Stuck at 1200, any advice to reach 1400 (Rapid - 10 min) ?

Hi everyone. 

I hit 1250 a month ago but recently I dropped to around 1180 and have not been able to go above 1200 again since then.

I specify that:

- I have never really studied chess except for a few readings or videos on youtube every now and then

- I've only been playing for a year and before last february I didn't even know how pawns move (1 year experience, 3200 total games, 2600 rapid games)

I would like to know what it takes to cross 1200 and get higher, for example to 1400.

or another variation of same question. staying there once you get it. I get 1400 every once in a while at 3 or 1 min.. then slide. stairs up..elevator back down. my history looks like a bitcoin chart.

Just took a quick look at some of your games. Here's a few tips I can throw out:

1. Stop playing f3/f6. You keep exposing your king, and you keep getting hit with tactics. I'm guessing you can get 50 rating by doing this alone.

2. Pay more attention to your king safety. One game, you were in a rook+queen vs. rook+queen middlegame, and you decided to just start pushing pawns in front of your own king. Don't do that. Your king needs the protection of your pawns. Don't even think about pushing pawns in front of your king unless queens are off the board. If you're at a loss as to what to do, look for your worst-positioned piece and then find a way to improve its position. Don't just push pawns.

3. Pay attention to which of your pieces are undefended, and make sure they're not going to get captured. Several of your recent games, you just dropped pieces because you didn't see that they were being attacked, or you didn't see that they were undefended and therefore prone to a tactic.

Hope these help!

great info and thank you !!!

You need more lessons, more puzzles,

Don't play bullet and blitz,  Instead, play with a strong bot in training mode, without time control and with position estimation and move analysis enabled,

And don't worry about your rating, Don't be afraid to lose,

 

chesstempo?

Practice puzzles and puzzle rush. Tactics usually determine games at this level. Learn basic endgame technique. 

Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles. Beginning players often get caught up in the feeling of getting rewarded by their own captures and checkmates. The emotionality makes way for higher logic which ultimately leads to higher intuition. Which some even relate to divinity because this all seems superhuman, but indeed to play chess well means to transcend human thought and feeling. And just...play good chess. So that's what: learn to play, practice tactics, go into depth, form mental images of positions and learn to speak coordinates. If that's what you choose not to do, it's better not to continue the sport.

all good msgs...thank you all. doing more puzzles for sure these days.

Tactics by repetition. ( https://youtu.be/1qicV-jaGFE best vid on YouTube with just 1k views. pure gold by some cool FM)

and 30 min (+) games + analyzing ur games for the length that you played the game . Important when analyzing to really go through a emotional process with the analysis, as deep or deeper than the game itself. not just go over critical moments for 2 mins with engine saying “oh duh”. Analyze with the same depth you played , really sit and look for better ideas, spend time , talk with a friend about your game, let it haunt you when thinking about something else , think where were the errors you actually could have avoided, aka not blunders but hidden turning points, subtle key strategic moments like choices of complications or simplification… most important to do this on losses and not just analyze games you won with patience and the losses just go over blunders with stockfish . So a 30 min game should be analyzed for 30 mins or more. Think this will make anyone improve if they are used to only 10 min rapid .