Hard reality but

I'm 42, both feet planted firmly in the grave, etc. Remains to be seen if I continue to progress, but I feel puzzles really help because at this level it seems it's just about spotting basic tactics, learning to think (and what to think about) on every move, not so much about memorizing.

I'm also 38. Kinda stalled on lichess, but been climbing steadily on the other site where I play only 30-min games. Its faster to find an opponent there. I think if your mindset is to improve, you just have to put in the time and work consistently on it. The most recent episode of Chess Journeys had a guy who started playing around 48yo and he made it to 1900 USCF in 10 years. That would be like 2100-2200 lichess rapid, I believe.

I'm only 14 but I do stall a lot sometimes, I've dropped around 50-100 blitz points recently. However I'm usually not trying to improve, which is what you should be doing if you really want to raise your points. @SteinarArason at the 1200 level a few lines of opening theory (playing against Fried Liver with d5 exd5 Na5, etc.) can defend you against common opening open traps, and it's good to know the main tactical and positional themes, such as intermezzo, zugzwang, and pawn structure basics. With these, it shouldn't be too difficult for you to raise 300 points!

@Mate_on_f7 I see you have really good ratings. Playing as young is different. It's like learning new language. Easier for young.

@zozzers lol but we are not that old but analyzing my game I'm like how did I not see this slap my head. Then next game I analyze damn similar mistake haha

@SteinarArason said in #14:

@Mate_on_f7 I see you have really good ratings. Playing as young is different. It's like learning new language. Easier for young.
My ratings aren't too good, I just spam lots of bullet games haha
Some players are really good at instinctive play but not calculation (me), for some it's different... The more games you play, its easier to build intuition

@Mate_on_f7 bullets are not real chess to me. Just trying to survive the clock haha maybe good for tactics and cheap traps haha do you agree?

Agreed :) It's 40% tactics and 60% clock, but I've got school so I don't really have too much time to play rapid games

Getting worst if u didn't want to take vaccine to join tournament

@kaotic99 said in #10:

Walk towards the light.
Don't do that