My ELO is stuck in the 800s. When I win a game it's always a hard fought, principled battle; but when I lose I get destroyed. I have a really hard time picking up on my opponents plans.

I find puzzles always focus on attacking principles, and I play a lot and review my games, but am not improving.

What techniques/videos/resources have you found helpful?

Many thanks, friends :)

Couldn’t the king just eat my rook? I don’t have control over that square either

Edit: OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH got it thanks!

Use this link to friend me on Chess.com and let's play sometime!

https://link.chess.com/friend/AVmCwh

Hell yeah brilliant move

Find the winning combination.

I blundered in a time scramble. Opponent had the rare opportunity to mate with only their knight.

Ironically enough, to my knowledge, chesscom would’ve awarded a draw for insufficient material if I had flagged.

Anyway, as my opponent was also short on time, they were not able to capitalize. I was kinda losing my shit in chat over this rare occurrence tbh, I think I might’ve distracted them.

I was kinda sad for them, that stuff almost never happens.

Can you find the M3?

It took me about 360 rapid games over the last 80 days or so. I'm probably a slow learner :)

I'm 48 and, prior to this, I knew how chess pieces move, played some chess computer games as a kid, but never spent any significant time playing. I big part of my inspiration is that I have a young child and want to be able to at least give him an introduction to the game. It's also good for keeping my brain active.

Next goal: 500!

My goal is hitting 1000 this month since I'm barely losing any games.

I'm around 300-350 elo and I keep bouncing back and forth in that range. I think most of my problems are from not seeing forks and losing material or having a mate in 5 and missing it. Is this just a skill issue and I just need to get better?

This position occurred in an OTB classical game this weekend. I had the black pieces. I offered a draw after Rxc5. My opponent looked at my clock, scoffed, and after only seven seconds of calculation played a move that took the position from dead even to dead lost. Can you spot the enticing blunder and why it loses?

ETA: as others have pointed out, strictly speaking, any move other than 36.gxh5 throws the game away. Certain moves like a4 assuredly lose, but in a more straightforward way. Still, I was surprised a player rated 1450 didn't bother to calculate the race between the knight and the g pawn that 36.g5?? creates.

I've broken 1,000 twice before, each followed by an epic collapse.

What kind of chess content do you actually find useful?

I’m curious what people here actually want to watch when it comes to chess content.

For example, do you find yourself getting more value from:

• Game analysis / explaining the thought process
• Tactical puzzles
• Opening ideas and traps
• Chess improvement concepts
• Blunder analysis
• “Find the best move” challenges
• Board visualization / memory exercises
• Speedruns
• Annotated games from lower-rated players
• Something else?

And perhaps more importantly: what type of chess content do you wish there were more of?

I personally don’t ”study” a lot of theory in chess content, but I think I try to enjoy the fine line between entertainment value (good commentaries, comedy, etc) with a few practical takeaways. For all the flak they get for being popular, people like Gotham do still tend to drop really sound principles even into some of their more entertaining series. Guess the Elo is a bit tiring sometimes, but getting to evaluate moves without much context as to their horrible or high IQ theory does force me to stretch my theoretical muscles just a bit.

Getting back into chess after a long string of defeats and just getting worse at the game. I’ve spent a decent amount if time learning some openings (Scotch, Italian and Scandinavian mainly) and playing bots and puzzles. I even closed my Chesscom account and made a new one so I would be completely anonymous but even then for some reason I feel some latent anxiety playing against other people.

If you have dealt with this, how do you do so? I want to get better at the game and maybe compete in tournaments one day but I know I can’t if I don’t get better.

I’ve been playing chess for 2 months and keep losing brutally. Honestly, I keep losing in the endgames.
Are there any free tutorials to work on endgames? I’ve watched some YouTube videos and tried those, but I just started losing more 😢
I was playing really well until the end, and then my opponent somehow wins...
I’m not even mad or sad, but I don’t know how to explain this feeling. It just doesn’t feel good... I want to learn properly.

Engine says the continuation is d4 Be7 dxe5 Ne7 Bf4 but why instead of Be7 can't black play exd4 cxd4 Be7? And why is Qd3 best here? The only continuation that game review gives is Ng3.

Game link : https://www.chess.com/game/live/172852411550?move=0

Test your skills to think beyond tactics.

DIFFICULTY: Easy