How to get better?

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chubby_pandeh

Okay. I'm in 7th grade, and I mostly work on chess by myself. I'm 1400 in standard, and I suck at blitz. How do I improve my chess skills overall? So far, it's just mostly been doing daily tactics, playing a lot, and natural talent carrying me along the way. Is there a method you would recommend to improve and become a better player other than these? Our school club isn't that great. Everyone else is like below 1000.

notmtwain
chubby_pandeh wrote:

Okay. I'm in 7th grade, and I mostly work on chess by myself. I'm 1400 in standard, and I suck at blitz. How do I improve my chess skills overall? So far, it's just mostly been doing daily tactics, playing a lot, and natural talent carrying me along the way. Is there a method you would recommend to improve and become a better player other than these? Our school club isn't that great. Everyone else is like below 1000.

Do you know about chesskid.com? If you showed it to your teammates, some of them might improve and you might have more fun at chess club. I haven't used it myself but I would guess that it might be fun for young players.

Do you read the instructional articles Grandmasters and International Masters post here? You are old enough to start reading books about chess. Have you read any?

Have you tried the Study Plans they have available here? 

http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

chubby_pandeh
notmtwain wrote:
chubby_pandeh wrote:

Okay. I'm in 7th grade, and I mostly work on chess by myself. I'm 1400 in standard, and I suck at blitz. How do I improve my chess skills overall? So far, it's just mostly been doing daily tactics, playing a lot, and natural talent carrying me along the way. Is there a method you would recommend to improve and become a better player other than these? Our school club isn't that great. Everyone else is like below 1000.

Do you know about chesskid.com? If you showed it to your teammates, some of them might improve and you might have more fun at chess club. I haven't used it myself but I would guess that it might be fun for young players.

Do you read the instructional articles Grandmasters and International Masters post here? You are old enough to start reading books about chess. Have you read any?

Have you tried the Study Plans they have available here? 

http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

Yeah, they use chesskid. They simply don't have a grasp of the game..blundering once or twice every game with a game-deciding throwaway of material. I've read a couple books. 

 

Thanks for the help! :D

baddogno

I haven't joined NM aww-rats group, but I did watch one of his videos where he credited correspondence play for preparing him enough for OTB that he got a title.  His method was to spend several hours researching and analyzing each of his moves.  Not saying you have to do that but it might be a good idea to add a 3day game or two to your schedule.  Because the use of books, databases, and analysis boards is legal you can get a lot deeper into each position and maybe try out some openings you normally wouldn't use.  Anyway, congratulations on already being a pretty good player; I'm sure you're only going to get better.

http://www.chess.com/members/view/aww-rats

chubby_pandeh

Okay. Thanks for your help! 

jambyvedar

If you want to improve, you must increase your chess understanding. Just solving puzzles daily is not enought. You need also to study endgames and middle game themes/plan.

If you can buy a book, I suggest you get a nice book appropriate for your level. Try also watching youtube videos by kingcrusher as they are instructive.

Avoid playing bullet as it will teach you bad habits.

blowerd

There is no magic wand that makes players not make blunders.  If there was, it would have already been used by myself by now. 

 

The chess.com study plans seem to be a good idea though.  For instance one of the positions in the study plans is this: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What would you do?  It should be an easy win, if it isn't that is the sort of thing you need to practice. 

 

Looking at most of your games, they are bullet games, nothing really to analyise when its the person who can click the mouse fastest who wins.  I would play some longer games as well.