What Do I Need To Do To Get Better?

Hi friends! First of all, I wanna see if people still reply to forum topics! 😆

But anyway, I am 24 soon to be 25 years old, and while I don't have the chess aspirations I used to have (expert, master, etc), I'd like to get better and generally shake off some rust.

For context, my current USChess (OTB) rating is 1763 (probably a little inflated though since I haven't played much the last several months, and mostly local tournaments). My blitz rating is barely 1900, I've been as high as 2124, and when I'm sharp, I'm normally high 1900s-2000s. I'm 2100 rapid, but barely play that either. 

I have an identity crisis when it comes to openings. As White, I used to play d4 best by test (and still do), but sometimes, KID and Nimzo structures terrify me... so I resort to Nf3... which is solid, but also can be bleh if I don't know the ideas. As Black, I used to play e4-e5, but also get frightened by certain sharp lines. I've been dabbling in some Sicilian, and *occasionally* Alekhines and Scandi. I used Chessbase waayyy back in the day, but it's not very mac friendly (I had to install parallels which was a nightmare), and more recently, I used L!chess studies, but using the cloud for opening files can be hit or miss.

Regarding other aspects of my game, I'm obviously not as sharp on tactics as I used to be, but I think that can be fixed. I've found it helpful using tactics books/courses, as well as websites like chesstempo. My positional play and endgames are generally my strongest points, and probably don't rust as quickly as tactics and openings, but even those aspects could use a lot of improvement. 

Anyway, I need a little bit of inspiration lol, because I want to play more tournaments in 2026, and would love to hear your ideas... no matter your level. Even if you're 1000 and have some ideas, I'm all ears 😆 Thanks yall! 

Hmm. Your profile says you are a coach.

Have you worked with a coach recently?

Yes, and I would highly recommend... for lack of a better way to put it, I don't have the financial resources 😆 maybe in the future!

1. If your really want offline software, something like en-croissant or Pawn appetit is probably best at the moment? They work on mac natively, but if you have some stuff that's in CBH format, you may have to convert it.2. Using 1. Nf3 to avoid d4 variations you don't like it very reasonable (at least if you play Nf3 in the d4 variations you do like), but yes you have to know the ideas behind whatever variation you are going to play to stay in Nf4 territory. Try the double fianchetto against the KID? It looks kind of boring and it's not the engine's favorite, but if you look at the stats, white is doing very well, cause KID players have to play different kinds of position than they want.
3. As black, especially against e4, It's very difficult to avoid sharp complications if white wants them. The only variation I can think of where you *may* be able to avoid sharp variations is the caro. Otherwise, you sort of have to buck up and learn them and get familiar and at least a little comfortable.
4. For the other parts of your play, I've found that my tactics got significantly worse when I stopped playing, and they are still recovering. Positional play got a bit worse, but is mostly back I think. Just doing puzzles, looking at other people's games, and really understanding the ideas behind your openings and why certain moves are played can help you play better positionally, as you'll at least have a plan to work towards.
I like learning new openings because I learn new ideas that can help with other openings or positions that may arise. Also with the ADHD, it helps keep the game fresh and keeps me learning and playing, but I recommend not doing that unless you have a good reason to do so. Try and find openings you like (there will always be variations you'd prefer to not go into, no opening is perfect unfortunately), and stick with them, get familiar, learn the ins and outs of the types of positions you will get, and you'll play better just out of comfort and intuition

Not sure if I'd prove an adequate training partner but, feel free to challenge me to Rapid 15|10 anytime... Practice makes perfect, no?

..... just reading

cool

I thought Fischer said "best by test" in reference to 1. e4. But I can completely relate to your opening identity crisis, I used to exclusively play 1. e4 and have since changed due to similar reasons. My story is different, but similar at the same time. I too want to start playing more and I am struggling to find my inspiration also. I'll let you know if I find it and how I went about it!

practice hard and long enough .

You will get there

Hi friend.

If you feel that tactics is your weakness, you should solve more puzzles. You solved dosens of puzzles December 5-th and until then nothing? It makes no sense. Consistency is the key. For example, set your goal to solve 5 hard puzzles every day.

Speaking of openings, you can’t play such different openings as e5, Sicilian, Aljechin and Scandi. You should pick one.

Do you study games of old masters? Studying games of players like Tarrasch or Capablanca will give you more benefit than replaying games of nowadays Super GMs which are basically a computer stuff.