My advice in correspondence, which I'm still trying my best to follow but often unsuccessful, is not to blindly copy the 1st suggested move, but to play your own game that is familiar to your style.
@MaximeC
By looking at your phase insight & comparing your Blitz and Classical, your quality of play increases when you take your time to play out your openings and endgames, but you not gaining anything during your middle games.
When your playing the Black pieces:
During the opening phase you're able to double your quality of play, simply by taking your time. So take your time to head in the right direction to win a few.
During your middle game, if your given more time, you seem to be second guessing your moves.
For starters, maybe simplify your middle games by exchanging your pieces, preferably with an advantage.
The endgames cannot be compared, because of your lack of endgames in your Blitz.
Try this out: Pace your game out, by expecting to play 50 moves in 5 minutes.
By comparing your Black and White pieces, your end games should be about the same strength, yet they are not.
So you need to work on puzzles to balance things out.
With white your good at C40 King's Knight Opening.
With Black your good at the A46 Queen's Pawn Game and C47 Four Knights.
Since theses openings are already part of your opening repertoire, play more of them. Over time your will have just about mastered them and will be able to play them out quickly.
Openings point the game in a particular direction.
If you know an opening, it's like knowing what the shortest route is to reach an expected result or destination.
Since your Sicilian openings are weakest, you should learn more about them.
Maybe learn some traps so you can be aware of them.
lichess.org/study/search?q=sicilian+traps
Regularly look at your opening insights and try to learn more about your weak openings. If you filter by date, you will be able to narrow things out to discover your new weak points.
If you remember opening chess principles and do endgame puzzles, the rest should start falling into place.
Lots of blunders happen when we place a piece where it is unsafe or we forget what the piece was protecting before moving it. It's like crossing a road, we look first then move.
In the opening, try to win a Bishop so that you can exploit that weak color complex during the middle and end games.
Search: video weak color complex.
Your the supervisor of your pieces. The pieces are relying on you for their safety. Don't overload them, but plan out a job for all of them. Preferably in harmony.
By looking at your phase insight & comparing your Blitz and Classical, your quality of play increases when you take your time to play out your openings and endgames, but you not gaining anything during your middle games.
When your playing the Black pieces:
During the opening phase you're able to double your quality of play, simply by taking your time. So take your time to head in the right direction to win a few.
During your middle game, if your given more time, you seem to be second guessing your moves.
For starters, maybe simplify your middle games by exchanging your pieces, preferably with an advantage.
The endgames cannot be compared, because of your lack of endgames in your Blitz.
Try this out: Pace your game out, by expecting to play 50 moves in 5 minutes.
By comparing your Black and White pieces, your end games should be about the same strength, yet they are not.
So you need to work on puzzles to balance things out.
With white your good at C40 King's Knight Opening.
With Black your good at the A46 Queen's Pawn Game and C47 Four Knights.
Since theses openings are already part of your opening repertoire, play more of them. Over time your will have just about mastered them and will be able to play them out quickly.
Openings point the game in a particular direction.
If you know an opening, it's like knowing what the shortest route is to reach an expected result or destination.
Since your Sicilian openings are weakest, you should learn more about them.
Maybe learn some traps so you can be aware of them.
lichess.org/study/search?q=sicilian+traps
Regularly look at your opening insights and try to learn more about your weak openings. If you filter by date, you will be able to narrow things out to discover your new weak points.
If you remember opening chess principles and do endgame puzzles, the rest should start falling into place.
Lots of blunders happen when we place a piece where it is unsafe or we forget what the piece was protecting before moving it. It's like crossing a road, we look first then move.
In the opening, try to win a Bishop so that you can exploit that weak color complex during the middle and end games.
Search: video weak color complex.
Your the supervisor of your pieces. The pieces are relying on you for their safety. Don't overload them, but plan out a job for all of them. Preferably in harmony.
1.) Don't blunder. Check for threats, checks, captures, and hanging pieces on both sides.
2.) Improve your tactics and strategies.
That should help you improve tremendously. Forget all that other shit until you develop these 2 skills.
2.) Improve your tactics and strategies.
That should help you improve tremendously. Forget all that other shit until you develop these 2 skills.
When you want to go somewhere, you need to know which way to move or else you will never reach your destination. Some take the long scenic route to get to their destination. In chess you should not be wasting your time. Some openings must be used or else you will always be giving the game to your opponent.
Chess is like troubleshooting an equipment, you should be able to problem solve, by doing a logical and systematic search to solve the situation. Chess skills are learned quickly, if you practice checkmating patterns, or common tactical chess puzzles. If you gain the advantage by 20 moves, your puzzle solving skills should help you win the rest of the game.
As a game progresses, a player either gets stronger or gets weaker. It depends on what they have practised. With a solid knowledge of end games, a player becomes more comfortable once they reach the middle of the game. When you reach the middle game you are already planning to transpose it into an end game.
Manage your time well, locate the effective moves, respect the value of the pieces, and place your pieces on safe useful squares. Look for a second solution before playing the first one and pick the one the guarantees results.
Don't practice something you don't plan on using.
Hanging pieces, overloaded pieces, squares that you cannot protect are probably blunders.
Learn as many chess principles and methods to play as you can. You will retain the ones you use the most. The ones you retain and use the most will become your style of play.
Winning the centre and a diagonal or column will help you conquer the back ranks. Enemy pieces should never reach your back ranks or even enter your territory. Gain an angle and apply the pieces wisely.
Chess is like troubleshooting an equipment, you should be able to problem solve, by doing a logical and systematic search to solve the situation. Chess skills are learned quickly, if you practice checkmating patterns, or common tactical chess puzzles. If you gain the advantage by 20 moves, your puzzle solving skills should help you win the rest of the game.
As a game progresses, a player either gets stronger or gets weaker. It depends on what they have practised. With a solid knowledge of end games, a player becomes more comfortable once they reach the middle of the game. When you reach the middle game you are already planning to transpose it into an end game.
Manage your time well, locate the effective moves, respect the value of the pieces, and place your pieces on safe useful squares. Look for a second solution before playing the first one and pick the one the guarantees results.
Don't practice something you don't plan on using.
Hanging pieces, overloaded pieces, squares that you cannot protect are probably blunders.
Learn as many chess principles and methods to play as you can. You will retain the ones you use the most. The ones you retain and use the most will become your style of play.
Winning the centre and a diagonal or column will help you conquer the back ranks. Enemy pieces should never reach your back ranks or even enter your territory. Gain an angle and apply the pieces wisely.
@MaximeC #1
Some hints :
* Follow the Botvinnik method : analyse your own games and improve from there. On Lichess a Stockfish analysis is just a few mouse clicks away, and it can help you to spot missed opportunities. Also, analysing with stronger chess players can help.
* Watch chess videos, e.g. the Saint Louis Chess ones, I like Seirawan and Akobian videos a lot. Especially Seirawan is a great teacher and entertainer.
* Find a good time balance between training, studying, analysing, watching videos and playing chess.
e.g. Doing 50 tactic puzzles on one day and then 2 weeks nothing is unlikely to be very helpful. Better to do at least 5 tactic puzzles per day during, say, at least three months. And also take time to understand why you failed some puzzles.
* Find out what your weak and strong points are.
e.g. If you are bad at rook endings (I noticed that quite some opponents lack a good feel for rook endings), then it is good to know that because you can work on it.
If you know that you are good at e.g. Sicilian defense with white, scoring pretty well with it, and are very comfortable playing it, then that can boost your chess confidence.
* Play also slower time control, correspondence chess, where you can, in a very relaxed way, without time pressure work extensively on your openings and endgame.
* Get a chess coach. If you cannot afford a chess coach, then let some stronger chessplayers analyse your chess games and ask them for suggestions how to improve in those games.
Some hints :
* Follow the Botvinnik method : analyse your own games and improve from there. On Lichess a Stockfish analysis is just a few mouse clicks away, and it can help you to spot missed opportunities. Also, analysing with stronger chess players can help.
* Watch chess videos, e.g. the Saint Louis Chess ones, I like Seirawan and Akobian videos a lot. Especially Seirawan is a great teacher and entertainer.
* Find a good time balance between training, studying, analysing, watching videos and playing chess.
e.g. Doing 50 tactic puzzles on one day and then 2 weeks nothing is unlikely to be very helpful. Better to do at least 5 tactic puzzles per day during, say, at least three months. And also take time to understand why you failed some puzzles.
* Find out what your weak and strong points are.
e.g. If you are bad at rook endings (I noticed that quite some opponents lack a good feel for rook endings), then it is good to know that because you can work on it.
If you know that you are good at e.g. Sicilian defense with white, scoring pretty well with it, and are very comfortable playing it, then that can boost your chess confidence.
* Play also slower time control, correspondence chess, where you can, in a very relaxed way, without time pressure work extensively on your openings and endgame.
* Get a chess coach. If you cannot afford a chess coach, then let some stronger chessplayers analyse your chess games and ask them for suggestions how to improve in those games.
@MaximeC
Open the above game up.
Bottom right of your screen there is a button called ...
Learn from your mistakes
Press it and try to solve the position again.
If you cannot solve the problem, ...
On the top right you can press the target button to see the threat the opponent was able to do.
Then press ... View the Solution.
This should speed things up in learning what you are missing.
Open the above game up.
Bottom right of your screen there is a button called ...
Learn from your mistakes
Press it and try to solve the position again.
If you cannot solve the problem, ...
On the top right you can press the target button to see the threat the opponent was able to do.
Then press ... View the Solution.
This should speed things up in learning what you are missing.
Thank you all for your messages, I'm now trying to do the effort to really think about my moves. In the tactic puzzles I'm now 1700 which is a new record for me, I spend maybe 5 or 10 times longer on each puzzle but at least I really evaluate the position. I guess that with time I'll be able to evaluate each position more quickly.
@Toscani that game... that's because I had only a few seconds left, I could not think anymore... I rarely play blitz, I'm too slow. I'll try to analyze more games and learn from my mistakes.
@Toscani that game... that's because I had only a few seconds left, I could not think anymore... I rarely play blitz, I'm too slow. I'll try to analyze more games and learn from my mistakes.
So far we have the 3 major Don'ts:
1. Don't blunder
2. Don't hang a piece
3. Don't get Checkmated (most important)
1. Don't blunder
2. Don't hang a piece
3. Don't get Checkmated (most important)
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