39
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How to learn chess if you're still a 3-digit rating after a few years
Very simple.
Join a chess club and play people face-to-face. You'll improve rapidly after that.
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26
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How to learn chess if you're still a 3-digit rating after a few years
The first thing to learn once you know how the pieces move is basic tactics and general strategy.
Tactics: In certain positions it is possible to gain an advantage doing a certain move or sequence of ...
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24
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Why do chess coaches encourage their students to play stronger players?
It's partially who the opponent is, and partially how much better the opponent is.
I've gone from ~1750 to almost 1900 in the last year (approximate as ECF grades - 142-158 to those who understand ...
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20
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Where can one find a complete chess curriculum?
The closest thing to this is a series of books by Russian-born German GM Artur Yusupov. This is what Yusupov wrote in the introduction:
In 2004 I began a 3 year training programme in my chess academy....
- 87.9k
19
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How to learn chess if you're still a 3-digit rating after a few years
I recognize that attitude.
Remember, first, that chess is HARD. That's why it took so long to get computers to be able to play it well. The rules are simple enough but understanding how those rules ...
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19
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Where can one find a complete chess curriculum?
In addition to the Yusupov series, another complete curriculum is the Chess Steps series. It is the official method of the Royal Dutch Chess Federation (source) and comes recommended by The Perpetual ...
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19
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Accepted
Why do chess puzzles need a unique solution?
If someone says to me: "Let's meet at (mumble) on (mumble)", I may respond: "Sorry I didn't catch that."
Tactical puzzles and artistic problems are both (in different ways) about ...
- 10k
17
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Accepted
Proven ways to improve calculation speed
You say: "Do the same puzzles over and over? I'm worried that once I've memorised a puzzle, then I'm not doing so much calculation as memory retrieval."
Memory retrieval is exactly what you should be ...
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17
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Accepted
Do some chess players actively train moving the pieces on the board quickly?
I'm a FIDE master and in my experience I've never come across any material on how to physically move pieces faster. There's not a lot you have to do: pick up the piece, move your arm to where you want ...
- 19.6k
14
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How to create a good practice routine?
For now, I am going to assume that you are a somewhat weaker player.
If that is the case, virtually 90% of your time should be spent on tactics for now, but you want to find them grouped by category, ...
- 32.3k
14
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How good can I get just by playing?
And an interesting question you pose as to how good you could become playing 3|2.
The 3 min plus 2 second increment you play means roughly say a move rate overall of about say 6 seconds per move for ...
- 1,217
13
votes
Accepted
Studying Chess for the Ambitious Intermediate
First of all, there is no method that will just make you half an Elo point stronger each and every day. Chess improvement usually happens in leaps and bounds with long phases of seeming stagnation in ...
- 19.1k
13
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Accepted
When is it right to start learning strategy after tactics
Improving positional understanding is a longterm project. You do it by playing, by analysing, by going through well annotated master games and by working through books on the subject. But contrary to ...
- 19.1k
12
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Why is Russia no longer dominating the world chess championships?
The Soviet Union used to dominate chess because it had state-sponsored schools that provided high-quality trainers. After the Soviet Union broke up, funding dried up, and many of these trainers ...
- 24.3k
12
votes
Accepted
History of physical fitness in the world championships
Alekhine is the first, which is not surprising because he's in many regards the prototypical grandmaster.
Capablanca entered the match with no technical or physical preparation, while Alekhine got ...
- 24.3k
11
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Why do chess coaches encourage their students to play stronger players?
I don't think any coach would say that you should only play opponents rated 600+ higher than you. Here's for example what Dan Heisman says, which I think makes a lot of sense:
Play mostly opponents ...
- 10.4k
11
votes
Accepted
Why is it important to study classical games?
There are a variety of reasons:
Regardless of when they were played, there is always a lot to learn in analyzing better players's games.
Players from a century ago often used simpler strategical ...
- 15.5k
11
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Do some chess players actively train moving the pieces on the board quickly?
I don't know the answer to your question on over the board games but in online games, it is good to have a mouse with a fast response time for blitz and bullet. In online chess, the dragging and ...
- 2,158
11
votes
Where can I play against specific openings?
Lichess also has several thematic tournaments throughout the week.
As an example take a look at this thematic Italian game arena tournament:
When you open the tournament, the opening is mentioned in ...
- 703
11
votes
Why do chess puzzles need a unique solution?
Why do chess puzzles need a unique solution?
Because those are the rules. The governing body, the World Federation of Chess Composition, sets the rules. Their latest Handbook of Chess Composition ...
- 87.9k
10
votes
Accepted
What's the best time control to play online in order to improve?
This question will receive more opinionated answers regarding the time control, I will answer in perspective of an advanced beginner Chess player. Since you have said you are a beginner and never ...
- 588
10
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Accepted
Can a 2000 Elo rated player teach me middlegame play properly?
Is his rating a limitation to teach me?
No.
As I say in this answer, "you are too fixated on rating". High rating does not guarantee coaching ability. Low rating does not preclude coaching ...
- 87.9k
9
votes
Accepted
How do I become less materialistic?
A suggestion I have is to start playing gambits, and high-risk-high-reward openings. For example, playing the King's Gambit as White forces you to utilize any initiative you are given. Playing the KID ...
- 7,758
9
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Should a beginner try to learn 1 specific opening in depth or is not the best use of time?
What is your level?
For an absolute beginner learning general opening principles (fight for the centre, develop minor pieces, castle for king safety...), tactic training and paying attention not to ...
- 20.6k
9
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What are the mistakes committed by players who take many years to become an expert?
I can think of three mistakes that a lot of class players who think they're working on their chess make:
They read chess books.
In particular they buy lots of them and then skim them, or study / try ...
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9
votes
Train Leela Chess against myself
Not an expert but you can play against a "virgin" Leela by using one of the younger nets. For example in the first Leela test (the so-called training run) the strongest net was 11248. If you play ...
- 24.3k
9
votes
Accepted
Strategies for focusing on longer time controls
IMO, you're forgetting something.
In blitz (and partially in bullet games), you have fewer time, but your opponent as well. Depending on the level of your adversary (and your own level of course) it ...
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9
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Is there such a thing as a criterion-based diploma or certification in chess skills?
The short answer is "No".
The kind of certification you describe serves three purposes:
It serves as a gate for a job. For instance in the UK police and nursing are graduate only ...
- 87.9k
9
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Why do chess puzzles need a unique solution?
I'll have to disagree with the premise here. They don't need a unique solution.
For a matter of fact, some Chesstempo tatic puzzles have sub-optimal solutions, but if they still reach a treshhold ...
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9
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Why do chess puzzles need a unique solution?
Don't look at chess puzzles as a way of training for competitive chess. Chess problems are a genre of their own. A good chess problem is a piece of art.
By requiring a unique solution we place an ...
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