I really want a high rating, all I need are tips
Don't play when you're feeling tired, learn openings, and study tactics. Also don't play arena tournaments.
ok thanks
You'll need a lot more than tips.
Well, the general advice for lower rated players is to work on tactics, practice checkmates and endgames, understand the strengths and weaknesses of pawn structures, and to play according to opening principles. It's also important to play slower games to give you a chance to develop the thought processes, and to analyse your games afterwards to see what mistakes were made and what opportunities were missed.
The biggest thing you can do to improve your rating is to use a structured approach for screening candidate moves and evaluating resulting positions. This will help you to ensure that you're considering a wide selection of moves objectively, to avoid obvious blunders or mistakes, and to avoid hoping that your opponent makes mistakes instead of playing the best moves.
I like to use "ODIN" as a memory prompt for prioritizing which moves deserve further review and analysis, where each letter stands for specific types of moves:
- O stands for offensive moves – captures, checks, attacking pieces, and making threats
- D stands for defensive moves – defending a piece, blocking with a less valuable piece, or retreating from a threat
- I stands for improvement moves – getting your pieces or pawns to more active squares where they control more of the board and have potential to create threats
- N stands for negation moves – restricting options for your opponent to maneuver, blocking off their space, intermezzo moves, and fixing weaknesses in their position
How you use this for screening possible moves is:
1) Start off by looking at your opponent’s position and all of their potential Type O, D, I, and N moves in order. Start by looking at their pawns, then their minor pieces, then their heavy pieces, and finally their king. This is primarily a scan for actual and potential threats on the board.
2) Summarise these moves to determine which are the most likely and may require further analysis. Look first for tactics and moves that win material outright, checks, forcing offensive moves, and moves that fit in more than one type of category (for example, an O-type move may capture and check, or it may attack multiple pieces either directly or indirectly, or a move may fit into both the D and N category). Generally O-type moves are the strongest, then D-type, and then I and N-type moves, but each move must be evaluated based on the particular position.
3) Next, search for your own potential candidate moves that fall into the ODIN categories, starting with your pawns and working through your pieces to your king. Again, determine which may be the strongest candidates and which might fit into multiple categories.
4) For your top candidate moves that you are considering, look at possible responses by your opponent, the drawbacks, new imbalances that have been created, and any subsequent forced sequences to eliminate potential mistakes or blunders and determine and verify which move is likely to be your strongest.
5) Finally, during your opponent’s time, you can prepare for your next move by looking at the position and evaluating different aspects of it (and not concerning yourself with any immediate moves), scanning for potential tactical patterns, and determining what plans your opponent might have and things that you might want to achieve in the position. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses are for both sides, and what potential opportunities and threats may arise. Primary things to look at include material, king safety, activity and mobility, and the pawn structure.
Try applying this in slower time control games where you have the time to think between moves. With enough practice, it will start to come naturally and you'll be able to intuitively and/or more quickly pick out patterns and know which moves to pay attention to. By adhering to a more structured approach, you give yourself a better chance at finding the strongest moves and avoiding blunders.
The biggest thing you can do to improve your rating is to use a structured approach for screening candidate moves and evaluating resulting positions. This will help you to ensure that you're considering a wide selection of moves objectively, to avoid obvious blunders or mistakes, and to avoid hoping that your opponent makes mistakes instead of playing the best moves.
I like to use "ODIN" as a memory prompt for prioritizing which moves deserve further review and analysis, where each letter stands for specific types of moves:
- O stands for offensive moves – captures, checks, attacking pieces, and making threats
- D stands for defensive moves – defending a piece, blocking with a less valuable piece, or retreating from a threat
- I stands for improvement moves – getting your pieces or pawns to more active squares where they control more of the board and have potential to create threats
- N stands for negation moves – restricting options for your opponent to maneuver, blocking off their space, intermezzo moves, and fixing weaknesses in their position
How you use this for screening possible moves is:
1) Start off by looking at your opponent’s position and all of their potential Type O, D, I, and N moves in order. Start by looking at their pawns, then their minor pieces, then their heavy pieces, and finally their king. This is primarily a scan for actual and potential threats on the board.
2) Summarise these moves to determine which are the most likely and may require further analysis. Look first for tactics and moves that win material outright, checks, forcing offensive moves, and moves that fit in more than one type of category (for example, an O-type move may capture and check, or it may attack multiple pieces either directly or indirectly, or a move may fit into both the D and N category). Generally O-type moves are the strongest, then D-type, and then I and N-type moves, but each move must be evaluated based on the particular position.
3) Next, search for your own potential candidate moves that fall into the ODIN categories, starting with your pawns and working through your pieces to your king. Again, determine which may be the strongest candidates and which might fit into multiple categories.
4) For your top candidate moves that you are considering, look at possible responses by your opponent, the drawbacks, new imbalances that have been created, and any subsequent forced sequences to eliminate potential mistakes or blunders and determine and verify which move is likely to be your strongest.
5) Finally, during your opponent’s time, you can prepare for your next move by looking at the position and evaluating different aspects of it (and not concerning yourself with any immediate moves), scanning for potential tactical patterns, and determining what plans your opponent might have and things that you might want to achieve in the position. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses are for both sides, and what potential opportunities and threats may arise. Primary things to look at include material, king safety, activity and mobility, and the pawn structure.
Try applying this in slower time control games where you have the time to think between moves. With enough practice, it will start to come naturally and you'll be able to intuitively and/or more quickly pick out patterns and know which moves to pay attention to. By adhering to a more structured approach, you give yourself a better chance at finding the strongest moves and avoiding blunders.
I suppose you wrote an entire paper on the art of 'General Advice for Lower Rated Players'.
Unbelievable content @Mezmer!
Is the concept of ODIN borrowed from another chess thinker or did you come up yourself with that acronym. It's so cool, it even sounds like out of an Avengers movie ;)
Is the concept of ODIN borrowed from another chess thinker or did you come up yourself with that acronym. It's so cool, it even sounds like out of an Avengers movie ;)
@Rawkward - There's a wide number of similar writings about systematic approaches, some that have various acronyms, but I came up with ODIN to make it a little simpler to remember ("negating" moves was ham-fisted in, lol, instead of restricting, prophylactic, etc. which really are better terms)
Don't drink when you play.
Practice and build up experience.
Analyze your wins and losses.
Take advantage of the Learn menu on LiChess, do all the drills.
Do the daily tactics puzzles.
Watch chess videos from Gotham Chess, Eric Rosen, etc.
Play with slower time controls at least initially, speed comes with time and practice.
Analyze your wins and losses.
Take advantage of the Learn menu on LiChess, do all the drills.
Do the daily tactics puzzles.
Watch chess videos from Gotham Chess, Eric Rosen, etc.
Play with slower time controls at least initially, speed comes with time and practice.
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