You have a knack for it or you don't

I go up to 1350 and then come crashing down to 1050 over a few days. I guess I get tired of the same hackneyed openings and defenses and just not finding that killer fork, pin, or skewer.

I don't think reading books would help, I won't even know what to look for. I guess the lucky ones have a knack for spotting new openings and defenses.

So, in the absence of having a knack for this stuff, do you think it is a wastage of time to continue, or can this thing be learned. I've been playing for about 6 months now.

Losing does suck at first man.  But then ya' get the hang of it.  Maybe you need to better develop your opening if your going to play the same one.  Some people may disagree but I think Kevin, thechesswebsites, video's on openings are nicely explained.  Sadly for me, not retained.  lol.  It's not pointless though.  Even without study you can only sink so low before you get better then you have ever been.

I am wondering if blitz is bad for beginners. I mean you don't really figure out what went wrong and are on to the next game in a flash. I need to learn patience and virtue from some old Chinese zen master of wushu chess or something :D

First you need to post a game.

2nd which will always hold true on chess.com. When on a losing streak just get up and walk away for a while. Or do what i do i come here and chat. It will relax you and you forget about losing and mind returns to thinking about the best move.

3rd  Learn to move at the speed you are comfortable and not the speed your opponent is comfortable. The 2nd and 3rd you will not find in any chess book.

4th Take a game you lost. Where did your opponent gain advantage in material. When was you .... you think your king was in  trouble.

5th This one is easy. What moves did you just guess. This is where you made your mistake. Did you control any part of the center.

6th Another easy one. Which piece did your opponent start attack you with first. You will get better at 5 and 6 over a period of time.

7th Most important Keep the king safe. You can mess up in the opening put can still have a slim chance vs your level of opponent if you can keep the king safe.

@royalbishop you rock dude! Thanks

Yes.  Or not so much bad as...just not terribly helpful.

Blitz is the exact opposite of "if it's not working try something else". Blitz is like "Imma gonna just tire people out". :)

Chess is a lot like... well, just about every skill out there.  The (annoying) secret is the ones who are really good spent so much time learning it that an uninterested person would probably think they were obsessed.  The talented ones become GMs and the untalented ones become very strong club players and even masters.

I started out as bad as anyone... I'm no master now but I've made a lot of improvement.  You can also make a lot of improvement if you spend time working on the game.  The more the work feels like fun the farther you'll go.  Forget openings and defenses and do some tactical puzzles.  Get a book (Seirawan, Chernev, Reinfeld, Silman) and join a chess club.  Play long games, tournaments even.  Work over time = skill.  Forget about knacks :p

Well before i came to this site i was very good at bullet not blitz. I did not play enought to say. I started playing 3 day a move games and got used to over a period of time. Then i tried to return and was ok.

Yeah here it comes. But i did not know that it screwed up my game some. I would rush as my patience was not good in 3 day a move games as my opponent was taking their time. Bla bla bla.

So if want to be at something you just have to pratice it.  i just do not just playing Blitz and  3day  or 1 day move games all together.

The Blitz players here can play 50 -100 games a day easy. I know as i did it also at another site. So you if you go in and only play 3-7 games a day it will be like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Now i have during my time find openings that i feel comfortable using in Blitz that i might not use else where. It is about comfort zone and what works and add in your own style. Style? That you have to figure out as it is unique to you and only you in a game. Want to find that inner voice go over GM games when you find a game that you like your closer to your playing style. Soon when you look over games you will find them even quicker. Now when you find these games record them do not let them just be seen once. Print it out, right them down, Copy past in a file, save it on cd, dvd, dvr, ipad, on your wall, floor just save it. As you will want to come back to it over and over again. There will always be something you missed the first couple times in that game that you did not see before.

My solution for a beginer here!

Play Chess960 and do not worry about your rank. Focus on attack and defense, King safety. That move that you were scared to make, make it in Chess960 so now you will know if it works or does not work. Even better you will be sure about the move without doubt now!

Hey you can even go out play wild all out attacks just to attack. Sure you might lose that way but it puts the fun into the game which is real important as a stressed player is a half beaten player. Stress equal not thinking as clear.

Chess 960 is a good way to get away having to rember so much but the basics like develop your pieces toward the center and move the knight out and etc.

@Estragon ... my point exactly. With blitz, you are really living with the "normal curve" and jumping around the Live Games average of 1122 (per site stats). It's all luck and like royalbishop said above, if you're guessing, you're losing.

Not true!

If you just play 50 games a day which comes out to 350 games a weak which is 14000 games a month your going to sooner or later notice patterns.

Now it is coming back to me. I just planned before the game what i wanted to do to my opponent in blitz and when i did not play it i had to plan during the game what i wanted to do to my opponent. Blitz is nothing but patterns that lead to situations your famaliar with the outcome. And the person who gets to that famaliar situation first wins.

The problem  with Blitz is the learning curve is takes longer and the game is not as explosive. Plus in blitz you can come back from a bad situation like win it on time. Not when your opponent has a day to think of a move.

If you want quality improvement play at a slower rater for a while as you train your prain to think the correct way then you can return to blitz and play better blitz games. If you notice when you log in the top blitz players are not all the top Bullet players and they are not the top OTB players.

In the absence of having the knack, as you put it, just enjoy the game.

On getting your arzzz waxed on the chess board it happens to all of us at all levels at some point in time.

The key is to get out of it as quickly as possible. I had a slump for months last year. I had to take my game apart over and over again. Then i told myself maybe nothing is wrong just something i am not doing right. Sounds weird but it was about my thinking more than my knowledge of the game.

Your knack is your unique playing style.

And yes you can have several not limited to just one.

You're going to regret this.

I think it is.

"Just 50 [blitz] games a day"

Just?  Assuming fastest time control for blitz lets say 5 minutes a game on average.  With a few seconds in between to find another game you're looking at 5 hours a day of playing (if there are no breaks).

I've done even better though.  Longest speed chess sessions for me (no breaks) have lasted 8-9 hours and over 100 games.  In just 1 day I get the distinct feeling that my chess has gotten worse.  Good remedy is to take a few days off from playing and read a chess book / play over GM games.

Long blitz sessions will hurt your chess not help it.

The best blitz players in the world are also the best OTB tournament players in the world.

  You are bringing nothing to the table AlCzervik. I think you are jealous that he will be way better than you in chess!

Well Chess.com is the world and we look at the leader board look at the the top 5 in each category. You will not find anybody in more than 2 and like 3 at best in top 5 in 2 categories.

You can be a good player playing blitz all the time but the quality will not be where it should be in your game. It is easier to go to playing blitz  from otb(just start playing more games at a large rate) than to play Blitz and to OTB.  i know as i tried it as i did not make mistake(good) i made blunders which i can correct as my opponent did not force a winning situation.