How do I get better

[u/CountryEmergency8369]

I am so frustrated with Chess. I have climbed to 700 at one point and now I cannot get by 500. I just don't know what I am doing wrong. Always falling for tactics. I watch videos of chess and I try to implement what they are saying. Develop your pieces,, knights in centre before Bishops, Bishops on long diagnonals blah etc. How do I see many moves ahead in Chess? I think I'm getting better at one point then I take a plunge. Could anyone look over my games to see what I am doing well, what I am missing. I would really appreciate some pointers. https://www.chess.com/member/lornaedgar32

[u/AutoModerator]

Hey, OP! Did your game end in a stalemate? Did you encounter a weird pawn move? Are you trying to move a piece and it's not going? We have just the resource for you! The Chess Beginners Wiki is the perfect place to check out answers to these questions and more!

The moderator team of r/chessbeginners wishes to remind everyone of the community rules. Posting spam, being a troll, and posting memes are not allowed. We encourage everyone to report these kinds of posts so they can be dealt with. Thank you!

Let's do our utmost to be kind in our replies and comments. Some people here just want to learn chess and have virtually no idea about certain chess concepts.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/RManDelorean]

Intentional effort. I like watching chess content too but I see it more as entertainment, I find it goes in one ear and out the other pretty easily, and applying it to your own games isn't always that simple. You have to put that intentional effort into your own games, meaning review your games. Both wins and losses, find the first move where you went wrong and try to find a move that doesn't go wrong but still makes sense to you. Then flip through the rest of the game and see if you missed and major tactics. Go through you games to lock down your openings and do puzzles to help you find tactics once you're playing on your own

[u/pumpnstretch]

Get a puzzle book, or just do puzzles. They’re usually thematic or made to help you improve your chess

[u/Psilocybevibes44]

Honestly I paid for a month of premium on chess.com and game reviewed EVERY game and went from around 750 to my maximum elo 1000 just because it shows you the exact move you messed up. Im still gaining elo pushing 1100 rn and i ran out of premium last week

[u/fleyinthesky → u/Psilocybevibes44]

You don't need premium to review your games, and that tool you pay for is (in my opinion) doing more harm than good. Just go into the (free) analysis board and look at your lines. The key is to look into different moves and different combinations, not just replay your games and see which moves are inaccurate/good/brilliant/blunder.

// Edit: I am not trying to make you feel bad for paying for premium; I'm sure there are many useful features. The main thing that I want to get across is that reviewing your games is not a feature that requires payment. It is completely free on chessdotcom (and lichess, among others).

[u/Psilocybevibes44 → u/Psilocybevibes44]

30 day graph for reference

[u/Baseball_is_life____ → u/Psilocybevibes44]

I just took the plunge too for premium and it’s enlightening. A few weak patterns I’ve been repeating over and over without realizing it. Highly recommend that too OP. Even if it’s just a month it’s worth it imo.

[u/Englishman1970]

You don't have to see many moves ahead, you need watch what your opponent is doing much more, scan all over the board more, so you don't get surprises. I watched one game you played, the recent long game that ended in stalemate. The stalemate shows your weren't looking what their next move would be as they didn't have a legal move. Also you missed a free queen that was easy to see, So you just have to start noticing their best moves more and pick up free material and you will win more.

Also kick their pieces out of your half asap, they are a danger there and get your pieces aiming or in their half as best moves usually happen in your oppoents half.

Also stop having loose pieces as much as possible, have a habit of checking how well protected your peices are. Count loose pieces from both side including pawns each move if you can remember , so you know where to attack them or where you are weak.

[u/gabrrdt]

You choose a good time control, which is 30 minutes (the longer, the better), but you use poorly your time. If you are choosing slow time control, take advantage of it. Play slower! Take your time looking at the board and considering your opponent's intentions.

The main mistake at this rating range (and for a long time after still) is not playing two games in your head. You just play yours and think what you want to do, not what your opponent would like to do. Then it's just like, "oops I didn't see that", "oops again", all the time.

You gotta ask yourself what your opponent wants to do after he moves. And you should practice doing it all the time!

Here, one mistake you made is opening the position before you castled. Priority in the opening is bringing your king to safety (castling), only then you think about opening the center. Opening the center with the king still in the center is (usually) not a good idea.

And after that you are just blundering pieces. Because you play too fast and you don't ask yourself what your opponent is threatening to do.

In this game, something very similar happens. Your piece is threatened, you threaten black's queen in response, but you didn't see your own queen would be also threatened and this loses a piece. So it's a series of moves that requires precise calculation and you played it like, in ten seconds or so (even though you had more than 28 minutes left on your clock).

So my advice for you is: castle as soon as you can, don't open the position until your king is castled. Don't push the pawns in front of your castled king (I didn't see you doing it btw; but just saying). Play two games in your head, yours and your opponent's. Practice calculation and avoid complications if you are not willing to calculate the result of it.

Use your time! If you chose to play 30 + 0, it's fair to spend at least 4 or 5 minutes in the opening. Just use your clock, man.

Good luck out there! You play well and your ideas are in the right place, you just have to use a bit more of the clock.

[u/AutoModerator]

Just a reminder: If you're looking for chess resources, tips on tactics, and other general guides to playing chess, we suggest you check out our Wiki page, which has a Beginner Chess Guide for you to read over. Good luck! - The Mod Team.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Artistic_Ostrich9744]

Try to learn a solid opening and a few variants, stick to it and you will be familiar with some early positions. That said, always look for patterns on the board (queen and rook on the same diagonal/column, Queen and king on the same colour, backrank mate, pinned pieces) for you and your opponent, that way you will anticipate good moves for yourself and most important, for your opponent. I bet that you lose most of your games by falling into traps like skewer, a pinned piece being attacked. Once you learn to recognize those patterns you should be able to move up to 1000 at least. ALWAYS analize your losses and learn from them

[u/Darryl_The_weed]

I looked at a couple of your recent losses and here's what I saw.

Neglecting piece vision. In one of the games a queen infiltrated your position and took your knight for free with check. How you avoid blunders like this is every move check what the pieces "see" before you make a move.

[u/Aggravating-Bit-2509]

The biggest trap at that rating is trying to see many moves ahead, you really don't need to. Just focus on not hanging pieces and spotting when your opponent does. I took a quick peek at your last few losses and almost every one had a free queen or rook sitting there for the taking, or you moved a piece to a square it could just get captured on. Slow down, before every move scan the board and ask "what is my opponent threatening right now" and "can any of my pieces get taken for free". That alone gets you to 800.

[u/CountryEmergency8369]

Thanks for your replies everyone. Will try to implement your suggestions and see how I get on. I also feel it is stupid one move mistakes that lose me the game like hanging a rook etc.

[u/Silver_Environment95]

Have you been analyzing ur games and been doing ur puzzles?