You should play longer time controls. I'd highly recommend classical, but 15+10 is also rapid. Better to play less but high quality games than to play more but slightly lower quality chess. It helped me a lot in improving my chess in the long run as it gave me more time to calculate. The time you take to calculate will also reduce gradually once you get used to that process
You should use the woodpecker method to speed up your calculations. I'm doing it too(the book)
@ViAaNjS said in #3:
> You should use the woodpecker method to speed up your calculations. I'm doing it too(the book)
I've been working on the Woodpecker exercises, too. It definitely helps, but I also find that it seems to "wear off" after about two weeks. Fitting in more cycles would probably help solidify some of these patterns more, but finding the time can be tough!
> You should use the woodpecker method to speed up your calculations. I'm doing it too(the book)
I've been working on the Woodpecker exercises, too. It definitely helps, but I also find that it seems to "wear off" after about two weeks. Fitting in more cycles would probably help solidify some of these patterns more, but finding the time can be tough!
@Nikhiladnani said in #2:
> You should play longer time controls. I'd highly recommend classical, but 15+10 is also rapid. Better to play less but high quality games than to play more but slightly lower quality chess. It helped me a lot in improving my chess in the long run as it gave me more time to calculate. The time you take to calculate will also reduce gradually once you get used to that process
Agreed - that's part of why I decided to focus on the Rapid rating in particular: My Blitz and Bullet games weren't really helping me play better chess and I'd heard the advice to play slower time controls from lots of places. 15+10 might be something I try soon, but I also kind of like that the 10-minute game puts at least a little pressure on me to make decisions quickly. I may try your suggestion soon though - look for another post about it if I do!
> You should play longer time controls. I'd highly recommend classical, but 15+10 is also rapid. Better to play less but high quality games than to play more but slightly lower quality chess. It helped me a lot in improving my chess in the long run as it gave me more time to calculate. The time you take to calculate will also reduce gradually once you get used to that process
Agreed - that's part of why I decided to focus on the Rapid rating in particular: My Blitz and Bullet games weren't really helping me play better chess and I'd heard the advice to play slower time controls from lots of places. 15+10 might be something I try soon, but I also kind of like that the 10-minute game puts at least a little pressure on me to make decisions quickly. I may try your suggestion soon though - look for another post about it if I do!
Try playing with increment to reduce flagging.
I think 6.e5 is a big mistake. Why not 6.f4 or 6.h4 of 6. Bc4. At our level, improvement hinges on not screwing up in the first 10 moves of the game. Moving a pawn twice and forcing a queen trade with white seems counter-productive. But like I would stick with first principles; focus on developing pieces in an aggressive way and keeping the tension.
@drunkpanda59 said in #7:
> I think 6.e5 is a big mistake. Why not 6.f4 or 6.h4 of 6. Bc4. At our level, improvement hinges on not screwing up in the first 10 moves of the game. Moving a pawn twice and forcing a queen trade with white seems counter-productive. But like I would stick with first principles; focus on developing pieces in an aggressive way and keeping the tension.
I definitely agree with you about working harder on openings to avoid early blunders, but it's funny you pick that move: 6. e5 is one of those 6 Great moves I mentioned! The engine over at chess.com says that's the best choice, with 6. h4 a not-too-distant second.
> I think 6.e5 is a big mistake. Why not 6.f4 or 6.h4 of 6. Bc4. At our level, improvement hinges on not screwing up in the first 10 moves of the game. Moving a pawn twice and forcing a queen trade with white seems counter-productive. But like I would stick with first principles; focus on developing pieces in an aggressive way and keeping the tension.
I definitely agree with you about working harder on openings to avoid early blunders, but it's funny you pick that move: 6. e5 is one of those 6 Great moves I mentioned! The engine over at chess.com says that's the best choice, with 6. h4 a not-too-distant second.
also your accuracy is around 60%, normal 1700s got 70 or something. not tryna demotivate, just leave the board vision thing and get on those tactics
I think you have to play longer times, and I include myself, but its just too hard to play long times when comparing with blitz/bullets, the random factor, the dopamine of plays fast si great... all things are too good when we compare at longer times, they look so unpleasant. But Im pretty sure longer times are the hard(not so much funny) best way to improve. I can say for myself and my colleagues of chess club, 10 years just playing blitz, almost no improving. We have to abdicate fun for improving hehehe Anyway, nice article, loved to read it.