Why am I so bad?
note that I know nothing about chess coaching in partikulare, only other forms of coaching. Still without watching your games, but reading the post above I would guess you simply need to care less.
It happens to everybody. From the greates footballplayers to poor chess players. One the triks used by Roger Federer (the tennis player) early in his carriere was to ask stronger, more ekperienced players simple questions conserning trivial parts of their play. Translated into chess langue it would be like me asking "should you allways trade a night for a rook?".
In the Federer story we know the outcome, his opposition started thinking about things that in the grand scheme did not matter, trying new things, and adjusting things that have worked in the past. Federer have today won 17 grand slams times.
Back to chess, you do a reveresed federer. You start worrying about so elemental stuff you miss the grand game. Playing an equal opponent you would probably beat him as long as you talked about chess, but once the game was sett and you start preaparing some advanced defence you read about in a book. Your opponent have already plased you in a schollars mate. Happened to me a week ago. Annoying as hell, I should not have lost, but still I did.
My tipp for you. Create a new acount and start playing alot of games. Not caring for the rating. Do what feels right instead of what you have read somewhere. Worst ting to happend, is you learn why it was a bad move.
Your rating will drop surly, but once you sign back in and start playing seriusly again your new insight should propell you along the right way
A good teacher once told me that every year they could identify which students would be getting A's after the first week in class. It'd be those who asked questions, tried to answer questions, and wanted to know what they were expected to learn for the year. In Chess, the best way to learn is to ask questions, try to answer questions, and to challenge yourself to losses, not wins. Wins feel good ad that's the problem, we subconsciously begin to become complacent. Proof? We're generally less critical of our wins than our losses, and have a biased lens when (IF!) we analyze our won games. Losses on the other hand make us feel bad and if you can keep yourself from giving up, push you to improve and learn. Kasparov was very good at being pretty critical of his wins and always looked them over for improvements (he had to, he didn't lose often!). Keep that in mind, that we should expect to lose often when we begin chess but as we learn we start to win more, and then you should push yourself to play tough opponents so that you still lose often, and keep pushing yourself to improve more. An" A" class player in the United States Chess Federation was once asked who he'd rather play in a match for $5,000 prize a B class player or a Master and I was surprised when he said "master anytime and I'll pay half!" Going on to say it'd be the best lessons for him and he'd probably gain a 100 rating points by a year from analyzing all those lost games. It was a revelation to me, and I have taken it to heart in my own learning.
Studying chess for a year is nothing :-)
Don't be hard on yourself !
I think caring less is the way to go, my friend has been playing longer than I have and yet knows almost nothing about openings, middlegames, and endgames. He does amazingly well in the games, because he has developed his own middlegame that's just so darn good. I on the otherhand have studied and learned may things and yet can rarely beat him in online Chess, (Live is a different story ;D) In Over The Board the wins and losses are equal. So it depends, I'd just try playing against High rated players in Online Chess and you'll learn lots. I've also heard that playing on the computer and playing in Person is very different and for some people they have a distinct difference in gameplay on the internet. It's really up to you. When I want to have fun with Chess I play unrated Games, when I want to win and learn I play rated. (Doesn't mean I don't mean I don't lean in unrated games) Chess is different for everyone, some like fun and others like to win. I like to win and my friend likes it for fun, however I believe that studying Chess is very important and very soon I will be passing my friend (not in his skill as I rarely beat him) but in rating. It's all in your head, you just have to learn how to use it! Good luck and God bless! -KH
I see you are unrated in online games. Try them! I find I play much better and I'm learning. The pressure is off and you have the time to think and double check. There's also the huge help of an opening database and the analyze board! I believe what I learn here will translate to standard and OTB games when I feel I'm ready.
Firstly, although this is probably not the case for you. Players which particpate in a significantly greater amount of OTB games versus Online games can suffer a 2D blindness (speaking from experience). This can definitely drop your rating, and this doesn't consider opponents which may only occasionally consult a computer or use opening explorer in live, which can cause rating deflation as well, and is regrettably unavoidable.
This being said, you'll get nothing out of reading material if you don't seriously work to apply it, and even greater a cardinal sin is not analysing your losses.
Simply being smart doesn't correlate to being good at chess, and i'm speaking from experience despite the contrary articles about "chess prodigy" and "young genius" being smart simply means you can figure out how to train smart, and perhaps rack up gains in a short time if you focus on seriously training and improving it as you go.
Honestly one of the greatest boons to my game has been in viewing myself as having only a little talent for chess, and to discard the idea that you'll get anywhere without exhausting amounts of effort.
There are absolutely players who get to high levels of skill playing only on talent, we've all seen the 1600-2000 rated kids under age 10, but when their parent's stop pushing it'll be their own initiative and methods of study which will push them further. Talent only goes so far and everyone needs to learn hardwork and persistence at some point in chess. Despite how Magnus may appear he's definitely had to do the same.
The higher you go in Chess the more important it becomes to be well rounded in all aspects of the game. There's a saying from the Russian chess school that a player should work back to front. Endgame study first, middle game second, and opening's last.
In the opening prep age it can seem most important to focus on only studying the opening, and ignoring everything else, but it's much more important to grasp the whole and learn one of the hardest skills in Chess which is actually "strategizing" what you want to do, doing so will not only improve your play, but your understanding of how to shut down your opponents.
To know what you want to do however, you need to understand all stages of the game so you can plan how to reach a favorable situation, or at least try to force yourself into one, and at the worst there are many strong players who seek not to decisively blowout the opponent with tactics or in the opening, but simply shut down everything and grind them down.
Yeah tactics seem to be the only problem right now. Sometimes you miss your opponent's and sometimes you miss your own. Chessmicky's advice is good and I would only add that thinking about what a move weakens can help to prevent blunders and spot those of your opponent.
After watching that it may become more clear, and hopefully instinctual at some point, why in your game the move of the queen was a mistake. It may also lead you to find a better move in such situations.
problem with tactics huh? well i would recommend upgrading your account and doing tactics trainer or you could go on http://chesstempo.com/chess-tactics.html?gclid=CNmAiouP0r8CFSdp7AodgG8AYw hope that helps btw dont give up
I've been playing for over 30 years and I still stink, so don't think you have to be great already after only a year. ;)
I say stick to the basics for now. Focus on three things: 1) Dilligent thinking system, 2) Tactical vision, and 3) Blunder control.
1) You can research other thinking systems, but here's a simple one I use:
Before making any move you are currently considering, ask "is it safe?" and "what does it do?" (safety first, then activity). Ask the same thing of your opponents' moves.
Prioritize candidate moves by checks, captures, and threats. While it is your opponent's turn, look for your own weaknesses - can your opponent make a check, capture, or threat, and if so, what can you do about it?
2) Spend some time each day solving tactics puzzles. During games - and this can be inserted into the thinking system above - think tactics. i.e. When it is your turn, ask yourself, is there a tactic I can use? Can I fork, pin, skewer, remove a guard, etc. When it is your opponent's turn, try to see what tactics he can use against you.
3) If you find yourself making a lot of errors, don't be down on yourself about it, just acknowledge it and remind yourself to be more careful. Again, insert this into your thinking system. Before making any move, do a last-second blunder check ("I thought it was safe before, but is it really?") - will the move leave a piece unguarded? Are you setting yourself up to be forked or pinned? etc.
Also, if you find yourself winning against local players, give yourself a handicap. Tell the other person that you want to give yourself a disadvantage just for the exercise. Let your opponent choose one of your pawns before the game starts and you play without that pawn.
Join my free coaching group, its called "Improve Your Chess". Cheers and have fun, Till :)
I was 700 when I started, a year later 1200 and a few years later here I am.
If you have had chess in your mind daily for a year, try taking a month not doing anything related to chess, then hit it hard again, I tried a few times forced, and every time my rating jumped noticably
A year really isn't that long of a time. Most people who beat you have probably played more than you.
I suggest just playing for fun. When you lose, run the game through the computer analysis and see what mistakes you made. If you want to read/study chess material, just view it casually, dont sweat about it. Unless you want to get really really good at chess (like you're shooting for the master title and beyond) you don't have to worry about studying a whole lot. Just play for fun and learn from your mistakes. Once you get over 2000 (if it ever happens), then you can decide if you want to pursue the game more seriously...
Windmill's advice is right on the money. Get curious. Ask "why?" It is the most important question you have when examining your chess and will lead to others: "Why did I miss that obvious tactic? What was I thinking at that moment? What are my bad chess habits? How might I overcome them?" In order to improve as a chessplayer you must become a critical thinker, and critical thinking begins with questions, questions, and more questions. Here are some websites you might find helpful:
http://www.criticalthinking.org/
https://www.youtube.com/user/CriticalThinkingOrg
Good luck on your journey! Check out mine if you wish: http://www.chess.com/blog/OldChessDog
First off, play more and study less. Second think, accept the fact that you will lose a lot of games and don't worry about it. Third thing, set reasonable expectations. It takes years to be a 1400 or 1500 level player. You simply won't get there in a year or two. Fourth thing, do lots and lots of Tactics Trainer puzzles on this site. Every game has tactics. Fifth thing, pick one opening to play with white and stick to it till you learn it. Pick one black opening to play against e4 and one to play against d4. Stick to them till you learn them. Sixth thing, analyze your loses and understand why you lost.When you see what kind of mistakes you are making ask your self why. You might need to play 30 minute or even one hour games rather than 15 minute games. But you probably need to relax and just play.
Play for fun. Play because you like it. If you stop liking it, stop playing. Chess is a game. It is a complicated game that takes years to be good at. It is NOT a measure of how smart you are or how much time you work at it. It is just a game.
Sure it is.
First off, play more and study less. Second think, accept the fact that you will lose a lot of games and don't worry about it. Third thing, set reasonable expectations. It takes years to be a 1400 or 1500 level player. You simply won't get there in a year or two. Fourth thing, do lots and lots of Tactics Trainer puzzles on this site. Every game has tactics. Fifth thing, pick one opening to play with white and stick to it till you learn it. Pick one black opening to play against e4 and one to play against d4. Stick to them till you learn them. Sixth thing, analyze your loses and understand why you lost.When you see what kind of mistakes you are making ask your self why. You might need to play 30 minute or even one hour games rather than 15 minute games. But you probably need to relax and just play.
Play for fun. Play because you like it. If you stop liking it, stop playing. Chess is a game. It is a complicated game that takes years to be good at. It is NOT a measure of how smart you are or how much time you work at it. It is just a game.
Very nice post, justadude.
Yeah, I'm not so sure about advice such as "care less" and "you simply won't get there in a year or two".
Everyone's different, and it could be that you are stressing yourself out (and therefore killing any chance of success) by taking things too seriously.
That said, if you have the time and dedication, and are willing to put in the effort to master the fundamentals, you can easily go from 0 to 1400 and beyond in "a year or two". You make this less and less likely, however, each year that passes without having done it. What's happening is you're reinforcing your bad thinking habits - so the advice to play more and study less is exactly 180 degrees from what you should do. Study more and play WAY less - especially at fast time controls.
It's a question of WHAT you study, though. If you're reading about how to conduct minority attacks and you can't checkmate with king and rook versus king in 30 seconds or less, then obviously you're studying the wrong things.
Remember: chess is not a game of knowledge, it's a game of skill. We chessplayers tend to spend all of our time studying to gain knowledge; we ought to be training to increase our skills.
