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Avatar of rationepandora

Hi I am very new to chess. I am trying to learn as much as I can, but don't seem to be learning very much just playing blitz. I made a lot of progress at first but I felt as if it was mostly just lucky games. 

At the moment my games are either vs people who make no mistakes or blunders in the first 20 moves, or people who blunder their queen on move 5. I don't really know how I am supposed to learn from this at all. I try not to give up games where I blunder to an easy tactic like pinning my queen to my king on accident or hanging a rook in the opening to a early queen move, but it doesn't really seem to sink in.

I've tried tactic training, but I never really see those tactics in my games. I almost feel as if I only win if my opponent plays very poorly and blunders something I can take in one move. If they don't blunder like that, I do eventually and just lose. 


How can I start seeing all of my blunders so I can start to get better? 

Avatar of sammy_boi

Solving tactics are good for the thought process (calculating forcing moves) and the themes (like forks, removing the defender, discovered attack, etc). These two elements (calculation and tactical themes) can be applied to all sorts of positions.

If you want to do tactics (and this is the best way to avoid blunders as a new player) then I don't recommend doing tactics online. I recommend a book like this because it breaks them into themes and gives some explanations:

https://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Tactics-ChessCafe-Chess/dp/1888690348

 

If that's unappealing to you for whatever reason, the other basic areas are openings, strategy, and endgames. New players can improve no matter what they study, but absolutely foundational is not giving away pieces for free to 0, 1, and 2 move combinations (by zero move I mean you just leave an attacked piece undefended). Solving tactics helps you practice calculating these sorts of moves and form good habits (all while also improving your tactics).

For practice long live games are better than speed games.

Avatar of kindaspongey

"..., you have to make a decision: have tons of fun playing blitz (without learning much), or be serious and play with longer time controls so you can actually think.
One isn’t better than another. Having fun playing bullet is great stuff, while 3-0 and 5-0 are also ways to get your pulse pounding and blood pressure leaping off the charts. But will you become a good player? Most likely not.
Of course, you can do both (long and fast games), ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (June 9, 2016)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/longer-time-controls-are-more-instructive
Possibly of interest:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Simple-Attacking-Plans-77p3731.htm
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1948)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-back-to-basics-tactics
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Studying Chess Made Easy by Andrew Soltis
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090448/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review750.pdf
Seirawan stuff:
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm

Avatar of rationepandora

ty

Avatar of JayeshSinhaChess

Went through you last win. Some observations from that game -

 

 
- You miss tactics a lot, even simple ones. You knight is pinned and if you move your knight you lose the queen. I am sure you knew this, but still played 7.Nxe4. That is a game losing mistake right there. 2 minor pieces for a queen is a trade most players will make everyday.
 
- 11. Nb8 is just the worst move. The whole point of openings is to develop your pieces. Which means to bring them into play. On that move you take your knight which is fully developed and put it on the back rank again, for no rhyme or reason. Its just about the worst possible way to play. You want your pieces in the attack and developed. Taking developed pieces and putting them on the back rank for no reason is just not how to play. I see what you will say, you want to put your king safe. However Nb8 is still not the way to go about doing that.
 
- Your opponent who is completely winning at this point decides that this whole winning thing is over-rated and plays 15. Qh5, begging you to take his queen. Nxh5 and suddenly you are the one who is winning. However again you miss it and play g6 instead. You have to be on the lookout for such opportunities, especially in the 3 digit elo levels, where players hang pieces left and right.
 
- 17. Bxe6 is another pointless move by your opponent, lessening his advantage. I know its not your fault, but that move is so pointless by your opponent that I just had to point it out.
 
-After 34. f4 by your opponent you have an easy win by just playing your bishop somewhere and his queen and king are lined up and you win his queen. However you don't play that. You do eventually see it a few moves later, but you must be more precise. Your opponent will not let his queen hang like that for a set of moves.
 
Study opening pricinples and go through the tactical motifs in chess. A good grip on those two things will get you to jump a few 100 elo points atleast.
Avatar of rationepandora

for 11 i thought i needed to put my king somewhere but the pawn was blocked, i see what you mean about it being a bad move though 

i think i had seen someone move their pawn like that before to put their uncastled king into safety so i was trying to copy that 

 

 

you're right i miss a lot of tactics and im not sure why that is, even ones I know i should see 

Avatar of rationepandora

oh and 34, was trying to pin, for some reason i thought i needed to protect the rook, was I wrong about that?

Avatar of chess_jordan

You're absolutely right on 34 f4. If you had moved your bishop, it would have been a free move for white, and, depending on where you moved your bishop, forced mate in two for white. You actually set up well with the knight (although white should have seen the pin coming), and once your knight was in place, you executed the pin. Keep in mind that because moving your bishop created that discovered pin, moving your bishop into the action, such as Bg5, is more ideal that moving it backwards. This concept is the same as that earlier knight move, where 11....Na5 would have been better. Still on the edge of the board, but also still in the action, and maybe your rook can get out sooner!

Good win! Never resign at a low elo. Either your opponent will mess up (and you might make fantastic moves!), or you will learn more from your opponent. You persevered and won!! grin.png

Avatar of danielmishima
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Avatar of jambyvedar

Sammy made a good advice. You need an introduction to tactics that breakdowns them. Follow the general opening principles and improve your tactics and you will find yourself improving.

 

Another good tactical book that breakdown tactics into theme is Winning Chess Tactics by Robertie.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Tactics-Bill-Robertie/dp/1580420753

 

7 Basic Opening Strategy Principles | Chess Lesson 3

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-xRFyXwVLM

 

Simple Tips to lessen blunders. Discipline yourself at following these and you will see that you will blunder less.

Always study your opponent's last move

Always look at the whole board

Before you make a move,check if there is a tactical drawback

 
Avatar of JayeshSinhaChess

Oh sry, you are right about 34. You cannot discover the attack right away. I failed to see that your rook has no protection.

Avatar of Atom680
Try playing against the computer and switch on ‘warn on mistakes’
Avatar of Guest7076246592
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