what
Im 1200 OTB but can't seem to get out of the 800 - 900 range on chess com what am i doing wrong?
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Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond.....
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond
I think the difference is you probably play slower in person than you do online. Having a human across from you encourages you to use time early. Let's look at your 3 most recent rapid losses, I'm sure these are frustrating to revisit and there's context I don't have but hopefully you'll find it useful.
Your most recent game is the clearest example. You played Nd4 in 8 seconds and ultimately ended the game with more time than you started with. In person you might have played this slower.
Here you used your time well in the early game, but started moving way too fast in the end game where you still had half your clock, playing K36 in 2 seconds and losing the game. A move you might not make so quickly in person.
This game again had decent time usage. You got your bishop trapped but had pretty good compensation for it getting 2 of the most important pawns. However I think in your mind you felt you were behind and started playing faster and riskier. g4 was a bit early. Better to get your knight and rooks ready to support the attack before making that move. After the queen trade g5 was played in a second, blundering a key pawn and leaving your king just as exposed, except now down 2 pawns instead of 1.
Playing in person forces you to play slower from start to finish, both because you have a human across from you, but also just the act of needing to reach and move pieces can result in a slower paced game. When playing online, ensure even in the middle of chaos or the calmness of openings, that you take a minimum amount of time for each move, even if you had calculated it the move before. Hope this helps!
The first suggestion I have is to stop playing rapid and blitz chess. you make too many beginner mistakes.
next, I suggest that you learn basic opening principles. Only after these become automatic for you can you succeed at speed chess.
then, work on basic endgame principles. And how to form plans for the middle game. I have looked at several of your games. Your play is based on making 1-move threats and not any strategical ideas or plans
if you were my student, I would have you work through at least a couple of books that show how masters think. I recommend Chernev’s Logical Chess Move by Move and his The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played. Of course, there are many other good choices. Studying these books, playing out the moves on a board, thinking about the ideas will teach you more in a month than will playing 100 speed games against other beginners.
mikewier wrote:
The first suggestion I have is to stop playing rapid and blitz chess.
So should i play bullet instead?
GooseChess wrote:
Your most recent game is the clearest example. You played Nd4 in 8 seconds and ultimately ended the game with more time than you started with. In person you might have played this slower.
I would say this game is an outlier, as it was about 11:30PM and I was playing on my phone, and not taking it seriously, but I definitely agree with your points, I will try to have better time management, OTB and online, thanks.
Ok so at my local club we are given a rating, it's not official or anything, but from what i've learned asking around, it should be about 100 below your chess.com rating. For example a 1600 at my club is about 1450 online, and theres a 1200 in the club who's about 1100 online, I know there's no way to actually translate it directly, but it seems i should be a bit higher then I am. I play openings well, I have a strong middlegame, I'm kinda bad at endgames but I'm working on that. Is there any advice for how to get higher? I've been playing since september 2023 and I feel like despite dedicating many hours to chess every day I'm just not getting out of this elo range, even though I feel I am improving as a player. When i join the online tournaments chess.com hosts I beat 1200s and hold my own against higher elos. Is there any just general advice or videos for me to watch? I've watched john bartholomews stuff and Chessbrahs building habits series. Is the trick really to just keep playing games until I improve? I mainly play 5 minute blitz and 10 minute rapid btw.