I just hit 1900 rapid!
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Suggestion 1: Focus on a range of Tactics
There are a lot of sites that offer tactics and puzzles at the moment. So please do pick which site you use already. I have a slight bias towards ChessTempo (the UI is clean and the level is highly adaptability to your strength). It also feels more realistically tailored to your rating progression.
I suggest the "Easy/Medium" mode using the following setup:
- Ideally you have a physical chessboard which you use to mimic the position on the puzzle
- Once setup correctly, work for 10 mins solving the puzzle
- Write down your moves on a piece of paper
- Enter your answer on ChessTempo / Puzzle site and compare your answer to the solution
This technique, which does take a bit more effort, helps with choosing the right move choice, because you only invariably end up writing the move which you think is best. Furthermore, the notation helps you clarify thoughts and 'forces' you to write out as many variations as possible.
Suggestion 2: Study games of famous players
The games of famous players like Alekhine, Tal and Capablanca had a lot of influence over my playing style and taught me a lot about how moves "fit" together in a game (. positional chess / strategic concepts). These amazing players all had varying and interesting playing styles which help explain the art of attack / defense. You can find annotated games of these players fairly easily.
Similar to the tactics, I highly recommend going through this games over the board and when you get stuck make a note of that move number. After the entire game is done, spend a few mins on the positions you got stuck with to assesses whats going on then. Only, then try to use a Chess Engine / and these masters notations to help with further interpretation.
For example, for Alekhine's analysis on his games: I recommend
One callout here do not try to go through all the side variations. Just focus on the main moves on the game and notice how the pieces flow and where they are placed. Look for the opening moves and how strong players often do things like develop pieces early and prioritize castling.
I am also building a chess coach at app.chesscoach.dev which you may find interesting
After more than 9 months of playing chess after my hiatus, I finally reached 1900 and am now 97 points away from my goal to 2000, from my definitely worse rating of 1300. I would love to get some tips to reach 2000 and then I might celebrate as it is most definitely a big milestone. Pls share some tips/advice that has helped/is helping you progress in this rating range.