How do I become a stronger player?

don't like blitz? play bullet.

This is why chess is slowly going downward: First Classical chess got figured out and it became more boring. Now, half the time when I look at someone's profile it's bullet. 

Playing speed chess is one of the worst things someone can do if they wish to improve. 

Oof. 3 v MegaPro.

It's amazing how you keep on insisting to play speed chess when you're an 1100 lmao

I'm a beginner too (I play seriously since... a week) and I found a tip who totally changed my game : every time a piece is moving on, ask yourself :

- What did the piece in its previous position (where could it go ? Was it a threat ? Was it protecting an other piece ?)

- What does the piece now ? (Where can it go ? Is this a threat ? Is it protecting an other piece ?)

This tip doubled my skills... but 2 x 0 ... x)

Here are the things that will help you improve the most as a beginner:

1. Maintain material equality.

This is really one of the most important things, but for some reason it doesn't get talked about very much. You won't improve unless you grasp this concept.

Keep the material even! If your opponent takes a pawn, YOU take a pawn. If he takes a knight or a bishop, YOU take a knight or a bishop. If he takes a rook, YOU take a rook. If he takes the queen, YOU take his queen. 

When you play, never put yourself in a position where your opponent can capture and you have no way to recapture. You should always be able to recapture either immediately or in a couple moves. Keep your eye on the possible exchanges that may arise as a result of the moves you play. Always put yourself in position to recapture (usually immediately).

On the flip side, if you can capture a pawn or piece and he cannot recapture, go for it! That's what you want to do. Take the free pawn! Take the free piece! But don't let him do it to you.

You play this way throughout the entire game from beginning to end.

2. In the opening, control the center of the board, maintain material equality, develop your pieces and castle.

This is the plan! Do not stray from the plan! This list may seem like a lot to think about, but it's not. Just remember all this stuff: control the center, keep the material even, develop and castle. Simple! If you can stick to this plan, you'll have a head start against your opponents because you'll be in charge of the center and you'll have more pieces involved to attack!

Now that you know the plan, just watch how horribly your opponents play. They'll make moves that have no impact on the center and do nothing for the development of the pieces or castling.

3. Capture undefended material (Win material).

Win as much material as you can. Look for the free material and take it. Take, take, take!! If your opponent leaves a pawn hanging for free, take it! If that bishop is just sitting there undefended, take it! Take as many of his undefended pawns and pieces as you can. Weaker opponents will leave stuff hanging all over the place. Don't be afraid to take it! If your opponent leaves stuff just laying around, take it!

Take it all if you can.

4. Win material, trade down and win the game.

If you are ahead in material (such as a knight, bishop or rook) your plan should be to trade queens, trade off as many of the remaining pieces as possible and go into a winning endgame. If you are ahead in material, your advantage will be clear in the endgame. Your extra piece will be powerful!

Being ahead by A single pawn is usually not enough (In some positions it is though). If you are two pawns ahead or ahead by a piece, trade everything down and go for the win.

5. That's it!

That's it guys! That's all you need to know. Just kidding. There's tons of stuff to learn about this game, but the only way to learn it is with time, playing and studying. But if you follow the principles above, you'll be headed in the right direction, you'll win more games and your rating will rise.

In short: control the center, keep the material even, develop, castle, win material, trade down and win the game.

https://www.chess.com/blog/KeSetoKaiba/opening-principles-again 

Opening principles like described in this blog article is all you pretty much need from "openings in chess" until maybe 1200-1500 chess.com rating-ish, by then you should probably have common openings you encounter memorized/studied superficially through like move 5 or so. The "real opening study" of theory, variations over others, databases and so on isn't really common until 2000+ rating and maybe even higher for some. Opening principles is very useful in the meantime. 

After the opening stage, I recommend doing tactics (puzzles) routinely with quality over quantity in mind. The long-term goal is to learn the ideas, patterns and motifs of certain positions. 

For the endgame, which may be studied in and of itself, I'd begin with basic checkmates (like Q + K vs K or R + K vs K) and basic theoretical endgames (like pawn + King vs K or 2 pawns vs 1 pawn).

The "positional" concepts of chess and the opening theory can be saved for later in detail, but for now:

-basic checkmates and theoretical endgames (you slowly move to more complex ones as you learn more)

-tactics routinely; every day if you can, even if just 5 puzzles per day, but try to really learn/understand them

-opening principles

-practice playing (especially other human players, but computers can be okay too)

-have fun

p.s. I say "have fun" because you play better when not super stressed/upset and also because it keeps you more motivated to learn more things if it is fun for you. Chess study doesn't have to be boring, you can make it fun in many ways; one great way is to find a friend or several friends to learn chess with - especially if they are slightly higher rated than you currently are).

bump

shove

ruaid I was there a couple weeks ago, the puzzles have helped me greatly. It is the consensus study openings at our level is not a good idea, I feel doing the same general repetitive opening has helped us well... some kind of London like I've been doing.

Work your gaze and be afraid of nothing. Everything is mental in chess

My name is Lauren Goodkind and I teach a lot of people who's rating are below 1000.  

Here are my tips to get better: 

1) Ask questions before you move, such as "If I move here, is it safe?", "Can I safely capture a piece?", "Can I safely capture a piece?"  And answer these questions before each move.  Once you get the answers to these questions, use that info to help you determine where to move.  

Take your time while you play.  I also recommend doing puzzles and tactics.  

I also offer private chess lessons if you are interested.  My website is www.ChessByLauren.com