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What are good ways to get better at chess? (sopuli.xyz)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/chessbeginners@discuss.tchncs.de
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I learned the basics as a kid, just like how the pieces move and what is legal. I don't feel like I have ever managed to develop a sense of strategy, and I both think that I need to think for too long about each move, but also still make obvious mistakes like not noticing a threat and losing a piece for no gain.

What would be the best way for a player of my level to improve? Read a book about openings? Follow through games by great players? Obviously part of it will be play lots of chess, is there a particularly good website/app for this? Is playing against humans better than bots?

I'm not likely to have access to much in person games like a club or anything, this would be something in looking to do in my spare time, as and when possible.

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[–] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I recommend daily games. I don't think lichess supports it, but available on chess.com for free.

Each player has 24 hours for every move. Practically this means, you just look at the app once a day to make a move. You can have multiple games running in parallel. This takes away the time pressure and allows to think of really cool lines, and you can make notes for the various lines your opponent might take you to.

Feels a lot more like an adventure like this for me and more relaxed than having to deal with time-management on top of it all.

Other notes:

  • Revisit videos or other material on one or two openings for black and white. As it's not so fun, when you can't get into an even mid-game because your opponent got an early edge just by using memorization. E.g. there's videos titled "9 ideas every queens gambit player should know".

  • learn endgame scenarios like checkmating with two rooks, checkmating with two bishops, pawn endgame, etc. Gotta know what you're playing towards and how to close out a game.

  • depending how serious you are, reviewing your matches is a great way to learn. chess.com allows for a few free-of-charge computer-assisted reviews of your games per day, which is helpful to quickly see obvious mistakes. This could also be done with a locally run engine, and other ways.

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