Reached 1500 how to improve further?

I reached 1500 and I'm wondering how to further improve my play.

If you have any tips, it would be greatly appreciated :)

It's pretty much the same advice regardless of your rating: work tactics problems regularly, improve your positional understanding by playing master games and reviewing your own games (don't let the computer do the work for you). I'd say 1500 is probably the level where openings and endgames can both subjects of deeper study. Don't go nuts studying openings, though - it's a common trap.

Here's a post I made in the "training diaries" forum at chesstempo (great site, btw) on what I'm doing to try to improve from 1850. My goal is 2000 in 2-3 years. old.chesstempo.com/chess-forum/training_diaries/bwtaylor_training_reload-t10386.0.html;msg73025#msg73025

Any progress above 1500 pretty much requires some kind of stud and systematic sustained effort. You aren't going to get better by playing blitz and bullet, nor by watching streams or running your games through an engine. You have to exercise your chess muscles until they are a little sore.

@PushyPush Thanks for the advice, my friend. I mostly play rapid games.

A few years ago I made a serious push to get better from the mid/low 1700s. I used correspondence as a major component of my improvement. I was able to get my rating up to about 1900 and I credit it with a big chunk of the gains (along with regular tactical training). Interestingly, the gains I made were reflected across the board. I think by studying reusable ideas really deeply you get them to stick in your brain much better.

BTW, I'm not sure how old you are. You have more upside if you are young, but I believe that for most players, improvement at almost any age is possible. I gained almost 200 rating points is my 40s, for example. I have a friend who's gained 200 points in his 50s.

@PushyPush I am fairly young, I have a lot of free time for studying if I really want to.

You should check out the chessdojo stream and vidoes . IM Kostya Kavutskiy there and on his own channel has a ton of really, really good advice on how to improve.

Another thing I recommend, especially for class B and C players, is forcing your self to play openings sometimes that lead to games that aren't your preferred style. eg: if you are a positional player, play gambits (king's, smith-morra, evans, BDG). If you are a tactics monster, play the queens indian, reti, colle, caro-kann .

Bump, in the same situation.

I think the below more experimental methods of improvement are fairly interesting... you know, since chess ratings are relative and performance based:

1. Practice more tuba? YES. Get that march stuck in your head and go march on your opponent's face.

2. Imagine whirled peas! And then imagine squashing them one at a time into submission. Then move.

3. Read "The Art of War" and then throw it onto the floor before the game and give a battle cry as your first pawn marches.

4. Think hard... MIGHTY YAWP!.. think hard... They will never know what the heck that was.

Good luck! If you give any of these a go, let us all know how it went. We're counting on you!

@DrHack Thank you, pal. I just finished 1400-1599 chapters in Jeremy Silman's Complete Endgame Coursebook, which should give me a large endgame advantage now.

Sometimes knowing what endgames are playable and how to play them can make middlegame decisions easier: