How Can I Get Better At Chess?

Question

1. Tactics
2. Positional Chess Study
3. Calculation

Tactics are puzzles with forced combinations that lead to a winning position. By practicing tactics puzzles you’ll train your eye to recognize forced combinations. However as past world champion Mikhail Botvinnik once said, tactics are merely the servants of strategy. Thus to for genuine improvement you need to learn positional chess.

A game of Chess is broken down into three phases: the opening, the middle game, and the end game. You’ll need to understand the positional considerations and details of each phase.

Finally, you’ll need to improve your calculation. This comes from experience… but only the right kind of experience. Many new players get caught up in the world of bullet chess which hinders their progress as true chess calculators. At the end of the day no matter how tactical your eye, no matter how deep your positional fortitude, you can’t afford to miscalculate!

Answer 1

It takes years because Chess is limitless. But, you have to do chess tactics and chess problems everyday. Every single day! Along with tactics which will increase your understanding of looking for the right moves in terms of capitalizing chess positions and ending the game.To begin with, you need to learn at least 2-3 openings as black and white through and through with all the variations and transpositions that can happen if your oppponent plays rare responses. As far as the middlegame, you could watch videos and read books on plans of attacks, recognizing danger, prophylaxis moves, outposts, and good development and squares for your pieces. As for the endgame, I recommend silmans endgame course which is a book that you can buy for 20 odd dollars but it is incredibly good and coherent for different endgame variations and positions that you need to memorize to capitalize on positions especially when you have the lead. Lastly, play games but long games so that you imporove your calculation. In short games you will not have that time, so play 30+ minute games so that your brain is used to calculating 5,6,7 moves ahead at least and then more later. Your brain needs to always have an everchanging chess position as you calculate his best moves and your possible moves.