How I learn how to use forced checkmate sequences?

After struggling a bit on the 900s... I am now reaching 1100, this mean I am now consistently having to play against opponents around 1200

I noticed frequently I am better, if not for two problems:

1. I frequently run out of time first :/

2. When I have a obvious winning position, I have no idea what to do with it...

Example: last game I managed to surround opponent king with my pieces, and started 'infinite-check' him, where every turn I could cause a check... Yet, I still got confused, and ended giving up on that, trying to get better position, then he did the same to me and won instead...

Computer analysis showed I was in the middle of a forced-checkmate when I moved a piece in a way that still caused a check, but was the wrong move.

Also there are many matches where the reason I ran out of time is that I captured almost the entire enemy board (I had matches where I had for example 16, 20... material advantage), and still couldn't mate the guy.

So how I learn how to recognize fast that I can checkmate a guy after I am in winning position?

You need to learn how to evaluate the board and find the best moves and standard checkmate patterns.

You should start by learning the basic tactics in chess. Do a google search and learn how to identify and practices pins, skewers, forks, discoveries, etc.

I'm in the same boat as you :)

@orspeeder,

Tactics are a pretty good help, but I see you have already done a few hundred - keep it up!

I suggest you sneak a peek at this page:
en.lichess.org/practice

Try to do all of them, but I think doing the checkmate ones will help.

How long have you been playing chess for? Or at least how long have you been actively playing chess?

Hope I can help, but when you reply, make sure you @seanysean me so that I get notified :)

Sean B

Do you know this?
en.lichess.org/practice

And once again I have to promote @Tailuge and his o-trons. :-)
With this tool you can create a puzzle study in no time for all forced mates in your games (with server analysis):
jsfiddle.net/tailuge/mmyvwgd6/show/

I did that for you, with your games:

en.lichess.org/study/L7crid5h

Please clone the study if you like it so I can delete it from my studies.

I learned chess as a kid, but never found opponents where I live, so for most of my life I played against computers...

Only after I found lichess and made an account, I started to 'play seriously' against humans (I tried in the past, but I ended never liking the other chess sites for some reason).

So I think I can consider my 'chess experience' to be the same as the age of my account. (1 month I guess?)

Still, it is kinda depressing I am in the worst 5% players :/ I expected more of myself (not wanting to brag but I have very high IQ, but seemly pattern recognition and experience is more important than raw IQ in chess?)

My advice, try to play games with longer minutes, Do this so you can have more times to calculate every position.
because when you are running out of time in winning position, you will do "Blind" check, which means all the checks you made are useless because the enemy kind can escape
play some 5 mins blitz or at least 3l2 mins blitz. The more time you have, more time to calculate, and dont be too lazy to calculate! like " well i think theres nothing special about this position, lets just make random moves" there's ALWAYS something you can do to make yourself better positionally. once you make a habbit in this, you can calculate and think faster in future. That's my tips fellas :D Good luck with your chess

@orspeeder I don't think IQ is a big factor in how strong you are in chess.

Chess is a game that requires time and practice, it's just the way it is.

I never thought I would get very good at chess, and even though I'm nowhere near master level (though I have defeated GMs in very fast chess, and NMs and FMs in correspondence and beaten a IM in blitz), I must say it is nice to be over 1800, which i thought would likely never happen. (BTW, I don't claim to be over 1800 in real life ratings, because I'm not)

What did I do to get this far?

I simply played, did tactics, analyzed my game, created a website, than another website (and another and another), then i got a couple of books from the library.

One more thing, the younger you are, the easier it is to improve. So I suggest, start playing and practicing today :)

[EDIT: P.S. You're pretty good at chess considering you've only been active for roughly a month.]
[EDIT 2: @Freddy_Sirait19's advice is good advice :)]

"Also there are many matches where the reason I ran out of time is that I captured almost the entire enemy board (I had matches where I had for example 16, 20... material advantage), and still couldn't mate the guy."
Go to the board editor and practice elementary mates K+Q vs K, K+R vs. K, K+B+B vs. K, K+B+N vs. K.

@orspeeder Just try learning something new everytime you have an experience with chess. How good you are isn't really important, what's important is making gradual improvements.

Absolutely everyone starts out as trash in this game; it's just how it is. It's like learning to ride a bike, except chess is a bike where you will never stop learning how to balance and roll the wheels. There are more variations in this game of chess than there are observable atoms in the universe, you see, and it is the patterns that we familiarize ourselves with in the game that create who we are as a player.

You are a newborn, do not expect so much from yourself. Focus not on winning but having enriching experiences so as to further your growth and knowledge!

Edit: Chess engines are usually rated about 3000 so do not fret if the engine sees a checkmate that you miss! These engines destroy even the best human players; with material odds no less!

Remember to learn all the basic endgames, because basically if you learn endgame, you learn chess. What helped me a lot was reading hundreds of chess.com articles ( about one / two per day ), playing some winning positions against computers to learn converting, and surrounding myself with masters' games ( I'm watching ChessNetwork and chessbrahs on daily basis, sometimes I try out random Kingscrusher's or John Bartholomew's videos ). Also, doing sports and refreshing your mind with some sort of meditation before games / training can sometimes boost your skills massively, when I got a bad day I get like 100 pts ELO better performance after these.