I have been wanting to reach atomic 2K but I get to 1970-1950 and drop back to 1900. I have tried to reach 2k, and everytime I fall all the way back down. Any tips?
During games that go to the endgame and you are losing go next to your opponents king with your king so your king cannot explode
@ieatpants Lichess's atomic ratings have been dropping so it's harder for many players to keep ratings they once had. Though as a former 2k (even 2.1k), the key to reaching 2k in atomic is playing daily and learning from your mistakes. Most of an atomic chess game is determined by the opening, so learn from every game you lose and you'll become better and better.
Let's analyze a bit the opening 1. Nh3 h6 2. e4 e6 3. d4 Ba3?! that I see you played recently. Tbh this looks like trick playing and an attempt to avoid theory, because if white understands the idea "4. bxa3 Na6 5. Qh5-b5-b7 and use b-file for the rook to ditch black queen", then you're a toast. And this is the main idea in the moderately popular line 3... Na6 4. Qh5?!-b5-b7 (4. Nc3 is the mainline), with the caveat that here white needs to push the b-pawn which still exists. This example demonstrates how a player with knowledge and practical skills to play popular lines can apply it in cryptic sidelines as well. If you don't want to learn opening theory and improve it over time then maybe Atomic is not a game for you, because white's advantage and devastating nature of captures make opening mistakes quite costly for black.
The general philosophy in Atomic is that your skill almost entirely depends on your ability to defend as black in various openings. Since white is in strong opening position, not only white can get a nearly winning advantage in several different ways, but white can also sacrifice some of their advantage to force black into the territory which white player knows well and black barely remembers. If you're too bored to study theory for black outside the games, you should at least take care to identify mistakes and improvements as black after the games where you got bad position out of the opening. Also, avoid blatant trick playing that you yourself know how to defeat as white.
There is also a counterintuitive idea that it is beneficial to have wide prep for white rather than deep (although it is OK to have a deep prep for your favourite line ofc), and play many different openings as white. Tis because to beat white in different openings, you need to think like white in different openings.
If we go beyond openings, you might also find useful endgames studies by tipau: lichess.org/study/by/tipau Endgames are essential for inventing ideas to drive your middlegames, and even for opening analysis, since some Atomic openings result in tons of exchanges and reduce to endgame on the spot. (Tipau also has a nice atomic youtube channel, btw - type tipau on youtube.)
The general philosophy in Atomic is that your skill almost entirely depends on your ability to defend as black in various openings. Since white is in strong opening position, not only white can get a nearly winning advantage in several different ways, but white can also sacrifice some of their advantage to force black into the territory which white player knows well and black barely remembers. If you're too bored to study theory for black outside the games, you should at least take care to identify mistakes and improvements as black after the games where you got bad position out of the opening. Also, avoid blatant trick playing that you yourself know how to defeat as white.
There is also a counterintuitive idea that it is beneficial to have wide prep for white rather than deep (although it is OK to have a deep prep for your favourite line ofc), and play many different openings as white. Tis because to beat white in different openings, you need to think like white in different openings.
If we go beyond openings, you might also find useful endgames studies by tipau: lichess.org/study/by/tipau Endgames are essential for inventing ideas to drive your middlegames, and even for opening analysis, since some Atomic openings result in tons of exchanges and reduce to endgame on the spot. (Tipau also has a nice atomic youtube channel, btw - type tipau on youtube.)
Thanks for the information Wolfram, I have tried to get better and not just base everything into white theory on the 2N, but it's hard not too when I was 1850 and when I did learn theory about white, I skyrocket to 1950. I know you shouldn't just theory the shit of atomic because thats not what makes a good atomic player, learning tactics and calc. lines are. I know ijh said to stop using theory but I dont know how without losing and going back to by 1850 rating.
Its hard not to base your play style on theory when thats what made you such a good player.
> I know you shouldn't just theory the shit of atomic because thats not what makes a good atomic player, learning tactics and calc. lines are.
Actually, theory is most of the stuff. There are definitely tacit chess knowledge like being able to quickly spot tactics, or being able to manage time wisely, or calculate accurately, and these are what makes the difference at the very top. They are hard to improve, and most people use classical chess resources to do that. But I also know some people who are not very strong in chess, but reached 2100-2200 level in Atomic. The key point is that they learned Atomic theory wide, that is, many alternative lines, and not simply one way of playing. This gives you multi-dimensional positional knowledge of the game, although it will not teach you calculate faster and deeper.
>I know ijh said to stop using theory but I dont know how without losing and going back to by 1850 rating.
I think what ijh meant is stop playing the same stuff over and over and get out of the comfort zone. I don't see anything particularly bad in playing the same opening like 200 games in a row if you amend your mistakes over time, BUT you should at least change this opening from time to time (say, once in a month) and not ALWAYS play the same opening. Roughly at 1800s I started with spamming Nf3 e3 actually; then after some time switched to Nf3 Nc3. Then probably to e3 Nf3 or Nh3 e4, I don't remember exactly. The first switch is the hardest, each next comes more easily. The rating will first drop, but then is likely to grow even higher then it was before, when you get used to the new opening, because actually the quality of opening doesn't matter much for your rating as matters your general skill (which will grow) and familiarity with the tricks in this opening.
Actually, theory is most of the stuff. There are definitely tacit chess knowledge like being able to quickly spot tactics, or being able to manage time wisely, or calculate accurately, and these are what makes the difference at the very top. They are hard to improve, and most people use classical chess resources to do that. But I also know some people who are not very strong in chess, but reached 2100-2200 level in Atomic. The key point is that they learned Atomic theory wide, that is, many alternative lines, and not simply one way of playing. This gives you multi-dimensional positional knowledge of the game, although it will not teach you calculate faster and deeper.
>I know ijh said to stop using theory but I dont know how without losing and going back to by 1850 rating.
I think what ijh meant is stop playing the same stuff over and over and get out of the comfort zone. I don't see anything particularly bad in playing the same opening like 200 games in a row if you amend your mistakes over time, BUT you should at least change this opening from time to time (say, once in a month) and not ALWAYS play the same opening. Roughly at 1800s I started with spamming Nf3 e3 actually; then after some time switched to Nf3 Nc3. Then probably to e3 Nf3 or Nh3 e4, I don't remember exactly. The first switch is the hardest, each next comes more easily. The rating will first drop, but then is likely to grow even higher then it was before, when you get used to the new opening, because actually the quality of opening doesn't matter much for your rating as matters your general skill (which will grow) and familiarity with the tricks in this opening.
@ieatpants not sure if this will help you, but I can give you a look at my friend's studio - lichess.org/study/Firb30rb.
>I know ijh said to stop using theory but I dont know how without losing and going back to by 1850 rating.
I think this has been misinterpreted. Everyone uses theory; it’s just a part of the game. However, the problem with theory arises when players start memorizing stockfish moves in the opening blindly and have no idea what to do once they are out of theory. Sure, memorizing 7 stockfish moves as white will give you a couple hundred elo if you’re 1500 or so, but that method has to be discarded almost immediately afterwards if you want to see continued improvement. As Wolfram has already pointed out, diversifying your openings will help a LOT as you will amass knowledge about many openings and fall victim to traps in those openings less often; however, you must understand the why behind the how in openings if you really want to improve. Once you start understanding why certain variations are preferred over others and why other variations are just bad because they get punished by something, you’ll fare much better when you are out of theory as these ideas can often be applied not only to other openings which you might not be the most familiar with, but also to punish blunders in the middlegame when your opponent misses something and falls to an opening trap later on. Other than that, just analyzing your games and looking at the mistakes/blunders you made and learning from them will improve all parts of your game as well. Do these things, and I really don’t see a way you don’t get 2000 atomic.
P.S. Not sure if you already know about this or not, but here’s a pastebin with a lot of links to learning material in atomic for all parts of the game: pastebin.com/Bfq4jwsc
I think this has been misinterpreted. Everyone uses theory; it’s just a part of the game. However, the problem with theory arises when players start memorizing stockfish moves in the opening blindly and have no idea what to do once they are out of theory. Sure, memorizing 7 stockfish moves as white will give you a couple hundred elo if you’re 1500 or so, but that method has to be discarded almost immediately afterwards if you want to see continued improvement. As Wolfram has already pointed out, diversifying your openings will help a LOT as you will amass knowledge about many openings and fall victim to traps in those openings less often; however, you must understand the why behind the how in openings if you really want to improve. Once you start understanding why certain variations are preferred over others and why other variations are just bad because they get punished by something, you’ll fare much better when you are out of theory as these ideas can often be applied not only to other openings which you might not be the most familiar with, but also to punish blunders in the middlegame when your opponent misses something and falls to an opening trap later on. Other than that, just analyzing your games and looking at the mistakes/blunders you made and learning from them will improve all parts of your game as well. Do these things, and I really don’t see a way you don’t get 2000 atomic.
P.S. Not sure if you already know about this or not, but here’s a pastebin with a lot of links to learning material in atomic for all parts of the game: pastebin.com/Bfq4jwsc
@ieatpants
I advise you to participate in the Summer Olympics
Test no.4
Sample No. 4 will be the Antichess-Atomic hybrid
There will be a 9-round Swiss tournament in which 12-game pops will be played (6 antichess and 6 Atomic)
challonge.com/ASO2021AAhibrid
records here
lichess.org/forum/team-antichess-summer-olympics-2021/antichess-atomic
There will be 9 weeks of play in which you will be able to study your opponent. This will increase your strength.
I advise you to participate in the Summer Olympics
Test no.4
Sample No. 4 will be the Antichess-Atomic hybrid
There will be a 9-round Swiss tournament in which 12-game pops will be played (6 antichess and 6 Atomic)
challonge.com/ASO2021AAhibrid
records here
lichess.org/forum/team-antichess-summer-olympics-2021/antichess-atomic
There will be 9 weeks of play in which you will be able to study your opponent. This will increase your strength.
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