Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months
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Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months
#2I gained 200 point when I started practicing blindfolded, also great visualization training! A good way to start this is have someone call out squares on the board and you respond with the color. Next start naming the diagonals. Then start moving around a knight, bishop, and then slowly build up your ability to hold a game in your head. Highly recommend!
Thanks for this article. The woodpecker method seems like a nice opportunity for a slack bot.
Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months
#3I gained 200 point when I started practicing blindfolded, also great visualization training! A good way to start this is have someone call out squares on the board and you respond with the color. Next start naming the diagonals. Then start moving around a knight, bishop, and then slowly build up your ability to hold a game in your head. Highly recommend! Thanks for this article. The woodpecker method seems like a nic…
How long did it take you before you could play a whole game blindfolded?
Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months
#4I wish there was an alternative to the algebraic notation that was easier to remember
Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months
#5Some great tips in there. Will definitely try some of these, I find I'm the best the moment I wake up, I will solve several puzzles quickly and grind a win streak but as the day goes along I get gradually worse, I actually started plotting it to find the best time to play. Any time after 9PM is out tho that doesn't deter me sometimes.
I try to focus on classical then go lower and end my sessions with some blitz. What I hate the most about classical is I will be dominating the game and a silly blunder cost me half hour or more so I've taken the sit on my hands method and absolutely no premoving. I also found the best method to improve for me personally was not to shy away from playing higher rated players, it forces you to take the game very seriously as compared to someone with a ?. I used to sit in the lobby and scan for weak looking players and abort games to try and get white but now I will intentionally find someone 100 points higher than me and go black and see how I do. I also actively try to play moves in my head, hard as hell but it's a good exercise to wind down the day in bed. The daily arenas are a great help as well.
The final trick I did to improve was "master" two openings for each color and learn the traps and tactics they come with. Good old london. Every variant I immediately dropped to my true rating and I really struggled cracking 1300 - 1400 but using the cues above I easily went from 1600 to 1700 in rapid just the other day. Catch me here https://lichess.org/@/llazlo
Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months
#6At 1700-1800 I hit a point where I had to study more seriously in order to improve so I lost interest and pretty much stopped playing. Up to that point I could improve just by playing more (with the occasional youtube video but that was more for entertaintment).
Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months
#7At 1700-1800 I hit a point where I had to study more seriously in order to improve so I lost interest and pretty much stopped playing. Up to that point I could improve just by playing more (with the occasional youtube video but that was more for entertaintment).
I'm nearing that point as well. My goal is to hit 2000 in a year and it's getting to the point now where I have a book in my cart and some printed pages of matches.
Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months
#8I gained 200 point when I started practicing blindfolded, also great visualization training! A good way to start this is have someone call out squares on the board and you respond with the color. Next start naming the diagonals. Then start moving around a knight, bishop, and then slowly build up your ability to hold a game in your head. Highly recommend! Thanks for this article. The woodpecker method seems like a nic…
Wow, I'd have enough trouble remembering which color I was!
Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months
#9"The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life." - Paul Morphy.
I started playing anonymous games on LiChess, and playing without ELO anxiety is way, way more fun. It's a game, this is all I need out of it.
Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months
#10"The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life." - Paul Morphy. I started playing anonymous games on LiChess, and playing without ELO anxiety is way, way more fun. It's a game, this is all I need out of it.
Huh. I didnt know you could do anonymous lichess games. I've always gotten very anxious playing chess as despite being very very bad, I've wanted to cling to every point of ELO i had.