What's missing?

In mid-Feburary I decided that I wanted to become a decent chess player. Beforehand I knew the rules, played a decent amount when I was a child (I'm 25), and had played on facebook and yahoo from time-to-time.

 

I am enjoying it greatly, but I am a person who is driven by progression.

 

Since then I have read:

 

-Chess for Dummies. 

-Yasser Seirawan's "Winning Chess" Series.  Most of them.  I skipped Openings and Brilliancies for now.

- Bruce Pandolfini's Weapons of Chess, Complete Guide to Chess

- Ward Farnsworth's Predator At The Chessboard

- Some book by Susan Polgar on tactics

- The Majority of Dan Heisman's Novice Nook Articles

 

I have also done:

 

-All of the tutorials on Chessmaster 11 

-9 hours training on Chess Mentor

-About 1000 tactics puzzles 

 

I have played:

 

-~70 correspondence games.

- 100 ICC games (20 of which were non-blitz)

- 3 USCF games 

- Several games vs the Shredder and Chessmaster engines

 

Yet, I am not seeing a significant increase in my skill and am still not able to consistantly play over 1200 strength (don't mind my rating here -- I just started playing here (came because of chess mentor), and my only game has been against a guy who didn't know it was correspondence, and quit on me). 

 

 I understand that improvement is a result of not only hard work but also time and experience, and I am not expecting to become an 1800 overnight.  But I would like to at least see a little bit of progress.

 

 There was a moment of epiphany when I read Dan Heisman's concept of "real chess" versus "hope chess" (I definitely can be accused of playing hope chess, and I have gotten a lot better at it but I still do it often unfortunately).  But it hasn't had any effect on results.

 

 One thing that I notice is that I play OTB G/60 and no matter the result of the game (and I have had some come down to mindnumbing bishop and knight endgames), I have always had 40 minutes or more left on my clock!  I try to slow down, but at my rating level, most of the people in my club who I am paired against are young scholastic players who are moving just as fast as they can move their arms, and I find it very, very hard to slow down.  I also move very fast (about 1 minute per move) on correspondence games online!  This is a clear weakness and something that I have been trying to address but I have been unable to resolve completely.  I have decided to completely stop playing blitz until this is fully taken care of and I am playing "real chess" every move.

 

After I slow down, what am I missing next?  I have neglected openings completely, playing on principles rather than memorization.  I feel that at my level, this is the right thing for now.

 

Do I just need to grind out several hundred games for now or what?

 

Do I need to hire an instructor?  Is chess mentor not enough?

 

  

  

 

Just a brief response to your post, I'm sure others will have lots to say.

Try reading The Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman. I think it really helps the beginner/amateur understand what they're doing wrong, and changes the way you think about positions. 

Alright I will try that next, thanks,.

 

I have heard a lot of good things about Silman but also many people have said that he was way above my level.  That may have been in regards to Reassess your Chess though. 

Yes I think so.  Reassess Your Chess is a bit advanced, but I think you'll find that The Amateur's Mind is workable for our level. I hope you like it:)

Sit on your hands.  When you see a good move, and are just about to play it, stop yourself and sit on your hands.  Look around the whole board, there just might be a better move.

The Amateur's Mind has positions which Silman gave to all levels of players from 900 up so there should be something in there for you. Apart from that and what you have done, play games then look at them afterwards. Try to spot the mistakes for both sides and then try to see what you should have done. Once you have had a look at the game, run it through an engine to see if you have missed anything. While doing that, try your alternatives to the mistakes you found and see if they really are alternatives.

My advice to u is to keep playing on and off the board and u will see improvment.i was the same way with chessmaster about a little over a year ago when i was having trouble around the 1200 region of personalities and i too was getting kinda frustrated but i kept playing and playing and now i'm beating a.i. in the 1600 1700 region and i can hold my own against the chessmaster not that i can beat him but i hold my own.but dont get discouraged chess is like playing a musical instrument u cant expect to be an expert overnight.PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.

Cool, I just got back from the bookstore with The Amateurs Mind, I'll start reading it tonight.

 I haven't started going over my games yet.  I guess that's the next step.     

 

 

kponds said, "I have neglected openings completely, playing on principles rather than memorization." It is good to stress principles when learning. You have read enough books to not ignore openings. Examine what you are playing for your opening tendencies and study one opening for white and one for black. Do so for 6 months before adding another opening. This will give you a more concrete version of general principles, such as development. You may sometimes get positions you are aiming for. Your curiousity may lead you to look at other lines that arise in your games. You probably won't get too deep into the openings yet, perhaps to move 12, and only in selected lines.

...i am 11 years old and i been crowned "anand"and "kasprov"in my school......get lessons...dont waste your time on books...go to tournaments.....play real,live chess...all the world champs are just like you.....dont worry.....i have been studying chess for 5 months now....patience.....

You have only played 70 corrispondance games and yet you have read so much?

I think that you should be bumping up that total number of actual games, so that you start seeing for yourself rather than just accept what you are told by books and puzzles. There is nothing quite like the real thing for improvement.

I'm reading the Amature's Mind right now, its kinda heavy, but if you acually go to the effort of playing out all the scenarios in the book, it does a good job of showing you your own weaknesses. Reasses your chess will probably be my next book purchase.