

I would do any game where you have a partner, they can help you with your game and help improve.

1) tactics

2) fried liver attack

3) notice your opponent threats

4) don't play rapid, only play blitz

No blitz, analyse your games, better with a friend. Do tactics, learn a basic opening repertoire.

Rapid games have more than enough time to learn something. IMBacon always with the same generic replies. Yea reviewing your games and deciding what you and ur opponent did right and wrong would help. I have rarely played slow games and just play causally and have made it past 1100 from just blitz and rapid

Weeeeeeell, maybe, you know, maybe, you should probably play classical chess and OTB. (Note the sarcasm)

😋 But, its true...

😂

Yeah, it's extremely popular at 900-1300. I used to simply play Bc5 (giuoco piano) and that would stop all the fried liver stuff.

There is another Gambit to deal with giuoco piano. It's called Evans Gambit. But that gambit is not so popular at those levels because it is harder to pull it off.

https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-start-out-in-chess
https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory
"... In order to maximize the benefits of [theory and practice], these two should be approached in a balanced manner. ... Play as many slow games (60 5 or preferably slower) as possible, ... The other side of improvement is theory. ... This can be reading books, taking lessons, watching videos, doing problems on software, etc. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627084053/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman19.pdf
"... If it’s instruction, you look for an author that addresses players at your level (buying something that’s too advanced won’t help you at all). This means that a classic book that is revered by many people might not be useful for you. ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (2015)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-best-chess-books-ever
Here are some reading possibilities that I often mention:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Simple-Attacking-Plans-77p3731.htm
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1948)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-back-to-basics-tactics
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5856bd64ff7c50433c3803db/t/5895fc0ca5790af7895297e4/1486224396755/btbtactics2excerpt.pdf

Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Studying Chess Made Easy by Andrew Soltis (2009)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090448/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review750.pdf
Seirawan stuff:
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf

Maybe watch some streams where really good players have games against viewers...….. and then spend some time looking at the games after. You can often get a game yourself, and learn from watching the others games as well.

Atilla Turzo does that most of the time, I think I have played him maybe 10 times so far ?! ...I haven't won one game yet....but I think I'm getting closer

😉Nice..

Not much liver to be had, if they don't play 1.....e5...….is there ?

Yeah, I have stopped playing e4 for this reason. My opponents were playing non-e5 stuff. Just spoils all the fun for white.😝

Or don't play 3...Nf6.

or do play 2...….Nf6

Before saying you can't improve, tell us your plan for improving.

What are you doing to most efficiently improve your tactics and pattern recognition - the BIG thing in short-time-limit games?

Do you study tactics? Can you state the similarities and differences of the Pin, the Skewer, and the X-Ray Attack?  How about the Swallow's Tail Mate and the Dovetail mate?  I recently won a game against an Expert when I recognized the partly-complete pattern of the Opera Mate and that if I threatened it, that would cost him material.  Do you know that mate made famous by Paul Morphy in a Paris Opera House in 1858?

If you don't know the the tactics you won't recognize the tactics as easily.  You should slowly memorize all the Tactical Motifs in the following links:

https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-tactics--definitions-and-examples

https://chesstempo.com/tactical-motifs.html

Working the lessons or Tactics Trainer here or doing the tactics problems at chesstempo AND going over the problem after you solved/failed it to understand what the tactics and patterns were is a great way to improve your pattern recognition.

In general have you studied opening, middlegame, and endgame principles?  Players often get too caught up in openings, but the basic principles are important.

In the middlegame you should recognize and know what to do with important things like potential Knight outposts, open files, and isolated and doubled pawns.  Are you aware that, usually, a Knight on the 3rd Rank is poised for attack but worse than a Bishop, a Knight on the 4th rank is as good as a Bishop, a Knight on the 5th rank is better than a bishop, a Knight on the 6th rank is devastating?

Do you know what a Good Bishop and a Bad Bishop are and the three things you can do to improve a Bad Bishop?  Here are some great positional things you should know:

https://chesstempo.com/positional-motifs.html

I've just scratched the surface, but if I've mentioned a lot of things you haven't done or don't know, then it's WAY too early to say you can't improve in chess!  Good luck!