How to be more consistent

I'm 52 years old and started playing chess 2 years ago on this website, my initial rating was in the 600s, over time I have increased to 1200 to 1280, but I have an issue where I can win 10 to 15 games in a row then a fews day later I will lose 10 or 15 in a row, I don't know if this is age related or not, when I'm playing well I see the board and what my opponent is trying to do and it all seems so simple, but when I'm playing bad, my board vision seems to disappear, it's seems like I play good for a week then bad for a week, any suggestions on how to play more consistent, or how to play your way out of a slump without losing a 150 to 200 rating points?

Dear Evenflow322,

It is a quite natural thing as a beginner but it can be improved if you work on it appropriately. I have some students at your age and they improved a lot in just a few months. I am an official, full-time chess coach and I can help you with improving all of your skills (openings, strategies, tactics and endgames) at chess. You can see a lot of feedbacks from my coaching services here: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-lessons/feedbacks-from-my-services

My name is Gabor Balazs. I am a Hungarian Fide Master, fighting for the IM title. My top ELO is 2435. I have been playing chess for 21 years. I won the Hungarian Rapid Championship twice (U16 and U18).

I love teaching chess and it is very important for me that both of us enjoy the lessons beside the hard work. I have pupils almost all the levels from beginners to advanced players (500-2200 ELO).

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Consistency comes with experience. However, a lot of chess players play thousands of chess games making only a marginal improvement over the long run. They may have experience playing the game, but if they never stop to correct the mistakes they make, the improvement will be very slow.

Like GM Jesse Kraai said in one of his videos, you need to have this feeling when you play when something is going wrong, like you have a bad piece, your co-ordination is messed up or you feel being choked out of extinction by your opponent. After the game you should go back and go through the game and analyse where you went wrong. Did you develop your bishop to a wrong square? Did your knight end up out of the play on the edge of the board? Did you get pushed around by opponents pawns and squeezed out of space?

We all make a lot of mistakes while we play (well at least anyone below master level), and whether you improve or not depends on whether you are able to understand those mistakes and learn from them. That's why you need to give yourself enough time both for the game (long enough time controls) and post-mortem analysis, especially when you lose. Don't play when you're tired, so limit yourself to playing only a few games every day at most (and analyse all of the games afterwards).

The longer and more thoroughly you do this the more accurate your "feeling" for chess positions will become. You start to recognize opportunities and pitfalls, because you start to "feel" when you need to be energetic (sensing tactical opportunities), how to activate your pieces and when you need to cover-up and hold. Studying tactics will help you noticing tactical opportunities and covering your weaknesses.

Getting good and consistent at chess is a long journey, and getting there isn't always fun. It's a lot of work to have a plan for deliberate practice, where you improve all areas of your game. Remember that in the end it's the quality of the practice that matters more than the quantity (even though latter is also important). Learn concepts slowly and make sure you understand them before moving on to next subjects.

Good luck!

I'm fascinated to see if others have suggestions for you, Jeff.  I'm in my 8th week of playing this crazy game, and I experience what you described -- in briefer strings.

I was told these phases are simply part of the process....

Well said. It's also worth noting that if you're playing rated games against people with similar rating, it's very hard to be consistently winning. If you were, your rating would sky rocket and you'd be faced against tougher and tougher players. When playing against people of the same rating, you might sometimes get a few opponents in a row who have a bad game and next day have five opponents playing very good games. Even if you play consistently yourself, you might still end up on a losing streak.

It is probably nothing to do with you. You are really good and beat like 15 people, but then you're unlucky and get placed against a lot even better people. So, it might not be your fault.

I am a bit late but it is the same for me. Sometime I feel like I play very well, win many games, my puzzle rating improves fast. Then I go through a slump... Lose games, can't solve simple puzzles... It's frustrating😅

For the record I am 44 and have been playing for 7 month now.

My solution for now:

- I play daily games and only a couple of Blitz when I feel I am playing well.

- I limit the number of puzzles I do if I am in a bad day

Hi! My name is Lauren Goodkind and I’m a chess coach and chess YouTuber based in California: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP5SPSG_sWSYPjqJYMNwL_Q

I have tips to help you improve your chess skills so you can win more games.

-Play games when you are fully awake.  If you are tired or stressed, then you will most likely make silly mistakes.     

-Learn basic tactics such as the fork, discovered attack, pin, and more.  I offer interactive puzzles on my website: https://www.chessbylauren.com/two-choice-puzzles.php   

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

-Also consider all checks and captures on your side and also your opponent’s side. Always as, “If I move here, where is my opponent going to move?”

I hope that this helps.  

I'm 64. i haven't played in 12 years or so till a month or so ago. I used to play at about a 1200 to 1300 rating, but right now I am at about 900. My mind is just as sharp as ever. but I noticed that i get tired faster than I used to, and that affects my game. When i am alert I can still play at 1200, or higher. And just tear through opponents chosen for me by rating. then I get tired and do something stupid like give away my queen. I used to work on chess strategy, now i have to work on my ability to stay focused. my rule 1 about chess..... unless you play at master level, you are playing against a person not a machine. a person can get psyched out. Watch the moves they choose when there are several to choose from and you can often predict how they will respond to a situation. rule 2, stop playing when tired !!!!!  other than that, i don't think age matters.

just for what it is worth.

what she said ^

play the player not the board

glad i found this thread, i'm a 1300 and really want to improve, i play puzzle a lot and also learn the theories but 1400 seems far away from where i am.. i kept on getting thrown back to early 1300 or late 1200 and sometimes it's so frustating.. just today i was completely destroyed by my opponents and some of em has lower rating than i am so i bled points.. 

it really kills my mood. i wonder, should i just play and play and see where is my consistent rating at or should i play with certain strategy (no cheating of course) so that my rating will go up? is it wrong if my ego is torn when i lost to a lower rated player and losing my mood when i experience consecutive losses? 

is it wrong if rating is important for me? in a sense that if lost many points and my stats is dropping then i lose interest on playing? should i just play and play to gain experience and one day i will actually be better at this? 

win streaks and losing streaks are part of life. I say ignore ratings and play each game on its own merits and try to win. regardless of opponents ratings you will tend toward where you deserve to be. Tou will lose more than win against opponents who are higher than your "true " rating and win more than lose when playing below .

The trick is to improve your playing so that your "true" rating improves. ( true rating=the relative rating at which your skills are accurately reflected)

Based on your statistics you are actually doing pretty well. You have a steady upward rating trajectory playing rapid chess (the best game mode for learning) and you're solving a lot of tactics which is good.

The thing is that learning chess is slow and reaching a high rating takes years, not months, no matter how talented and hard-working you are.

Just keep doing what you are doing (play rapid chess and solve tactics) and you will continue to improve, and your rating will eventually follow. I think one should care about his rating if he wants to improve, but at the same time not give too much weight on the short term results. Give it a year and if you just keep playing, practicing and studying, it's practically impossible to not get better at the game (and rating will continue climbing).

i agree.. based on my stats, average elo of opponent when i won is 1202 regardless my 1300 something rating.. so it is not a surprise actually that i lost many times to 1100 and 1200 players.. i guess you're right, just keep playing and finally i will find a rating which i really belong.. 

One tip I can give you is when solving puzzles you need to spend more time with each problem. You're trying to solve them too fast (guessing) which teaches both bad habits and is not that great for learning. Try to solve them for accuracy instead of rating. That should eventually improve your puzzle rating a lot as well.