I'm Stagnating in Rapid

Hey I have a Q, do you see a rapid rating boost when you go back to it? Recently switched to blitz for a variety of reasons (boredom, stagnation, needed to work on speed etc), went back to rapid after 2 months and went +250 within a week. I'm curious if it was some weird one-off with my brain or it might be a good idea to swap to blitz to get out of a period of stagnation in general.

A quick look at your games and I say ... stop playing things like the Alekhine until you can play better...much better in the middlegame. Stay away from complicated openings.

What would you recommend then?

More simple openings where you get your 'fair share' of the center. Anything that will let you get more playable positions so that you can not have to worry about 'theory' and can spend more time on improving your general middlegame/endgame play.

I think you said you 'have a coach'? What does he/she say?

Haha exactly what I did too. Got my blitz to 1200, went back to rapid and boom hit 1500 rapid lol

Right, given the average person might only have so many hours in the day for chess...by definition, to 'study more' (and what you actually need to study...) you have to sacrifice somewhere...such as playing less. If you play as much as you have been the 'muscle memory' will likely kick in and gravitate toward your bad tendencies. Your coach should be pointing you towards getting rid of those.

Look for instance at your recent game with Ibrahimelsheikh75 - 10 min game so plenty of time to think. White plays poorly, handing you a great position... and yet you make a couple (probably a bit more) really boneheaded moves...2 really stand out:

1. Move 8. and after 16 sec to think you let White trade your only developed bishop...and with a knight that has gone to a stupid square and will have no squares to go to if you simply played ...Bg8 threatening ...h6. He will probably have to waste even more time with 9. h4 just to have a square for it to go to. This is pretty basic stuff...right? Instead you play Qd7...which then has to go to ...e6 in recapture, as he gets rid of his badly placed knight for your bishop pair on an open board. That's really poor decision making.

2. Here, you simply let White pin your queen to your king after 7 sec 'thought'

Poor board awareness here - total lack of it really, as you appear to have chased some idea (when your Bf8 still sits there, unemployed) down a rabbit hole totally oblivious to what is about to come.

You do not need to potentially 'waste' your $$ on a bunch of Chessable courses if these (particularly the latter) are left to infect your thoughts. THAT is what you need to be working to eradicate and concentrate on right now - simple 'playing ability' not 'knowledge'...and it needs to be worked on...not 'adding more "knowledge" - which will go to waste if you if you continue to 'play' this way.

Ironically, I don't see a lot of books/courses that truly help with that...and in part it's because the 'student' has to put in the hard work...they can't force that.

I continue to point people to a very mistitled book by Mathew Sadler: TIPS FOR YOUNG PLAYERS. His suggestion for training 'sight of the board' is particularly good - and you can do it anywhere. Similarly, I always liked PRACTICAL CHESS ANALYSIS by Mark Buckley (Training The Minds Eye - section in particular...the 'auras' of the pieces). Even Andy Soltis's CATALOG OF CHESS MISTAKES is good although the two I point to above are much better at giving ways of improving.

Openings...ones as good as the other often, but I suggest going with the more basic of what you currently do (or you may be tempted to look at 'opening work'...which won't matter in the end), forgetting about the others for now, while you work on your taking care of where you are clearly weak....things that matter more and that you can work to put into play at any phase of the games that you do play.

skill issue

Indeed. That's my point - 'skill' (ability to play) and 'knowledge' are two different things.

30 yrs ago I played a true correspondence match with a master and college friend...(this was pre-engines really). We then analyzed our games and sent that to each other. His take was that I understood far more about the game than he did. My reply, "Maybe, but OTB, you play it better".

For success in 'playing', you have to find and work on your weaknesses and bad habits. Until one takes care of that, 'progress' is really built on shaky ground.

Of course, things like Chessable courses and the billions of pages stuffed into books of 'knowledge', are largely there for more accomplished players to 'cash in' on their hard work over the years...and get money from the less accomplished - with the book 'industry' or the 'course industry'...that's what ultimately happens FAR more than not. Real progress is built on the work one puts into whatever they are doing...and hopefully, for their sake, it is working on getting rid of weakness first and foremost...not 'adding more knowledge'. That's largely useless stuff until you can keep from making bad decisions and overlooking what's really in front of you...if only you would train yourself to see it.

Thank you for such in depth help! I've been playing blitz and analyizing to see my weak spots, and am working on them. Thank you so much!

Also, I bought these courses some time ago, and they have helped tremendously.

Blitz is perhaps best for simply testing your intuition really. In that it is good, but not much else. I would not look to it to point to real questions about your actual ability to play...too much statistical 'noise' brought on by the fast time control.

Those 2 errors I pointed out where in a 10 min game...where you actually get time to think. I believe you would do better to look there for actual weak spots to work on.

--oh, for the several who have already messaged me about helping them on their game, I really do not have the time. But those I checked were really weak players. Any half way serious study will be of benefit at that point. And...totally quit with the bullet games (and cut way back on the blitz)! Bullet (in particular) is only good for strengthening your wrist...not your play.

Good point. Thanks so much!

Just imagine if they had actually "helped" you with the areas where you still (even after going through them) keep loosing games - such as those two simple ones I pointed out. Sounds a bit like maybe the cart was put before the horse.

Good luck!

The issue might be I haven't read them fully...

Mostly opening courses....so, honestly, I don't think that is the case.

Excellent advice. This is how I got to where I am from the 500s at my lowest- noticing where I'm going wrong and actively working on it. Knowledge from books/courses or a coach is only useful insofar as you use it to identify your own weaknesses and improve them, since there does come a point for everyone where it's more difficult to see the forest for the trees. A healthy balance of increasing your understanding and putting it into practice is needed.

You should really consider offering paid coaching if you get some free time, you're good at identifying weaknesses and have a lot of knowledge to bring to bear to help guide a student. Please lmk if you ever want to give it a shot, I'd happily be the first and am currently looking for a coach for a couple of hours a week. I'm only 1400-1500 but I play rapid exclusively (other than a 2 month break I took recently to play blitz to improve my performance under pressure) and I'm a very fast learner.

Thanks for all the help everyone! I got to 1800!