From 0 to 1000+ ELO

🎯 Goal: From 0 to 1000+ ELO

Time commitment: ~1–2 hours/day
Skill focus: No theory overload, just clean, tactical, practical chess

🌱 Phase 1: Basics Locked In (0–500)

“First, stop hanging stuff.”

🔹 What to Learn

• Piece movement (duh)

• Check, checkmate, stalemate

• How to not hang your queen

• Value of pieces: Queen > Rook > Bishop ≈ Knight > Pawn

🔹 What to Do

• 📚 Watch: Chess.com Beginner Series

• 🎮 Play: 5-10 min games (rapid or daily)

• 🔁 Practice: 20 puzzles/day on Chess.com or Lichess

• ✅ Goal: You know how to spot checkmate-in-1s and don’t blunder every other move

🔥 Phase 2: Tactics > Theory (500–800)

“You don’t need openings, you need to see stuff.”

🔹 What to Learn

• Common tactical patterns:

  • Forks

  • Pins

  • Skewers

  • Discovered attacks

• Basic mates: back rank, ladder mate, smothered mate

• Openings? Just play safe and center:

  • White: 1. e4 or 1. d4 — go for center control

  • Black: 1...e5 or 1...d5

🔹 What to Do

• 💥 Puzzle rush or Puzzle Streak (10-15 min/day)

• ♟️ Play longer rapid games (10+ min)

• 🔁 Review your games: Why did I lose? What blunder did I make?

• ✅ Goal: 1-blunder games or less. See basic tactics without missing them.

🧠 Phase 3: Brain = Activated (800–1000)

“Now you’re not just moving pieces. You’re playing chess.”

🔹 What to Learn

• Basic opening principles:

  • Develop pieces

  • Control the center

  • King safety (castle early)

• Endgames:

  • King + queen vs king

  • King + rook vs king

  • Basic pawn endgames

• Start calculating: “If I go here, what can they do next?”

🔹 What to Do

• Play 1–2 rapid games/day

• Review each game and write 1 mistake you made

• Watch one educational video/week (., GothamChess "How to get to 1000")

• Start a study journal or Notion to track progress

✅ Goal: No more autopilot. You’re playing with purpose and calculating 1-2 moves ahead.

🧩 Tools You Need

• Chess.com or Lichess.org for puzzles & games

• Aimchess for game review insights

• YouTube – GothamChess, Hanging Pawns, Chessbrah

• A chess journal (Notion, paper, whatever)

⚠️ Most Common Mistakes

• Playing bullet and blitz only 😵

• Not reviewing lost games

• Memorizing openings instead of learning why they work

• Ignoring tactics – tactics win games at low ELO

Join my discord at https://discord.gg/Y9rTTPdSRD

Also consider joining my chess club @ https://link.chess.com/club/fc986a

FYI: Lichess gives you unlimited puzzles for free, and also allows you to analyze the games where the puzzles they create came from, so that website is much preferred.