Are you studying any theory in addition to playing games?
rating 950-1020 but unable to go above after a year and a half
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Sicilian and Fried liver a bit and some lessons at home
Aug 7, 2020
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#4
If you haven't done so I highly recommend watching lots of youtube videos, especially those that focus on fundamental tactics and strategy, e.g.
- Jerry's Beginner to Chess Master series
- John Bartholomew's Climbing the Rating Ladder series
- Gotham Chess Guide
Don't worry too much about memorizing openings, just learn solid opening principles.
thanks very much
Do lot's of puzzles and play blitz and rated games. And ya learn some opening tricks and opening principles
But don't worry on the baby tricks like the four move checkmate. No one your rating range or higher will fall for tricks like those. Do some small but hard to find tricks. There are videos about tricks like like that in youtube
Like search something like"5 queen's gambit tricks for white"
Don't worry about your rating, analyze the game afterward and check out your accuracy percentage. That is what's important. The ratings here are BS because there are a preponderant number of cheaters in this forum. I've caught many but Chess.com doesn't do anything about people who cheat if they are paying for the service. Read some books, check out some videos and get with a local chess club so you can play live games and be rated accurately. Play the chess computer. Start at level 1, play ten games, if you win 8 then advance and so on. My computer engine is tough to beat at level 6 but it's different depending on your computer's engine. The ELO rating on my phone's chess game on level 6 is 1435 and I beat that occasionally. Normally I am rated 1300, right now my rating is total crap here because of the cheating.
ok
John Bartholomew's videos are great. I highly recommend them.
ok
Watch John Bartholomew chess fundamentals series. Do rated puzzles everyday and aim to solve them in your head, correct first time, before making the move. Dont worry about speed. After 6 months your calculation and visualisation skills will be much stronger, your board vision will improve. Consequently, you will hang less pieces, make fewer mistakes and tempo losing moves, and find stronger moves. You dont need to grind it (unless you have the time). 5 a day is fine.
Aug 7, 2020
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#14
Ignore the people telling you to learn tricks and traps. You will not improve in any meaningful way if you just learn a bunch of tricks. Practice trying to make the best move in any position, even when you're losing.
Aug 7, 2020
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#15
Don't just think about your plans, try to think about what your opponent's best move is in every position and anticipate what he is going to play. If they play a different move than you expected, consider whether they had a better idea than you the one you thought of, and update your mental model accordingly. Maybe the move was different because they made a bad move, and you can punish them for it.
Aug 7, 2020
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#16
Follow a consistent plan. Don't rely on traps, because that's just what they are. traps.
To improve, you need to get consistent. consistently spot tactics. consistently identify weaknesses. Consistently check why your opponent moved what they did. Consistently control the center.
stuff like that.
Is this your chess profile? https://www.chess.com/member/rowangoldstrom
Because obviously you're going to plateau if you're relying on rapid and blitz to improve. These games tell you how rapid you are at executing what you've already learned, they don't teach you anything.
Rapid in particular, in which you've played over 4,000 games, hardly resembles a normal-paced chess game at all, its tipping-point skill is the ability to not run out of time, not the ability to understand the game. The analysis engine changes this *some* if you use it. But even that isn't anything like allocating 2 hours to play a live game, or playing a daily game.
Aug 7, 2020
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#18
Lol. That argument doesn't work, since rapid and blitz both test your skill.
The ability to spot right moves without wasting time considering bad moves, that's a skill. Quick calculation, intuition, and psychological play all factor into blitz/rapid.
But the OP is looking to develop and improve their skills not test skills they already have. Slower controls are better for developing skill. Faster controls are fun but mainly test existing skill. Intuition for example relies on tacit knowledge already learned. It's difficult to have intuition about something that is not understood well.
Any good advice?