200 Elo

Need Help!! I've been playing chess.com for well over a year now but im stuck at 200 Elo! I've studied the London defense, Caro Kann defense, and a bit of the Slav defense. I have 1231 puzzle elo. I even played against and beat advanced chess bots like Emir. But I somehow lose to someone rated 174 - 211 who I'd assume would be worse at the game or just as good as me. I've looked at different youtubers and cant seem to at least 300.

Hi

Don’t even bother with openings right now, it’s all about tactics, piece safety, and getting pieces active and developed as much as possible. Nobody at that level is playing openings properly and following known theory long, and if you don’t understand general chess concepts any opening advantage you could possibly obtain is going to disappear once you are out of your opening theory. Also ignore bots, play human players as bots play weird unnatural chess moves that you likely won’t see against human opponents. I also recommend trying Daily chess and work on your thought process, allow yourself to carefully evaluate each position and identify what’s going on before looking at candidate moves to make. You have to learn to walk before your run, as it were.

Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond.....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

The biggest reason people struggle in lower-level chess is because of blunders. They make them in almost every game.

A mistake can instantly put you in a bad position, no matter how well you played earlier: if you had great opening knowledge, great positional skills, great endgame skills, whatever; a single mistake can change everything (you lose a piece or get checkmated).

So, how do you avoid blunders? Follow this simple algorithm:

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While avoiding blunders is crucial, I also share a few basic principles with my students. These principles help them figure out what to do in each part of the game - the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. Understanding these simple principles is like having a map for your moves. I provide my students with more advanced algorithms that incorporate these fundamental principles. When you use this knowledge along with being careful about blunders, you're not just getting better at defending. You're also learning a well-rounded approach to chess. Keep in mind, chess is not just about not making mistakes; it's about making smart and planned moves to outsmart your opponent.

Thanks everyone, this advice is helping a lot! Especially the parts about hanging too many pieces.

So at this Elo, I'm supposed to focus on tactics & piece safety? Edit: Do I play the london system or caro kann good?

Concentrate more on the moves you make during the game , learn to analyse the board for threats and opportunities and how to respond appropriately and understand the basic principles of openings through which you can get an idea of how to approach the position .

You wrote that you had learned some openings, but it is more necessary to understand the main opening ideas than to try to memorize some exact opening moves. And, of course, tactics is the most important thing.

Hi Food300!

I'm glad you want to improve your chess skills. I offer resources for beginners to get better in chess. 

 

1. Here are some other general tips to help you: Before each move, I highly encourage you ask questions before every move such as, “If I move here, is it safe?”, “Can I safely capture a piece?”, and more. Also consider all checks and captures on your side and also your opponent’s side. Be VERY CONSISTENT with this. Your job is to NEVER make any silly mistakes in any game! If you continue to make silly mistakes, you will have a very hard time getting your rating up.

 

2) I offer a Twitch channel for beginners so they can get better in chess. Send me a game and I’ll analyze your games for free on my Twitch livestream. I livestream every Monday at 9:30pm PST, Wednesday at 9:30pm PST and Friday at 2pm PST. 

https://www.twitch.tv/laurengoodkindchess

 

 

3)

I also offer a free beginner’s free eBook on my website, in case you are interested. 

 

3) Beginners needs to learn basic tactics such as the fork, discovered attack, pin, and more. I offer interactive puzzles on my website:  

 

4)

If you are serious about chess, I highly recommend you hiring a chess coach to help you.  

 

 

 

I hope that this helps!  

Thank everyone for your help! a month later and im now 300 elo instead of 200!

I'm grateful for the advice! Ive reached 403 Elo!