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Getting better.

Getting better.

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S

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Hello.
I think it is a bit hard to get better, fast.

I am very tired of being a low rate player.
let's say I wanted to increase my rating, my game play by a few hundred points. What should I do ?
Study opening,
Study tactics.
Study positions.
Play my games a bit more slowy.
I just can't get any of it.I think it is why I have only 1223 elo right now.
But I must change it, let's say, I want to be somewhere around 2000. so Where sould I start ?

FL

Joined
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It depends why you're not winning your games. If you're getting worse positions straight out of the opening, then learn a few openings. If you're getting to the middlegame with fairly equal positions and then dropping pieces or getting checkmated to traps that you overlooked, then study lots of tactical puzzles. If you just seem to be going awry in the middlegame because you can't come up with a good plan then perhaps look into middlegame ideas.

Find a few games which you won and see if there was anything similar about them. It may be that you prefer closed games with few obvious tactics to open ones where there are tricks and traps waiting to catch you out, or vice versa. How about queens? Are you comfier with them off the board, or do you lose interest if they get exchanged? If you can get a handle at what you're good at, maybe you can begin to steer your games into those sort of positions.

c

Russ's Pocket

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Originally posted by Sophy
Hello.
I think it is a bit hard to get better, fast.

I am very tired of being a low rate player.
let's say I wanted to increase my rating, my game play by a few hundred points. What should I do ?
Study opening,
Study tactics.
Study positions.
Play my games a bit more slowy.
I just can't get any of it.I think it is why I have only 1223 elo right ...[text shortened]... But I must change it, let's say, I want to be somewhere around 2000. so Where sould I start ?
Small steps. Set realistic goals.
1. Blunder check
2. Tactics
3. Tactics
4. Tactics
5. Look over your games (or other peoples around your level) and find where you lost equality or the advantage in somewhat measurable means i.e. space, tempo, or material. Then try see why. Go back a move or two to see it coming, then go foreward and look for missed opportunities to counter.

Busygirl
The BOSS

in my own mind.

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I am also new and have found several RHP members willing to "coach" during unrated games. They have been giving me some great feedback - sometimes before my move in hinting at what to look for, sometimes after my move in pointing out what I missed. I have found blitz fun as well. You have to move fast in blitz, so it is easier to make mistakes, but also a faster way to see patterns on the board. I noticed a couple of weaknesses in my play patterns right away and have learned a couple of simple moves to protect myself. BG

S

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Thank,
for now, I have plenty of opening to try.
I love gambits.
as white, I would go for King's gambits and such.
As black, dudemprest gambit.
I also play Caro-Kann and Damiano defense, which is rated around -0.58 by Rybka, when Muzio gambit is rated -0.80 I can't believe it.

While, I only played the damiano defense as tests. Not in real games, not until I like it.

S

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Double post, Don't why, but can't edit.

See this horror, The damiano defense.
I missed good winning opportunitys.
[Event "uChess rated"]
[Site "www.uchess.com"]
[Date "2008.11.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Toeburn"]
[Black "Sophy"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e2-e4 e7-e5 2. Ng1-f3 f7-f6 3. Bf1-b5 c7-c6 4. Bb5-a4 b7-b5 5. Ba4-b3 Ng8-e7 6. a2-a3 d7-d5 7. e4xd5 c6xd5 8. d2-d3 Nb8-c6 9. O-O a7-a6 10. Nb1-c3 Bc8-g4 11. h2-h3 Bg4-h5 12. g2-g4 Bh5-f7 13. Qd1-e2 Ne7-g6 14. Bb3xd5 Bf7xd5 15. Nc3xd5 Qd8xd5 16. b2-b4 Bf8-e7 17. Bc1-b2 O-O 18. c2-c4 b5xc4 19. d3xc4 Qd5-f7 20. Ra1-d1 Ng6-f4 21. Qe2-e4 Ra8-c8 22. Rd1-d7 Qf7-e6 23. Rf1-d1 Nf4xh3 24. Kg1-g2 Nh3-f4 25. Kg2-g3 h7-h5 26. Qe4-f5 Qe6xc4 27. g4xh5 Kg8-f7 28. Nf3-g5 Kf7-e8 29. Qf5-g6 Rf8-f7 30. Qg6xf7 Qc4xf7 31. Ng5xf7 Ke8xf7 32. Rd1-c1 Nf4xh5 33. Kg3-g4 g7-g6 34. Rd7-a7 f6-f5 35. Kg4-h3 Nh5-f4 36. Kh3-g3 Nc6xa7 37. Rc1xc8 Na7xc8 38. Bb2xe5 Nf4-h5 39. Kg3-f3 Be7-d6 40. Be5-d4 Nc8-e7 41. Bd4-c5 Bd6xc5 42. b4xc5 Kf7-e6 43. Kf3-e3 Ke6-e5 44. Ke3-d3 g6-g5 45. Kd3-c4 f5-f4 46. c5-c6 Ne7xc6 0-1

d

São Paulo, Brazil

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Originally posted by cheshirecatstevens
Small steps. Set realistic goals.
1. Blunder check
2. Tactics
3. Tactics
4. Tactics
5. Look over your games (or other peoples around your level) and find where you lost equality or the advantage in somewhat measurable means i.e. space, tempo, or material. Then try see why. Go back a move or two to see it coming, then go foreward and look for missed opportunities to counter.
6. Forget about obscure gambits (for now) and the Damiano (forever). Play anything that will allow you to develop your pieces naturally and improve your tactics.

k

washington

Joined
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27 Nov 08

Playing correspondence instead may help your game. Blitz does not typically improve your play.

k

washington

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Blitz is not bad though. It allows you to see thousands of positions and see different ideas. It also helps when you are frustrated with the game and just need to get away from the stresses of your games that are on longer time periods.

buffalobill
Major Bone

On yer tail ...

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Originally posted by danilop
6. Forget about obscure gambits (for now) and the Damiano (forever). Play anything that will allow you to develop your pieces naturally and improve your tactics.
Agreed.

My recommendation is to learn to play the Ruy Lopez for white before trying to get fancy. Once you get a handle on the basic concepts of space, tempo and tactics which this opening encapsulates, then only should you go for the exotic. It helps to learn the rules before you break them and a decent opening gives you at least the chance to reach the middlegame in reasonable shape. Too often, games are won or lost in the opening.

p
Highlander

SEAsia

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Originally posted by buffalobill
Agreed.

My recommendation is to learn to play the Ruy Lopez for white before trying to get fancy. Once you get a handle on the basic concepts of space, tempo and tactics which this opening encapsulates, then only should you go for the exotic. It helps to learn the rules before you break them and a decent opening gives you at least the chance to reach the middlegame in reasonable shape. Too often, games are won or lost in the opening.
Any opening which follows the basic opening principles and allows a simple plan of action is a good choice.
For me Bc4 would be preferred to Bb5 because it has the simple point of attacking the centre and putting instant pressure on f7(Black’s weak point). Very easy to understand. The Spanish is probably a bit too subtle and “exotic” for anyone under 1800.

D

Somewhere out there

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If you want to be a good chess player, there are no short-cuts to do it 🙁 There are only one way to do it and that is to play a lot of games. Blitz game are fun to play, but I believe it is better to play a little longer games.
Play also a lot of different opponents. The strenght of them should be a little better then yourself, but not much better. It is fun to win sometimes 🙂
Don't play only on the internet or against the computer. It is really interesting to play against real human person Over The Board. There are maybe a chess club close to where you are living. They will probably help you to be a better chessplayer.
It is also good to train simple endgames. If you are comfident with the endgames, then you are not afraid to enter that region of chess play.
Openings are also good to know, but don't spend to much time on that right now. One way to find some openings that suit your style is to think about which Grandmaster that you like. It dosen't matter if they are playing now or if they played for hundred of years ago. When you have found your favorite GM, look at his games. It will help you really much.
Good luck

c

USA

Joined
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Originally posted by Sophy
Hello.
I think it is a bit hard to get better, fast.

I am very tired of being a low rate player.
let's say I wanted to increase my rating, my game play by a few hundred points. What should I do ?
Study opening,
Study tactics.
Study positions.
Play my games a bit more slowy.
I just can't get any of it.I think it is why I have only 1223 elo right ...[text shortened]... But I must change it, let's say, I want to be somewhere around 2000. so Where sould I start ?
I can relate to your situation. I was stuck in the 1100s and 1200s USCF for almost two years, and it was incredibly frustrating. Now I am about 1800, and I'll share some of the things that helped me improve

1) Make sure you know your king and pawn endgames
I mean really know them- make sure that you know every k+P v K situation; when it's a win, when its a draw, rook pawn draws, etc- also, make sure you know what IM Jeremy Silman calls the "fox in the chicken coup"- that is, use a passed pawn on one side to distract your opponents king, and then go after your opponent's pawn on the other side. A good book for all this and more is Silman's Complete Endgame Course
2) Stop your blunders
Blunders are the reason most games at your level (and even many at my level) are lost. In addition to doing tactics problems (I recommend you buy the CD Chess Tactics for Beginners and do 50 problems a day), one thing that helped me drastically reduce my blunders was following Michael de la Maza's chess vision drills- google "400 points in 400 days" and you should find his article on it. These drill may seem stupid and pointless but trust me, they work,
3)Play a lot
Play as many OTB tournaments as you can. I played an average of two a month then, and even now I play probably 3 or 4 a month.
4) Analyze your games
What Michael de la Maza recommends is to take fritz or some other program and use its evaluation graph to note which moves had the largest change (i.e. +.56 to -1.23 in one move) and then to look at those moves and try to figure out what happened. Or even better, have a coach or stronger player analyze the entire game and tell you where you went wrong.

Following these tips, along with some strategical and opening study when I gained a little strength, I went from 1200 to 1600 in one year and from 1600-1800 in the second year. Hope this helps 🙂

sh76
Civis Americanus Sum

New York

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Originally posted by peacedog
Any opening which follows the basic opening principles and allows a simple plan of action is a good choice.
For me Bc4 would be preferred to Bb5 because it has the simple point of attacking the centre and putting instant pressure on f7(Black’s weak point). Very easy to understand. The Spanish is probably a bit too subtle and “exotic” for anyone under 1800.
I think the Ruy is at least as good as the Italian game for beginners, probably better. In the Ruy, the moves are fairly intuitive and basic concepts like the pin, removing the defender and doubled pawns are core concepts that are featured heavily in the Ruy.

3. Bc4 is fine... unless black plays 3.... Nf3. The 2 knights defense in the Italian is tough for beginners to play against. Once they learn that 4. Ng4 doesn't usually work, the other options are kind of tough for the beginner to develop an attack with.

E
Drama Pawn

Alexandria, VA, USA

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Another thing you might try (I have considered it but haven't done it yet due to time constraints) is to hire an online chess coach. There are a number of them out there, and I am sure that you can find someone at the expert level or above who is pretty cheap.

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