I would advise you to just make short term goals and concentrate on overall knowledge of the game ie: Different openings, middle game, endgame, positional play and overall tactics and not emphasize on your rating as much.....through time you will see it increase steadily...and definitely put in the work because it will surely pay off in the end!!!
wish you continued success in your progression...
it depends what kind of training you are doing. Read Novice Nooks by Heisman...they are free btw and provide everything you need to improve at this time.
Thought process is very important. The sooner you start, in my opinion, the better off you will be.
Short version: at every move look for: checks, then captures, then threats. It takes some time to get used to but it will prevent most blunders. Be thorough tho.
I was just trying to get an idea of how long it took you to get "decent" at chess? I've been playing online a lot and am having success in progressing. I joined a club and finally saw first hand people who moved so fast and effectively, that it makes me wonder how in the world they do it. It looks as if they are not even thinking!As if its a natural as driving a car to work in the morning.
Anyway, OTB chess has proven to be more challenging to me than I expected. Maybe because the players at the club being so good, fast, and flawless. Its hard to follow them. I almost won my first OTB game (my third such game) at the club today but made a critical mistake at the very end. I was saying to myself how happy I was to beat this guy, and meanwhile I didn't pay attention to a key position, thus letting it slip away because I wasn't focusing, but prematurely celebrating in my head. lol.
I wonder how long it took you guys to get decent enough so as to not pull off any serious blunder during a game. I watched a GM on a B. Fisher documentary (an HBO doc.) that a beginner is sure/likely to make 3 blunders a game on average, an expert a small mistake and a GM the smallest of mistakes or none at all.
This is such an arbitrary question, I realize, but I am really curious.
Mike