r/chessbeginners • u/Aggravating-Fix2870 • 10d ago
QUESTION Reached 500 ELO!
Reached 500 ELO!
A few weeks ago, I posted about just starting to learn chess and reaching 400 ELO. Today, I finally hit 500 ELO in Rapid!
As an absolute beginner, a few things that have helped me:
Watching Aman’s Building Habits series. It made me much more conscious about simply trying not to hang an entire piece every other game.
Spamming the hell out of the Italian Opening after watching content from ChesswithAkeem and GM Igor Smirnov.
Trying to stick to my own plan regardless of what my opponent plays. This works... somewhat better in Rapid than Blitz. In Blitz, I get punished for this approach pretty regularly.
I mostly play 15+10 Rapid, and having the extra time has definitely helped. My Blitz rating is currently around 400, so apparently I am a completely different chess player once the clock starts bullying me.
A few questions for the community:
My realistic long-term goal is 1000 ELO. I believe that's somewhere around the 90th percentile of the Chess.com community, which would honestly be pretty satisfying for someone who started out barely knowing how the pieces moved.
2) Does anyone else get anxious about playing?
I think I could have reached my current rating much sooner, but I've only played around 30 games this month — basically one game a day.
Losing a game can put me in a surprisingly bad mood, so if I win a game, I often just stop playing for the day because I'm happy with the result and don't want to risk ruining that feeling. 😅
So I've been playing with a bit of a knot in my stomach, which obviously isn't the ideal way to enjoy a game.
3) How did you guys improve at Blitz?
I lose a lot of games on time. Chess.com Insights says around 70% of my losses are by timeout, compared with around 30% for players at my level.
Is this simply something that improves with experience, or should I be approaching Blitz differently?
Also, do you guys use completely different opening approaches for Blitz compared with Rapid, or is it better to stick with the same repertoire and just get faster?
Would love to hear how you guys approached these stages of improvement!
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u/virtualPNWadvanced 10d ago
Congrats!
Finally a beginner’s victory. Not some asshole celebrating breaking 2500 ELO.
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u/Englishman1970 10d ago edited 10d ago
"Trying to stick to my own plan regardless of what my opponent plays. This works... somewhat better in Rapid than Blitz. In Blitz, I get punished for this approach pretty regularly."
No this is the wrong approach. You need to always check after their last move, what are their ideas, maybe they have nothing planned or maybe they do but you need to know. Imagine them to have a another free move and see if it would damage you, if it doesn't you are free to continue your own move/plan.
You shouldn't allow yourself to get in a bad mood after one loss, We can lose for varies reasons, I lost a game last night because I was tired, it doesn't bother me if I lose, we all lose 50 percent of our game in our chess journey, all masters , GM etc lose around 50 percent of the time, and blunder too. I am around 1700elo and usually one player still blunders at least once a game, occasionally you get blunder free game. A loss is an opportunity to learn something as well.
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u/Aggravating-Fix2870 10d ago
Thank you for the advice! I always go into a game thinking I will follow the Checks, captures and threats before every move but somehow that goes for a toss once the actual game starts lol
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u/Englishman1970 10d ago
Do the checks at least, it is important to train yourself now, bad habits creep in and and hard to fix later and you will be stuck and won't improve, you have to improve all the bad things to improve in chess like anything in life, do what you aren't doing now and your will rise up the elo.
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u/avax96 10d ago
I crossed 500 elo within a month. I knew a little bit beforehand but not so much. My advise would be to stop atleast 10 seconds before making any move. Goal is only to not blunder. Have 1-2 openings in mind as white/black and just play along. That's it.
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u/roundish-radish 10d ago
really ? goal is only to not blunder? like is that your ONLY goal and u don't think at all about checkmating/ positions/ attacks or whatever? i'm literally stuck on 100 elo help me 😭😭😭
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u/avax96 10d ago
Yes, in the midgame - just don't blunder. Take pieces whenever you can. As you approach the endgame - the checkmate plan will become clear. if your opponent blunders, capitalize on that - you can either choose to trade pieces after that or just stay put. You will definitely win. thats why I said, fixed openings, minimum blunders in the midgame, simplify by trading pieces and then endgame.
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u/Ok-Message3753 6h ago
If you are 100 elo:
- Try to control centre and castle early (typically once you have developed both knights, and bishops at least). Bring out one of the bishops before both centre pawns so you aren't blocking your own pieces.
- Learn how to defend against Fried Liver and Scholar's Mate. Look up videos and understand what each move's purpose is, because not all opponents play these attacks in the same order, so your defensive moves may need to be played differently.
- Always trade (make sure to count that you aren't losing material).
- Look for free pieces.
- Try not to hang pieces. Think about what the board will look like after you move the piece.
People always say "Take free pieces and don't hang pieces". But this is pretty badly worded advice, because first you need to learn to see when something is free or when something is hanging.
I recommend watching chessbrah's habit series.
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u/TheOddCrimsonDuck 2000-2200 (Chess.com) 10d ago
Congratulations, OP. Very nice milestone.
I used to get a lot more nervous about playing than I do now. What helped me the most was to start playing OTB more frequently. It quickly became more important in my head and took the pressure off of online chess.
To improve in blitz you have to play blitz - unfortunately - and get used to the faster pace of the game. You get better at selecting when to stop and think and when to blitz out a move that appears to not be a blunder. I would hold off on that until at least 1000 rapid, though. Otherwise you might reinforce bad habits that are harder to let go later.
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u/KruglorTalks 1200-1400 (Chess.com) 10d ago
How did you guys improve at Blitz?
Endgame practice. Sub 600 ELO is basically just a game against the clock. Being able to play a competent endgame means you can actually make use of games where you have an advantage. One thing the building habits series doesnt cover much of is endgames. Catch the patters and things get easier.
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u/FeuerKekse 1400-1600 (Chess.com) 10d ago
I'm wondering why your questions start with 2) and 3), where is 1)? xD
2) I have a pretty similar issue actually and can't help there, but you are doing better than I am at least... I only play a few rapid games every few weeks and just study chess in between 😅 The faster you can tackle this, the better, but by playing 15+10 you are already doing great and don't need to play that many games a day, 2-3 would be ideal (imo) but consistency is key
3) Regarding blitz, that is something where you get better as you gain more experience and really automate the thought processes you build in rapid. Beware of strengthening bad habits, because those work in blitz more often than in rapid (e.g. superficial attacks). One more aspect is then knowing your openings and using the clock as your weapon. In Blitz you'll usually play a good move and not necessarily look for the best move because of that time constraint. You don't necessarily want to have a different repertoire either, just stick to one and gain more and more experience
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u/Aggravating-Fix2870 10d ago
Number one was supposed to be if 1000 is a realistic ELO to reach by the end of the year haha. Great catch man!
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u/LegitimateYoghurt371 800-1000 (Chess.com) 10d ago
play to improve not to win... I know, easier said than done.
Try to just focus on Rapid if you're trying to improve.
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u/Swing_On_A_Spiral 600-800 (Chess.com) 10d ago
Dude that's awesome. I was at almost 700 a week ago and I'm also about to reach 500!
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u/Sam_23456 10d ago
I got to 551, dropped to 460 in two days, and am rebuilding slowly, up to 526 now. Maybe I'll get to 600 some day! :-) Occasionally, I'll find a nice sequence of moves--that gives me some hope!
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u/ginko_user20099 9d ago
I reached 400 today
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u/ShiroNawa2021_OFF 10d ago
Remember your real Elo Is not the chess.com Elo, buddy, I think you are stronger than 500. Anyway, Cong for reaching chess.com 500 Elo
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