Repost from my reddit to get more interactions - plateauing in my USCF chess

Warning: long post

Haven’t posted here in a while. I hadn’t really had any big chess problems that I couldn’t solve. But after 2 years I have been perpetually stuck in the 1700s for my USCF regular rating.

I’ve tried different schedules. I used to play 2-4 tourneys a month. The high end of that was getting to be too much, especially since I was traveling a bit for tournaments. It was starting to feel like burnout and tourneys became a chore. Nowadays I’m playing a tourney every 4-5 weeks and practicing a lot more in between.

I played a tournament the first weekend of January, and then I just played in a tournament this past weekend. This weekend’s tournament wasn’t the best with a loss of rating points (1791 to 1771). I just don’t get it. I was consistently doing 10 lichess tactics each day as well as looking at my opening studies and doing correspondence matches. Plus I was re-reading this one chess book. I think that consistency in my work ethic is something that was missing from my past chess practice. In the past I would do, for example, 30 tactics in one day but it wouldn’t be consistently a daily thing. So I was really proud that I forced myself to work on things every day in between this tourney and the last tourney. During this 5 week stretch in between tourneys I also analyzed all of my 2018 matches without a computer. And I was finding new winning ideas and other moves I could have made pretty quickly. Cringing at those past games I think told me that I should be a better player now. But of course when I looked at the games from this past weekend I cringed a little bit as well.

I guess one thing that was missing was that I’m in an OTB league that has matches about 2 times a month. I didn’t get into any lineups during the tourney break because I was busy with grad school night classes. So I hadn’t played for the team since December, although I’m playing for them tonight. It’s possible that I was a little out of shape in terms of OTB practice.

Of course for this past tourney there were some things that were out of my hands. I had to play two 2100s who were tough, as well as a 1550 who played really well. But ever since about May 2017 I have been bouncing around the 1700s, with my peak rating of 1801 back in October 2018. I know I shouldn’t worry about my rating that much, because I should be thinking more about whether or not I’m a better chess player in terms of my skills. And I do feel like I’m a better chess player.

So where to go from here? Does it mean taking a break from chess? Does it mean working harder at what I’m doing? Or changing what I work on in my chess? I wrote down the big weaknesses I had in 2018. They were (out of 85 games)

-not doing well in the openings, 33 times (although by the end of the year I had figured things out better since in 2018 I was transitioning from 1. e4 to 1. d4 as well as a different response as black to 1. d4)

-releasing the trade tension too quickly or trying to go for trades too often, even when it would make my position worse, 14 times

-not having a plan or the right plan, 14 times

-not making a tidy move / prophylactic move, 12 times

Any help would be appreciated for anyone who has been plateauing.

TLDR: I’m plateauing in the 1700s and don’t know how to get out of it

At that level you can literally improve at every area. But playing will only get you to a certain level. Eventually you will have to study. If I were you I would focus on tactics and endgames.

@lovlas

I don't really understand this, "Work on endgames and tactics". Maybe it's a magic pill people take. I don't know. Maybe I did work on tactics and didn't know it. I did look at Silman's endgame course, and I am pretty decent "For my level" at endgames. But I don't see how to study those to further the cause. And I have asked an IM before how do I incorporate these endgames into my games, and he couldn't really tell me. So.. I am not sure the profound platitude that everyone speaks "Focus on tactics and engames" is proper in every respect. Unless you want to explain further or something. I would love to examine this at some point but no one stronger than myself wants to just analyze with a low rated player for shits and giggles.

@chennis I don't 100% disagree with lovlas. I think you're doing okay with the 10-30 tactics puzzles per day because you need at least 10. And doing too many can be hurtful to your progress. Also depending on your current endgame knowledge you may need to work on your endgames to progress to the next level. I don't know your endgame knowledge currently so I can only ask if you have read Silman's book?

Here is what I know. I am around 2050 average. Including my USCF is within a few points of that. I literally "JUMPED" over 1700-1800. I was 1600 when I won the u1700 section in vegas and it floored me at 1700 and then I just jumped to 1800+ in like 2-3 tournaments. Never saw u1800 again. I can't say I know the problems an u1800 player faces without actually analyzing with them. I can do this if you want to join my discord. I don't mind doing club like analysis in voice format. It could be fun.

https://discord.gg/rDWnaQd

I had my troubles around 1100. And When I focused on quality of my games instead of quantity of information, my rating shot to 1900 relatively quick. I plateaued at 1950 for about 6 years. After some reflection and studying GM Smirnov's material I broke 2000 and I feel I can move on to 2100 and 2200 soon. Maybe it's what you're actually studying or focusing on that is slowing you down. And possibly you could use people to talk to about common positions you are getting. I don't know.. But if we can get things going like I would like maybe we can help each other improve.

@MeWantCookieMobile thanks! I have read Silman's endgame course because I own a lot of books. I have about 30-40 books but definitely feel like they can only get me so far. I got a lot of responses on my reddit post https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/at6qo7/my_chess_is_plateauing_need_help/

I think for now it's going to be taking about a month long break. Although I play in an OTB team league, so I have 2 team matches in March so far. Then when I'm back it can be your discord, changing up the tactics I do such as chesstempo instead of lichess, having my chess friend / free coach give me a tough puzzle each day to work on, maybe doing endgame studies. And making sure that I'm giving myself a couple days of rest each week, such as on the weekends.

I'm hoping that taking an actual extended break from chess for the first time in about 3 years (so no chess related activities) will rejuvenate me and hopefully make me realize what I have to do to get to the next level. And yes, I have done the National Open twice if that's the Vegas tourney you were talking about.

@chennis North American open 2007. U1700 section.

Breaks could be okay, but sometimes when I take a break it takes me a bit to get back in shape. It's possible it's the same thing as me which is reassess how you look at a chess board with special lessons, and/or make your thinking process more structured. Some of my colleagues in the club believes I am one of the more positional minded players. Some think I am the openings guru, some think I am the endgames. I like to think I am becoming more "Well rounded".

Do you have games from your last OTB tournament handy?

@MeWantCookieMobile I invited you to the study. It's a little messy https://lichess.org/study/Nxb7RQCM

@chennis

Yeah. so I looked at the study. It's interesting. I kind of know Todd. He introduced me to one of his clubs once and I played in a tournament. That was like 15 years ago or so. Saw him again I think at the world open 2018. I think he said he wasn't doing as well as he would have liked.

I have a feeling I know at least part of what you're having trouble with. Might have to get to know each other more. Some of it is tactical. Like "Practical tactics". Your Qxf2 line, where you assessed everything good about the ideas and nothing bad. One of the things I am trying to correct is similar. Based on a mantra I heard or saw once. It stated, "The difference between a professional player and an amateur player is, the amateur player when assessing a tactic tries to force the tactic to work. Where the professional player looks for how it is refuted." This is a hard habit to break.. But I think that is pretty much on the money. I mean yes.. You look for ways to make it work, but before you play the move you must assess to see if there is a way to refute the move, or your work is for naught. You did this several times. And I noticed you miss easy tricks, and then I noticed something very common in low rated play. And that is it looks like when you played a player who is your senior, you scare yourself out of playing good moves, and even panic and use unsound sacrifices to get pressure off.

How is my assessment? Close?

Player

Endgames are just chess with less pieces. If you are gonna be able to play well with many pieces you must first learn how to play well with less pieces.

@MeWantCookieMobile I think good tactics should be easier to spot. I think Qxf2 I spent a decent amount time on and then decided to do it because it was tactical in nature. Even tho it's simply just a trade of pieces. I think I sometimes try to stir things up in my games. Even though against someone like a 1560 I should just sit back a bit more, knowing that my position is good (I'm up a pawn at that point). For example, last night in an OTB team league match I was a little worse out of the opening. But I was playing against a much lower rated player, although I didn't know his rating at the time. So I just sat back and tried to play some defense. And eventually he started making bad moves and I pounced. I think I need to sometimes be ok with counterattacking rather than trying for attacks that aren't decisive. The tactics have to be clear cut. Otherwise if I'm winning there's a chance that I could end up losing. I should be going for a steadier advantage more than trying to make something work.

And also it gets back to being able to evaluate the position after a tactic. Who's better? What is my opponent's next move after the tactical sequence is done?

I don't know what you mean by unsound sacrifices. V Kurt I knew I had to sac on c4, and after the game he said that was my only chance. V Todd I was in time pressure and I should be doing more defending my own things instead of attacking him while he attacks me and then anything can happen. Plus that Bxa2 tactic wasn't good in nature because of him being able to do Ba6, but then it's a tactic I do because it's tactical and then I don't know what to do after Be3 move. In general I should be defending my weaknesses before I go after his/hers.

So overall it's about letting the board come to me more. If I see a tactic there then it shouldn't take me 10-15 minutes to figure it out. If not then it's about making solid moves. And also coming up with plans since I feel like when I have a concrete plan I get to save a lot of time on the clock as well as I usually win those games.

@lovlas yes, I think as I get better more of my games will go to endgames. Right now endgame practice will come more from studies rather than OTB, since most of my games are decided in the middlegame. And about a year ago I had realized that my win-loss-draw record after 50 moves was a lot better than my record in under 50 move games. I think endgame will also help with visualization since it can be 10+ moves I have to see, although with less pieces it's easier to visualize more moves. And it's also about thinking schematically about what I need to do in the position.