Need some advice from some strong players

Well, for those who are interested. I took Sunday off from playing and came back to the board today and played this..



Maybe it is a simple case of taking a day off from time to time!

Originally posted by Marinkatomb

EDIT: Btw, have yo tried the tactics on Lichess? They are very different from chess tempo. At first I found them a bit frustrating as you get strange positions where one side has a massive material advantage, but over time I have come to love them. You are forced to find the most efficient way to mate. A lot of the tactics are very engine like, I find I am finding some really interesting tactics in my games now.. 🙂

I've been playing occasional tournaments on lichess myself, although not as many as I perhaps should, not just regular blitz but fun variants such as King of the Hill also.

I also find the puzzles/tactics trainer on lichess to be pretty good, I tend to do 10 per session maybe twice a week, sometimes more if I feel plucky.

From what you're saying, you've just hit a ceiling... it often takes much more time and expansion to help break through these, not just in chess but any sport. The key is to try different approaches, which seems like you are doing so.

My own goal was to break 2000 by end of year.... isn't going to happen now 🙁 Will be a while longer before I can claim a comfortable, consistent 1900+ average.

I think you are on to something there Marinka when you talk about sitting on your hands. Part of the reason blitz appeals is that you don't have to work as hard so much as "see". However, in CC and Fide length games my strength goes up dramatically - in part because I force myself to sit on my hands and really work hard. It feels a bit like flipping a switch and the rest of the world falls away and all I see is the board and the person next to me can be eating a sandwich and I don't hear it. That focus never seems to come when I play Blitz.

I haven't read everything so the answer I give has maybe given already.
I was , 30 years ago, 2200 FIDE rated.
Playing 25 games a day means nothing.
You want to improve?You have to forget the word "fun".If you are having fun then you probably do something wrong.If your wins makes you happy and your defeats unhappy , you are not improving.
You have to decide what you want from chess.You want to have fun or you want to improve.Can't you have both?You can improve just by playing.Experience is very important in chess but this is uncontrolable improvement that eventually hits an unsurpassed wall far sooner than it should(all hit a wall eventually , the point is to reach your peak, whatever that is).
Here is the key to improve:
Play one or 2 games(max) a day with LONG time limit(at least 60 min).
Analyse deeply every game(as deeply as you can).
Note your thoughts and your plans in each move.
Ask from better players to analyse your games and tell you what you were doing wrong.
Realise that wins don't make you better , defeats do.
Wins only verify that you are getting better but usually nothing more than that.
If you are feeling bad for losing while you want to improve , then it's like feeling bad for doing exercises while you want to improve your physical condition.
Unfortunately losing in chess is essential for any kind of improvement.
But..........
You have to know why you lose.
You have to avoid losing doing the same mistakes.
And to do that , your mistakes must be the result of thorough thinking.
And to do thorough thinking you need long time controls.
Otherwise some kind of blindness will always haunt your game.

In case I didn't say it clear enough
DON'T PLAY BLITZ
If you can, play a long game , analyse it , study middlegame and engame and if you still have some time , then some blitz games can be "fun" and relaxing and in some cases even help to improve.But only after at least 4 hours of serious and painfully focused study.
Do you analyse your games ?
Do you study endgame?
Do you analyse great players games ?
Do you focus on your study and forget everything that bothers you?
4 simple questions.Answer to yourself sincerely.
If you answer "No" in one of them then you know why "blindness haunts your game"

p.s.About endgame , I know what some fools might say(and yes they are certainly fools).
"I never reach endgame, why study it"
You don't study endgames to be able to win them , that's not the goal and that's not the real value of endgames.
You study endgames because they help you increase your calculating ability , helps you increase your ability to plan and it's the best way to learn the properties of the pieces.
Kramnik said that he solves endgame studies because it helps him sharpen his tactical abilty.Yes , they even improve your tactical ability.Nezhmetdinov , considered by many a tactical genious , the only thing he took with him when he was in hospital for long was a book with endgame studies.Back then, when engines and tactic trainers didn't exist , players like Tal and Fisher used endgame studies to sharpen their tactical abilities and even today players like Kramnik still use endgame studies for the same reason.

Great post, Olympian.

If I may add a humble footnote to that: the reason to study endgames is to learn when to trade down in the middle game.

Try a style change. You obviously enjoy tactics but try a few less sharp positions and winning by small advantages and strangulation of positions. Even if it does not fit you in the long run the different viewpoint may lead to improved understanding.