I’m hard stuck 400

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airttq

I play lots of rated but how do I get anywhere from getting 15 elo each time, it would take 40 straight wins getting 15 each time or am I just impatient 

tygxc

Do not worry about rating. Play well and wins will come and rating will follow.

airttq

But it’s hard to learn when I’m playing with 400s I learn openings and they don’t play along so I can use skills I learned

LongLiveAslan
Just focus on playing, the rating will go up, give it time.
NolsterbuckrXYZ

If you win more games than you lose, then you will have an overall net Elo gain. But don't focus on that. At this level, focus on eliminating the habit of leaving pieces hanging and missing opponent's hung pieces. 

NolsterbuckrXYZ
airttq wrote:

But it’s hard to learn when I’m playing with 400s I learn openings and they don’t play along so I can use skills I learned

That's why you shouldn't learn openings outside of play. 

At the beginner level (unless your opponent loves the London System), you learn the best continuation every game. You have a tree of moves that you already know, and once your opponent deviates from it, learn how the engine would continue, especially if what your opponent has done is unsound. Commit this to memory, then repeat. 

 

When you have truly internalized basic opening principles, what to do next in the opening will make sense. 

airttq
NolsterbuckrXYZ wrote:
airttq wrote:

But it’s hard to learn when I’m playing with 400s I learn openings and they don’t play along so I can use skills I learned

That's why you shouldn't learn openings outside of play. 

At the beginner level (unless your opponent loves the London System), you learn the best continuation every game. You have a tree of moves that you already know, and once your opponent deviates from it, learn how the engine would continue, especially if what your opponent has done is unsound. Commit this to memory, then repeat. 

 

When you have truly internalized basic opening principles, what to do next in the opening will make sense. 

Is even a  scicilian  too advanced for 400?

NolsterbuckrXYZ
airttq wrote:
NolsterbuckrXYZ wrote:
airttq wrote:

But it’s hard to learn when I’m playing with 400s I learn openings and they don’t play along so I can use skills I learned

That's why you shouldn't learn openings outside of play. 

At the beginner level (unless your opponent loves the London System), you learn the best continuation every game. You have a tree of moves that you already know, and once your opponent deviates from it, learn how the engine would continue, especially if what your opponent has done is unsound. Commit this to memory, then repeat. 

 

When you have truly internalized basic opening principles, what to do next in the opening will make sense. 

Is even a  scicilian  too advanced for 400?

You can play the Sicilian if you want to. But don't bother trying to learn opening lines outside of play- there are so many of them that, even when you learned all of them, your opponent can still deviate from it and you will have no idea what to do. 

Learning openings is primarily done during game, not outside of it. 

Habanababananero
airttq kirjoitti:
NolsterbuckrXYZ wrote:
airttq wrote:

But it’s hard to learn when I’m playing with 400s I learn openings and they don’t play along so I can use skills I learned

That's why you shouldn't learn openings outside of play. 

At the beginner level (unless your opponent loves the London System), you learn the best continuation every game. You have a tree of moves that you already know, and once your opponent deviates from it, learn how the engine would continue, especially if what your opponent has done is unsound. Commit this to memory, then repeat. 

 

When you have truly internalized basic opening principles, what to do next in the opening will make sense. 

Is even a  scicilian  too advanced for 400?

I strongly recommend going with opening principles. You do not need to study opening theory too much yet at 400. Just pick an opening you like, study the first few moves and learn more as you analyse your games.

Opening principles, basic tactics, basic strategy like knights are better closer to the center, bishops like open diagonals, rooks belong on open files, rooks on the 7th rank etc.

Do a lot of puzzles. Especially mate in one and mate in two puzzles.

The average rating gain is around 8 points for a win actually, but if you win a lot, it doesn't take long to gain a 100 rating points. When you are at your own level, it will take more time, because you will have to improve to win more than you lose 

airttq

what time mode should I grind

Habanababananero
airttq kirjoitti:

what time mode should I grind

I would play 15|10 rapid or longer. 30 min rapid and 60 min rapid are even better.

Also daily chess would be a good idea I think.

But do NOT grind too much. You will just end up repeating the same mistakes. A game or a couple games per day is enough. This way, you make a couple mistakes, try to learn from those, get some sleep and let the things you have learnt sink in and then the next day, repeat. If you play too many games, you brain will be tired, you will be upset if you lose, and you will not learn too much in the end.

Remember to analyse the games and remember to also do some puzzles, watch the lessons for beginners here on chess.com on opening principles etc.

NolsterbuckrXYZ
Habanababananero wrote:
airttq kirjoitti:

what time mode should I grind

I would play 15|10 rapid or longer. 30 min rapid and 60 min rapid are even better.

Also daily chess would be a good idea I think.

But do NOT grind too much. You will just end up repeating the same mistakes. A game or a couple games per day is enough. This way, you make a couple mistakes, try to learn from those, get some sleep and let the things you have learnt sink in and then the next day, repeat. If you play too many games, you brain will be tired, you will be upset if you lose, and you will not learn too much in the end.

Remember to analyse the games and remember to also do some puzzles, watch the lessons for beginners here on chess.com on opening principles etc.

I concur with OC's suggestion. Right now, I'm working on building the habit of looking for pins from my opponent and pins I can exploit. But trying to do this every move takes time for me, so I decided to instead play on 30 minute controls instead of 15 10. 

magipi
airttq wrote:

Is even a  scicilian  too advanced for 400?

You can't imagine how unimportant openings are. Openings have nothing to do with why you win and lose games. You lose games because you play random moves extremely fast. It does not matter if your queen can be taken for free, or your opponent's queen can be taken for free, you just bang out a random move. Don't.

Here is an example game:

 

HahaY3s
Play against chippy and pal 9000 over and over again it helps so much
blackmore324

At your elo the openings you play don't matter. They barely matter, even at 1700. Every time you make a move, you should ask yourself, am I blundering a piece? In your mind, tell yourself, NO, I am not blundering a piece before you make a move. This process should take you a minimum of 5 seconds per move, but realistically, this is closer to 8-10 seconds at your level. I looked at your last few rapid games; half of your moves are below 5 seconds. Why do you expect to win if you don't spend time thinking about your moves? Also just because your opponent plays fast doesn't mean you have to. The only time you should speed up your moves purposely is if the clock goes below a minute (not that your games ever last that long).

Gaving271x1

This thread has actually cheered me up so much. I was try to improve my game. I don't care about my rating etc. I just wanted to feel like I was playing better so I was studying openings and stuff way to advanced and became overwhelmed. Just the advice to play longer time control and take your time before making a move and thinking first. Even though wasn't directed at me. I really took something away. Thanks to the og post and everyone who commented.

ChessMasteryOfficial

You should learn most important principles of a chess game. That will give you a solid understanding of a chess game and you will know what to do in every position. Then, you should optimize your calculation so you don't miss tactics in your games. Your rating will skyrocket. I can help you with all of this. Message me if you are interested.

RussBell

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