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I'm not getting any better!!

Definitely just play longer games.

Definitely just play longer games.

I was just watching you live still not taking everyone advice playing these +1/0 min games. Play classical till you have at least 1000 games under your belt then maybe you will have the auto responses to positions down.

I was just watching you live still not taking everyone advice playing these +1/0 min games. Play classical till you have at least 1000 games under your belt then maybe you will have the auto responses to positions down.

Many people alredy said it: You obviously need more time than bullet or blitz.
Okay, you want to do some work to improve? Look at the kind of mistakes you are making: You blunder a lot of material, I mean just one-move blunders. For example your opponent is attacking your knight with a pawn, but you just dont react to it. Or you put a piece on a square, where it is taken immediately. So first of all you have to watch out for these simple tactics. There are books with tactical exercises for beginners. So really start on this level. Make sure you handle these things perfectly and only then move on to more difficult puzzles.

Many people alredy said it: You obviously need more time than bullet or blitz. Okay, you want to do some work to improve? Look at the kind of mistakes you are making: You blunder a lot of material, I mean just one-move blunders. For example your opponent is attacking your knight with a pawn, but you just dont react to it. Or you put a piece on a square, where it is taken immediately. So first of all you have to watch out for these simple tactics. There are books with tactical exercises for beginners. So really start on this level. Make sure you handle these things perfectly and only then move on to more difficult puzzles.

This may sound weird, but it definitely worked for me: drink a cup of your own urine every morning. There is one other thing you can do (along similar lines) but that's too disgusting to even type let alone recommend. So my advice is "urine and plenty of it".

This may sound weird, but it definitely worked for me: drink a cup of your own urine every morning. There is one other thing you can do (along similar lines) but that's too disgusting to even type let alone recommend. So my advice is "urine and plenty of it".

How long you been playing?

Are you member of chess club? - if not, join one! nothing beats playing chess games OTB and discussing them.

How long you been playing? Are you member of chess club? - if not, join one! nothing beats playing chess games OTB and discussing them.

I would like to echo the OP. I've been doing the puzzles and I feel like I'm just getting worse with each one I play. Even playing Stockfish level 1 is hit or miss. I live in the middle of nowhere so this is pretty much the only outlet I have but it is objectively making me worse and I don't know what to do.

I would like to echo the OP. I've been doing the puzzles and I feel like I'm just getting worse with each one I play. Even playing Stockfish level 1 is hit or miss. I live in the middle of nowhere so this is pretty much the only outlet I have but it is objectively making me worse and I don't know what to do.

Puzzles helped me, at least I think so. Whatever you do, you have to concentrate, otherwise puzzle just passes like another puzzle and you basically have nothing out of it. Do 20 puzzles and after try to remember each one of them. Concentrate while doing them, and don't do them by clicking different moves until you find correct one... Imagine it is a game, a real one, but you got info that the position you are in is winning (that's a huge info), so do calculations until you find the best one, and then move. You have to be able to see all the sequence in your mind before you put it on the board, that's called concentration and calculation. You will be better player after that. Don't base your learning on quantity (1000 or million puzzles a day and forgetting them as soon as they are over) but on quality - do 20 puzzles, but with full concentration and recognition of hidden ideas.

Puzzles helped me, at least I think so. Whatever you do, you have to concentrate, otherwise puzzle just passes like another puzzle and you basically have nothing out of it. Do 20 puzzles and after try to remember each one of them. Concentrate while doing them, and don't do them by clicking different moves until you find correct one... Imagine it is a game, a real one, but you got info that the position you are in is winning (that's a huge info), so do calculations until you find the best one, and then move. You have to be able to see all the sequence in your mind before you put it on the board, that's called concentration and calculation. You will be better player after that. Don't base your learning on quantity (1000 or million puzzles a day and forgetting them as soon as they are over) but on quality - do 20 puzzles, but with full concentration and recognition of hidden ideas.

This recurring question is not so easy to answer.
Capablanca and Morphy never really studied chess from books. They just watched others play chess and learned.
Can most other aspiring new chess players do the same ? Probably not.
GM Dlugy claimed that he learned a lot about chess by playing blitz. Can most other aspiring new chess players do the same ?
Maybe not.
What works for you might not work for someone else.
Doing tactic puzzles might help you but if you drop pieces nevertheless, and if you continue playing bullet only (Why ? Is it so much fun to watch GMs play bullet that we copy cat, and don't bother to actually study chess and analyse our own games ?), then you cannot expect much chess improvement.
For most chess players the mantra probably should be :
Study, train, play, analyse on a regular base, and find a good balance.
Playing a lot and hardly analyse your own games, is unlikely to succeed. Studying a lot but hardly playing any games might also not be the best.
There's several players that I try to support to get better.
Some of them I have been giving hints and game analysis for years. But I see that some of them are very stubborn.
Ignoring hints, and being caught in the same cycle of patterns of thinking. Not studying on a regular base. Playing the faster time controls mostly.
Developing patience, as well as having peace of mind, and playing the slower time controls and then analysing your own games is a must to improve with chess for most players.
But then there's also the physical limits.
Your eye sight must be reasonably good. A good memory is handy, as well as imagination and good visualisation skills (I see some chessplayers at the chess club having problems with the board coordinates. It helps your chess if you get them right). Then there's stamina needed in the longer time controls, and you need a backbone.
If you lose a pawn, and you start to feel bad, and "talk yourself down", then that is a weakness to work on.
Also, how would you check whether your chess is improving ?
Only looking at rating ?
Maybe it is a better idea to look at your chess games content.
The fewer mistakes there are, and the more good moves you found does show improvement.
Getting a higher rating but by winning on time or with blunderfest games is not real improvement.
And rating is just a number, usually a temporary value, depending on many factors.
Look at your game content, and try to produce some good games. Even when your rating is low, sharing a good game that you played with other chess players can be much more rewarding than a few ice cold rating points.

This recurring question is not so easy to answer. Capablanca and Morphy never really studied chess from books. They just watched others play chess and learned. Can most other aspiring new chess players do the same ? Probably not. GM Dlugy claimed that he learned a lot about chess by playing blitz. Can most other aspiring new chess players do the same ? Maybe not. What works for you might not work for someone else. Doing tactic puzzles might help you but if you drop pieces nevertheless, and if you continue playing bullet only (Why ? Is it so much fun to watch GMs play bullet that we copy cat, and don't bother to actually study chess and analyse our own games ?), then you cannot expect much chess improvement. For most chess players the mantra probably should be : Study, train, play, analyse on a regular base, and find a good balance. Playing a lot and hardly analyse your own games, is unlikely to succeed. Studying a lot but hardly playing any games might also not be the best. There's several players that I try to support to get better. Some of them I have been giving hints and game analysis for years. But I see that some of them are very stubborn. Ignoring hints, and being caught in the same cycle of patterns of thinking. Not studying on a regular base. Playing the faster time controls mostly. Developing patience, as well as having peace of mind, and playing the slower time controls and then analysing your own games is a must to improve with chess for most players. But then there's also the physical limits. Your eye sight must be reasonably good. A good memory is handy, as well as imagination and good visualisation skills (I see some chessplayers at the chess club having problems with the board coordinates. It helps your chess if you get them right). Then there's stamina needed in the longer time controls, and you need a backbone. If you lose a pawn, and you start to feel bad, and "talk yourself down", then that is a weakness to work on. Also, how would you check whether your chess is improving ? Only looking at rating ? Maybe it is a better idea to look at your chess games content. The fewer mistakes there are, and the more good moves you found does show improvement. Getting a higher rating but by winning on time or with blunderfest games is not real improvement. And rating is just a number, usually a temporary value, depending on many factors. Look at your game content, and try to produce some good games. Even when your rating is low, sharing a good game that you played with other chess players can be much more rewarding than a few ice cold rating points.

Ok I have a few ideas on what you can do:

  1. Do 10-20 puzzles everyday, it's fine if you don't do it everyday but it would be good to do it every 2 or 3 days if you are busy.

  2. If there are otb tournaments near your area go! I would suggest every 2 or 3 weeks to go to an otb tourney.[ You need to keep otb distance near, don't have a 2 month gap, it's bad.

  3. Get a coach who you know will take care, teach you stuff and make you improve. [There are coaches here lichess.org/coach]

  4. After you play games not only analyse them with the computer also click on the button that says "Learn From My Mistakes" and you will see what you did wrong.

  5. Go here lichess.org/practice and you can choose what to work on.

  6. lichess.org/video here there are so much videos on Master games, openings and much more! For sure they will teach you something.

  7. Play a lot of Rapid/Classical! The best time controls I recommend are: 15+15, 5+10, 30+30 will help a lot for you to think a LOT, 10+5, 25+0 and maybe 10+0, it might be a little short. For fun you can play some blitz! 2+0 bullet would be fine but 1+0 and Ultrabullet can mess up your mind.

  8. You can always make studies and help yourself with the engine and the opening explorer, on the studies you can learn a lot of things including new lines, endgame and opening! You can also put your games there and analyse them, also famous games and master games will pop up on the opening explorer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA61XWV3gYw Here is a brief study video on how to work with it might help]

  9. Get some good books and they will show you some positions, get your board and put on the positions from the book and study it. I was told that it would seriously improve my level so I am starting to do it. Here are some good books: Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master, Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions Into Chess Mastery, My System and art of attack in chess!

  10. Watch top player games and study them, on other sites like chess24 and chessbomb there are all of the best GM tournaments so take some time and watch them, they discover new lines and openings as well!

I hope this helped and good luck in improving yourself!

Thanks,
Mysterious

Ok I have a few ideas on what you can do: 1. Do 10-20 puzzles everyday, it's fine if you don't do it everyday but it would be good to do it every 2 or 3 days if you are busy. 2. If there are otb tournaments near your area go! I would suggest every 2 or 3 weeks to go to an otb tourney.[ You need to keep otb distance near, don't have a 2 month gap, it's bad. 3. Get a coach who you know will take care, teach you stuff and make you improve. [There are coaches here lichess.org/coach] 4. After you play games not only analyse them with the computer also click on the button that says "Learn From My Mistakes" and you will see what you did wrong. 5. Go here lichess.org/practice and you can choose what to work on. 6. lichess.org/video here there are so much videos on Master games, openings and much more! For sure they will teach you something. 7. Play a lot of Rapid/Classical! The best time controls I recommend are: 15+15, 5+10, 30+30 will help a lot for you to think a LOT, 10+5, 25+0 and maybe 10+0, it might be a little short. For fun you can play some blitz! 2+0 bullet would be fine but 1+0 and Ultrabullet can mess up your mind. 8. You can always make studies and help yourself with the engine and the opening explorer, on the studies you can learn a lot of things including new lines, endgame and opening! You can also put your games there and analyse them, also famous games and master games will pop up on the opening explorer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA61XWV3gYw Here is a brief study video on how to work with it might help] 9. Get some good books and they will show you some positions, get your board and put on the positions from the book and study it. I was told that it would seriously improve my level so I am starting to do it. Here are some good books: Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master, Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions Into Chess Mastery, My System and art of attack in chess! 10. Watch top player games and study them, on other sites like chess24 and chessbomb there are all of the best GM tournaments so take some time and watch them, they discover new lines and openings as well! I hope this helped and good luck in improving yourself! Thanks, Mysterious

i dont know man... all i do is play a lot of 10 minute games and not worry too much :)... apart from that of course there are a lot of youtube channels which offer excellent content. I guess reading books is sort of hard which i havent really done myself

i dont know man... all i do is play a lot of 10 minute games and not worry too much :)... apart from that of course there are a lot of youtube channels which offer excellent content. I guess reading books is sort of hard which i havent really done myself

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