Differences between 1000 and 1300 lichess elo. Elo gap #1

Warning : There is no universal answer to these questions of course, I tried to do my best by observing games from students and lower rated players. When I am saying 1000 players or 1300 players I am of course making generalities and every player is different.
I am anyways geving very usefull advises in this blog if you are above 1500 or even 2000.

The primary differences

1000 lichess elo is considered to be the beginer elo, you know the rules well and already played quite a lot of games.

1300 rated players are considered as amateur's.
They know the foundamental principles of the game, know some opening moves, seen some middlegame strategies and have more experience than 1000 elo players in endgames.

Note about the choosen topics i will focus in this article :

I will focus only about the aspects that, in my opinion, are the most important at this level. (so tactics and openings)
I think that they make the difference in this level range, but of course, middlegame and endgames should not be underestimated even if I think that there are less important.

The differences in openings :

- It is in my opinion one of the most important level differences I observed, therefore I am going to dedicate it a full section.

1000 elo

There are 2 main ways 1000s handle the openings :

Fast and weak attacks :

A big part of the 1000 elo players still try the scholar's mate.
Of course it might work until 1100 elo but it is not a good way to start the game.

You have to develop your pieces and not bring out the queen so fast, you will not progress untill you play real openings.
See the example bellow for more explanations.

Solid but random moves :

The second way 1000's are handling the opening is by playing very solid and natural moves in the opening without thinking much and therefore missing a lot of opportunities.

Especially in this level it is REALLY worth spending a bit more time in the opening so you can find blunders from your opponent (which will mostly going to happen at 1000 level)

1300

For 1300 elo players it is a bit different.
They mostly have played more games and are therefore not blundering in the opening. They already have seen some chess video about openings.

They will mainly play the same system everytime (like they know always they first 5 moves of development) and than play with instinct.

They will often get REALLY confused when they face a new opening and blunder like a 1000.

Here some concrete examples :

Always the same setup :

It is really good to have at this level a setup that you will play at most of the games like shown here :

Please do not make the mistake to learn the openings by heart :
Just learn a setup you will use at each game and a plan.
It is all you need.
No complicated breyer variation of the classical ruy lopez.
It is the best advice you can take out of this blog.

Instant blunder by facing a new opening :
1300 players are often getting very confused once they meet a new opening and will most probably blunder fastly.
It is logic as they can't play they usual setup. Some examples here :

Tactics :

Tactics are at this level THE crucial change.

1000 players often blunder pieces in one move.
1300 players are less often hanging pieces in one but lose pieces due to easy tactic patterns like forks, deviation, exange sacrifice.

How to quickly climb the ladder of this elo gap

So we've seen that tactics and openings are the most important elements you need to improve.
Here some steps to guide you for the training :

Openings :

Find one setup that you are confortable with white and black and try to use it in every game.

- How to find the right setup ?

There are many good videos out there on youtube about openings for beginers.
Some channel names : Gothamchess, Saint Louis chess club, hanging pawns etc...

Once you find the right setup play games with it and analyse them with the computer to see if you correctly played the first moves or not. (not if they were the best moves of course but if they were okay, inacuracies are not dramatic at this level and even for some of the mistakes)

Also please one very important advise: do not change openings every month.

Try one opening for several months to really understand it and play it well, otherwise if you change to often you will never really understand and correctly play the opening.
It takes years to really well play an opening so do not try to master it in a week.

Tactics :

Do lichess tactics everyday, and the most important thing is to take your time !
It's okay if you are only doing 5 tactics a day but you have to really think and solve hard tactics that are challenging.

Also learn tactical pattern and master them.
It is really the key to understand the tactical play.
To practice these patterns go to : https://lichess.org/practice

There are many good books out there to introduce you to tactics in chess.
I will maybe make a blog about it.
Books are my best recommendation but it cost money and takes time and motivation. It is not necessary at this level.

You can also check my blog about usefull training methods to consider to climb this elo ladder : https://lichess.org/@/SyltStonks/blog/3-underrated-training-methods/XQcyKLmm

A Quick Summary

So the two most important things you should focus on are tactics and finding the right opening.
Do tactics every day, no need to be a lot but it has to be effective.

Learn a development for the opening you will use at every game, no need to learn 10 move lines, just learn the basic ideas and where to place the pieces.

Conclusion

For some it take weeks, for some years.
There is no magic solution for gaining elo, and sorry but this blog is not making the exeption.
But it will help you understand your situation and what you should do to reach your goals.
The next is up to you guys !

Thank you for reading my blogs and don't forget to like and share my work if you learned new things.
Don't hesitate to give me suggestions so I can improve my next blog posts

- SyltStonks