Forum

Hi guys, I'm not new in chess, but I would like to compete next year in a local FIDE-rated tournament. Starting ratings: Lichess Rapid: 1229 Chess.com Rapid: 803 (only 6 matches played) Training Tools: Tactics: The Woodpecker Method (on Chessable) Strategy: How to reassess your chess by Jeremy Silman Openings: Courses about Ruy Lopez and French Defense on Chessbase Endgames: 100 Endgames you must know by De La Villa (on Chessable) Tactics, tactics and tactics

Hi! I'm new here, I'd like to know how things work here, how I can increase my knowledge with you. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to answer me!

Just saying hello. Would like to get above 1800 Chess.com Rapid and stay there. I would like a playing partner of a similar level, if anyone is interested.

Game one  Even development in the beginning Good tactic found in the middlegame. Don’t be too greedy   Game two Good opening and fair amount of development Good holding the position together in the end Good win

Excited to get back into studying chess! I did the beginner plan a year or two ago and that helped bring up my rapid rating from like 400 to ~1200. Want to try and lock in for another couple months and see where I can get. I am feeling pretty good about the study plan except for when it comes to openings. I am pretty much only an e4/e5 kind of player and against d4/c4 I go for the KID (although I don't feel like I have a very good idea as to what I am doing there). Would love some advice on how to best study and really learn openings (or if there are good places to look for creating my own personal opening database). I have kind of avoided really learning openings and it's mostly just vibes but I think that is starting to be a little limiting. Lemme know if you have any ideas there. Starting Ratings 2/17/25: Chess.com Blitz: 1201 (Goal 1500) Chess.com Rapid: 1443 (Goal 1800) Chess.com Daily: 1159 USCF Classical: 1167 (Goal 1400) Study Resources: Rapid Games: 15|10 Blitz Games: 3|2 Classical Games: 55|5 Woodpecker Method: https://chesstraining.app/training/tactics/list Strategy/Openings: Chess.com lessons Book: How to Reassess Your Chess 4th Edition

Been playing chess for 5 years now. I feel like i've hit a plateu. I have reached 1800 in rapid on chess.com. But right after that it plummeted down. Haven’t been able to break through to the 1800 level. Do you have any advice for me?

These are my goals for 2025 FIDE ratings improvement: 1542 to 1600 Lichess classical: 1900 - 2000 Lichess Rapid: 1850 - 1950 Lichess Blitz: 1650 - 1750 Chesscom Rapid: 1700 - 1800 Chesscom blitz : 1450 - 1550 Complete at least 5 middlegame books Complete at least 2 endgame books  Complete 3 opening repertoire books  Complete at least 1 grandmaster-based book

I think these people need help.

After a couple of years of not playing chess (pretty much not at all), I'm quite excited to start playing, learning and improving my chess game once more, so it's time to pick things up. This is where I'm starting from: Puzzles: 1816 Rapid: 946 Daily: 945 Blitz: 1039 I'm going to try and put in the daily work to get these numbers up, and will post updates every week on Wednesday. I'm also looking at joining a local, OTB chess club again, although I've not decided on that yet.

Greetings, everyone. I’m a rusty online player, once 2050-ish USCF OTB, now floored at 1800, and only upper 1500s in blitz here. I’d like to recover a little of my former glitter and show those kids on my lawn what’s what. More seriously, even getting back to 1800 in the company of what seems to be a happy and positive community would be great. Good luck.

I am starting the intermediate studying plan, I have been studying chess for the last few months and would like to try how this organized studying plan can lead me.. Some personal stats as of today: Chess.com blitz: ~1300 Chess.com rapid: 1415 (Somewhere underrated, climbing fast at current win rate) lichess blitz: 1600 - 1700 lichess rapid: ~1900. My goal is to reach ~1800 end of year.

I have heard some talk lately about improvement mindsets. The consensus is that it is better to have a “growth” mindset rather than a “fixed” mindset. The growth mindset has the view that you can grow in your understanding and skill while the fixed mindset believes that you have a certain level of talent and that if you fail it is because you just lacked sufficient talent to succeed. How does this affect goal setting for chess improvement? I think that focusing on rating gains (results) often comes from a fixed mindset while focusing on specific processes that will improve the way you play chess focuses more on growth. If important processes are improved, then rating gain will naturally follow. Bobby Fischer wrote that “Tactics flow from a positionally superior game.” This idea can be transformed into “Rating gains flow from superior game-playing processes.” Some Process to Improve: 1. Improve visualization, calculation, and evaluation.2. Improve candidate move selection.3. Improve time management. I’d like to set goals to improve these game-playing processes. While I think it is possible to have a rating improvement focused goal and still have a growth mindset, I also think it is better to set SMART goals that are based on improving processes so that the rating improvement naturally follows. Thoughts? Oh, another question. Proper goals need to follow the SMART principles.S = SpecificM = MeasurableA = AchievableR = RelevantT = Time-based The process goals I mentioned above are obviously relevant. It is not difficult to set specific, achievable, and time-based process-oriented goals. My problem is ... how can these be measured?

Hello Everyone!I hope this post finds you well. I'm excited to have discovered this group and all the resources at ChessGoals! Full transparency: I’ve always struggled with consistency in my chess playing and learning. I find myself coming to the site, playing regularly, reading articles, watching videos, keeping up with the GMs, and seeing my rating slowly increase—only to be distracted by life and have chess fade into the background for a while. Well... I'm back again (hopefully for an extended period of time)! A little more about my background and chess experience: I’m 34 years old, a husband and father, and an assistant principal at a high school. I’m always on the move! Outside of my time on Chess.com, I have zero tournament or OTB experience. My current ratings on Chess.com are: 584 in Rapid, 340 in Blitz, 877 in Daily, 1471 in Puzzles, 374 in Bullet, and 13 in Puzzle Rush (3:00 minute). I’m looking forward to starting ChessGoals' 12-week plan, improving my skills, and hearing about your progress as well!

Greetings everyone,  I found out about ChessGoals while listening to the Perpetual Chess podcast. I downloaded the study plan to improve my chess. My medium-term goal is to get to 1600, and my long-term goal is to be around 2000. Good luck to everyone with their respective goals. 

Hello Everyone!I want to achieve 1800 in rapid. So today I start 12 week plan to be a better player. Please wish me luck and persistence!Current ratings:Blitz 1370Rapid 1618Puzzles 2525Best regards!Brzydok

Greetings to all! I am Steingar17 here on Chess.com and I am here to improve my chess. In 2025 I will turn 70 years old and I feel some of my analytic skills declining. To reverse the decline I am taking up chess again. I have not played a rated game in over 25 years. I was USCF rated 1150 at that time.Now that the children are grown I will have a little more time. Although I am not a beginner, I will take the long route beginner course again and refresh everything I have forgotten. I look forward to learning and playing alongside all of you! 

Currently - FideRapid-1572 Fide standard - 1503 Chess.com Rapid- 2168 Chess.com Blitz- 2140 Chess.com Bullet -2201 Lichess rapid- 2172 Lichess Blitz-2034 Lichess Bullet- 2342

Hello everyone. Back to chess after many years. We will see how it goes.

Hello fellow ChessGoals members, I am sully2112 on chess.com and castlemaniac on lichess. I am planning on starting the beginner # 2 plan to increase my chess abilities. I am striving to achieve a chess.com rapid rating of 1500. I am an adult learner, 61 years old and have been playing chess for a long time as a patzer and never really studied. I am a member of the chess dojo but have not followed the recommendations so my rating has stayed stagnant. I am currently 1024 rapid on chess.com and 1507 rapid and 1240 classical on lichess. But the rapid rating is too high and the classical rating is still provisional. I do not play blitz or bullet but may try them. Generally, I play rapid games at 15/10 or longer on both chess.com and lichess and classical at 30+ min with or without an increment on lichess. I prefer longer time controls (30+ min). I will be updating this study plan post at least bi-weekly. Anyone can contact me to play games. I am usually available on the weekends in the morning from 7 AM - 11 AM US Eastern Time but will need to schedule the game 24 hours in advance. 

Hello guys iam new