
Ask HN: How to Improve at Chess - excitednumber
I enjoy playing chess in my downtime and find it especially useful if I am feeling mentally worn down to &quot;reset&quot; myself a bit.<p>What frustrates me is my inability to progress naturally (although, from reading, this is extremely common).<p>Why I turn to the community:
For those who have progressed, what worked for you?<p>Was it a book, private lessons, practicing tactics? Anyway, looking to up my ELO rather than get mad at myself for not getting better over time.<p>Hope everyone is well and thank you.
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milkcircle
I highly recommend watching the following Youtube channels. These chess
masters often stream games in which they explain their thought process behind
each and every move, and provide a high level overview of how they design
their plans.

Chess Network -
[https://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork](https://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork)

John Bartholomew -
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6hOVYvNn79Sl1Fc1vx2mYA](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6hOVYvNn79Sl1Fc1vx2mYA)

Of course, following these channels will not improve your chess reasoning by
itself, but neither will playing too many fast games without spending time to
analyze the games. I typically play one longer game (10+5) and one rapid game
(5+5) once a day then spend the rest of my free time trying to find areas of
improvement.

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happyrock
Play on lichess.org. Play correspondence with a long timeout and take your
time -- make sure you are making the best move you can think of, every single
time.

Use their engine analysis feature after each game to see moves that you may
have missed.

Also I got a lot out of Jeremy Silman's books, in terms of developing
strategy.

(disclaimer I'm not actually very good)

~~~
dmarlow
> Use their engine analysis feature after each game to see moves that you may
> have missed.

This right here. If you don't go back and learn from your mistakes, how do you
not repeat them?

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ycombinete
Hey, if you could give us an idea of what your current skill level is, people
would have a better chance of suggesting a path for you. What is your current
raitng, and where do you play?

~~~
excitednumber
[https://www.chess.com/stats/live/blitz/ten_cent_rooker](https://www.chess.com/stats/live/blitz/ten_cent_rooker)

This is me. Sorry in advance for the username.

I vary between mid to high 900, low 1ks.

I tend to play blitz due to how I have incorporated chess into my life and
enjoy the pressure to think quickly.

~~~
wildengineer
I have to parrot what others say about playing slower chess. I was around 900
when I started on chess.com and peaked around 1600. I did regress though as I
lost the obsession.

This is what I did over many years:

\- Playing alot of slow chess. This allows you to explore and learn from the
exploration, but also gives you a small amount of pressure.

\- Studying openings with mobile apps

\- Consuming everything chess through books, apps, and videos. I loved
watching analysis of the masters.

\- Focusing on tactics over strategy. I learned from a really good chess
player that strategy is more of an experts tool. I was never going to be an
expert.

\- Chess puzzles. This helps with pattern recognition, especially in blitz.

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bjourne
You don't improve because you only play 3 minute blitz. To improve, you need
to play longer time controls. Like 30+30, 30 minutes starting time and 30
seconds increments, or preferably even slower. Also solve a lot of puzzles.
I've gained 250 ELO points in the last few years doing that.

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galfarragem
I'm an average player at best but my experience tells me the opposite. To be
able to play fast games successfully you need a "finely tuned algorithm". On
longer time frames you can simple use the "raw power of your cpu and
bruteforce". My ELO is way better on longer games (easily +300). The faster
the game, the more I struggle.

~~~
bjourne
But that is not the opposite? All else being equal, if your ELO is 300 points
better on longer time controls, it means that you play worse when playing
blitz than when playing standard. You won't improve by playing bad chess.

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donnanorton
I've heard that it's very important to analyze your own games. They say it's
beneficial to make notes during the encounter to understand the nature of your
mistakes.

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ttonkytonk
The tutorial on Chessmaster 7000 (about 15 years ago).

