Question for 2000+ elo players

I'm around 1400 in rapid, 1700 in blitz, and 2000 in bullet. I want to improve my general chess skills to improve my ratings, namely Rapid as it is where I lack. I also paid for a diamond membership, so I want to get the most out of it. However, I have many obligations, such as college classes, so I don't want to spend too much of my day on chess alone. Does anyone 2000+ Elo have any advice on how I can improve?

you have to play OTB chess. there's a limit to how good you can get from only playing on chess.com. i've never seen somebody be 2000 fide strength without playing any OTB games :<

Thats an interesting statement because Hikaru said a while ago that many people are much stronger than their Fide ELO implies, because during COVID19 many people had a lot time to play online chess, and could get really strong because of that.

I am also not sure how that would even work. You can do some pretty slow time controls here on chess.com, if you want to. So then what exactly would be the real difference to OTB chess ?

Finally obviously most GMs ARE already on chess.com, or alternatives to chess.com. Playing online is pretty common, even among the strongest players.

4 i don't think people play slow time controls on chess.com. for me a slow time control is 90+30 or longer

Your trend is that the shorter the time control, then the higher your rating. This tells me more than just you good at moving quickly. You probably have good pattern recognition and good intuition if you are able to get so high at both blitz and bullet.

I'm guessing your rapid is much lower because your blitz and bullet isn't necessarily the strongest moves all the time (just really good moves that get your opponents thinking more and then getting flagged), or it means that you play really well, but then perhaps make a careless error in rapid when your opponent's have enough time to punish it.

1400 to 2000 is a huge gap between rapid and bullet. Having a 600 rating gap between time controls isn't unheard of, but 300-400 is probably much more common. My blitz/bullet are lower because I don't play them much, but if you want to play unrated rapid sometime, we could play and I could give you some tailored advice based on anything I observe because you are probably much stronger than 1400 rapid. You probably just need to make a few adjustments. If you feel most comfortable with speed chess, then maybe you can bring up your rapid to at least 1500 or 1600 rating if your bullet is 2000+ already.

Play OTB chess. Ratings are less reliable the faster the time control, so your rapid rating is likely the best estimate of your actual playing strength. Also, because players online are competing under different conditions, online ratings are less accurate than OTB ratings.

it should not be hard for you to analyze your games and identify areas for improvement. Given your level of experience, you can likely improve through focused study rather than simply playing.

I just play a lot

Learn and apply the most important principles of chess. - (core of my teaching)
Always blunder-check your moves.
Solve tactics in the right way.
Analyze your games.
Study games of strong players.
Learn how to be more psychologically resilient.
Work on your time management skills.
Get a coach if you can.

Hi Lemon! I think you're already pretty good. I don't think Rapid is your weak point definitively, all you have to do is try to play slightly stronger moves.

Also, yes I'm not qualified because I'm 1600 but whatever.

P.S. Lemon is a great teacher.

P.P.S. I know someone who is 900 blitz and 1900 bullet.

Hi there,

I am rated over 2400 online (https://www.chess.com/member/ppandachess). I created a free course that will teach you a training plan to improve. Feel free to check it out: https://www.panda-chess.com/daily-improvement-plan

I think that my free training plan can help you.
I also offer private lessons: https://www.panda-chess.com/private-coaching

chomp on hanging pieces