lichess.org
Donate

Noob Chess Player Questions

Hope this is the right forum for this. If not, inform me and I will take it down without question.

1. I'm guessing there is no better way to study than to play games over and over again. If this is the case, what settings are best for me to learn? Right now I am doing a lot of 5 + 0, but often the opponents run out of time, leaving me with no endgame practice. ELO is not as important as in game knowledge right now.

2. I am still noob after studying some books on chess (as expected). I am still looking for some ways to improve myself. Obviously playing more is a good idea, but what else should I do?

3. How do you play so fast...
I've seen some players play so fast. My brain is too slow for that, hah.

Thanks for reading; sorry if I wasted your time.
Later.
:)
Remember man, "Practice makes a man perfect"...
Books and openings won,t help much.... Keep playing and find your mistakes on every match. It might be better if you play a bit longer games to improve chess tactics....
Try playing longer time controls and correspondence chess. In correspondence try analyzing every position before playing a move...
@ZenSpark

the best practice is to play over grandmaster games

5SD is too fast to learn anything

10SD would be better
5+10 even more so for improving your game

For me personally, it helped a lot watching some GM games on youtube. There are some good videos around with commentary and analysis. I think I learned a lot about the basics and important things while watching those videos.

And I agree to Misaaske. Try longer time controls. I think they are better than blitz or bullet games for improving your play.
Hello ZenSpark. Personally, I improved a lot by analyzing the depth of my moves. A year ago I'd just look at my move and the possible reply from my opponent, but I've learned to look at possible ramifications of my moves and of course the less time you have on the clock the more difficult this becomes. Also, when you find something new or really interesting in a book, try to work on that specifically before moving on because too much information at once is not very useful. Finally, I'd highly recommend John Batholomew's videos on Climbing the rating ladder. They're on youtube. He explains the typical mistakes that people make at different levels; the videos helped me notice many mistakes that I was making game after game.
#1 If you can...find someone who is at least a intermediate player that would be willing to teach you some chess basics. In 1970 I was where you are and I meant a player who's lessons got me able to start me really understanding the possibilities of the game. Also..use the chess instruction feature on this site. Click on the "learn" tab. I you master these chess basics ...you will see your game blossom. :] P.S. Question...Do you know what "en passant" is ? If you don't... you must first , master the rules of chess. Good Luck :]
Thank you to all who gave me tips. Rest assured I will make a list and follow them all as much as I can. Thank you all again; I appreciate the advice.

Have a great day!
I´ d suggest to learn one opening at least a few moves so that you dont blunder in the beggining and learn tactics like fork, discovered attack, pin, deflection and so forth and look for a possible tactics in every move you make, or try to set up a tactic. Focus on one opening first. When you start to understand the meaning of the opening, try another one. And also look for a videos of experienced players playing with commentary. Its very helpful seeing and hearing others way of thinking ingame.
@ZenSpark #1
Looking at your ratings and activity and the day you signed up here, I have the impression that your ratings are very low, which might mean that you are indeed somewhat slow (as you mentioned), and need more studying and training rather than more playing.
Are you analysing your own games, preferably with stronger players ?
Did you go through the Lichess training section ?
lichess.org/learn#/
lichess.org/practice
Is there a local chess club in your are where you live ?
(otb chess can be great for getting better at chess)
Are you waiting the videos from the beginner section and related ?
lichess.org/video?tags=beginner
lichess.org/video?tags=beginner/fundamentals
Are you using the Lichess "learn from your mistakes" option for your own games ?

My suggestions for now :
1) First do more tactic puzzles per day, and take your time.
Say at least 5 to 10 puzzles, and be consistent. Do it every day and at least during 3 months. (Doing 50 puzzles on 1 day and then 2 weeks nothing is not very useful).
2) Set yourself a rating goal to work towards.
If your tactics rating is now for example 1500 after having done 100 puzzles (Ratings based on just a few puzzles can be unreliable for this topic), then set your goal for example :
1700 tactics rating in 4 weeks time.
3) Try to figure out at which tactic patterns you are very good and which patterns you are weak at.
4) Focus only on slow time control chess, Rapid, Classical, and Correspondence chess, and take your time for each move. Do the capture and check checking before each move.
Play only blitz for fun, but don't take it serious for now.

Good luck, and enjoy your chess !

This topic has been archived and can no longer be replied to.