Go back
Rating improvement

Rating improvement

Only Chess


Originally posted by Eladar
Difficult to see mistakes you don't understand.
Improvement ain't easy.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by venda
Castling can be dangerous in some positions
Castling king side is usually best -less space to protect.
I've got into trouble many times by castling without my knight on f3 /f6
Yes, I see. I will keep that in mind. I have been adviced to take it slow.

Thanks. I really believe I will improve with all your advices.

Tshotsho

1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Tshotsho Khalapa
Yes, I see. I will keep that in mind. I have been adviced to take it slow.

Thanks. I really believe I will improve with all your advices.

Tshotsho


Characterising your loss in the willienelson game as being because you didnt castle is too simplistic to be useful and misses the opportunity to learn more from that game. Having advanced pawns on the queenside early you then played 7. h4. If this is an attack then it is unprepared and just makes holes in your kingside. With pawns advanced in the centre and both sides where will your king be safe? Better to replace some of the pawn moves with developing moves. Qd2 was a simple blunder which lost a pawn and allowed a dangerous piece into the heart of your kingside. No surprise then that that should be the very square that black delivered his crushing blow a few moves later: namely a knight fork of your king, queen and rook. It looks like you didnt even see it until after you moved your king - then resigned. This is what has been said about looking at your opponents possibilities. When you took the knight on f6 Blacks queen was brought into the game. When you chased the knight away from c6 it moved to within range of f3 but you ignored that aspect of the move probably because you saw it as what he had to do as you were attacking.

Lots to learn and go over from this one 20 move game. That's why it's important to go over your games. Find the mistakes you are making and try to avoid them.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Tshotsho Khalapa
I am an average chess player and would like to move from my current 1100 to 1900 in two years. I started playing chess when I was about 30 years old. I am now 50.Now I have only two questions:
1. Is it possibe that I can reach 1900 score?
2. If yes, what can I do to reach that score? I am near 1000 completed game, and I am just losing more games and winning less .

Thanks

Tshotsho
Read all the chess quotes you can find. Learn all about checkmate. Learn all about draws.

Vote Up
Vote Down

I'd suggest getting an endgame manual, probably Jeremy Silman's one, but there are plenty of others. The ending is the part of the game where study definitely reaps rewards, unlike the opening. It helps with tactics because you'll be looking at forks, pins and so on on a decluttered board. The only caveat is that opening/middlegame strategy is different to endgame strategy, where the objective is normally to promote a pawn and pawns at the edge of the board become stronger as they are further away and so harder to catch.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Ragwort
[pgn][Event "Open invite"]
[Site "http://www.playtheimmortalgame.com"]
[Date "2017.04.19"]
[EndDate "2017.04.23"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tshotsho Khalapa"]
[Black "WillieNelson"]
[WhiteRating "1118"]
[BlackRating "1484"]
[WhiteElo "1118"]
[BlackElo "1484"]
[Result "0-1"]
[GameId "12176891"]

1. e4 e5 2. Ng1f3 Nb8c6 3. Nb1c3 Bf8b4 4. a3 Bb4a5 5. b4 ...[text shortened]... hy it's important to go over your games. Find the mistakes you are making and try to avoid them.
Thank you for your advice and evaluation of this particular game. I can see why I lost most of my games.

Tshotsho

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Ragwort
[pgn][Event "Open invite"]
[Site "http://www.playtheimmortalgame.com"]
[Date "2017.04.19"]
[EndDate "2017.04.23"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tshotsho Khalapa"]
[Black "WillieNelson"]
[WhiteRating "1118"]
[BlackRating "1484"]
[WhiteElo "1118"]
[BlackElo "1484"]
[Result "0-1"]
[GameId "12176891"]

1. e4 e5 2. Ng1f3 Nb8c6 3. Nb1c3 Bf8b4 4. a3 Bb4a5 5. b4 ...[text shortened]... hy it's important to go over your games. Find the mistakes you are making and try to avoid them.
Milk first then meat.

I did not say he lost because he didn't castle.

Obviously he didn't lose due to not castling. It is just an example of a game where he did not cstle and his king was less safe.

Learn the basics and then get good enough to forget them.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
Improvement ain't easy.
No, it is not.

It is also important to work on things based on your level. Telling an 1100 to improve on something a 1700 should be concerned with won't do much.

http://www.redhotpawn.com/chess/chess-game-history.php?gameid=12177664

At the moment he is still giving away pieces.

At the moment I think that if he protects his king (castle and have pieces that are in the middle of the board and some around his king) and stop giving away pieces he will have a ratings jump. That should get him well into the 1200-1300 range.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Eladar
No, it is not.

It is also important to work on things based on your level. Telling an 1100 to improve on something a 1700 should be concerned with won't do much.

http://www.redhotpawn.com/chess/chess-game-history.php?gameid=12177664

At the moment he is still giving away pieces.

At the moment I think that if he protects his king (castle and have pi ...[text shortened]... ving away pieces he will have a ratings jump. That should get him well into the 1200-1300 range.
Are you really suggesting that elimination of bad habits is something that only 1700+ players should worry about? 😕

Then again, you also managed to find fault with Ragwort's excellent post, so why am I surprised.

1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
Are you really suggesting that elimination of bad habits is something that only 1700+ players should worry about? 😕

Then again, you also managed to find fault with Ragwort's excellent post, so why am I surprised.
One step at a time is all I'm saying. If you try to do too much, then you will accomplish nothing at all.

As I said earlier, if you don't understand it, it won't do you any good. Each thing in its time.

If a person does not understand basic algebra, do you expect him to understand Trig?

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Eladar
One step at a time is all I'm saying. If you try to do too much, then you will accomplish nothing at all.

As I said earlier, if you don't understand it, it won't do you any good. Each thing in its time.

If a person does not understand basic algebra, do you expect him to understand Trig?
I understand the principle of learning in steps. I just think you have been throwing it around incorrectly, mainly to be argumentative. Or perhaps you are just not very good at expressing some valid point you may have.

1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
I understand the principle of learning in steps. I just think you have been throwing it around incorrectly, mainly to be argumentative. Or perhaps you are just not very good at expressing some valid point you may have.
Perhaps you don't understand the natural progression.


I'm not sure how many people around here undestand what it is like trying to learn how to play chess as an adult.

Those who learned as a child and probably had teachers and private tutoring would not know. They would not know the difference between basic ideas and more advanced since both seem to be very basic.

1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Eladar
Perhaps you don't understand the natural progression.


I'm not sure how many people around here undestand what it is like trying to learn how to play chess as an adult.

Those who learned as a child and probably had teachers and private tutoring would not know. They would not know the difference between basic ideas and more advanced since both seem to be very basic.
"They would not know the difference between basic ideas and more advanced since both seem to be very basic"

This is utterly incoherent. As far as I'm concerned telling someone they didn't follow some arbitrary piece of so called chess wisdom is like throwing a penny to a beggar. It may be a small crumb of comfort but is unlikely to change their life. For example would you tell a player of the Ruy Lopez as white that he lost because he moved a bishop before a knight on move 3??

Whether adult or child it is much better to deal in the specifics of the games they are playing. These points can be clearly demonstrated so as to properly increase the "understanding" you are so fond of posting about. In the meantime I look forward to you showing in detail how our OP came to WIN the last game you quoted in your post two before last above by giving away pieces Game 12177664 😀😀

1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Ragwort
[b]"They would not know the difference between basic ideas and more advanced since both seem to be very basic"

This is utterly incoherent. As far as I'm concerned telling someone they didn't follow some arbitrary piece of so called chess wisdom is like throwing a penny to a beggar. It may be a small crumb of comfort but is unlikely to change their lif ...[text shortened]... ame you quoted in your post two before last above by giving away pieces Game 12177664 😀😀[/b]
It may also be the reason why people who are more naturally good at something aren't good teachers.

They have no clue about how some concepts are difficult to understand. Why should a person have to be told to move his bishop to safety when attacked by a pawn?

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Eladar
It may also be the reason why people who are more naturally good at something aren't good teachers.

They have no clue about how some concepts are difficult to understand. Why should a person have to be told to move his bishop to safety when attacked by a pawn?
Some people take a while to get that a pawn that moves forward actually captures diagonally so maybe they have to be reminded. "Don't lose pieces" means bog all if they don't understand the mechanics of how they are doing so.