I suck at chess, what should I do?
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magnumsicecream111
12 hrs ago
0
#1
like how?
Well.... who doesn't suck at chess? I know I do!
On the surface, Chess is 99% tactics. You should be doing some form of tactics everyday.
All the positional skill and endgame skill will be wasted if you can not see the board visually (refer back to tactics) Learning the middle game and the end game are a MUST!!!!
Once in a blue moon I play someone who is very good at tactics, but doesn't know the opening phase (Opening a game with junk like 1.a3 is like trying to box with one hand tied behind your back... IT doesn't work. The opponent hangs till the middle game looking for a combo that never happens. From that point happily wanders into a bad position and looses. You will need to book up on openings at some point.
Now what those openings are, that should should be dependent on your style of play and how mow much time you can devote to the game.
4 hrs ago
0
#5
it is about memorization, it really is, people say it is not, but they are wrong, all you do is read books, watch videos and games played by top GMs all day, you memorise the positions and winning moves in those positions, and thats it, you cannot learn chess, by just playing it, cause inevitably you're gonna run into players who actually have memorised stuff, this is why chess is so boring these day, especially in the beginning, there are a lot of people who play boring antichess style games, where they just hunker down, protect everything and dont even try to attack, and just wait till their opponent makes a blunder or mistake trying to attack from the getgo, and that is the computer way of playing, it is boring and slow
i kinda like that style of chess------hunker down ---protect everything-- and wait till the other player makes a blunder or two ----- i think i have been going at this all wrong till i read this -- its going to be my new mantra -- hunker down protect every thing and wait till they make a wrong move ---- thanks for the hint no wonder i am at still 100
As a beginner, the best investment of your time would be to read and study several books on basic chess principles. Rather than play blitz or bullet games for a week, read some of the classic instruction books. Reinfeld, Chernev, Horowitz. Pandolfini, Lasker , Rozman. etc. This should immediately be worth at least 500 or 600 Elo points.
Then, when you return to play, use slower time controls so you can think about and implement what you have learned. After a game, try to understand why you won or lost. Analyzing your games will be worth another 200 or 300 Elo points.
Dont try to memorize openings. Don’t play blitz. Those will only slow your progress.
Good luck
@LOSTATCHESS
I’d advise you to focus on keeping your pieces safe but not to “hunker down”- you need to be keeping your pieces active and I assure you, it is much easier to attack than defend (and to many, more fun). Don't be concerned about the game result so much as improving your play and learning from each game. You'll lose thousands of games over time, the question is will you always be learning from them.
I’d advise you to focus on keeping your pieces safe but not to “hunker down”- you need to be keeping your pieces active and I assure you, it is much easier to attack than defend (and to many, more fun). Don't be concerned about the game result so much as improving your play and learning from each game. You'll lose thousands of games over time, the question is will you always be learning from them.
