Support on my progress

Hello Ladies and Gentleman from the chess universe,

I’ve been playing a lot of chess in the past 5-6 months, and I’m stuck at my current rating (around 900). I’ve been reading the forums and I normally read people saying that:

1. Practice tactics (which I already do, my tactics rating is around 1150)
2. Analyze your games and observe your mistakes (hanging pieces, etc.) 
3. Play long timed games (I almost always play 1 min blitz and 5 min rapid)

So, the question here is if someone can explain in a very precise yet deep way how to do the steps mentioned above. I will include some context here.

1.- Practice Tactics: I love doing tactics, my rating is almost 300 points higher than my rapid rating, and my puzzle rush score is 19, so I do pretty well on tactics, but as I improve in the tactics, my rating in chess do not follow.

2.- Analyze my games: I normally analyze the games, but sometimes the movements that the engine states as better, excellent, blunder, etc. are far away from my capacity, so I don’t understand sometimes why that move is better than the one I did.

3.- Playing long timed games: So, if someone has some advices on playing 30 minutes games (that’s what I consider a long time game) on the computer because it gets kind of easy to get distracted.

4.- Finally, should I stop playing blitz and rapid and focus on 30 min games to improve my chess? If so, should I only focus on tactics-30min games?

Thanks y’all for the support, hopefully with your advice I can do better.

If you have any other advice, I would appreciate it a lot.

Please ladies and gentleman,

Help me out improve my Chess i really need the advice!

Allright, thanks for the 10 minutes advice, someone else can give me some advice on the rest of the points?

Thanks lads

Study checkmating patterns. Study 1001 Deadly Checkmates by John Nunn.

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"... Most internet players think that 30 5 is slow, but that is unlikely slow enough to play 'real' chess. You need a game slow enough so that for most of the game you have time to consider all your candidate moves as well as your opponent’s possible replies that at least include his checks, captures, and serious threats, to make sure you can meet all of them. For the average OTB player G/90 is about the fastest, which might be roughly 60 10 online, where there is some delay. But there is no absolute; some people think faster than others and others can play real chess faster because of experience. Many internet players are reluctant to play slower than 30 5 so you might have to settle for that as a 'slow' game." - NM Dan Heisman (2002)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627010008/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman12.pdf

Some people deal with this sort of issue by posting a question about it. Another possibility would be to set up the position after the computer's suggestion and try to play against the move with an engine as your opponent. You could also take the side that you had in the game and see what happens if you try to continue after your move (again, with an engine as an opponent).

Why is everybody advising this young man to play games with a higher time limit? Nonsense. Anybody can play well with enough time, but it is in fast paced games where one is forced to have internalized both opening and tactical theory to an almost instinctual degree. That's when your true skill and knowledge are tested, under time pressure.

Thanks everyone for your answers, I suppose I will start playing some 60 minute games to improve my Chess, also should I keep doing tactics?

Nonsense.

Only under time pressure and the fear of losing points can one truly determine and improve their current level of skill. You need to play 5 and 3 minute games. All those people advising you otherwhise are rated <1600 themselves. Trust me, drill your tactics/openings and test yourself in Blitz games.

When you refer to study, what books do you recommend, and how do you study chess? I mean you can't read a chess book like a novel or so

"... for those that want to be as good as they can be, they'll have to work hard.
Play opponents who are better than you … . Learn basic endgames. Create a simple opening repertoire (understanding the moves are far more important than memorizing them). Study tactics. And pick up tons of patterns. That’s the drumbeat of success. ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (December 27, 2018)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/little-things-that-help-your-game
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-start-out-in-chess

https://www.chess.com/blog/michechess89/8-tips-to-increase-your-online-rating
https://www.chess.com/news/view/a-new-years-resolution-improve-your-chess-with-new-lessons

https://www.chess.com/article/view/mastery-chess-lessons-are-here
"... In order to maximize the benefits of [theory and practice], these two should be approached in a balanced manner. ... Play as many slow games (60 5 or preferably slower) as possible, ... The other side of improvement is theory. ... This can be reading books, taking lessons, watching videos, doing problems on software, etc. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627084053/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman19.pdf
"... If it’s instruction, you look for an author that addresses players at your level (buying something that’s too advanced won’t help you at all). This means that a classic book that is revered by many people might not be useful for you. ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (2015)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-best-chess-books-ever
Here are some reading possibilities that I often mention:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Simple-Attacking-Plans-77p3731.htm
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1948)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-back-to-basics-tactics
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5856bd64ff7c50433c3803db/t/5895fc0ca5790af7895297e4/1486224396755/btbtactics2excerpt.pdf
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/

https://www.chess.com/blog/ForwardChess/book-of-the-week-openings-for-amateurs
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Studying Chess Made Easy by Andrew Soltis (2009)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090448/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review750.pdf
Seirawan stuff:
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf

https://www.chess.com/article/view/longer-time-controls-are-more-instructive

This must be the most instructive answer of them all! Thank you for the post, I'm going to start working on it.

@Everyone Else Thanks for your feedback fellas.

To me 5 minutes games are not even chess.  I can't imagine someone getting really good at this game just by playing super fast games.

just focus on basics related endgame>midgame>opening the way to make ur game more sychronize

I viewed some of your blitz games and you seem to miss immediate threats from your opponent, or game is ok but then you make a move that gives opportunity to the opponent to win a piece instantly or in a few moves. as a challenge, (I have not seen this advise by anyone, I just discovered it, but I also do it), try solving puzzles with the board reversed sometimes.. it feels strange at first, but i feel that solving for the pieces on the opposite side in puzzles trains you to see your opponent's tactical possibilities easily.

Allright, gonna give it a try with the real chess board and the inverted tactics.

Thanks again guys! The answers I'm recieving are awesome.

Yes, it is very easy  to get distracted when playing longer time controls online and starting looking at facebook etc between the moves. My suggestion is to play longer time controls the old fashioned way OTB - best would be to find a club near you to do that. In the club you will also get feedback and helo to analyse your games and playing style which will add up to your progress.

In my opinion the best way to play online chess is to play daily games where you really have time to do your analysis. All other games types fits best OTB.