Most people think the secret to improving at chess is learning new openings, tactics, or endgame principles. While those things are helpful, the biggest obstacle isn’t ignorance, it’s a pattern of unproductive habits. Every player I’ve spoken with has some variation of these problems:
- Playing Moves Without Thinking
You make your move. You think it looks “good enough,” so you do it. No further thought, just a quick action you’re doing because that’s how you always play. It feels natural and even fast to do this. The only problem is that it doesn’t help you get to a better move.
When I see this happening in a match (in my players, in others, in myself), the player is almost always losing something. They missed a simple tactic they should have caught, or they overlooked a way to win.
Strong chess players don’t play moves just because it seems okay. They think about it for a second: Why am I moving here? What changes? Does my opponent have a threat I’m not responding to? If you catch yourself doing this, take a few seconds and think about why you’re moving. - Only Thinking About Yourself and Forgetting the Opponent
You don’t think your opponent is making a move for no reason. Every single one of their moves is a threat, a plan, a trap, a signal. What do you think?
If you’re only thinking about your moves, you’re losing. - Overcomplicating Positions
Some people think you have to think up the most complicated moves possible to be a good chess player. You need to be able to outsmart your opponent, right? No! It’s about thinking clearly, making solid moves, and playing good chess.
The strongest players are good chess players; they don’t play complicated chess to beat you. They just play solid chess and force you to play solid chess (which is hard to do sometimes!). - Avoiding Mistakes
A common trap for many people is to avoid making mistakes at all costs. Some players end up playing too conservatively, never taking active moves, avoiding all the risks that can lead to making a “mistake”.
I don’t know if that’s a common problem in your game, but if you ever find yourself playing to avoid a loss, then you’re probably playing to avoid mistakes. But you have to remember, the best chance at winning is taking calculated risk. Don’t play recklessly, but have confidence in taking good moves when the opportunity presents itself. - Time Management
Spending too much time on one move often leaves you playing fast for your entire game. It sounds easy to just play a move and then spend all your thinking time on the next, but you can quickly find that the time pressure you’ve created is causing you to make a huge blunder or miss a key decision.
It takes some practice to be able to balance your time in each game so that it flows properly and leaves you feeling you haven’t over or underplayed any move. Time management is a vital part of chess strategy that should be practiced. - Playing Without Analysis
If you’ve finished playing a match and immediately gone on to the next, you are missing one of the most important ways to improve.
I’ve played with many people who don’t review their games at all. I know I haven’t either; I used to think that just playing more games was enough to get me better.
But that’s not the case. Unless you review a game, mistakes are just going to repeat.
You can go online and review your games in under a minute. Or you can spend half an hour reading a game analysis book. Either way, reviewing your games will help you find mistakes you made and learn how to play better chess. - Not Learning from Your Own Mistakes These aren’t the only things that can get you stuck, but if you are making these errors, it’s a good chance you’re in a bit of a rut. The good news is that every one of those things I mentioned can get better! And ChessMindFlow can help!
Our goal isn’t just for us to tell you what the move should be, we want to tell you WHY that move is what you should do and how you got there. By playing in chess games that you’re familiar with and getting feedback from experienced chess players who can guide you, you’ll start to learn and understand how chess works.
Because the only way to get better at something is to work on it and learn more about it.
The best way to improve in chess is to recognize your mistakes, and turn them to your advantage.