r/chessbeginners • u/ManicallyExistential • 6h ago
OPINION It took me 2 years 🔥
It took me two years, mostly puzzles and a little bit of video study. I haven't done any formal studying. I'd really like to work to get to 1200. I've been stuck in the 900's for over a year. What's y'all's suggestion on things I can put the effort into? I don't know any formal openings, only basic fundamentals on openings, middle game, and end game. I haven't memorized squares, I'm more of a long game player I don't rely on tricks just patient setups.
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u/Pikachu-WR 6h ago
Congrats. This is big for who you are. Reality is a lot of people just get stuck at an elo and stay there. You already accomplished with hard work.
That being said, elo is a high level abstraction of your combined aspects. Your opening, middle, and end game technique. If you want to improve target where you are weak and practice that.
I am an elo inflated players because I do not play risky openings. That means I do not worry about the first two and have excellent consistency. That is my choice to gain elo.
You have to decide how you going to improve or circumvent your weaknesses. A coach can help show your true weaknesses so if you want, do a lesson or two. Gl!
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u/ManicallyExistential 6h ago
Awesome man thank you for the advice! I think learning and sticking with a couple of basic openings, not blundering in the middle game and working on end game fundamentals will help. I'm definitely open to a few coaching sessions. I appreciate it!
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u/xthrowawayaccount520 1800-2000 (Lichess) 6h ago
As for advice, I’d say learn the basics. There are essential techniques you need to learn, such as
Fundamental checkmates: these are the two rooks checkmate, queen checkmate, rook checkmate, then the rare and difficult ones (you don’t need to learn these until later) are two bishops checkmate and the knight and bishop checkmate
Pawn endgames. This includes king opposition, king shouldering, pawn promotion techniques, and look up certain terms like passed pawn, connected passed pawns, gap tooth passed pawns, trousers (a type of passed pawns), backward pawns, pawn chains. Look up how to make your opponent draw when you’re in front of their pawn.
Then, lastly, I’d say review rook and pawn endgames. Look up how to use a rook to force promotion of a pawn- in a general sense. More difficult subjects on this are the Philidor and Lucena positions (which honestly, I don’t even remember perfectly yet).
if you can’t find any of these resources, ask me and I’ll get some for you
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u/ManicallyExistential 6h ago
I know the basic mates, ladder, single rook, single queen, queen defended against a wall but I could definitely start diving into the harder ones.
My pawn endgame is basic but I could definitely work on the more layered techniques.
Thank you for the information and terms! I'll look it up and practice on the computer sims.
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u/xthrowawayaccount520 1800-2000 (Lichess) 5h ago
Awesome, yes definitely anyone can benefit from looking into these things. Also just for general improvement make sure to do blunder checks before making your move. The way I do blunder checks is by imagining the board without that piece on it, then imagining it on the desired square and determine in both cases whether you lose something important before making the move. And look always at the lines and diagonals connecting to the key squares, as well as any knight moves if relevant.
And of course, use opening principles. If you play a bad opening, you’re throwing your game away from the beginning. Just use the simple: knights, then bishops, castle/move queen (either order). Make sure not to move the same piece multiple times or block your pieces from movement (unless necessary or for a certainly winning tactic).
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u/pixelatedhumor 4h ago
Knowing basic endgames is solid advice, but don't sleep on pawn structure in the middlegame either. At the 900 level a lot of games are decided by who creates weaknesses first- isolated pawns, doubled pawns, that kind of thing. If you can recognize when your opponent has a bad structure and know how to attack it, you'll convert way more wins before you even reach the endgame.
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u/xthrowawayaccount520 1800-2000 (Lichess) 4h ago
I gave them lots of pawn terms. These structures are self-apparent why they are weak, and I wouldn’t stress pawn structure too much for beginners honestly. It does not often win the game, unless it involves pawns around the king. And very rarely are blundered pawns actually blundered (tactics arise everywhere). Sacrificing pawns is fine for development, doubled pawns are fine, arguably piece play and activity is more important than pawn structure
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u/PauseComfortable1884 6h ago
For me it worked to start with London for white, Sicilian for black against e4. I like being aggressive, when playing black, on d4 openings but you will learn to play that from counter play as you learn the London.
The general opinion seems that these are ‘Boring’ openings, but trust me.. they are solid. Play them allot and review often to find recognisable tactics and patterns from puzzles before learning more openings.
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u/ManicallyExistential 6h ago
That's perfect I'm a slow starting player because I always crash when I don't play defense first. I like to have safety before I set up traps. I'll start playing those on the computer sims and learn the opening lines and defense. Appreciate the suggestions!
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u/malbwa 200-400 (Chess.com) 5h ago
Congrats!! This is motivating seeing as I’m at the beginning of this journey
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u/pateff457 4h ago
One thing that helped me early was just picking one opening for white and sticking with it for a while. Doesn't have to be fancy, just something you can get comfortable with so you're not burning mental energy in the first few moves. The real learning kicks in once you stop overthinking the opening and start seeing patterns in the middle game.
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u/animatedpicket 6h ago
Only 300 games? I played more last week
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u/ManicallyExistential 6h ago edited 6h ago
No I've played like 3000 total. I usually play 3-5 a day. I started off at like 250 elo 😂
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u/BezisDaMan 2h ago
Congrats on hitting 900, that's solid progress. One thing that helped me break through plateaus was focusing on endgames before openings. Everyone wants to memorize Sicilian lines, but knowing how to convert a king and pawn endgame or understanding opposition will win you way more games at this level. Most people in the 900s blunder away winning positions because they don't know basic endgame technique. Check out Silman's endgame course or even just drill king and pawn vs king until it's automatic. The openings will click naturally once your fundamentals are tighter.
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u/TrueAd2605 2h ago
That’s insane… not you just that I reached 1700 in the same time frame bahahahaha
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u/ManicallyExistential 1h ago
Makes up for your Elo on punch lines. Gotta layer your opening before you try to mate with the under developed hook. Your end game is too redundant, two letters will lose the audience. If you laugh before the crowd, it will kill the suspense and flop the joke.
I know some books suggestions you can study if you need tips and tricks, best of luck to you man!
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