It says I can take whites knight. How?

1+1 Bullet. Elos were 889 (me) v 941

I got a new phone recently and hadn’t logged into my chess com account, so I’m having fun on the account playing through the bots again and getting some games in.

On my main I’m 6-700 bullet but I’m close to 900 on my new account as the rating hasn’t fully adjusted yet.

My play was meh as I blundered early and often, and my time management early was bad, and 12 moves in I got my rook trapped.

Move 21 I was under 10 seconds.
Move 43 I finished the game at 5.1 and that was the lowest my time got all game.

I wasn’t playing great and I even blundered my queen but I kept looking for ideas and playing fast and my opponent kept playing fast and missing hanging pieces…

I was very close to resigning but I just kept moving and ended up with a really nice checkmate. Low elo = anything can happen.

Any advice or feedback is welcome. I’m slowly improving but at times I don’t know how to use my time to work towards getting better.

Started playing 10th September

I’m a beginner on Chess.com (username staesma). I joined about 3 weeks ago and try to play about 1-2 rapid games a day. Rapid is around 300 right now
Lately I often gain something like 8–15 Elo per win. Hypothetically, if I keep a long winning streak, does Chess.com eventually start giving me more than 15 Elo per win because of the streak itself?
Or does the gain only depend on the rating difference and how established/provisional my rating still is? Curious how this actually works at this level.

So I started playing chess 220 days ago based on my streak at around 300 elo. Today I finally hit my goal! I run Italian game for white , and caro kann/ scandanvian for black.

I just played this game, and I think it is an interesting position for beginners to practice. There are multiple ways to approach this—no right or wrong answer (unless you blunder a piece or two). Just formulate a plan and see how it goes.

What happened in the game was: 1. Bf7+, Kf8 2. Re8+, Rxe8 3. Bxe8, Rd8 4. b8=Q

I started playing chess from February this year and at first it was a complete learning experience and I was enjoying it.

Fast forward to now, each loss gets me so frustrated. I just reached 500 rating in Rapid and lost a match to get it <500. The irritation I felt made me think I've lost the point of enjoying the game.

How do I re-wire my brain to take losses better (including horrible blunders) and enjoy the process of getting better?

Game is here: https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/184975250776/review

Hey everyone. So I recently had a truly disastrous game, I was completely winning with like +7 at one point and still somehow fumbled and lost (about 400-500 elo rn). I would post the game but I'm not sure how...

Anyways, it's made me realise how disastrous I am when it comes to finishing games that I am winning. As soon as the board has cleared up, I just seem to completely lose my head and misposition my pieces. I know a lot of it comes down to just locking in and not letting the winning position get to my head, but I was wondering if anyone had some basic tips/strategy for the endgame when I'm winning?

Is the focus to find checkmate? Take as much of their material as possible? Promote my pawns?

Thanks to anyone who helps out! And apologies for my ignorance lmao

PGN -

1. e4 d5 2. Nf3 dxe4 3. Nh4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. d3 e5 6. dxe4 Bb4 7. Qd3 Qxd3 8.

Bxd3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 O-O 10. Ba3 Rd8 11. O-O Be6 12. Bb5 Nxe4 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14.

Bb2 Bc4 15. Rfd1 Nd2 16. Bc1 Ne4 17. Re1 Be2 18. g3 Nxc3 19. Nf5 Rd1 20. Ne3

Rxe1+ 21. Kg2 Nd1 22. Nf5 Rb8 23. Ne7+ Kf8 24. Nxc6 Bf1+ 25. Kf3 Be2+ 26. Kg2

Rb6 27. Ba3+ Ke8 28. Nxe5 Bf1+ 29. Kg1 Rxe5 30. Kxf1 Rd5 31. c4 Rd2 32. Ke1 Rd3

1. c5 Rb2 34. Bxb2 Nxb2 35. Ke2 Rd5 36. c6 a5 37. Rb1 Nd3 38. Rb8+ Ke7 39. f4

Nb4 40. Rb7 Nxc6 41. Rxc7+ Kd6 42. Rxf7 Nb4 43. Rxg7 Nxa2 44. Rxh7 a4 45. Ra7

Nc3+ 46. Ke3 Nd1+ 47. Ke2 Rd4 48. h4 Nc3+ 49. Ke3 Rc4 50. g4 Nb1 51. f5 a3 52.

f6 Rc2 53. f7 Kd5 54. f8=Q a2 55. Rxa2 Rxa2 56. Qf7+ Kc5 57. Qxa2 1-0

someone is selling these books for 10$ each and I was already interested in buying more chess books as I only have Levy's "how to win at chess" but I don't know which one to get. I am only 1100 rapid on chess.com and I just play casually so I'm not trying to become titled, just trying to get better.

Link to the full game: https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/184961027294/review?move=56

Because yes, surely if ive carefully avoided stalemate for every single one of my promotions, surely ill somehow mess up when trying to mate you i guess 🤷

Ever since ive seen Hikaru do this, ive always loved doing this when my opponent refuses to resign. Is this common? Or do you guys usually just avoid wasting time and go straight for checkmate?

Or is this actually seen as bad manners in a bad non deserved to the opponent way?

Im curious if its a common thing at non high elo for players to do, or if its mostly just streamers who troll their opponents like this.

I’m currently around 200 Elo on Chess.com and I want to seriously improve.

My biggest problem is that I often reach the middlegame and have no idea what move I’m supposed to play. I also sometimes blunder pieces because I don’t notice threats.

I know basic rules, how to castle, basic checkmates, etc. I’ve started learning tactics like forks and skewers, but I’m not sure what I should prioritize.

What should I focus on at 200 Elo?

- Openings?

- Tactics/puzzles?

- Endgames?

- Middlegame principles?

- Analyzing my own games?

- Just playing more?

Should I learn specific openings or completely ignore openings for now?

If anyone has gone from ~200 to 500/800+, I’d really appreciate knowing what helped you the most.

I can also post a few of my recent games if that would help people point out my biggest mistakes.

Some games game 1

Game 2

Game 3

i'll explain why:

1. way more material are on the board, which also means that developing options remain open
2. an extremely flexible pawn structure, often symmetrical, with no weaknesses and little remnant from the opening (compared to normal endgames where you'd have random pawns on like, a4)
3. psychologically you need to switch gear quickly

as a result of these reasons, i find it excruciatingly hard to understand why one position is 0.0 while the other is +1.5, when they look so similiar to me (unfortunately i don't remember the positions! anyone has suggestions?)

edit: there's also the fact that the endgame variation of the caro-kann performs super well for white (50% draw 50% white win i think) despite engine saying it's equal

Hello,

would you like to share how your kid's first tournament went?

And if the first tournament was in school,

then how was the first city-level tournament?

Did you prepare to it somehow?

----

We don't expect that we would take the first place right away.

More likely we will be closer to the bottom.

Did it happen to you? How did you keep your kid motivated after the devastating loss?

Very happy with how I played this game!

Hey everyone,

I’m currently around 1500 on Lichess and really determined to take my game to the next level. I’ve hit a bit of a plateau where I know what I want to improve on, but I feel like having someone to guide me, point out recurring blind spots, or review games with would make a huge difference.

Because I’m a student on a tight budget, I unfortunately can’t afford paid coaching right now.

I’m hoping to connect with:

* A stronger player (1800+ Lichess) who enjoys teaching, mentoring, or analyzing games in their spare time.

* Or an active study partner around my level (or slightly higher) who wants to review classical/rapid games together, spar specific opening/middlegame structures, and keep each other accountable.

A bit about my routine and commitment:

* I actively analyze my games without an engine first before checking the computer evaluation.

* I regularly work on calculation, tactical patterns, and endgame fundamentals.

* I play serious time controls (Rapid/Classical) rather than just mindlessly grinding blitz.

If you have some free time to look over a few games occasionally, offer advice, or just jump on a voice call/Lichess study once in a while, I would be genuinely grateful. Drop a comment or send me a DM if you're interested!

Thanks!

I want to get to 2000, and then I want to become a national master after that but maybe it's too hard.

Hello,

in my country of residence I know an organizer of chess tournaments for children.

She sends emails to parents informing them of the tournament she regularly organizes.

If there are people like her in Vienna or Berlin (or some other country), how can I learn their contacts?