Why don't I get better?

Hi

This question is one I ask myself quite often these days. I lose a lot of games to really stupid stuff, e.g. hanging pieces or forks, etc.... This has been the case for several weeks now.

I've never had this with anything in my life, usually if I do some mental or physical activity I get better over time, but with chess this dosn't seem to be the case. Anyone got an idea why?

It's because you only play blitz. It's not enough time for you to think properly. So, you condemn yourself to the same mistakes, over and over again.

If you don't study books, and put in the hard time, you will plateau at a very low level.  1 hour of book studying is worth more than 12 hours of online blitz.  Start with Endings, then Tactics, then Strategy/Positional Play, then Openings.

People go in cycles.  I took a break from blitz to develop some software for an app awhile ago.  Prior to the break, I couldn't seem to break 1200 at blitz, or if I did, I fell right back down. But when I came back to blitz after that break.  I found I can easily play above 1200 consistently.  But I play tired and the quality of my play flucuates a lot, so I can get close to 1300 but then undo it all in a series of bad plays in a bad mind frame.

But anyway, play as best you can.  Play carefully, and take a sabatacal here and there. Does wonders.  Certain things seem to gel over time.  But try to catch yourself before you lose too much, when you're playing drowsily, badly, impulsively.  Learn to identify the brain states that work the best, though observing your perceptions and behavior in other areas than just chess.

depends on the variables involved (time, attention, energy levels, distractions, letting your goals/wishes blind you to the actual intricacies of the position, etc.)

basically, though, it seems like you have experienced chess blindness, or amaurosis scacchistica, which is not the same thing as playing blindfold chess.  

I know that blitz won't make me better at 90min OTB games, but I thought I'd get better at blitz at least

and what is chess blindness?

go just do a shit ton of tactics problems on chess.com's tactics trainer if you have membership or chesstempo.com.

It is more efficient to study and play a few games, than try to play a lot of games and learn chess, because you haven't got a good basis on thought process and tactics yet

"Amaurosis scacchistica (Latin for chess blindness) is the failure of a chess player, during a chess game, to make a normally obvious good move or see a normally obvious danger. The term was coined by Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch. "

-wikipedia

If you have a droid phone, you can download Chess Puzzles by Yan Levesque

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.levesque.chesspuzzle&hl=en

In case you do love Blitz chess and play a lot of it, I hate to break it to you, but I would not be helping you if I lied --

STEP AWAY from BLITZ !  One of the most difficult issues you will have with dropping your rate of blunders or wrong moves or bad evaluation of the positions is COMPULSION.  Compulsive behavior and thinking is at the root of a lot of problems low level players face.

Anything you think you can do to improve your chess by using Blitz, you will do a lot better by solving puzzles or chess tactic problems, by working out chess end game positions to a win or to a draw.  You can use a timer for yourself.

Play longer time controls, learn to love to be deliberate, cold, calculating, relaxed, clear minded, and free of compulsions !

If you HAVE TO do blitz (go go addict) then use it very sparingly, but certainly not part of your regular play.

Some players have learned to change their frame of mind and adapt their behavior entirely when they play longer games, but these might be few.

A lot of bad habits you get in chess you get from blitz and bullet (even worse).  One of the obvious detrimental effect of blitz is also playing without a quality, elaborate, well-thought-out plan which is based on sound and true principles and needs of the position and the opponent's real intent.

Tactical mistakes are also caused by tactical vision problems.  Keep working on tactics, and end-game solutions.  You will see how you will start envisioning a lot more as you get more practice.

You need to play longer time control games. And then you need to take a good 6-8 hours a game to annotating them. I have not gotten better at chess for about 6 years because I no longer do this, but there is no substitute.

Well, I guess the time control seems to be the biggest issue.

Too bad, I really enjoy blitz, but I guess I'll go for the longer games for the time being.

Thanks a lot

Playing slow time controls is of real value.

Studying in books is more dubious. For sure it helps, but training one's chess exclusively in books is guaranteed to fail, whereas I managed to get around 1500 without reading a single book - not a fantastic rating, but still a bit higher than #3 seems to say.

As for the rest... We all have ups and downs. Maybe you are just in a down phase. Chess is the only area of my whole life where I have seen work more rewarded than talent, there is little doubt that you should be back on the upwards road by soon.

Studying books is very rewarding if you do right, if you organize it AND you synch it with real practice.  However study is study, just like academics, the textbooks are there for a reason, but the lab must be fused with it too.

If you organize your study of books adequately you can really optimize your growth.