Hello Lichess community, I just wanted to put this out there even though by my admission I've only been an occasional -- if we can call it that -- player up to now.
I know how to move the pieces and at least try to practice what I've picked up about defending my pieces from the Chess Basics course here (for the new people, I recommend you take it; it's very good). But I am observing some weaknesses that I sense are holding me back:
1) I can't figure out where I'm making mistakes in my games to save my life, and I am no fan of using engines because as a diagnosed neurodivergent (Asperger's Syndrome, which is high-functioning autism) it's more helpful to get a plain English explanation of why the move is a mistake; just telling me what the better move was doesn't make it any more obvious.
2) I'm overwhelmed by my study options. There are just so many courses in the Study section...how do I know which ones are worth picking out? If it helps, I don't know any openings offhand (bad), and the only thing I can say for myself is that I consider a game at least a reasonable try if I'm not mated in 20 moves or so.
Or put more simply, I'm struggling to put together a study plan for myself because there's so much to look at and part of me is wondering if I might have to hire a coach. For what it's worth. my only wins are a couple of correspondence games that I won by timeout, which is why I don't play correspondence games anymore.
Thoughts?
I know how to move the pieces and at least try to practice what I've picked up about defending my pieces from the Chess Basics course here (for the new people, I recommend you take it; it's very good). But I am observing some weaknesses that I sense are holding me back:
1) I can't figure out where I'm making mistakes in my games to save my life, and I am no fan of using engines because as a diagnosed neurodivergent (Asperger's Syndrome, which is high-functioning autism) it's more helpful to get a plain English explanation of why the move is a mistake; just telling me what the better move was doesn't make it any more obvious.
2) I'm overwhelmed by my study options. There are just so many courses in the Study section...how do I know which ones are worth picking out? If it helps, I don't know any openings offhand (bad), and the only thing I can say for myself is that I consider a game at least a reasonable try if I'm not mated in 20 moves or so.
Or put more simply, I'm struggling to put together a study plan for myself because there's so much to look at and part of me is wondering if I might have to hire a coach. For what it's worth. my only wins are a couple of correspondence games that I won by timeout, which is why I don't play correspondence games anymore.
Thoughts?
