Yes. Going to try my hand in the modern benoni. I score almost 50% with it in online blitz, but I’m losing right out of the opening in every single game. Ah yes I do love online blitz.
Players 100- 2000 - what do you think your biggest weakness in Chess is?
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Mar 30, 2022
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#43
Justadudeplayingchess wrote:
1870 here.
Probably my inability to tell whenever I have a better position, and how to effectively creating attacks on the kingside.
Successful attacks on the king are a big subject!
Having a feeling for when you're better is super important. Maybe after you play a game, pick a position you felt was "critical" or a turning point, and try and guess the numerical evaluation of the position, and check with stockfish afterwards.
If stockfish has a different evaluation to yours, explore the idea you thought was good (or not good) and see what it digs up.
Mar 30, 2022
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#44
B1ZMARK wrote:
Yes. Going to try my hand in the modern benoni. I score almost 50% with it in online blitz, but I’m losing right out of the opening in every single game. Ah yes I do love online blitz.
If you want some inspiration, there are some great Tal games in the Benoni! I think it is the perfect opening for Tal's wizardly style 
Mar 30, 2022
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#45
Lord-doge wrote:
I never think about my the opposing player pieces or where their at on the board. I often move my pieces to where they would be captured I guess i just don't analyze the board
Yep, chess is a two player game!
Mar 30, 2022
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#46
Professor_Gobbles wrote:
JackSmith_GCC wrote:
Hi all,
The title pretty much explains it, but I'm curious - what do you think your biggest chess weakness is? I'd be interested to see if, for example, there is one most common answer in a particular rating group.
If you want to leave an illustrative game that would be helpful
Cheers,
~ Jack
I'm a 1650, and my greatest weakness is putting my pieces in suboptimal squares
Me too
Mar 30, 2022
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#47
cvjdbkgxc wrote:
Time management, and simple mistakes under time pressure. 7 out 8 serious games I've lost over the board were because of time pressure (Almost all in winning positions, too, haha.) 30% of my online games that I've lost were because of time pressure. I play a lot slower then my opponents, and pay for it at the end of the game.
Also how I take losses due to aforementioned low time blunders. Those almost never end well.
This is a super frustrating issue to have, where you're putting in all the time and work to not get any benefits for it in the end.
There are two solutions, I would say:
1) Get better under time pressure, with stuff like puzzle rush and perhaps bullet.
or
2) Sacrifice a little bit of accuracy in the opening/middlegame to give yourself a comfortable amount of time in the endgame.
You could also consider playing games with comfortable amounts of increment to decrease the amount of time pressure that you are under as the game progresses.
Mar 30, 2022
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#48
ChesswithNickolay wrote:
2000+ also have weaknesses, you know.
a lot of people rated above 2000 have commented.
Mar 30, 2022
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#50
500-600 Blundering things that could've been seen with a bit of calculation also getting tilted easily after getting on a big losing streak (I lost about 80 elo in my most recent one)
Mar 30, 2022
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#51
PawnRook77 wrote:
500-600 Blundering things that could've been seen with a bit of calculation also getting tilted easily after getting on a big losing streak (I lost about 80 elo in my most recent one)
To add on also losing the trade
Mar 30, 2022
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#53
PawnRook77 wrote:
500-600 Blundering things that could've been seen with a bit of calculation also getting tilted easily after getting on a big losing streak (I lost about 80 elo in my most recent one)
*Correction I lost 54 elo in my losing streak I was very tilted too.
Mar 30, 2022
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#54
HeroinSheep wrote:
cvjdbkgxc wrote:
Time management, and simple mistakes under time pressure. 7 out 8 serious games I've lost over the board were because of time pressure (Almost all in winning positions, too, haha.) 30% of my online games that I've lost were because of time pressure. I play a lot slower then my opponents, and pay for it at the end of the game.
Also how I take losses due to aforementioned low time blunders. Those almost never end well.
Dude I feel you ! I have the same problem... In 10+0 or even 3+0 I'm fast and ussually quite good at time managment... But in serious games (15+10, 30+0, or slower) I'm extremely slow, sometimes using 10 minutes for a single move in a position that has several moves that maintain the advantage. I think the reason might be I have a slight imbalance in my game where my openings are still too good for my skill level (middle/end-game), so when I reach the typical +1, even +3 advantage in the early middle game I start considering many many different options and do not have the balls to just play one... So I guess just tactics, strategy books and endgame study are the answer to this time managment issue... If anyone has ideas do share!
Yeah, improving the rest of your game is a good idea, though part of "knowing your openings well" is understanding the middlegame plans that come from them.
However, I can share my perspective on the time management side - last month I played the decisive game in an OTB 60+30 tournament against a 2000 FIDE player (2300 online rating) and it was perhaps the worst feeling game I've played in living memory.
I had White in the exchange slav, and spent so much time maintaining my "slight advantage in the opening" that I forgot to actually play chess. I wound up giving him the bishop pair, and then allowing him to open the centre against my defenceless king, losing the game in 20 moves. I had 12 minutes left on my clock, where my opponent had 47 minutes left on his.
After this game I swore that I would never get hung up on finding the "absolute best move" ever again. A lot of the time, especially in tranquil openings and middlegames, finding a logical move that improves your pieces and is 'good enough' is better than sinking into deep thought trying to dissect the ultimate truth of the position in front of you - you can do that in your analysis, but not during the game.
There are critical moments when you MUST find the best move otherwise you risk losing the advantage or even being worse - but in a normal game, there are maybe 3 - 5 such moments, and no more. Part of progressing after 2000 is how well you can identify these moments during the game.
Hope this helped at least somewhat
Mar 30, 2022
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#55
sleepingpuppy wrote:
I play a move only to realize that there was a threat (ex: someone is threatening to take my rook, I move a piece on the other side of the board)
basically I completely forget stuff
That's a struggle all of us have from time to time, from 1000 to 2000. Don't feel too bad - take a break, regain some confidence in yourself, and try, try again
Mar 30, 2022
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#56
I've gone from being too defensive to pursuing attacks a bit impatiently and recklessly. Cost me about a year's worth of rating points gains in a couple of months, and I don't think I really learned anything tangible in the process. Back to square one.
Mar 30, 2022
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#57
PawnRook77 wrote:
500-600 Blundering things that could've been seen with a bit of calculation also getting tilted easily after getting on a big losing streak (I lost about 80 elo in my most recent one)
Tilting is one of the worst things you can do for your rating - but it's easy to recognise that after you've done it!
If it helps, establish a maximum number of losses in a row that you are allowed. If you lose three in a row, no more chess - take a walk or listen to music or whatever else you enjoy doing. It feels like quitting at the time, but you'll appreciate it later.
As for the blundering bit - I'm sure it will get better with time. Good luck!
Mar 30, 2022
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#58
ChesswithNickolay wrote:
B1ZMARK wrote:
ChesswithNickolay wrote:
2000+ also have weaknesses, you know.
a lot of people rated above 2000 have commented.
My biggest weakness is not calculating when I should or not calculating deep enough when I should.
"Half the variations calculated in a tournament game turn out to be completely superfluous. Unfortunately, no one knows in advance which half."
~ Jan Timman
I have similar problems - though sometimes I also find that I can calculate too much and get lost in the forest of lines, missing something right in front of me.
MisterWindUpBird wrote:
I've gone from being too defensive to pursuing attacks a bit impatiently and recklessly. Cost me about a year's worth of rating points gains in a couple of months, and I don't think I really learned anything tangible in the process. Back to square one.
I can relate to this. If I play defensively, I can get caught up in "afraid to move mode", or if I play aggressively, I get caught up in my tactical strategy, and I miss the obvious tactical moves of my opponent.
Mar 30, 2022
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#60
MisterWindUpBird wrote:
I've gone from being too defensive to pursuing attacks a bit impatiently and recklessly. Cost me about a year's worth of rating points gains in a couple of months, and I don't think I really learned anything tangible in the process. Back to square one.
An attacking style is good - you should always be looking out for opportunities to attack your opponent's weaknesses - but yeah, unjustified attacks can really backfire in your face.
Learning the balance is part of improving. Do what works for you, and keep an eye on missed opportunities in the post game analysis
Ok going to be serious (2000 USCF) - Personally I'm too inclined to avoid tactical positions. Usually this bites me in the back when it turns out my safe move lost the advantage.
I'm usually not outplayed positionally, but when I do, it can usually be traced back to the opening. I should probably brush up on my theory - when I review my otb losses all of them can be traced back to bad opening play.
I get you regarding being a little too scared sometimes - I find sometimes it's good to practice embracing the madness