How do I get past 1000?

I've come back to chess after about a full year and my rating shot up all the way from 880 to 1119. Afterwards I've fallen back to about 1050 and I'm pretty much stuck here.

Just because I thought it might be interesting, here's the game that I just played - annotated with my word-for-word thought process as I play.

Any advice for how I can improve?

Your opening was pretty good, but you could use some work in spotting opponents' threats. Try doing some checkmate in 3+ puzzles, they'll teach you how to look for checks captures and threats.

There isnt much of a difference between 1119 and 1050 though.

The 1119 cleary was just a lucky high, 1050 is more what your current level is.

If you want to get better, you need to do the usual really:

- Review your game so you can learn about what errors you did and avoid them in future. Personally I download my games after the fact as .pgn (in the game list subpage) and then analyze them with Stockfish 17 through the Scid vs PC chess client. That gives much more helpful idea what went wrong than this sites overly polite review feature.

- Train your tactics, board awareness etc with regular puzzles. Also recommented directly before you start playing games, though then you shouldnt overdo it.

- You can also check out many free resources. Theres a lot on YouTube, for example. I always recomment GM Naroditskys speedruns, they are highly instructive.

- Or even invest money. Like in a good book about chess endgames. Judging by the game you posted, you really would benefit from that.

Getting a training partner is a great way too

To improve, psychology is also a very important part. Do not be afraid to utilize your mind, and be creative.

Dear JustBlunderedTheKnight,

I'm a certified, full-time chess coach, so I hope I can help you. Everybody is different, so that's why there isn't only one given way to learn and improve.

First of all, you have to discover your biggest weaknesses in the game and start working on them. The most effective way for that is analyzing your own games. There is a built-in engine on chess.com which can show you if a move is good or bad but the only problem is that it can't explain to you the plans, ideas behind the moves, so you won't know why it is so good or bad.

In my opinion, chess has 4 main territories (openings, strategies, tactics/combinations and endgames) and if you want to improve efficiently, you should improve all of these skills almost at the same time. That's what my training program is based on. My students really like it because the lessons are not boring (because we talk about more than one areas within one lesson) and they feel the improvement on the longer run. Of course, there are always ups and downs but this is completely normal in everyone's career.

If you would like to learn more about chess, you can take private lessons from me (you find the details on my profile) or you can visit my Patreon channel (www.patreon.com/Bgabor91), where you can learn about every kind of topics (openings, strategies, tactics, endgames, game analysis). There are more than 22 hours of educational videos uploaded already and I'm planning to upload at least 4 new videos per week, so you can get 4-6 hours of educational contents every month. I also upload daily puzzles in 4 levels every day which are available with a FREE subscription.

I hope this is helpful for you. Good luck with your games!

Justblunderedtheknight, strangely in the same boat as you. Didn't play chess games for almost a year, then came back a little better. Perhaps not as much of a rating hike as what you have experienced.

Your opening was reasonable. you didn’t always play the top engine choices, but that is okay.

However, playing 10 . .. f6 was a terrible blunder. Your opponent had several chances to play Qg6+ trapping your King in the center. So, a major consideration for you should be King safety and castling.

in the subsequent tactical melee, your opponent should probably be winning however, he made several errors that left you a piece ahead. Another poster recommended practice with puzzles to sharpen your calculation skills. That is a good idea . Also, playing slower time controls may give you the chance to practice this in game conditions.

The ending should be an elementary win. You win, but are not always following the most efficient path to victory. More ending practice would be helpful also, if the time control permits, taking time to map out you plan may be helpful. Taking a minute or two to develop a plan may save you time as you select the next 20 moves.

Learn and apply the most important principles of chess. - (core of my teaching)
Always blunder-check your moves.
Solve tactics in the right way.
Analyze your games.
Study games of strong players.
Learn how to be more psychologically resilient.
Work on your time management skills.
Get a coach if you can.

Nice

I've sent you a PM with my personal advice.

Hello

Hi there,

I am rated over 2400 online (https://www.chess.com/member/ppandachess). I created a free course that will teach you a training plan to improve. Feel free to check it out: https://www.panda-chess.com/daily-improvement-plan

I think that my free training plan can help you.
I also offer private lessons: https://www.panda-chess.com/private-coaching

You should be thinking "what is the idea of my opponent behind this move?" for every move, a great example on move 5 when they play f3 you state " this move compromises their king safety" , which is a good point but you should be thinking along the lines of "ok what is the idea behind f3, what is my opponent thinking of doing next? why would they play this move? " have a good think about it then come up with what their idea behind this f3 move is they want to go g5 next move push my bishop back and start a pawn storm, how can I react to that? is that a big deal? etc.." this will at least get you thinking along the right lines.