Why I am not improving?

@cdowis, go d advice. Don't let the rating get you down. Poeple I know who are 700-1000 feel like they're not great at chess sometmes, but I always tell them: we all start somewhere.

Keep up the great work!

Those are excellent fundamental principles.

I 'studied' the game for several years and did not really improve signifantly until I started playing over the board a lot with stronger players and I started paying someone to coach me. He is not a GM but is a former state champion and has helped me by leaps and bounds. Problem with trying to do it on your own is you reinforce bad habits and don't know what you don't know. He helped me in some very basic ways. First he helped me to see my common mistakes. For example I was blind to certain thins like pawn pins. Then he helped me figure out what kinds of positions I am most comfortable in and build a repertoire around that without reams and reams of theory. Don't get me wrong - there is no avoiding lots of theory. But you can at least prune it a bit. Playing regularly with a stronger player willing to go over your games and help you will make a world of difference.

Good advice.

Regarding opening theory for newbies, that is why I recommend online chess.  You can get past the opening by following the book moves, and survive to get to the middle and endgame.

You are not improving because there are things you need to learn. Years ago I found a text on the internet which I still have in my computer. I am copy-pasting it here and you can read it carefully.

How to get better in chess

A lot of people are asking the same question over and over again, how to improve in chess? So, I have decided to write this whole thing once and for all. First of all it is important to know at what level you are playing now. It would really depend what to study and how to improve from the player's current (estimated) rating. Here is a chart that gives an idea on what should players work on at different levels of their chess career:

Below 299: Learn basic rules of chess, how pieces move, and special rules (en passant, castle etc).

300-1000:  Learn basic chess ideas such as checkmate, simple attacks, etc.

1000-1199: Learn basic opening ideas. It's recommended to play 1.e4 as white and sharp variations as black. Learn basic checkmates (King + Queen vs. King, Queen + Queen vs. King, Rook + Rook vs. King, King + Rook vs. King). Practice them until you are completely confident and can checkmate anyone (even a GM) in these positions.

1200-1399: Study more openings, but do not stick with "rarely played variations". It is a huge mistake that a LOT of chess player make while studying openings, to study rarely played/unusual lines which most likely would never come up in real life tournaments.  Studying standard opening lines would yield a lot more results!Spend maximum of 20% of your study time to study openings. Until 1800 level openings aren't very important. Concentrate more on middle game and tactics.  

1400-1599:  Endgame is the key on this level. Only imagine the advantage you get against your opponent if you know how to play endgame well and your opponent does not. The odds are that your opponent will loose the endgame almost immediately. Study basic endgame schemes: King + Pawn vs. King, King + 2 Pawns vs. King, King + Pawn vs. King + 2 Pawns and so on.   Besides the endgame do tactics problems (puzzles).  Play as much chess as possible especially in real life over the board tournaments with a long time control (that's where you learn the most).

1600-1799: If you got on this level it means you are already strong, very solid chess player which knows a lot about all stages of the game of chess. Keep working on your middle game, strategy and tactics. Try to play blindfold chess. It is easy these days, since programs like Chessmaster 10th   offer really nice options of blindfold chess. You basically only see the chess board with no pieces on it, but you can move these empty squares and play chess (because you know that knights are on b1 and c1, bishops are on c1 and g1 and so on).  During the game you have to keep all the pieces in your head, since they are invisible which is hard in the beginning. Play really weak players first.Blindfold chess helps to develop player's visualization ability and eliminates most blunders. All GMs are able to play blindfold chess well.

1800-1999: Wow, you are ready to become an expert. Now it is a good time to systemizeyour opening repertoire. Ideally, you should know very well 2-3 openings for white and 2 for Black. The key to advancing to the expert level here is to analyse your own games. After the game, sit down with a chessboard, paper and pen and go over the game move by move writing down thoughts on your own and your opponent's moves. Only then you may check your game with an engine (Rybka, Fritz, etc). The number #1 mistake chess players make, they either do not analyse their games at all or analyse them by using chess program right away. This is a big mistake which slows down chess progress.The main idea of analysis is not to look at what computer thinks was a good move, but to look for that move yourself! Would it make sense to solve chess tactics puzzles by plugging them into a chess engine?  Probably not.Also it is great idea to go over GM games and think them over. The best way to go over these high level games is to first go over all the moves without author's comments and only second time read the comments and annotations. This works great with the openings too. Remember that when you read your opening book tomorrow.

2000-2199: Congratulations, you are now an Expert. Keep working on chess and I'm sure you'll be able to make at least a Master sometime soon and when you do, please, send me a message saying "Hi! I am a Master now!"

You question may be "how will I learn the things I need to climb up a level?". My question is "do you spend some time for improvement in chess, or do you just play games?" There are books and leaflets for beginners. Do you have one? There are videos on youtube. You just type the theme you are looking for and you can find many videos to watch. But watching is not enough, you will also need to practise and apply all this stuff in your own games.

Let me give you the links to download lessons for free.

You can go here, click on the right side of the page, submit your email address and you'll receive their free lessons. Every time a new lesson is released you receive a new email. I have collected them all in my hard disk. If we take into account the text in my last comment, at your level you need to study openings and tactics. If you ever think of spending some money, not much, there are courses for openings , beginners , calculation and others.

Also read this article http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Better-Chess-Player.

Another free download is here. They also offer this download for free. This is their homepage. There is a search box on the right side of the page where you can write what you are looking for, e.g. "beginner", "calculate", "endgame".

If you are more traditional and prefer books you can find huge discounts here and here.

I hope that I helped.

The first step in improvement is to know what mistakes you made so that you can avoid it next time. Did you review your lost games each time? Second when playing blitz it's important to know how long your concentration powers work. For me it's about 3-4 games. If I play more than that I almost always would lose. Figure out yours. Then review games of higher rated players, even here at chess.com you would surely learn a lot. Finally try to finish a book, a Dan Heismann would be a nice one to start with. Good luck!

to improve in please   """DON'T PLAY BLITZ"""" 

 no blitz

no games with time limit less than 30 mins

,,forget about winning and losing

 just think about "" how and why"" you are winning and losing ,, 

just play many games with patience and interest

I disagree. Cogwheel went from barely knowing the rules to 1800 in two years. I think he has EARNED a lot of respect, and is significanly more qualifed than you to answer a beginner who asks how to improve.

If a beginner wants to improve, and could either listen to someone who got all the way to 1200 in two years (you) or to 1800 in two years (Cogwheel), I think the choice would be obvious.

I do not mean to put you down, but if you fail to recognize what an achievement it is for someone to accomplish what Cogwheel did, then you are letting your own ego get in the way of your own learning.

Listen to what he is saying. The proof is in the pudding, and he is 1800, and you are 1200. Learn from him.

Work through this short, 150 page book -- Paul Littlewood, Chess Tactics, (1984).

• Play Game in 10/5, up to Game in 15/5, for thrills.
• Play OTB speeds at least one weekend a month.
• If your rating still doesn't rise, switch to another board game.

End of Story.

I see no proof in any flavored amorphous solid in the vicinity, number one. Number two, my coment was a response to him being a jacka$$, and not pertinent in any degree to his chess skill.

As for your first point, I do not know what that means, but yes, going from learning the rules to 1800 in 2 years is indeed proof that he knows how to learn .

As for your second point, how was he being a jack#ss? For stating that it is a waste of time for a 800 to memorize gambits? It was a waste of your time. Saying that does not make him a jack#ss. You are being far too defensive.

My first point referred to the state of matter of pudding. And as I also said earlier, I didn't care if it was a waste of time, I just enjoyed memorizing them. One gambit I never liked was the King's Gambit...although many people disagree...

I agree that if you enjoyed doing it, it was not a waste of time. I, personally, am not trying to improve anymore. I just like playing.

But this is a thread where the OP is asking how to improve. You made a single post stating that you were studying gambits when you were 800. I hope you can understand how that might be misconstrued as advice! And it shouldn't surpise you that someone pointed out that for someone who is trying to improve, this is an inefficient use of time.

Oh...I also like the King's gambit, as do MANY players rated much higher than myself!

I don't know why I don't like it. I guess I found openings that I thought were better, and the KG isn't used as much at the GM level as it was (in equivalency) in the 1800s. Anyway, for the OP, don't make the mistake that I made that ruffled some feathers, just focus on tactics. You will be fine 😃

I misread, sorry!...It thought you said that you DO like it. I don't think whether an opening is played much at the GM level should influence whether we play it or not. The Grand Prix attack against the Sicilian is a great example.

I think that if a 1200 player such as yourself reviewed 100 games of the KG, and then started using it regularly against players of your own level, you would do very well with it. For most playing strengths, it is not the opening itself but the player.

The problem with studying openings at this level is almot nobody ever "play by the book" and the player that plays the correct lines doesn't have the knowledgment to take advantage of the inaccuracy.

And, white is "clearly better",

but how exactly?

because he jut got back his pawn, control the center, develop his pieces and about to castle?

Ok, does that mean white has won?

So white has the inniciative and should attack?

I mean, i'm no good player at all. And i keep wandering how to take advantage of the "clearly better position". The thing is at this level you win or lose mostly because of tactical mistakes or obvious blunders (hanging a piece, lose a pawn). There are exeptions when you win because you get somehow to a clearly good position and are able to win because of that, but these are the exceptions not the norm at this level.

Read my whole post before trying to scold me......

Other than whats been mentioned I'd say getting to know your opening a little better does help. Now when I say that I dont mean memorizing 20 moves deep of the main line or all the sidelines and theory. Just knowing simple stuff like the pawn breaks to look for can really help, especially when making plans. Or maybe theres a particular mistake your repeating thats the cause of most of the probems. As an example there was a position in the Ruy exchange variation I kept getting crushed on until I learned I kept making a partiuclar move that was allowing it. Just by changing that one move it fixed all of those problems. Im no master at the Ruy but just by learning a few simple things it really made a difference in my games. 

That is not the problem with studying openings.

That is the problem with studying openings POORLY.

If you only memorize moves, yes, that is a problem.

If you understand the IDEAS behind the openings, and you study WHY certain moves are standard, you will also learn what is wrong with certain "non-standard" responses.

But you are correct in that most beginners think that studying openings means memorizing lines.

In addition to my last post I'll give you something more. Try solving tactics on this site http://chesstempo.com/ and consider another lesson for calculation. The important thing for us all to remember is that only by working on your weaknesses with a systematic approach can you improve.