Too many players remain at the same level for months, even years! They continue to play, hoping that simply playing games will help them become better at it. Playing games does not improve you. You need a plan.
Your plan needs to include analyzing your games. Most players simply play game after game and look for a win. Since the goal of chess is to win, they want to win, and that is fine, however they have no intention to improve and this means that they don’t analyze their games. Instead of looking for the win, we need to be looking at WHY we play each move and WHY it worked or didn’t work.
We need to be thinking and improving!
You improve faster by playing, then analyzing then making a habit of thinking in all phases of the game. Playing and analyzing your games teaches you how you play! Once you begin to understand how you play, you will know what you need to work on to improve your chess!
Another thing is to learn the principles of the game rather than the moves. Many beginners play memorizing all the opening moves. But when their opponent doesn’t play the lines they memorized, they don’t know what to do. A solid chess player has a solid understanding of the principles of the game. If they understand the principles of chess, such as controlling the center, developing your pieces, and protecting your king, you don’t need to memorize moves to play. You understand WHY pieces are on certain squares.
Another thing to do to improve faster is to train your tactical vision! If you see a tactical pattern, like forks, pins and skewers, you immediately know what move to play and why! Training your brain to recognize these tactical patterns is the difference between blundering and finding the winning shot. Even 5-10 minutes a day doing chess puzzles can really help you improve your game!
One more thing is to spend some time thinking in games! Many players play at a rapid pace and do not think during the game. This is fine but you won’t improve much. Thinking during the game forces you to make the best decision every move!
And finally, consistency is the key to getting better in chess! You don’t have to spend hours every day improving your chess, but you do need to consistently practice your chess, even if it’s just 5 or 10 minutes each day. Chess rewards consistency! Small changes can make a big difference over time.
At ChessMindFlow, that is what we teach! We help you think about your chess and improve your game! We teach specific tactics, you learn chess principles that teach you how to plan, you learn the openings you need to know, and we help you apply these concepts in real games!
Because getting better at chess isn’t about doing more! It’s about doing more of the right things! It’s about getting better by consistently doing what needs to be done! And once you start doing that, the improvement is real! Inevitable! ♟️