My Current Important Questions.

Hello everyone,

I would just like to have one or two questions answered as i am currently going through a unusual time in my chess journey recently. I have provided one or two of some recent games that i played as well, to show you what i'm talking about. I would extremely appreciate your help.

1. Should i now change my focus from tactics to opening as i feel i'm slightly laking in the opening and my tactic rating is now 2750?

2. Should i take chess a little more seriously. I.e. put more effort into long games, play more seriously, join tournaments, more time in a week etc? You will see my level through the few games i've added. I haven't played a rated rapid game in a while so may be underestimated.

3. I am reasonably young, master title push time, and am looking to join a face-to-face chess club, so should i put the effort in and should i get ready for tournament play?

Here is a game against the GothamChess-Bot:

Here is a game against another streamers bot:

Here is my game against Alexandra Botez's Bot:

I also beat Anna Cramling's bot and all other bots up till 2000.

I appreciate that these are all bot games, but i have beaten other human players as you can see in my completed games section if you wish.

Thanks for reading this and all of your help.

Based on your games, I think that you have a handle on openings too.  Your tactics are also sound.  I think what you need is positional strategy, and endgame study would help in that.  Also, long 30+ minute games would be beneficial where you have a lot of time to think about each move that you played, and these are the types of games you play in FIDE too (more like G90).  I hope this helps you.  And yes, if you want to seek a title at some point, you have to work on this and then of course get back to the in person tournaments.

#1

"1. Should i now change my focus from tactics to opening as i feel i'm slightly laking in the opening and my tactic rating is now 2750?"
++ No. You should focus on tactics. Tactics decide games, not openings. How much time do you spend on a tactics puzzle? How much time do you spend on a move in a game? The time spent on a move in a game should be more than the time to solve a tactics puzzle, as in a tactics puzzle you know there is some tactic while in a game you have to assume there is one. Whenever you lose a game, analyse it to learn from your mistakes.

"2. Should i take chess a little more seriously. I.e. put more effort into long games, play more seriously, join tournaments, more time in a week etc?"
++ Chess is a game, it is meant to be fun. It is up to you how seriously you take it. Longer games are certainly good. Online 15|10 is best.

"3. I am reasonably young, master title push time, and am looking to join a face-to-face chess club, so should i put the effort in and should i get ready for tournament play?"
++ Yes, An over the board chess club is a good idea if you feel like it. Remind that classical chess over the board is 90|30 time control.