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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

#121

Post by dfan »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #59
kthejoker2 wrote: post #15

Pedantry alert: As ELO ratings follow a logarithmic curve, "gaining 600 points" is a dimensionless metric. These are good tips for beginner to intermediate growth. The things that definitely help the most are: * Pattern recognition - the best courses for this level are things like "Common traps in ", applied with Woodpecker method. Once you've memorized all the mistakes in the Scandi or London system, you can really…

I love that HN hyper-focused on your 600 points observation. However, 600 points means you went from 1500 (the start) to at least 2100, which is almost universally recognized as "pro" or at least semi-pro for chess. So yes, logarithmic curve and dimensionless pedantry and all that, I'll grant you; but that's missing the trees for the squirrels in the forest, since 600 points means "I went from noob to pro." No one ex…

I'd start considering players to be "pro" at around 2600 lichess rapid, which is a pretty normal rating for an International Master. (Mine is over 2200 and I just consider myself to be pretty good.)

1800 is still in the "learning how to play well" stage but getting there from a standing start in 6 months is indeed nice progress. He doesn't seem to claim it's anything more than that, which I appreciate.

Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months

#122

Post by Moodles »

WJW wrote: post #113
efficax wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

failure to see disaster 3 moves ahead is a mistake, failure to see it 10 or more moves ahead is just the limits of human reasoning. In between is squishy

I've managed to progress (over the course of several months) from making dumb blunders like hanging a queen or a rook to blunders 3 moves ahead that are instantly losing according to the engine but completely innocuous to my eye, even when reviewing the game. "Just don't make blunders" is the standard advice but it is not very actionable. Do you have any advice on how to go about this?

For one move blunders, it is things like:

- Look for checks.

- Look for hanging pieces.

- Be extra careful with knight forks.

- Be careful with pawn forks.

- Look for zwischenzug when doing exchanges.

- Look for what a piece is currently doing before you move it (is it defending something?).

- Apply above reasoning to what your opponent might do in the next move after yours.

2-3 moves ahead is mostly the same, just in a bit more depth where some common tactics come in, e.g. the bishop sacrifice on A2 if the white king is castled and stuff like that.

Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months

#123

Post by gerijdeth »

Mizza wrote: post #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.

I found this interesting in the context of the quote: "Returning to the United States in triumph, Morphy toured the major cities, playing chess on his way back to New Orleans. Returning to New Orleans in late 1859 at the age of 22, he retired from active chess competition to begin his law career.[3][4][5][6] Morphy never established a successful law practice, however, and ultimately lived a life of idleness, living on his family's fortune.[7] Despite appeals from his admirers, Morphy never returned to the game, and died in 1884 from a stroke at the age of 47." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Morphy

Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months

#124

Post by X6S1x6Okd1st »

dragon96 wrote: post #49

One piece of advice I hear a lot is "review your games", but how do you actually do that without a stronger player? I'd sometimes use an engine and it'll point out moves I hadn't considered before, but without understanding the plan or positional ideas behind them, I often find this pretty opaque.

at least on lichess there is a "learn from your mistakes" button where you need to guess a move that doesn't lose points. Try not to just randomly make guesses but think hard when you don't see it.

Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months

#125

Post by Gene_Parmesan »

wpasc wrote: post #88
SamBam wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That seems like a meaningful interpretation of "600 points" that applies to anyone It does apply to anyone, but it is more or less meaningful depending on where you start, so the meaningfulness isn't equivalent. It's as if you say you can double your money, but it only works once and with a value The idea that, say, Magnus could increase his chess playing abilities in 6 months (or even 6 years) to be able to beat t…

I often wonder if chess players have a natural "peak"/"optimal" age range in the way that professional athletes do. Being a thinking game that requires strong brain functionality combined with accumulated experience, I wonder if there is an age range that is best for most players. Trade offs may be something like in yours teens and early 20's your brain may have the most plasticity and ability to visualize (plan 10+…

It's worth noting that chess grandmasters can burn up to 6000 calories per day while competing in tournaments. It's an absolutely exhausting endeavor, and I imagine sheer endurance can play a huge role.

So yes, performance does fall off with age, though not as intensely as something like hockey.

Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months

#126

Post by [deleted] »

Mizza wrote: post #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.

[deleted]

Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months

#127

Post by WJW »

Moodles wrote: post #122
WJW wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've managed to progress (over the course of several months) from making dumb blunders like hanging a queen or a rook to blunders 3 moves ahead that are instantly losing according to the engine but completely innocuous to my eye, even when reviewing the game. "Just don't make blunders" is the standard advice but it is not very actionable. Do you have any advice on how to go about this?

For one move blunders, it is things like: - Look for checks. - Look for hanging pieces. - Be extra careful with knight forks. - Be careful with pawn forks. - Look for zwischenzug when doing exchanges. - Look for what a piece is currently doing before you move it (is it defending something?). - Apply above reasoning to what your opponent might do in the next move after yours. 2-3 moves ahead is mostly the same, just i…

By the time the bishop comes in to A2 it is usually too late XD. Zwischenzugs in exchanges still get me sometimes, otherwise I've mostly fixed these. Thanks for the time spent answering though, I think the main thing is to remember to take the time to think things through. So obvious and yet so difficult :)

Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months

#128

Post by kthejoker2 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #78
kthejoker2 wrote: post #15

Pedantry alert: As ELO ratings follow a logarithmic curve, "gaining 600 points" is a dimensionless metric. These are good tips for beginner to intermediate growth. The things that definitely help the most are: * Pattern recognition - the best courses for this level are things like "Common traps in ", applied with Woodpecker method. Once you've memorized all the mistakes in the Scandi or London system, you can really…

> Once you've memorized all the mistakes in the Scandi or London system What's a good book for this?

Usually each opening has its own book (or several books!), I prefer just starting with Lichess studies and YouTube videos

e.g.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Alichess.org%2Fstudy+s...

Memorizing the 20-30 traps and mistakes in those studies is sufficient for beginners; you can use spaced repetition (I use my own private Lichess study to collect positions) and cover the 20 or so most popular openings in a few months.

Again, not enough to win but it helps you punish bad play and learn how to handle aggressive players (since many of the traps are in fact bad play but only with perfect counterplay)

Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months

#129

Post by a13n »

Note that going from 1200 ELO to 1800 ELO is going from 18th percentile to 74th percentile. Pretty much any form of study over 6 months will get you that progress, because you'll have spent more time on chess than ~74% of players.

Going from 1800 ELO to 2400 ELO (74th percentile to 99th percentile) in 6 months would be a lot more interesting, because clearly your study habits are helping you progress faster than others.

A lot of being better than X% of people at something is just about spending more time doing it than X% of participants... Most professional video game players have 5,000 to 10,000 hours of experience in their game.

Source: https://lichess.org/stat/rating/distribution/rapid

Re: Thoughts on chess improvement, after gaining 600 points in 6 months

#130

Post by xapata »

FPGAhacker wrote: post #24
Moodles wrote: post #21

I think by far the biggest improvement newbies can make is just not hanging pieces and blundering, honestly. Literally the majority of games at I used to be quite good as a kid, winning championships and whatnot, and I'm actually glad my grandfather didn't teach me opening theory so much, so I could be trained to think more than memorize. Sadly at the highest level, you do just have to memorize the best opening lines…

So I don’t mean this is to be snarky , but aren’t all chess games decided by mistakes?

Depending on your definition of a mistake.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-move_advantage_in_ches...

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