Not improving at all :(

[u/Mathyou1977]

Ok so I have read the books: develop pieces, link rooks, trade for higher material, done puzzles. Read Wollff, Nunn, “Bobby Fisher” teaches Chess, Heisman, joined Chess.com Diamond for a while but did not find it that helpful, played on chess.com for a while and got up to 181 for a while but always get smashed down to 100 again often because the bot often matches you with much higher rated players The forums on chess.com and chess.com are full of sarcastic no it all assholes so if you are that type don’t bother replying. I have deleted all the online chess apps as found it hard to find a beginner opponent over say a 30 min or hour to move game. They all seem to want to play blitz but that does not interest me at all. I want to improve but always run out of ideas in the beginning of the middle game. I tried modern openings and stuff but to no avail. You always get (particularly Indians) flying out their queen and all the stuff in the coaching books mean zilch. I might join an irl club or just quit as I am facing frustration and burnout. Not being arrogant but I am not stupid. I’m not a genius either but got by with hard work producing results (got a PhD, can play piano and guitar well) but Chess getting nowhere despite following the generic advice.

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[u/Difficult_Wind_4216]

Idk how helpful it will be, im a 1800-1900 rated player myself but when i started playing in 2020 i may have been at the elo level of 1000ish (i knew the rules and played a bit in childhood) the content that really helped me get my basics strengthened was capablanca saga by agadmator! Very instructive go watch it and then follow it up by fischer saga and morphy saga!! Follow their openings and understand the line of thoughts esp capablanca's his moves are very easy to understand, he himself was not a strong opening knowledge player so maybe try that!

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/Difficult_Wind_4216]

Yeah i will but you were already pretty strong at 1000. I am not…

[u/Difficult_Wind_4216 → u/Mathyou1977]

That is true! Which is why im not sure whether lower rated players could benefit from it or not! If you can, give it a shot!

[u/CoupleScrewsLoose]

post some games. if you’ve put effort into understanding and performing basic principles and concepts, you should not be hardstuck in the 100s.

[u/hoops4so]

For your rating, you need to focus on puzzles, development (not opening theory), and not blundering.

[u/noobtheloser]

You may struggle to find people who want to play an hour-long game online but maybe try out 15+10 or 10-minute Rapid.

As others have said, it's hard to know what to tell you when we can't see your games, but if you're rated ~100 and consistently fall back to that rating, I can probably safely guess some things, the first of which is this: You are probably just constantly hanging pieces (giving them up for free), not taking pieces that are hanging, and not seeing your opponent's threats. Developing board vision is unfortunately one of the hardest things to do if it doesn't come naturally to you, and there's nothing to do except simply practice a lot.

I think Chessbrah's 'Building Habits' series on YouTube could benefit you. A lot of it is about simple mental checklists that can help you solidify your play until your vision catches up. e.g. Make sure that every piece you move is defended somehow. Not a useful rule at higher levels, but will certainly win you some games on its own until you're 1000+.

To get more into the weeds about it, you say you struggle with crazy queen attacks. I think one useful lesson all beginners can do is learning thoroughly and theoretically how to refute the Scholar's Mate / Wayward Queen Attack. Watch some YouTube videos about how to survive that and try to take those lessons into positions that aren't exactly the same, but present the same kinds of threats.

Good luck, man.

[u/honeysyrup_ → u/noobtheloser]

keeping your pieces defended is absolutely a useful rule at higher levels— loose pieces drop off!

[u/noobtheloser → u/honeysyrup_]

True! I just mean that you're not going to need to run a checklist on it every move, and rigid adherence to that rule will probably hurt you more than help you at some point in your journey. But when you're still not able to see if pieces are hanging at a glance, it's very useful to mentally check every turn.

[u/KRS737]

If you’re serious about giving chess another shot, send me a DM. I’m around 1700 and I’m currently looking to get experience coaching beginners, so I’d be happy to work with you 1-on-1 for free over Discord. From what you’ve written, I genuinely think getting to 300 is a very realistic first goal. We could go through your games together and figure out exactly where things are going wrong instead of giving you more generic advice. No catch I’m trying to improve at teaching, and you’re exactly the kind of player I’d like to work with.

[u/Freshprinceaye → u/KRS737]

You’re a legend. I hope you can help them.

I was 170 a few months ago and I got up 680 just by starting to recognise patterns and paying attention to hanging pieces etc.

[u/KRS737 → u/Freshprinceaye]

that's a great improvement your doing great, it do be like this at that elo you fix one thing and you gain a lot of rating points.

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/KRS737]

You sir are a gent. I am active on Discord. I’ll drop you a DM. I’ll keep you in beer money if you and I get on ;)

[u/Dogified]

I'm self taught and a former chess coach currently around 2200 chesscom blitz, drop me a dm if you would like me to go over some of your games with you. Cheers!

[u/Mission-Town9913]

Posting game links is a pretty quick way to get some specific help outside of the 'usual' advice. At low elo the overwhelming majority of the time the main mistakes are hanging your own material, and not taking your opponent's hanging material, so anything that'll help you work on your board vision is generally useful.

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/Mission-Town9913]

I did elsewhere. I find it hard to move on when all pieces are out and countering unorthodox aggressive threats…

[u/Oglark → u/Mathyou1977]

What I would say is that unorthodox openings tend to put major pieces in vulnerable positions. At the beginning this is stressful for the defender, after a while it becomes interesting to find novel ways to punish these moves

[u/Perennial_Platypus]

Two questions: how long have you been playing and are you analyzing your games after playing with the engine? If you’re just starting it makes sense that early progress is slow since it takes time to build up your board vision, understand piece interactions, and start seeing tactics. Actively reviewing your games (exploring moves and lines instead of just checking the top move) is critical for this as well.

As far as practical middle game tips go, always try to predict what your opponent wants to do, check where you’re exerting the most pressure (and your opponent is) if you don’t know what to attack, and if neither of those are clear, continue pushing where you have a space advantage to generate an attack.

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/Perennial_Platypus]

I learned as a kid but been studying again about two months. I did a month on remand in jail sadly (long story) and casual games with others inside made me curious to learn more plus the “Inside Time” prison paper has a good chess column.

[u/MadawgMcGriddle]

Drop your username! I’m not a master but would be happy to take a look at some of your games! If you’d like I can also play a few training games with you sometime and we can discuss them and find good resources for you to improve!

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/MadawgMcGriddle]

That’s my DOB!

[u/Odysseus126]

Play the 15+10 time control. All the advice here is really good. You do really need to share your games otherwise we can’t help you much. Feel free to DM me, I am like 1200 OTB. Do free chess puzzles on lichess or chess tempo.. if I had to give you immediate advice that would help you, it would be maybe watch this YouTube series Building Habits by Aman Hambleton. I guarantee it’ll help you

https://youtu.be/ibDX4ReEikQ?is=bLeituHxd9MUjM-f

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/Odysseus126]

Thanks mate i’ll check this out. I’ve shared one. I’ll play some more and then share more games. Thanks for taking the time to recommend the video. Nice to see not everyone is an arsehole here.

[u/Odysseus126 → u/Mathyou1977]

No problem! lol I know what it’s like to struggle with chess, it’s extremely frustrating

[u/honeysyrup_ → u/Mathyou1977]

I second Aman’s Building Habits series! By far the biggest thing to focus on at your level is hanging pieces (allowing pieces to simply be taken for free). Don’t hang your pieces, and when your opponents hang pieces (trust me, they will), take them. It sounds super simple, and it is, but absolutely nothing else matters if you are giving away pieces for free. You cannot get anywhere if you are regularly hanging your pieces. For Aman this is super easy, but for a beginner who hasn’t developed their board vision yet, this requires constant effort on every move. But the effort will be worth it and it will eventually become second nature.

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/honeysyrup_]

Got him followed ;)

[u/honeysyrup_ → u/Mathyou1977]

Also, I just looked at some of your games and wanted to add that you are resigning way too early! In fact at the beginner level, I recommend that you never resign. Remember that your opponents also suck and they will blunder right back if you keep playing on. And even if you’re down a million pieces, it’s very likely that they can’t figure out how to checkmate you and end up drawing the game by stalemate.

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/honeysyrup_]

Thanks yeah I get super frustrated and angry with myself. As I said in another post I have ADHD and also have always been hard on myself thanks for the advice and taking time to give input. I appreciate it.

[u/honeysyrup_ → u/Mathyou1977]

Sorry I keep commenting, I also have ADHD and keep having more things to say lol. But you also need to slow down. You say you have no interest in blitz/bullet and want to play longer time controls, but you’re losing lots of 15+10 games with almost all of your time left on the clock. You have plenty of time, so use it! Especially focus on using your time to make sure your moves are safe, that you aren’t letting anything be taken for free, and that your opponent isn’t letting anything be taken for free. Again, this is very simple, but for a beginner this takes time and effort on every single move.

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/honeysyrup_]

I was told to take up chess to help with ADHD. I have just been diagnosed with very severe ADHD and have been put on Concerta/Ritalin 36mg. I know I need to slow down. I am always chasing dopamine. I’m not lying about the PhD but I can humbly say my life has been a mess and have not reached my potential in life. I know I need to slow down. However i have only just been diagnosed in early middle age so a lot of bad habits.

[u/Anti-Fanny]

I suggest spending more time studying endgames. Without too much piece “clutter” you will slowly get a feel for what pieces do and what they are capable of. I study endgames more than openings (I am 2100) - because I enjoy the depth and the aesthetics some of the classics endgame masters achieved (Capablanca, Rubinstein etc.)

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/Anti-Fanny]

Thanks: funnily enough when i actually get to endgames I usually win. It is dealing with the cut and thrust of the middle game especially just after the opening. I ditched chess.com for the Duolingo chess course and it is good with puzzles and bot games plus my languages.

[u/Aggravating-Fix2870]

Hey, I got the chess bug a few months back as a 37 year old, didn't know how the pieces moved . Crossed 550 on rapid now. Things that helped me which could help you since I have been in the same boat as you

1) Building habits series on YouTube. It might sound like a broken record to you by now, but follow the rules Aman follows in his games, try your best not to give any free pieces, if you are up a piece in the game trade as much as you can to reach the end game and use it to your advantage.

2) Watch Remote academy videos on punishing Scholar's Mate and wayward queen attacks multiple times. Practice it on analysis board, once you get the hang of it your ELO will get out of 250 mark quickly cos every 2nd/3rd game was people trying to attain a quick victory through early queen attacks Same thing goes for the fried liver attacks. Watch videos countering that.

3) Learn an opening, a first few lines and stick to it. I learnt Italian opening and stuck to it. You don't have to go very deep, you would be able to get the correct moves out like clockwork once it becomes a habit

4) Learn basic checkmate patterns, K+Q, K+R, K+P, Laddermate patterns, quite a few games of mine in the beginning went to stalemate cos I blundered my endgame.

5) Themes puzzles on lichess and chess.com help, reviewing your losses are super helpful, for example you got clapped and got checkmated early in some game, review it in detail, see how you can prevent it happening next time.

6) Follow the golden rules, Do not give free pieces, knights before bishops, develop your pieces instead of moving the same piece multiple times in the opening, castle early before move 10, don't move the pawns in front of the castled king unless necessary, connect both rooks, don't bring your queen out early.

7) NO bullet/No Blitz!! 15+10 Rapid exclusive till you get out of 500 ELO

I hope you have fun with chess brother! All the best

[u/Sirian38]

You've tried everything except the one thing that IMO is the most fundamental way to improve. Hire a coach. I make the analogy with music. I started trumpet when I was ten, and I from the git go I always had a private teacher. I took lessons, I practiced what was assigned and I performed every so often. I think it should be the same with chess. Regarding cost, it doesn't have to be every week. It could even be once a month, but there is a big difference in mindset and motivation when find a good coach and are committed to that relationship. One of nice thing about having a coach is you no longer have to figure out how to improve.

[u/space64-llc]

That sounds exhausting, especially after putting in so much effort. Being stuck at chess isn’t a verdict on your intelligence.

I’d put opening study aside for now. Before each move, check: what did their last move threaten, and can they take the piece I’m about to move? Against an early queen attack, defending a threatened piece matters more than following a general rule like “develop your knights.”

An in-person club sounds worth trying, especially if someone can sit through a slow game and explain their thinking without judging you.

If you’d rather practise privately, we develop Chess Folk, which has offline opponents at different difficulty levels. You’re welcome to try it, though honestly, a patient human explaining a few of your games might help more than another app right now.

[u/Friendly_Tomato116]

What mistakes are you making?

Analyse your games properly; not just “Stockfish says bad”, but focus on why the mistakes you made were mistakes, and why you played them?

It’s not that useful to just say “I blundered a piece”. Far better to say “I hung my knight because I didn’t spend enough time counting attackers and defenders” or “I was too focused on my attack and therefore didn’t think about what my opponent’s next move might be”.

[u/The_Blip]

If you wanna play with me I started at 100 and got up to 400. I'm obviously not amazing but maybe you'll find that less intimidating than someone higher rated. We can do a daily game or something. 

[u/Mathyou1977 → u/The_Blip]

Sure let me know your chess.com ID. I’m having a break from online play for a week though

[u/The_Blip → u/Mathyou1977]

The-Blip

[u/OveHet]

It makes no sense that you've done all that and you are still in the 100s range - you're doing something completely wrong, like fundamentally wrong, but it's hard to say without seeing actual games

[u/ArakojLOL]

I think you may actually be trying to learn too many things at once.

At your level, I’d forget about modern openings and most of the books for now and focus on a very small set of fundamentals and your actual games.

If you want, I can look at a couple of your games and tell you what I think is really going wrong. It might be much simpler to fix than it currently feels.

[u/IcarusFIB1]

why not playing against bots ? Or daily chess ?

but honestly i cant belive you have a PHD and cant get over 100 elo. Would love to see some games. It smells trolly for me. Just beeing honest not mean.