Hello all ,
I am playing chess since a long time and I'm stuck in this rating for 2 years .. I want to know what I should do to improve ..
note : all I know ( I did to get to this level ) is by playing chess tactics and problems and watching youtube videos ..
thanks
play as many games as you can with NORMAL time control (live chess is better suited than internet in this respect) or if this seems too much for u at least try rapid games.
it always helps to have a trainer(its difficult to understand positional chess on your own but doable)
or friends at around the same level to discuss and play chess
solving tactics always helps but dont overdo it just maintain a form at calculation
build a repertoire (start from scratch and fill your opening holes(it takes time))
maybe study a book or two from games of classics Karpov Rubinstein etc
videos help but not too much
and there is no strict diet so to speak, everyone has to find what suits him best
good luck!
For what time control?
I recently realized how important it is to use my opponent's time to think about what his next move would be and how to answer it. If you're not doing that it will help your classical game a lot but not so much blitz / bullet.
Study classic games and modern games on a real set exactly like Fischer reason the moves out loud why the Gm's played them do the same thing when playing over the moves of your games:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S3lKm9gw3IIf you do this for a very long time and keep at it you'll see the flaws in your thinking and the way you play become very critical of yourself and much better at analysis.
It's really easy, but also impossibly hard.
Stop playing blitz/bullet.
Blitz can really help you improve your board vision and basic tactics if you approach it the right way, but it is generally a serious negative for your overall improvement.
Play some slow games against the strongest players you can find, carefully review them afterwards without a computer. After you've tried your absolute hardest then check your analysis with a computer. Repeat or mix in the same process of some high level games. Classical ones might be more fruitful.
Hi,
It seems to me that you have difficulty in transferring into positional chess. Tactics will always be needed but positional thinking is the key to higher levels of chess.
You should play live tournaments with long time controls. join a real life chess club if you can and ask them about local tournaments and your national league games.
If there is no chess club near you, you will have to do the work online. You should play atleast 15min + 15min games, I would recommend also a 5 sec - 10 sec increment. Then play and play and play. Never give up, if you lose ask for a rematch and always believe that you will win your opponent if not now then the next game (train your will power).
Doing this will create a possibility for the positional chess to open to you.
Chess is about freeing your mind. First you free your mind to see the tactics, every piece can be sacrificed, all the basic rules can be broken.
Then you must free your mind of story telling. "I am attacking", "I am defending", "I am winning", "I am losing". These and all others are stories that blind you from seeing the chess position as it is.
The ultimate goal is to forget about thinking, simply look at the position and see it truthfully and then the next move the position needs is obvious, the position tells it to you. In a way you are no longer a player you are a watcher and the position is the player.
On your way to this goal (if you wish to reach it) you can train with positional thinking. You can ask yourself positional questions, such as:
-what do I want to accomplish in this position?
-do I have weaknesses in this position?
-does my opponent have weaknesses in this position?
-do I have pieces that could be in better places?
-what is the best square for this piece?
-are bishops or knights better in this position?
Train your mind to think in this manner, asking questions to yourself. This is strategic thinking.
Also, you have to forget about the end result. Forget about winning the game, often you have to play dozens of moves before you see a road to victory. Simply look at the position and try to do the best move in that position. Then the next move look at the position again with new eyes, everything has changed because a pair of moves was made and then again try to make the best move in this new position.
Keep doing this, in every game.
Best of luck and I hope this advice is helpful to somebody out there.