Need some help, stuck in a big rut

I need a lot of help. Lately my chess has just been terrible and I don't know how to get out of my slump. I feel like I'm winning most of my games until I totally blow it with blunders.

I just don't understand this game as much as I think I do and I hate feeling like such a patzer all the time. Its just a horrible feeling to keep losing and losing and losing. And then you just get that one guy that calls you names and acts like a jerk and even though 90% of everyone else is nice it just guts you because you know you suck.

Its very frustrating. I just want to improve and I hate this feeling I have right now. Anyone have any advice besides reading a chess book.

I study and play chess everyday but it doesn't seem to do anything to help.

I love this game, and I know I can be better. I want to improve as much as I can.

I just joined a chess club and everyone there is 2000+ and I just get smocked every game. I want to catch up to that level.

Sorry I'm not interested in paying for anything. I'm sure youd be great but I need some help that's free for more than a lesson. I'm not looking for an intense coach, more like a friend whos higher rated that wants to play some games and give me feedback

1. play your openings better. You are supposed to get c4 is if you play d4.

2. Spend some time looking for forks

Wow worst advice on the planet.

I am worse rated than you, but recently I've being studying some books on tactics, in particular "Winning Chess Tactics" Yasser Seirawan and also Logical Chess Move by Move , Irving Chernev , They have helped me greatly and my rut seems to be disappearing... my Rapid 30 mins rating has gone up 200 to apporx 1200 and I'm really really enjoying the study and time playing. ANyway , hope you find a way to get going again! - Good luck.

It's very annoying being stuck in your situation. Every chess player goes through a similar experience. What I have noticed over the course of my chess development is that, having lost a lot of games and studied a fair amount, I don't instantly start winning games again. Often my rating improves when I'm least expecting it. For example, I'm currently studying (long-term) for a set of exams for university and thus don't have much time for chess, but my rating has, seemingly randomly, shot up (my FIDE from 1770 to 2090 and my ECF from 175 to 200). I did do quite a bit of work on my chess last year, and it seems that it's having a delayed effect - I've noticed this in the past, too. So study something (probably lots of tactics puzzles, on the evidence of your games), stick with it, and see what happens. Also remember that you are (I assume) playing chess for fun and to create interesting games, and thus it doesn't really matter that much whether you win or lose, although I admit it's always nice to win... . Good luck!

Hi, you are better than I but speaking generally remember when you are pitched against someone with a similar rating they should have equal talent hence you can expect to lose as much as you win. (obviously you are always trying to improve your game though)  Unless I missed something glaring in the game you posted am not sure why you resigned.  In games you get ebbs and flows, going down a piece happens especially against someone of good ability.  Maybe don't be so hard on yourself just try to keep learning.  Regards

 Getting out of a slump can be tough; but is that what is happening here? I noticed that your profile is really new. I do not know if this is what is happening here, but I had a similar situation when I created my account. When I began my account I had no idea how "good" I would be, so I began at "intermediate" which was about 1500 elo rating. This was not the best, as I quickly plumpeted to about 1000 rating. Looking back, that was better for me in the long run because it gave me one more reason to improve. Once your rating reaches a stable equilibrium, that is your approximate rating, then you should begin to improve.

I hope this helps, but I also recommend doing the daily puzzle on chess.com, as well as tactics/1 lesson per day - this is all free. Chess.com is a great resource, good luck improving.

My two cents: focus on your tactics.  Double check your moves to make sure there are no tactical errors.  Most importantly, take a break if you feel its necessary and try not to beat yourself up if you make a bad move.  Otherwise, you might burn out and stop playing altogether.

It's great that you're doing serious study. From my personal experience (mostly mistakes), I can tell you that there are two more questions that are vital to improvement:

Are you studying the right things?

Are you studying the right way?

There are no easy answers to those questions, or to anything else in chess for that matter. The short, but incomplete, answers to the questions are:

The right things are those that advance your overall understanding of the game.

The right way to study is actively -- passive learning will not improve your chess.

Those answers contain tons of implications. If you are interested in more about them, just ask.

I looked at your first game. Your losing problem was that your queen was in the line of his rook, and she stood there for many moves until he finally used it and hit a pawn.  Not bad otherwise. I am not sure if your "bad " bishop was bad, but I too would have exchanged in that position to avoid losing a tempo .

In your second game you castled on the side where black had an open b-line. That was risky, and the queen came in and made trouble. When opposite castling you either win or lose, not often draw. I think that is a bad idea when castling into an open line. Better to castle on the safer side and play for a draw. On this level you can win anyway because mistakes happen.   

At your level you should play all your games out or you will never get better at the endgame....when I was "new" to chess after a 30 year break somebody told me that and it helped.

  well   gitcher  sef   a come along  tow

I am giving a free lesson if you want, just message me

I've been playing for years, mostly daily chess on here.  When I started playing more blitz 10 minute games I found that I was constantly making silly blunders like the one you made in game #1.  The thing that helped me is always doing an "idiot check" before letting go of my piece.  I don't know how quickly you moved, but you probably evaluated several squares, knew you needed to move the knight , then suddenly picked it up and dropped it on that square after ruling out a few other moves.  Play a bunch of blitz games where your only goal is literally not to blunder.  

Literally slowing your move down by building in a little space between moves might help.  I also found David Pruess's Tactics videos on chess.com to be a big help.

Good luck!

Looking at your games, it looks like you need to work on understanding positional pressure, both applying it and dealing with it. In your first game, you play without a plan as black in the middlegame; you move your queen around pointlessly, put it right behind an enemy knight just waiting for a revealed attack. Understand that having your queen in the middle, blocking your pieces and right in line of an enemy rook is not a good idea. You should be thinking about how to optimize your knight and bishop activity and getting your rooks to eye down the center from behind. Moving your queen around aimlessly isn’t progressing anything. In the second game, you get out of the opening pretty well as white, and make a nice comment that your bishops are eyeing down his kingside and you’re ready for a pawn storm. However, you then proceed to waste time moving your bishops around on the queenside. Why? His kingside is wide open. Push pawns immediately, get rooks behind them, and keep his pieces locked on the other side of the board as best you can. When you started doing this, finally, you seemed to not notice his rook and queen on the e-file and blundered a pawn. Once again, be aware of your opponent’s positional pressure, and advance yours. If you had stayed true to these rules, you should have smashed his kingside in that game. Remember to keep in mind the position of his pieces, where they can go and where they want to be, and prevent them from getting there. Know where he has pressure and think about the best way to deal with it. I hope this helps.