lichess.org
Donate

Hello Please tell me how do I improve in chess

Hello Everyone Many people have suggested me that how do I improve in chess but that wasn't helpful please suggest me if you can help
The answer to the too often asked question is always the same.
The most effective way is tactics. Many great players claim that chess is 99% tactics, although a modern GM did try to lower that to only 90%.
The other crucial element of chess is the positional. Although a little out of date, My System by Nimzowitch is an excellent start. There are more modern books like this, but they don't explain the concepts as well.
The final part of any training is self examination. Looking at your games, preferably with good player, to try and improve on you weaknesses. Although to really succeed, you have to improve on all the elements of chess.
There's a different answer for every person, but I looked at one of your classical games and I can tell you why you haven't improved: You don't spend any time thinking about any of your moves. You're playing a 20+10 game. At the end of your game you shouldn't have 20 minutes left.
Perhaps it may be a good idea to take a look at yourself squarely... what are your weaknesses? what are your strengths? Are you a patient person? Are you a sincere person? Are you a mindful person? Are you creative? Are you courageous? Capitalize on your strengths and acknowledge your weaknesses. A mature understanding of yourself in the light of truth will lead you to greater success in all of your endeavors. ( also, don't be afraid to take a break from chess...) Good luck.
Most of the players tell that they want to improve, but the truth is 99.9% don't want to put the effort and time needed, it is only a game, after all. There is no holy grail, only hard study and practice.

Now, what to study to improve faster has been known since the days of Capablanca, who told the world: endings and the transition middlegame/ending. Random tactics puzzles will help only so far. There are thousands of good tacticians who plays for decades without know how to analyse if the resulting ending after a possible queen exchange is advantageous. Of course, me included :-)
If what you've gotten so far hasn't been helpful, how do we know any of this will be either?
Go to chesstempo to learn tactics and put it on hard. All of the tactic motifs(types) are documented there and there's hardly any counting type tactical puzzles, unlike lichess where counting tactics are the majority. You can learn what types of tactics combo with other tactics this way and you can attach a name to a concept, which makes it easier to think about them. Make sure you're completing the entire tactic in your head before you check if you're right. Don't move the first move and then figure out the position from there. That's not how live games work unless you're playing hope chess.

Another thing you need to be doing is memorizing endgame patterns. Lichess is good for this. If you know all the endgame patterns, you can set up combo attacks to achieve them. Knowing how the endgame looks can help you plan the middle game better, so that you know which squares are important relative to your position for arriving at an endgame pattern.

Another thing you can do to easily improve all your openings overtime is to always analyze your game and see who messed up whatever mainline you're playing first. If it's you, memorize what you should have done(it's only 1 new step, it's not that much effort).

The above is the advice I've seen posted in multiple places on the net. It seems to make sense and it's been helping me steadily and consistently improve.
it is true, tactics and strategy is important, but you can improve in other ways too. analyze common moves, use one of your pieces that is good against it by analyzing, trial and error. The best way to get better is probably observation, yes, i know. you need tactics right? well the more you play, the better you get at defending your opponent moves, for example, bowdler attack was hard for me at my beginning, then i played until i found a effective strategy against it, hope this helps!
People saying do tavtics, play and analyze games. But i say buy books, what youtube videos, hire a coach, watch dvds. And try out interactive courses and get premium chess accounts on multiple chess sites. And don't buy the cheap stuff, quality has its price, the more expensive the better.

This topic has been archived and can no longer be replied to.