Gambits and tempi and of course endgame technique
I'm "stuck" at 1600.
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at 1600 people still make huge blunders very often. keeping everything safe and not blundering yourself should still be enough to get even until 1800.
it makes a difference what positions you get and if you play them well enough that you should aim to keep getting them.
if you play sharp positions and manage to not blunder often and exploit blunders frequently enough, then you should see a faster upward trend in your rating. but it's also a faster downward trend if you can't keep up with all the tactics.
if it's technical positions the movement is significantly slower in either direction, but you get to have a chance to turn around an initially unfavorable position and convert that into a draw or even a win. and so you minimize the setbacks.
i'm sure there are other kinds of positions but these should make up the biggest chunk.
Mar 18, 2021
0
#4
I can confirm that failing to avoid one move blunders is the main issue that is keeping me in the 1600 range.
Every game I lost was because of a one move blunder.
In my latest game, I was already off to a bad start because my opening repertoire is still a work in progress, and therefore I had to improvise the opening completely.
Then I hung a pawn and later a knight for no reason whatsoever.
And when you hang a piece every other game, you shouldn’t be improvising anything.
28% accuracy.
I am ashamed.
I lacked confidence in my knowledge of the Sicilian, so I was too cowardly to play it.
With the black pieces in general I seem to suck.
Every game I lost was because of a one move blunder.
In my latest game, I was already off to a bad start because my opening repertoire is still a work in progress, and therefore I had to improvise the opening completely.
Then I hung a pawn and later a knight for no reason whatsoever.
And when you hang a piece every other game, you shouldn’t be improvising anything.
28% accuracy.
I am ashamed.
I lacked confidence in my knowledge of the Sicilian, so I was too cowardly to play it.
With the black pieces in general I seem to suck.
From 2000( USCF) on down, everyone makes mistakes. The answer is what you found: avoid game-losing errors. Examine your games. Find out why you lose. Finally, 10 min chess requires quick sight, even more than knowing openings. Work on visualization skills. Also some people are really good at speed. Work on it. Discover what you like and are or can get good at
Mar 18, 2021
0
#6
If you realize your position is somehow worse than your opponent's, but you don't really know why or what to do, then it's time to study strategy. Get a book like Pachman's "Modern Chess Strategy"
I'll admit that I'm not really "stuck", I just don't know what I need to learn next. I'm only interested in (Rated) Rapid 10 min games, I don't play the other time controls as much as I play this one.
I'll note that my stats with the Black pieces are much lower 47.7%/49%/3.3% (W/L/D) but I'm not to concerned because I think I've fixed the problem by switching openings. I was losing a lot of games when playing the Caro-Kann with the Black pieces and at around 2/10/21 I switched my opening (using Chessable) to the Taimanov Sicilian and found better results. I don't think I've played enough games with the Sicilian to see any difference in my stats but I think I can feel a difference.
I feel like I'm stuck because I was unable to make any progress at 1500 until I realized that all I have to do is just blunder a lot less. So when I applied that 2/10/21, my rating went from 1472 to 1600 in 6 days. I feel that now there's more I need to work like making my own position actually good, other than just relying on my opponent to make a tactical mistake and taking advantage of that. As I reached around 1600, it got harder and I could definitely tell that my own position wasn't that great. So what can I do to improve my own position? I'd appreciate all advice, thanks.