What Does It Take To Break 1600?

⁣Introduction

Chess improvement is simple, but that doesn't necessarily make it easy. ⁣
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Today, I will share the key skills you need to develop to reach a 1600+ over-the-board rating.⁣
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I generally consider myself to be quite skilled at learning, but there's one large thing I was missing in my past efforts...⁣
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That is, creating a learning plan that clearly outlines the sub-skills we'll train to master a given skill. ⁣
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This post won't be a full 'learning plan' as it were, but will break down the key skills so that you at least have a very vivid and clear picture of the destination. ⁣

The Skills Of A 1600+ Player

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Getting to a 1600+ OTB rating requires:⁣
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- Keeping your pieces safe;⁣

- Consistently taking free pieces from the opponent;⁣

- Knowing your basic checkmates and most common endgame positions (K + P vs. K, R + P vs. R);⁣

- Understanding and correctly applying the basic opening principles (including the fight for the initiative, which is often missed at this level);⁣

- Seeing the basic tactical motifs (pins, forks, back rank mates, and a few others) consistently in your games;⁣
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- Knowing the basic attacking and mating patterns (and being able to execute them in a game); ⁣

- Understanding basic positional concepts (a bishop is slightly better than a knight on average, a square that can't be defended by an enemy pawn is a great outpost for our knight, rook belongs on open files, place the pawns on the opposite color complex to your remaining bishop);⁣

- Having some basic defensive skills (seeing the opponent's major threats in advance, responding to the opponent's threats more aggressively, finding ways to exchange the strongest attackers). This is the main calculation skill needed up to 1600;⁣

- Learning something from the games you play⁣.
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You could certainly add extra things to get there faster, but that's about all you need to get to 1600. ⁣

My Experience Getting To 1600+

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In the time that I improved quite rapidly from 1300 to 1600 as a junior (in about 6 months), I was spending more time than previously on my chess, but it also incorporated most of these elements:⁣
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- I was playing all the 'adult tournaments' I could in Sydney, and reviewing the games after the tournament with my coach.⁣

- I was solving mate in 2 puzzles from the Laszlo Polgar puzzle book, which improved my calculation. Later I moved on to CT-ART, which was even more beneficial for mastering basic tactical patterns. I would drill the 'Level 10' puzzles until I got every puzzle correct for a theme in one go. Then I moved on to the next themes for each level, then the next level, and so forth.⁣

- I was picking up a lot of my positional understanding from reading the New In Chess Magazine and some other chess books. (One of my favorites at the time was 'Leko's One Hundred Wins'). I was reading chess books 'Blindfold' (without the chess board), steadily improving my visualization skills in the process.

- The lessons with my coach greatly helped me to notice my opponent's threats (one of my main weaknesses as a 1300 player) and to fight much more effectively for the initiative (attacking play). ⁣

- My openings were already pretty good from reading books on my openings several times a week.⁣

The Most Common Obstacles For Aspiring Improvers

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You could certainly take my experience and follow something similar...but some challenges would come up for you if you take the journey alone:⁣
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1. You'd probably hear a lot of free advice from other Grandmasters and trainers. Some are likely to disagree with the blueprint I laid out here. This will likely lead to confusion and doubts. The point is not that one person is right and everyone else is wrong, but rather, that you will reach your destination a lot faster if you listen to one qualified mentor and trust them completely. ⁣
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2. There's so much free chess material out there today, that you are likely to feel either overwhelmed (not knowing where to start) or confused (from different sources seemingly contradicting each other). ⁣
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3. You will implement the steps, but pick up bad habits due to the lack of good feedback. One of the more common examples I see is players going into 'Luke Skywalker' mode, thinking every position has a tactic (after solving tactics for an hour a day), and playing accordingly. This often leads to outplaying yourself and getting increasingly frustrated.⁣
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4. You may get tempted by ways of playing that feel comfortable but will make it much harder for you to improve later. (The two most common examples are: Playing purely for traps; and playing to not lose, rather than to win). ⁣
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5. Without the right support behind you, you will get discouraged more often, and your effort is likely to be a lot less consistent. Burnout is also a lot more likely to occur. ⁣
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The optimal solution to these problems is to work with a trainer who understands you and what you need to get to the next level.

Reach out via. message if you are interested in working privately with me.