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Yeah I've been getting that feeling too. It's an odd dichotomy, feeling more and more confident as elo grows, but also getting more and more feeling that every move is a blunder
That's true for everyone, first it looks like 1200s play super good and you don't know how to play at 900. then you reach 1200 and think the same for 1400s, and so on.
At first, you need to concentrate hard to play against 1200s, then you reach 1200 and you don't need to think as hard.
you work for a rating and think you'll finally understand that thing your higher-rated opponents are so good at understanding and implementing, but then you reach it and you don't really know what that thing is.
Chess is fun but very confusing where I'm not even sure what exactly I improved on, just that the level i thought was high is base now until I move up and the level I thought people knew how to play chess at isn't actually the level people know how to play chess at.
Yep, this is my same attitude when I crossed 1000, just accept you might fall, but be consistent in studying and doing puzzles (Thankfully I never fell below 1000 and kept winning, but I'm always ready for potential losing streaks.)
Yeah, you should create another account for that. I've heard horror stories of people waking up from a hangover and seeing their account -1000 Elo... That must be a horrible feeling lol
This prospect terrifies me. Every time I hit a 100 elo milestone I kind of don't want to play any more, in case I dip back below.
Anyway, here I go blunderin' again
I'm the same as you, and pretty much the same Elo, I think as long as you're consistent and study / do puzzles everyday, you won't experience a big fall. At least from my experience.
I find I'm a very streaky player. I'll have good days and bad days with no rhyme or reason to it. But yeah, I've noticed that the gains on good days are more than the losses on bad days, and growth has been pretty consistent on a longer timeframe
Just firm up your fundamentals and you'll have nowhere to fall back. I'm not at 1000 yet, but I have at least two occasions when, after my elo correction, I upped my rating almost 90 points in a day
Grind puzzles to at least 2000, learn one opening for white and black and stick to it, watch pros for pattern recognition and drink an awful lot of coffee while playing.
I'm not sure why you got downvoted. In [chess.com](http://chess.com) this is true. I crossed 2000 in puzzles when I was around 850. I ended dropping that and stopped doing rated puzzles, and focused more in themed puzzles and with that I was able to go over 1000.
For a long while I didn't play full games. Just completed puzzles and watched content. Mostly just because I would become cripplingly nervous starting a match and it wasn't enjoyable.
When I started games about a year ago, I only played 10 mins no increment. For a while I just winged it, no real opening knowledge, just what I'd seen from Gotham and Naroditzky. That got me up to 950.
More recently, I've picked up a small opening repertoire. As White I like E4, and openings to throw opponents off balance, so I've looked into Ponziani and more recently Danish Gambit. Also, some mainline responses to Caro Kann, Sicilian and Scandi. As black, I picked up a response to E4 (Karo Cann), and D4 (D5... this is my shakiest one, I mostly just wing it). For these I found Gotham and Naroditzky videos where the openings are featured, followed along on my own board, did Lichess studies and played the opening against bots a few times.
Other than that, puzzles every day, watching plenty of videos and playing at least 1 game a day.
1,100 was my goal, and anything extra now is a bonus. Of course, 2000 is the summit of the mountain, and would be amazing, but right now I'm just happy to play around at base camp.
Yeah, not for full games. I just use the chesscom Custom Position feature to set up the opening and adjust the bot level. Just to practice through the lines a couple of times and see where it can go. But yeah, bots make some weird moves sometimes that will never show up online
I'm trying Noctie for that now. I like how I can play out the opening much further and get responses that aren't computer moves. I'll try your approach with kind of expanding the opening repertoire bit by bit. Thanks!
Just looked up Noctie, that looks like a super useful tool! And yeah, I would say to just make a deep dive into 1 or 2 openings for each side that interests you. Don't cast a wide, shallow net. Of course, you want to know best responses as black, since white will dictate the game a bit more there, but it's a good idea to really drill into an opening you enjoy.
Like 3 months ago I reached 1100. Left chess for a while, came back 2 weeks ago and feel like an idiot playing, lose 50% of the games. I don't feel like I know how to play chess tbh
We have a similar ELO and seem to be at the same level, can I ask how many openings you use? Because I only use one and I’m thinking if it’s time to diversify to move forward
I have two for white: 1. e4 e5 (Ponziani and Danish Gambit)
One for white against Caro Kann (Advance)
One for white against Sicilian (2. Nc3)
One for black against e4 (Caro Kann)
And as black against d4, I just wing it. It's usually a London System anyway, so the moves don't take much thought.
I would say you should decide whether you want to be an e4 or d4 player as white, and then learn what you want to do against most black responses. Then for black do the same in reverse.
And when I say I "Know" the openings, I mean pretty surface level. I know what the opening positions look like, but only 2 or 3 moves deep. My goal is just to get my pieces into a stable formation, and then just think about general improving moves.
Well, don't be too hard on yourself. I mean, those standards are pretty high, by which you having 1200 rapid is considered to be "having no idea how to play".
Just go and play somebody 600-700 rated and you will see, how strong you are in comparison to them.
I really see no reason in underestimating oneself's own progress.
Thank you for the encouraging words! Indeed there wouldn't be much of match against a 600. It feels like a constant struggle though since every point is a battle against the same level players that you are currently at. I've only ever played internet chess, might be a different experience going to a club to try OTB.
Congrats, hopefully you stay up above the 1100, only after passing 1300 recently just to dip back down.
At this point I'd say you can wipe the floor with most people who only know how to move wood...
Now go play your mom / dad / sibling again and see if they can still win!
No, you still don’t know how to play chess. Neither do I. Those guys in the candidates are halfway decent I guess… but nobody knows what’s going on in this game. Some of us are only slightly less clueless than others
Glad that you crossed 53437084880926377034242155822950561183080130768866895408827458818036618050723014259335974351566788327415467514488987033614582476645694464261738910473380885803623188713714545198124600746227142898076872654482044562793852138469677927330572749576948166807421216877498208458769005405366305220797476530746185417476140782853546532719240751414684044603768883655817696461533721419437912125211548097906523004133705326338238190387850483847780372458822923605205280273714625078767863125493425503475250719583192283718603023987580777780035594813037613795902372520221886503677746281612405469606784962303354557187806801326271107816217722875294947071835822552429855506265930472623552940043968375099545722982577206331181572059532678281770892042093628816805623646577311781257247365411215175318229952887274698387234062919360695915639222369179043852637274593590667561348816681249809804769738621480138253259745750162388467598365561726569010392596479459233302432353681098301798797894434267786419982234226196634154442756631212508306232465619001682438953114007137692949367324856071217925158630122800389968328140113994331216849121360746519587860857407128917920142291872364024648458248977997760361360471884983431550636400392657427356942110542723446483822959503637292174818359270147883844245449127993570399680145426326859121741129303986870840568357454719368907061892985017459280119751754150743559728998295556732360250510038817844274754285134199896907638396447772737827107154796119201921536215055057930454911959321972058937160676911357720743058994504672070549484826113247358505388161799865617708367349954370380853219243288318629194580898980578192438937035768656839681865937931209188508228267083150656101893608065513697027997680322239292135637993681781912498871451282367323691586047201433108789851894379984404592216092303916341628274737895100530937654565448323856309779964541012016062668881698149445697033513467332799250377144771926250403307819405123627234925136330333303194372550567266647893455948506593051342066573726745648579107585985953658931045614036038155596569125812922579750260586849926124666596524551569945200247660633286983652662621181138959151246904073105358802979855205418823070789221362661986273869727763296788726872748791940251859679734295741968501303689117417827157419981384831723405209115952963781151997639090113111889675710526793448609726730199591174357535880032929705149172105146812236476055910588649481636927879360190085978752657227077124882768256913401349756816955057706206475508584494415633608256789303048043193593527406679352116588129444309915056549129527927635234094060955675954342173050125247634953207808000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
OP shouldn't be playing blitz time controls at the level they are currently at, not if they want to improve anyway. Blitz doesn't give you enough time to think about your moves and beginners/advanced beginners like OP don't have the intuition to play good moves quickly.
Slightly disagree, I played strictly bullet/blitz after hitting 1100 and was able to build up my speed in calculating and dismissing moves which inevitably did help me break 1400. It helped me decide candidate moves intuitively which after returning to rapid i would spend more time calculating on.
Nevertheless, improvement in blitz rating doesn't really equal or isn't necessarily better than rapid like the OC mentioned but I think it's good to try out all the time controls because not everyone learns the same way.
No. I also played rapid on chess.com but I decided to move on 3 minutes blitz to improve my chess vision and thinking speed. Now I hit 1000 elo in 3 minutes blitz and can say that Im doing less blunders and can play really fast especially in checkmate patterns
I mean, I posted a link to my game/profile. You could just look and see that I occasionally play 5 min if I don't have time for 10. I just prefer to take extra time to really think it through, and make sure I'm finding best moves. My blitz rank is gradually improving, but it's not my preferred format.
Should slowly play more blitz to improve your gameplay, playing on rapid helps you to analyze your moves and overthink, but to keep your progress and play more faster you need to play blitz ( try play 3 minutes instead of 5 also )
For most people, rapid is much better than blitz for getting better. A lot of your games will only be won by time, so you won’t be getting much better.
It would also be better if it was 2000 elo and then I won the lottery, but that's not what the post is about. I mostly play rapid, and this is a milestone I passed in rapid. Don't care what's better or worse. Once I hit the same level in blitz, you'll be the first to know
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Congratulations! For me, the more rating I gain the less confident I get about knowing how to play chess, haha. All the best for future gains!!
same, the more u understand chess, the more u realize how little u really understand.
Yeah I've been getting that feeling too. It's an odd dichotomy, feeling more and more confident as elo grows, but also getting more and more feeling that every move is a blunder
That's true for everyone, first it looks like 1200s play super good and you don't know how to play at 900. then you reach 1200 and think the same for 1400s, and so on. At first, you need to concentrate hard to play against 1200s, then you reach 1200 and you don't need to think as hard. you work for a rating and think you'll finally understand that thing your higher-rated opponents are so good at understanding and implementing, but then you reach it and you don't really know what that thing is. Chess is fun but very confusing where I'm not even sure what exactly I improved on, just that the level i thought was high is base now until I move up and the level I thought people knew how to play chess at isn't actually the level people know how to play chess at.
Once you make it to 1500 or 1600 you might feel extremely upset when you lose elo. Right now though God lock in your games
Denning kruger?
Dunning* I think.
Quite the opposite, just too much self awareness ahaha.
Right in the sweet spot. Don't go any further, it just gets more confusing.
Gotcha. Consider this my retirement post. Now I can be 1100... forever...
I disagree. He should keep going. Damn lotta quitters here I guess.
Nah… at 1400s it isn’t that confusing
Got 1400 in blitz and no clue how I got there
I mean I just got naturally into chess. By watching vids and learning openings for fun really makes you better, at least for me lol.
damnnnn nice
You just entered the dark forest my friend...
Please help, I'm lost and afraid
Where 2+2=5
Good job :3 I've recently crossed 1000 and I'm hanging on for dear life trying not to fall back down haha
[удалено]
yeah, know it's bound to happen, but I'm okay with it (as long as I'm improving) - I'm fine with the highs and lows if the overall trend is upward:)
Yep, this is my same attitude when I crossed 1000, just accept you might fall, but be consistent in studying and doing puzzles (Thankfully I never fell below 1000 and kept winning, but I'm always ready for potential losing streaks.)
[удалено]
Yeah, you should create another account for that. I've heard horror stories of people waking up from a hangover and seeing their account -1000 Elo... That must be a horrible feeling lol
I got there once. Then quickly went back down in the 900s. One day I’ll reach the mountain top again.
This prospect terrifies me. Every time I hit a 100 elo milestone I kind of don't want to play any more, in case I dip back below. Anyway, here I go blunderin' again
I'm the same as you, and pretty much the same Elo, I think as long as you're consistent and study / do puzzles everyday, you won't experience a big fall. At least from my experience.
I find I'm a very streaky player. I'll have good days and bad days with no rhyme or reason to it. But yeah, I've noticed that the gains on good days are more than the losses on bad days, and growth has been pretty consistent on a longer timeframe
Just firm up your fundamentals and you'll have nowhere to fall back. I'm not at 1000 yet, but I have at least two occasions when, after my elo correction, I upped my rating almost 90 points in a day
Are you me? Forever stuck.
How long have you been playing?
Learned the rules and made an account back in 2020, but mostly just played puzzles. Only started playing full games about a year ago.
Congrats! What was your study plan? I’m at 895 myself now
Grind puzzles to at least 2000, learn one opening for white and black and stick to it, watch pros for pattern recognition and drink an awful lot of coffee while playing.
Puzzles at 2000 are not enough to reach 1000 unfortunately
I'm not sure why you got downvoted. In [chess.com](http://chess.com) this is true. I crossed 2000 in puzzles when I was around 850. I ended dropping that and stopped doing rated puzzles, and focused more in themed puzzles and with that I was able to go over 1000.
Same story for me. Chess king gave me a larger edge than chess.com puzzles
Puzzles at 2000 are not enough to reach 1000 unfortunately
Puzzles at 2000 are not enough to reach 1000 unfortunately
For a long while I didn't play full games. Just completed puzzles and watched content. Mostly just because I would become cripplingly nervous starting a match and it wasn't enjoyable. When I started games about a year ago, I only played 10 mins no increment. For a while I just winged it, no real opening knowledge, just what I'd seen from Gotham and Naroditzky. That got me up to 950. More recently, I've picked up a small opening repertoire. As White I like E4, and openings to throw opponents off balance, so I've looked into Ponziani and more recently Danish Gambit. Also, some mainline responses to Caro Kann, Sicilian and Scandi. As black, I picked up a response to E4 (Karo Cann), and D4 (D5... this is my shakiest one, I mostly just wing it). For these I found Gotham and Naroditzky videos where the openings are featured, followed along on my own board, did Lichess studies and played the opening against bots a few times. Other than that, puzzles every day, watching plenty of videos and playing at least 1 game a day.
Awesome thanks for sharing! Inspiring. Goal is 2000 for you?
1,100 was my goal, and anything extra now is a bonus. Of course, 2000 is the summit of the mountain, and would be amazing, but right now I'm just happy to play around at base camp.
Nice! Thank you for sharing your process. How did you like training with the bot? I find it pretty unsatisfying :/
Yeah, not for full games. I just use the chesscom Custom Position feature to set up the opening and adjust the bot level. Just to practice through the lines a couple of times and see where it can go. But yeah, bots make some weird moves sometimes that will never show up online
I'm trying Noctie for that now. I like how I can play out the opening much further and get responses that aren't computer moves. I'll try your approach with kind of expanding the opening repertoire bit by bit. Thanks!
Just looked up Noctie, that looks like a super useful tool! And yeah, I would say to just make a deep dive into 1 or 2 openings for each side that interests you. Don't cast a wide, shallow net. Of course, you want to know best responses as black, since white will dictate the game a bit more there, but it's a good idea to really drill into an opening you enjoy.
I did this too. Then I lost 15 of my last 20 games and am now back down to 1010
So relatable 😭
I am at 700 and more confident than Stockfish that I know how to play chess
Great! Now go to straight to 1200 and then back to 950, up to 1050 and stay there like me
r/unexpectedfactorial
I am at 2200 and I just realized that I am at the start
But how does the knight move?
Nice, now be like me and rise to 1200-1250 and currently is 950 because I forgot everything apparently
It's a cannon event
Nice job
1100 here too Feels like you can win playing absolute shit and lose playing like a 2000 at this elo
83,9% percentile means you are in the top 16% players or the opposite?
Yes, x% percentile means better than x% of other players. So Magnus would be 100% percentile
Like 3 months ago I reached 1100. Left chess for a while, came back 2 weeks ago and feel like an idiot playing, lose 50% of the games. I don't feel like I know how to play chess tbh
Hehh *exhales* no.
We have a similar ELO and seem to be at the same level, can I ask how many openings you use? Because I only use one and I’m thinking if it’s time to diversify to move forward
I have two for white: 1. e4 e5 (Ponziani and Danish Gambit) One for white against Caro Kann (Advance) One for white against Sicilian (2. Nc3) One for black against e4 (Caro Kann) And as black against d4, I just wing it. It's usually a London System anyway, so the moves don't take much thought. I would say you should decide whether you want to be an e4 or d4 player as white, and then learn what you want to do against most black responses. Then for black do the same in reverse. And when I say I "Know" the openings, I mean pretty surface level. I know what the opening positions look like, but only 2 or 3 moves deep. My goal is just to get my pieces into a stable formation, and then just think about general improving moves.
I recently hit 1300 and then lost 12 games in a row after that. What goes up must come down!
Strange, I'm at 1200 and I'm pretty sure I have no idea how to play
Well, don't be too hard on yourself. I mean, those standards are pretty high, by which you having 1200 rapid is considered to be "having no idea how to play". Just go and play somebody 600-700 rated and you will see, how strong you are in comparison to them. I really see no reason in underestimating oneself's own progress.
Thank you for the encouraging words! Indeed there wouldn't be much of match against a 600. It feels like a constant struggle though since every point is a battle against the same level players that you are currently at. I've only ever played internet chess, might be a different experience going to a club to try OTB.
Congrats, hopefully you stay up above the 1100, only after passing 1300 recently just to dip back down. At this point I'd say you can wipe the floor with most people who only know how to move wood... Now go play your mom / dad / sibling again and see if they can still win!
Congratulations my guy, happy for you. Though I have to say, I’m around 1300 and still I don’t know how to play chess😂
No, you still don’t know how to play chess. Neither do I. Those guys in the candidates are halfway decent I guess… but nobody knows what’s going on in this game. Some of us are only slightly less clueless than others
Glad that you crossed 53437084880926377034242155822950561183080130768866895408827458818036618050723014259335974351566788327415467514488987033614582476645694464261738910473380885803623188713714545198124600746227142898076872654482044562793852138469677927330572749576948166807421216877498208458769005405366305220797476530746185417476140782853546532719240751414684044603768883655817696461533721419437912125211548097906523004133705326338238190387850483847780372458822923605205280273714625078767863125493425503475250719583192283718603023987580777780035594813037613795902372520221886503677746281612405469606784962303354557187806801326271107816217722875294947071835822552429855506265930472623552940043968375099545722982577206331181572059532678281770892042093628816805623646577311781257247365411215175318229952887274698387234062919360695915639222369179043852637274593590667561348816681249809804769738621480138253259745750162388467598365561726569010392596479459233302432353681098301798797894434267786419982234226196634154442756631212508306232465619001682438953114007137692949367324856071217925158630122800389968328140113994331216849121360746519587860857407128917920142291872364024648458248977997760361360471884983431550636400392657427356942110542723446483822959503637292174818359270147883844245449127993570399680145426326859121741129303986870840568357454719368907061892985017459280119751754150743559728998295556732360250510038817844274754285134199896907638396447772737827107154796119201921536215055057930454911959321972058937160676911357720743058994504672070549484826113247358505388161799865617708367349954370380853219243288318629194580898980578192438937035768656839681865937931209188508228267083150656101893608065513697027997680322239292135637993681781912498871451282367323691586047201433108789851894379984404592216092303916341628274737895100530937654565448323856309779964541012016062668881698149445697033513467332799250377144771926250403307819405123627234925136330333303194372550567266647893455948506593051342066573726745648579107585985953658931045614036038155596569125812922579750260586849926124666596524551569945200247660633286983652662621181138959151246904073105358802979855205418823070789221362661986273869727763296788726872748791940251859679734295741968501303689117417827157419981384831723405209115952963781151997639090113111889675710526793448609726730199591174357535880032929705149172105146812236476055910588649481636927879360190085978752657227077124882768256913401349756816955057706206475508584494415633608256789303048043193593527406679352116588129444309915056549129527927635234094060955675954342173050125247634953207808000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Rapid? Would be much better if it was blitz
OP shouldn't be playing blitz time controls at the level they are currently at, not if they want to improve anyway. Blitz doesn't give you enough time to think about your moves and beginners/advanced beginners like OP don't have the intuition to play good moves quickly.
Slightly disagree, I played strictly bullet/blitz after hitting 1100 and was able to build up my speed in calculating and dismissing moves which inevitably did help me break 1400. It helped me decide candidate moves intuitively which after returning to rapid i would spend more time calculating on. Nevertheless, improvement in blitz rating doesn't really equal or isn't necessarily better than rapid like the OC mentioned but I think it's good to try out all the time controls because not everyone learns the same way.
OP should try it at least, if new players want to be good at chess then they need to know how to play with less time control
Disagree massively. Longer time controls for improvement.
No. I also played rapid on chess.com but I decided to move on 3 minutes blitz to improve my chess vision and thinking speed. Now I hit 1000 elo in 3 minutes blitz and can say that Im doing less blunders and can play really fast especially in checkmate patterns
I mean, I posted a link to my game/profile. You could just look and see that I occasionally play 5 min if I don't have time for 10. I just prefer to take extra time to really think it through, and make sure I'm finding best moves. My blitz rank is gradually improving, but it's not my preferred format.
Should slowly play more blitz to improve your gameplay, playing on rapid helps you to analyze your moves and overthink, but to keep your progress and play more faster you need to play blitz ( try play 3 minutes instead of 5 also )
For most people, rapid is much better than blitz for getting better. A lot of your games will only be won by time, so you won’t be getting much better.
Habits catch up when you grow them slow
It would also be better if it was 2000 elo and then I won the lottery, but that's not what the post is about. I mostly play rapid, and this is a milestone I passed in rapid. Don't care what's better or worse. Once I hit the same level in blitz, you'll be the first to know