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I need advice

#1

I only play clasical chess and I have been stuck in 1450-1550 range for 4 years now. Any advice on how to improve apart from playing more puzzels. I tried puzzles. Boring as hell. And doesn't feel very helpful at all because it lacks the game context. When i play clasical, every game has its context. Someone is defending, someone is attacking, Theere is always a motif which makes it easier to play compared to puzzles.

Thanks in advance.

I only play clasical chess and I have been stuck in 1450-1550 range for 4 years now. Any advice on how to improve apart from playing more puzzels. I tried puzzles. Boring as hell. And doesn't feel very helpful at all because it lacks the game context. When i play clasical, every game has its context. Someone is defending, someone is attacking, Theere is always a motif which makes it easier to play compared to puzzles. Thanks in advance.
#3

Solving puzzles is not enough. You will have to balance play and study. Especially study positional ideas (e.g., the book Simple Chess by Michael Steen or another similar book) and some endgame play.

Solving puzzles is not enough. You will have to balance play and study. Especially study positional ideas (e.g., the book Simple Chess by Michael Steen or another similar book) and some endgame play.
#4

Lichess classic 1400 tells already the problem: You blunder way too much. Actually at my strength blundering is still major reason for not getting forward. Leaning tactical patterns helps a little , learning positional concepts probably totally meaningless unless you start playing attention to the board.

In you last game at move 11 you fail to take free pawn instead move you queen to less active square (which way less important than the pawn you did not take). And then on move thirteen you do absolutely horrendous trade for bishop to knight. This is sort of positional mostly but the most important positional thing : keep you king safe. Opponent is threatening to weaken your king defenses and instead you do a trade that gains nothing but loses tempo as you have move you queen and the position is resignable.

game before that you feed your queen for no reason at move eleven.

So first thing - which is not easy - start checking what happens after this move. Does the opponent gain something. Did I leave something hanging. did I miss threat to mate. Is there something I can just take.

Before you improve that there is not much anything else that can possibly help. chess quite hard without pieces.

Lichess classic 1400 tells already the problem: You blunder way too much. Actually at my strength blundering is still major reason for not getting forward. Leaning tactical patterns helps a little , learning positional concepts probably totally meaningless unless you start playing attention to the board. In you last game at move 11 you fail to take free pawn instead move you queen to less active square (which way less important than the pawn you did not take). And then on move thirteen you do absolutely horrendous trade for bishop to knight. This is sort of positional mostly but the most important positional thing : keep you king safe. Opponent is threatening to weaken your king defenses and instead you do a trade that gains nothing but loses tempo as you have move you queen and the position is resignable. game before that you feed your queen for no reason at move eleven. So first thing - which is not easy - start checking what happens after this move. Does the opponent gain something. Did I leave something hanging. did I miss threat to mate. Is there something I can just take. Before you improve that there is not much anything else that can possibly help. chess quite hard without pieces.
#5

Yeah engames I can improve a lot. I know nothing about endgames accept king needs to be active.

Putting queen on right square after opponent attacks it is really hard. I cannot asses which is most active square for my queen.

Last few games probably isnt my best play.

Yeah engames I can improve a lot. I know nothing about endgames accept king needs to be active. Putting queen on right square after opponent attacks it is really hard. I cannot asses which is most active square for my queen. Last few games probably isnt my best play.
#7

@google21 said in #6:

We suffer from internet and electricity outages in African countries and we often lose points and we are prevented from playing for hours or days and this is not our fault so this request from the site owners and officials to look into the matter and thank you.

Firstly, what has this got to do with the subject of the post? Secondly, what do you expect Lichess developers to do about internet/electricity outages in African countries?

@google21 said in #6: > We suffer from internet and electricity outages in African countries and we often lose points and we are prevented from playing for hours or days and this is not our fault so this request from the site owners and officials to look into the matter and thank you. Firstly, what has this got to do with the subject of the post? Secondly, what do you expect Lichess developers to do about internet/electricity outages in African countries?
#7

Maybe, you can find something useful at
lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/how-to-get-good-at-chess-4 or at
lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/any-recommanded-book .

Maybe, you can find something useful at lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/how-to-get-good-at-chess-4 or at lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/any-recommanded-book .
#8

@Majki2111 said in #1:

I only play clasical chess and I have been stuck in 1450-1550 range for 4 years now. Any advice on how to improve apart from playing more puzzels. I tried puzzles. Boring as hell. And doesn't feel very helpful at all because it lacks the game context. When i play clasical, every game has its context. Someone is defending, someone is attacking, Theere is always a motif which makes it easier to play compared to puzzles.

Thanks in advance.
So... you are stuck..... at 1300 is surprising however, the fact that you have done 74 puzzles over 4 yrs tells a lot. I have done over 2000 puzzles even though I barely played in the entirety of 2024 and I also made this account 4 yrs ago. FIRSTLY, lets get this straight, puzzles can and are boring sometimes but as it has been proved time and time again that it is the most deciding factor in games of your rating, AND, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND: "lacks game context" makes absolutely no sense whatsoever since puzzles is not about attacking or defending specifically, but about FINDING THE BEST MOVE IN THE POSITION. And this best move is the won that will give you the advantage in the game. Also when I see your games, I observed that most of them were decided (game over or huge advantage for a side) in the FIRST 20 MOVES itself. This is way too less time for there to be any positionally or strategically gained advantage through someone defending or attacking. MOST OF YOUR GAMES ARE DECIDED BY BLUNDERS WHICH ARE DUE TO TACTICS. ALSO, by the time you finish the game i see that more often thaan not yu have only used up to 5 minutes of your time. So much for only playing classical games.

Now that you have understood this: THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST DO AND I PROMISE YOU THAT IN 2 MONTHS OF FOLLOWING THIS CLOSELY YOU WILL ALREADY BE 1700-1800 GUARANTEED.

  1. Watch videos on all the types of chess tactics and how to spot them in game. Like : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1gWHIpQNVU
  2. EVERYDAY SPEND ATLEAST 40 minutes to 1 HOUR on doing normal puzzles onl ichess of your ability, mixing in puzzle racer and puzzle storm andd puzzle streak to make it fun.
  3. Analyse each game you play and see what caused you to lose the game, did you hang a piece, use too less time, miss a tactic and then try to do better the next game see where you made the error and try to understand why the move you played was wrong.
  4. See videos of good players playing slow control games such as rapid and classical and try to replicate their thought process in game.
  5. Watch some youtube videos on basic openings which you can play, as your openings are very messy and full of blunder usually. Nothing special is needed, just some fun basic openings that are fun to play for you and require little memorization (NO DUBIOS GAMBITS!!!)
  6. Learn basic endgames like King vs King and Pawn and Queen vs Pawn, (I think gothamchess has a few basic ones whhich will be good)
    7)Practice Practice Practice, try to atleast play one game a day (Priority sitll always goes to doing puzzles daily) and understand your weaknesses and fix them.

Now all of this might sound too much for you and I dont want you to be procrastinating so i suggest you slowly start by atleast doing 20 misn of puzzles dailyy and watch some youtube videos of good players playing games or vidoes of openings that you are interested to play.

FOcus on puzzles

@Majki2111 said in #1: > I only play clasical chess and I have been stuck in 1450-1550 range for 4 years now. Any advice on how to improve apart from playing more puzzels. I tried puzzles. Boring as hell. And doesn't feel very helpful at all because it lacks the game context. When i play clasical, every game has its context. Someone is defending, someone is attacking, Theere is always a motif which makes it easier to play compared to puzzles. > > Thanks in advance. So... you are stuck..... at 1300 is surprising however, the fact that you have done 74 puzzles over 4 yrs tells a lot. I have done over 2000 puzzles even though I barely played in the entirety of 2024 and I also made this account 4 yrs ago. FIRSTLY, lets get this straight, puzzles can and are boring sometimes but as it has been proved time and time again that it is the most deciding factor in games of your rating, AND, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND: "lacks game context" makes absolutely no sense whatsoever since puzzles is not about attacking or defending specifically, but about FINDING THE BEST MOVE IN THE POSITION. And this best move is the won that will give you the advantage in the game. Also when I see your games, I observed that most of them were decided (game over or huge advantage for a side) in the FIRST 20 MOVES itself. This is way too less time for there to be any positionally or strategically gained advantage through someone defending or attacking. MOST OF YOUR GAMES ARE DECIDED BY BLUNDERS WHICH ARE DUE TO TACTICS. ALSO, by the time you finish the game i see that more often thaan not yu have only used up to 5 minutes of your time. So much for only playing classical games. Now that you have understood this: THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST DO AND I PROMISE YOU THAT IN 2 MONTHS OF FOLLOWING THIS CLOSELY YOU WILL ALREADY BE 1700-1800 GUARANTEED. 1) Watch videos on all the types of chess tactics and how to spot them in game. Like : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1gWHIpQNVU 2) EVERYDAY SPEND ATLEAST 40 minutes to 1 HOUR on doing normal puzzles onl ichess of your ability, mixing in puzzle racer and puzzle storm andd puzzle streak to make it fun. 3) Analyse each game you play and see what caused you to lose the game, did you hang a piece, use too less time, miss a tactic and then try to do better the next game see where you made the error and try to understand why the move you played was wrong. 4) See videos of good players playing slow control games such as rapid and classical and try to replicate their thought process in game. 5) Watch some youtube videos on basic openings which you can play, as your openings are very messy and full of blunder usually. Nothing special is needed, just some fun basic openings that are fun to play for you and require little memorization (NO DUBIOS GAMBITS!!!) 6) Learn basic endgames like King vs King and Pawn and Queen vs Pawn, (I think gothamchess has a few basic ones whhich will be good) 7)Practice Practice Practice, try to atleast play one game a day (Priority sitll always goes to doing puzzles daily) and understand your weaknesses and fix them. Now all of this might sound too much for you and I dont want you to be procrastinating so i suggest you slowly start by atleast doing 20 misn of puzzles dailyy and watch some youtube videos of good players playing games or vidoes of openings that you are interested to play. FOcus on puzzles
#9

puzzles are useful for recognizing common tactical patterns. Otherwise it is extremely difficult to play a competent game of chess without blundering, because it is simply impossible to "figure out" all the relevant tactics - pattern recognition helps out greatly here. Puzzles are a faster way of learning patterns instead of having to find them in your own post-game analysis.

puzzles are useful for recognizing common tactical patterns. Otherwise it is extremely difficult to play a competent game of chess without blundering, because it is simply impossible to "figure out" all the relevant tactics - pattern recognition helps out greatly here. Puzzles are a faster way of learning patterns instead of having to find them in your own post-game analysis.
#10

I just looked at the very first classical game on your profile (most recent), and this is exactly why you should do puzzles:

https://lichess.org/KTCatHdd#34

You spend a decent amount of time on this move (Nc4 which loses to mate in 2), and you had 25+ minutes left. The mate in 2 is a very standard tactical idea, Knight and Queen combo against g2. A strong player would spotted the threat and immediately played Kh1, not because they think faster, but because they immediately recognize the pattern - in fact, they would have recognized it even earlier, when the knight was on h5 or even as early as when the pawn structure was wrecked on your kingside.

I just looked at the very first classical game on your profile (most recent), and this is exactly why you should do puzzles: https://lichess.org/KTCatHdd#34 You spend a decent amount of time on this move (Nc4 which loses to mate in 2), and you had 25+ minutes left. The mate in 2 is a very standard tactical idea, Knight and Queen combo against g2. A strong player would spotted the threat and immediately played Kh1, not because they think faster, but because they immediately recognize the pattern - in fact, they would have recognized it even earlier, when the knight was on h5 or even as early as when the pawn structure was wrecked on your kingside.

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