I suck ..

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Avatar of CastlingFTW

I'm like 3-9. And 2 of my wins are from my opponents giving up. I try to follow the beginning principles and everything, but everyone uses complicated openings, I can't play black to save my life and make stupid moves, it's a habit. It sucks because I have a bad record and what if one day I get decent ? People are going to see this bad record. They say in the beginner guide to play 100 matches before moving on .. But I don't know how much longer I can take losing. And this premium membership was just a 10-day demo .. I Guess I'm a natural bad player, lol. Any hope ?

Avatar of AndyClifton

Everybody sucks compared to somebody.  All openings are complicated, and it takes a long time just to learn the moves.  And you have after all won 3 of your games. Smile

Btw I'll admit I have no idea what the following statement means:

"And 2 of my wins are from my opponents giving up."

Avatar of sapientdust

Chess is a very unnatural skill, so we're all naturally bad players initially. Keep at it, and you will improve.

Avatar of Gm_andrewfeng

X

Avatar of NobbyCapeTown

Even the best Olympic runner started off as a crawling baby. Nobody sees that as a bad record.

Avatar of raider53

Most of us started out this way. But with some study, playing, and time you'll get better.

Avatar of Rolandwood

As for complicated openings, you should use the game explorer. It helped me alot.

Avatar of mateologist

Listen to all the posters we have all been there ( no fun ) ! But you said a very important thing : I keep following the begginning principles !! stay on that path that will turn losses to wins, do not worry about all those complex openings remember they are still following opening principals regardless of the opening in one form or another ( controlling the center, rapid developement , early castle, develope knights (toward center) before bishops, and before your every move ask yourself one question WHAT IS MY OPPONENT THREATNING now go out there and kick some butt !!  Cool LOL

Avatar of baddogno

Flee the site!  Flee the site now before you become addicted like the rest of us.Wink

Avatar of Pat_Zerr

Join the club.  Sometimes I think I should just go take up stamp collecting instead of playing chess.

Avatar of CastlingFTW
Lol, I appreciate the kind words. It's just hard sometimes.
Avatar of Ben_Dubuque

What has helped me is to do a "Blunder check"

For me this involves looking at the position, and thinking, DID I hang a mate in One or more moves.

DID I hang a piece

DID I overlook a Better move

DID I create a weakness

DID I unnecacarrily move a piece

Avatar of 1pawndown

If you enjoy the game, don't worry so much about the results. Look at all those golfers that shoot 110+.

Avatar of CastlingFTW
True, I just hate the fact that this bad record will follow me.
Avatar of Ben_Dubuque

well once you get your wins up, that wont be a problem

Avatar of theweaksquare

CastlingFTW,

Don't worry about the games you are playing now. Remember, Fischer and Kasparov have lost 10's of thousands of games. It's really the only way to get good. One day when you're awesome, no one will judge your first few games. Good luck.

Avatar of CastlingFTW
Sure, I'd like that
Avatar of teocaf
CastlingFTW wrote:
True, I just hate the fact that this bad record will follow me.

this ain't a college grade point average dude.  the record of your wins and losses on this site means next to nothing in the short term and even less in the long term.  seriously, don't let fear prevent you from playing lots of games, experimenting with different ideas to try on the board and win or lose just having fun playing this great game.  i see too many get too uptight over the outcome of a few games and it actually hinders your goal of getting better in the long term.  develop, protect, attack--in that order, learn from your mistakes and most of all have fun.  if it's not fun for you to try to set up a combination or work your way out of a bad position, like solving a puzzle, then perhaps chess might not be suitable for you.  good luck in your future games.

Avatar of joseph_ward

Another thing that would help is to send out a few open challenges for takeback games, set the rating range higher than your rating, and ask whoever takes you up on it to tell you when you make a mistake. (If they make a mistake, don't hesitate to tell them so, too).

Avatar of Musikamole

Since you are a Diamond member, I suggest you do 25-50 Tactics Trainer puzzles a day.

I reset my stat history on a regular basis, so if you look at my stats, it doesn't reflect the hundreds of puzzles that I have solved. I started out in the 600's, and I now float between 1200 and 1300, basically doubling my tactical strength.

I tried working on openings and other stuff, but nothing made me improve faster than the Tactics Trainer on this site, and you have unlimited access as a Diamond member! 

You will learn tactical themes and patterns, as well as important checkmate patterns, while at the same time improving your board vision and the ability to move the pieces in your head better, IF you go over each problem slowly a couple of times after solving the first 25 or 50, whatever fits your schedule and interest level.

I sometimes lose track of time and will solve 100 problems in one sitting, and I know one guy who does 300-500 problems a day, and he is rated at over 2300 on Live Chess and has a USCF rating over 2000. So, doing tactics puzzles really is the fastest way to get better. All of the other things in chess are fun to study, like positional concepts, opening principles, even tricks and traps, simple endgame technique stuff like king and rook vs. king or king and pawn vs. king...BUT...absolutely nothing will make you improve faster as a beginner than working on tactics puzzles. An old worn phrase goes like this: chess is 99% tactics.

I sucked about as much as anyone could suck, with a tactics trainer rating in the 600's, as well as a Live Chess rating of 600. You started out much stronger than me! I sucked a lot more than you think you do as a beginning chess player. I looked at your games, and I was a lot worse. Laughing

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Sorry for the long post, but since you are a Diamond member, and I have always been a Diamond member, I strongly suggest that you start with the Beginning Level Tactics Course on Chess Mentor. I have several tactics books, and what they put together at chess.com for teaching tactics is the best I have seen, written by the big guys, like Jerry Silman.

http://www.chess.com/chessmentor/view_course.html?id=4

Introduction to Tactics

Author: IM Jeremy Silman, FM Thomas Wolski, NM Mike Arne
Category: Tactics
Avg. Rating: 1083

"Introduction to Tactics" introduces the student to the tactical tools of chess (forks, pins, etc.).

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Regarding the instruction videos

Fun to watch, but don't watch too many.  I did, which was a mistake. There are more videos for beginners than when I first joined, and the very best one to start with that teaches a fundamental opening principle, development/tempo, is authored by IM David Pruess.

http://www.chess.com/video/player/development-part-i-counting2

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There are many resources available to the beginning chess player who has a Diamond membership and wishes to get better.

Enjoy the site, and more important, don't worry about your rating and remember that it is a game after all, so have fun!