I do not believe a book can be very helpful until around 1500. Instead work on your tactics continuously and play through high level games.
The 1300 Quag-mire
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The average-rating of chess.com is around 1300-1350 so should not be too hard on yourself. To improve requires practice/study.
Playing over grandmasters' games helped me a lot, particularly ones that give explanations for every move. "Logical Chess Move by Move" is a good book; Irving Chernev's "The Golden Dozen" is another good one
Thank you! The first 3 comments have already helped me to at least map out a strategy to improve. I am very grateful for the help and suggestions from you; you're all excellent players and some never want to give new players the time of day. I hope this topic may help other players who want to improve.
Have a great evening!
Chris Saindon
Sep 1, 2012
0
#6
All I can see for finished games is a bunch of bullet. Knock that off. Then get Keres & Kotov The Art of the Middle Game
Play standard time control games! I'm talking 30 minutes or more, having all that time to calculate and plan is where your creativity will sprout!
DrSpudnik and Arpie -- 2 great posts!
It is absolutely true that my games often wind up being uncontrolled chaos to bleed seconds off my opponent's game -- and looking at my stats..it is not the way to go. Thanks DrSpudnik!
On the standard 30+ minute games -- of which I played very few -- I sure have noticed that even from the first two moves, the open I use is both entirely inappropriate and rapidly slams me back into defense; I rarely win. Thanks Arpie! 
A follow-up: Are there ever tournaments (real boards, your opponent sitting across from you) held for lightning chess?
Thanks!
Ordered -- and it was much less than getting an instructor. Thanks DrSpudnik, and to everyone for a good learning weekend!
Chris
Take your time with that book! I believe studying chess should not be rushed (e.g. trying to fill your head with all the examples and ideas in the shortest ammount of time possible) but appreciated. Remember, it's not a race to learn the most information; this attitude will not grant you any sufficient growth (which is what you were trying to obtain from doing it right?)
--Just some thoughts
hey man, i would suggest looking at the articles people post here, some are fairly complicated by with the diagrams to click through it helps a lot, also if you are a paying member check out all the videos, they seem pretty helpful.
Basic tips for beginners, I would say on your opening, don't bring your queen out early, she'll just get chased around the board wasting your moves, also try to move each piece only once during the opening.
good luck!
Arpie -- YES, absolutely. The comments from DrSpudnik were absolutely true: "a bunch of bullet" is what many games sink into, although now and then it's semi-controlled chaos -- to eat up :08 and grab a win on time. Speaking to the last point, I have just a couple of actual checkmates and probably 98% of my wins are on-time; also not something I like admitting. The few checkmates I have are when very new, inexperienced players forget they castled and leave their King alone with no escape -- drop a Queen or Rook down and that's that. And perhaps one or two while the bullets fly where you suddenly see the King pinched in a group of pieces and shoot-in. The lightning chess is exciting and I love it, but you are all telling me what I need to do to climb out of my Quag-mire: slow down, study, work hard and it will happen. And I thank you all..
melogibbo wrote:
hey man, i would suggest looking at the articles people post here, some are fairly complicated by with the diagrams to click through it helps a lot, also if you are a paying member check out all the videos, they seem pretty helpful.
Basic tips for beginners, I would say on your opening, don't bring your queen out early, she'll just get chased around the board wasting your moves, also try to move each piece only once during the opening.
good luck!
Thank you for these tips as well. I just checked in and realized I didn't mention your helpful post. I don't fall for too many silly, quick checkmates anymore (and never tried to learn any of them as I was told early not to). But during Lightning sometimes I want to anticipate/speed ahead on time against some better players and walk right into them like a fool. I have been warned about bringing the Queen out too fast before and I will try and eliminate this mistake right away. I have a LONG way to go! Thanks again to all of you.
Paul Littlewood, Chess Tactics (1984).
About 160 pages of bite-sized tactics to imbibe and learn cold. Fastest way I know to get to the USCF B class, 1600-1800.
You probably need at least one decent endgame book too. Good Luck.
How about playing some cc games? With more time to think about your moves, you may learn to avoid easy traps and blunders.
zborg wrote:
Paul Littlewood, Chess Tactics (1984).
About 160 pages of bite-sized tactics to imbibe and learn cold. Fastest way I know to get to the USCF B class, 1600-1800.
You probably need at least one decent endgame book too. Good Luck.
Thank you! I have noticed that books about the game of CHESS are considerably less expensive than I thought! I appreciate the advice
TMIMITW wrote:
How about playing some cc games? With more time to think about your moves, you may learn to avoid easy traps and blunders.
Indeed. I am taking leave of the "Lightning" for a while, as I have managed to shoot my way into a number of ridiculous bad spots, few of which I recovered from. Inside of 72 hours, I defeated a 1900+ rated player and lost to a beginner. My self-esteem this morning is exceptionally low and I appreciate you taking your time to offer help.
Beckyschess wrote:
The best way to start boosting your elo is to pay more attention to what your opponent is doing. To many players are all full of themselves and just dont give enough time to putting yourself in your opponents shoes. There are alot of things you can do to improve, but this one will yield alot of results if you can discipline yourself to do it. Best of luck .
Cheers, Becky
Thank you Becky I will taking a very long and painful look at my play-to-date this morning, and I will heed this excellent advice.
Chris
I am a new player (under 1 year of online chess) and 90% of my games are of the "lightning" variety. I believe that, being an untrained "piece mover" (there's another word for that I think but it was from a movie and I don't know if it's REALLY used) allows me to win against opponents in the <1300 range and occasionally defeat a stray 1500-1600 on a bad day (for them). I am hanging myself by admiting this but I would prefer some blunt advice from the good players to just using the same open, same tactics (which are only reactionary -- no plan going in), and riding this "1300 to 1200 to 1140 then back up" nightmare. Can anyone suggest a good book for a beginner who want's to break-out and become more than just a reactionary, fast piece mover? I just joined here as a paying member a few days ago and want to quickly add that I love it here.
Thanks!
Chris Saindon A.K.A. StormChaser
Lisle, IL. USA