What's are some best ways to imrpove in chess?

Question

How do I go about getting better at chess? What should I do?

Answer 1

The quickest way to improve at chess is to actually commit time to studying the game and practicing tactics. You can study the game via instructional videos, books, lessons, tutors, etc. The more you are exposed to high level players and high level ideas, the better you will get at implementing what you see into your own games. For example, if you are having trouble making it out of the opening with a decent position, you should spend some time looking for an opening that suits your personal taste and playstyle and studying that opening you enjoy.

Tactics are also incredible at opening your eyes to winning combinations that could show up in your games. Essentially, tactics are combinations of forcing moves that result in a winning position for you. Forcing moves are inherently more powerful because they cannot be prevented or defended. Tactics can be practiced on various apps, including Chess.com, in the forms of puzzles.

Overall, study and practice will do much more for your personal growth as a player than sitting down and playing 10 matches of blitz. If you are looking to improve, practice more, play a little less, and analyze your own games to see where you went wrong or can improve.

Answer 2

A lot of teachers will say "work on this" "work on that" however, it is not just that. There are multiple ways to improve at chess, grinding puzzles, work on tactics, play games, do very specific stuff.

I find the best way to improve at chess, depending on the rating (for now I will be saying lower rated players under 1400) that you should do 20 puzzles a day no more no less, because puzzles can happen in games but in an actual game there may be no solution (while a puzzle does). Puzzles will help you get use to tactics and common patters, while doing 20 puzzles a day do 3-5 games a day (on higher time control) and think about your moves, develop reasoning behind your moves.

Later on after you develop basic patterns from puzzles start looking at the proper fundamentals behind certain scenarios, like rook vs rook pawn end game and much more. Building a foundation is very important

Basically just have fun, and practice smart, don't overwork yourself and if you get frustrated take a break.

Answer 3

improving your tactical skills (by doing puzzles on a daily basis) and positional chess understanding (understanding pawn structure, weak squares, good and bad pieces, etc) and spending the same amount of time practicing and playing.

Having an opening repertoire also helps, because you will be familiar with the type of the middlegame ideas you will be applying.

learning the basic endgame techniques is also necessary.

Answer 4

You need to enjoy the game, follow the main positional principles, try to play dynamic chess, improve tactical skills (Pin, Fork, Skewer, Discovery, Back Rank), practice when you get a chance, always review your games, and learn from mistakes, and your progress will be inevitable.

Answer 5

Splitting the time 50/50 between practice and play! These have an important relationship because analysis of a game will almost always give you an indication of what you need to study.

Sticking to a limited set of Openings to begin with (for example the Stonewall attack with white and Pirc/KID with black) will let you comfortably play into Middlegame positions you are familiar with. You will often end up at the same positional crossroads in chess and it is important to realize where your knowledge ends and be prepared one step further the next time.

Tactic puzzles can go a long way as well for your calculation skills. There are many out there but I recommend familiarizing yourself with tactical sequences your chosen openings may lead to first as you are guaranteed to run across these. Sometimes there are opening books that include these kinds of puzzles. Otherwise, a nice solid tactics book like "The Woodpecker Method" walks you through some positions of previous chess world champs while gradually increasing the difficulty.

Additionally you can work backwards and study the Endgames focusing on classics like (King+Pawn vs. King) or (King+Rook+Pawn vs. King+Rook) or any endgame you commonly encounter. Endgames with 7 total pieces on the board have in fact been solved by computers back in 2012 and have a correct sequence of play. Of course, there are many to commit to memory, but unlike opening theory, once you have these sequences retained they will last your lifetime.

One reason I love chess so much is because you can actually measure your improvement as your rating increases. See where your at by playing some online games on chess.com or lichess.org and be sure to analyze and improve as you go! Cheers and good luck.