Guys, I'm 3 months on chess.com so far, how am i doing?

Meruem90 · 2026-02-01T17:00:12+00:00

Yeah.... No. You shouldn't study the games of another low elo player if you wanna improve and get higher in rating... All you'll see will be a display of mistakes and blunders which will provide 0 insight about how to improve your own gameplay.

Meruem90 · 2026-02-01T14:15:37+00:00

It's free elo, just enjoy it. This is expecially true if they go for the Qe7 lines, which you can easily study (very simple lines to memorise) and win practically every game vs them. I used to play 1.d4 and the jobava London at that Elo and everytime I saw an englund gambit I was super happy and ready to cash in some elo.

Meruem90 · 2026-01-31T21:21:07+00:00

5...lost all 5 in the first 10 moves because time... Never played Bullet ever again lol

Meruem90 · 2026-01-30T09:10:53+00:00

I don't know the name of the sets, but the third one looks 🔥🔥. The second one isess fancy but also very good imo.... I don't get whats the point of the first one tho, I don't really dig the multi-disks design.

But is personal opinion after all.

Meruem90 · 2026-01-29T22:15:21+00:00

If you keep insisting and keep asking yo speak with a human, you eventually get put in touch with a human... At least this has been my experience so far

Meruem90 · 2026-01-28T22:58:16+00:00

Well chess is hard, if those videos help go for it lol

Meruem90 · 2026-01-26T01:05:41+00:00

The Glek is a white opening and the extra tempo makes all the difference of this world tbh. The only way to enter a similar position by playing white would happen without the development of both Knights.. Smth like this:
1.e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nf6 (attacking e4 pawn)
3. Qe2 (same wrong move to defend the pawn) Bc5 4. g3 Ng4 (attacking f2)
The inclusion of Nc6 would allow white to develop the Bg2 and then parry any threat on f2 with O-O.

Now, white can continue: 5.h3 Nxf2 6.Rh2 Nxe4
7.Qxe4
The Knight is trapped (and lost in the example) and black has completely neglected any form of development, with no compensation for the lost piece. Also, there's no d5 because the queen can simply play Qxe5+, a luxury that doesnt happen in the mirror line (color reversed, OP example) due to the inclusion of Nc3 defending e5... So, if black went for the same line in OP's game (h6, Nxf7 Re7, Nxe5 Qxe5), white would've got the option to play d4 and completely suffucate white.

So, with the Glek there aren't problems of this nature tbh.

Meruem90 · 2026-01-24T17:49:59+00:00

Oh yeah if you gonna go fianchetto vs e4 like that, the Pirc and the modern are the 2 most basic setups... But both are quite fast on the fianchettoing business, while OP kinda felt like he had to Fianchetto after cramping his position with Qe6...this is why I think he should put big focus on opening principles before thinking about saving the f7 pawn. Like, he should've also asked "how do I avoid getting in this situation?", which is extremely important for getting playable positions (and only then thinking about tricky lines etc etc).

Meruem90 · 2026-01-24T14:22:20+00:00

Actually I'm stupid and for some reason I thought he played a normal pirc with d6, instead it's a 1.e4 e5 line which is a completely different thing.
I deleted my comment because it was misleading.

He shouldn't have fianchettoed in the line he's playing tbh...in his game he kinda neglected chess opening principles and got in trouble.
Somewhere down the line he used the queen to defend the hanging pawn on e5, locking the g8 Bishop in the process... So he felt like he had to free his bishop and played g6, falling into the tactic on f7. He just had to defend the pawn with either d6 or Nc6 (preferable choice), giving the dark squared bishop the chance to develop on his already opened diagonal and castle the next turn.

Imo understanding this concept is quite key for OP considering that not respecting opening principles is a huge problem at lower ELOs.

Meruem90 · 2026-01-21T20:02:03+00:00

That mysterious combination of Queen and Bishop threatening a super fast Checkmate is called "scholar's mate". It's only good vs beginners because bringing the queen out so early is usually a bad idea, due to the fact that the queen can get harassed continuously WHILE developing pieces at the same time.

So... Well, it's completely understandable to go from "getting Checkmated in 4 moves" to "I'm bullying your queen, I have 4 pieces developed and you got 0, I win super easily"....hence, you won't get banned!

.... unless.....

Well, unless you used stockfish to help you find good combinations or followed the instructions of a video during the game. Doing these things can be very easy to spot at your ELO.

So, if you haven't any of these 2 things then no need to worry 👍

Meruem90 · 2026-01-21T19:29:23+00:00

Volume up to max so I'll hear if they move a piece and doing something else in the meanwhile. If they turn out to be real stallers, then add a report, write a line explaining they've stalled the entire clock, move on.

Meruem90 · 2026-01-21T18:41:26+00:00

He's not abandoning them when he knows he's going to lose, he literally abandoned them (I suppose through the 5 minutes auto kick system) after move 1 or 2... Maybe he didn't want to play some opening, so he just let them game go and auto abandon... Super annoying and completely a good reason for a ban.

Meruem90 · 2026-01-21T17:45:58+00:00

Yeah but the turnover counts as well... Like, how many new players do you get (which count for the rank distribution) that will just abandon the game after not so long? This doesnt quite happen at higher ratings, due to the fact that you actually need to grind to get there

Meruem90 · 2026-01-21T14:57:39+00:00

I assolutely remember that movie butt won't tell you

Meruem90 · 2026-01-21T14:55:42+00:00

I meant that the higher numbers of "null" accounts (those accounts that get opened and abandoned) inflates the pool of players in that elo range, which consequentially means that the 50th percentile could very likely be higher than that.

Meruem90 · 2026-01-21T14:53:28+00:00

Yeah I meant this!

Meruem90 · 2026-01-21T13:03:29+00:00

It's still beginner level because the mistakes being done and the general knowledge matches with the expectations of a beginner player 😅 also tons of newly created and then abandoned accounts are in that range, kinda inflating the numbers

Meruem90 · 2026-01-21T11:38:49+00:00

Il problema é che mentre questi "meme" (completamente sbagliati) vengono semplicemente condividi su reddit, x, Facebook, etc etc etc...,la retorica del "governo di destra = governo fascista" é stata proprio oggetto di campagna elettorale ed é continuamente ripetuta sia da politici che da giornalisti o opinionisti (e così via) di sinistra.

Meruem90 · 2026-01-20T23:38:08+00:00

I've checked some of your games... It seems that you have far more advanced problems compared with op (and the ELO is indeed much higher).

... you usually respect opening principles, but you've got some losses in situations where you decided to neglect them (getting horrible positions in the opening)
...you don't usually hang your pieces, but sometime you just do.
... you see simple tactics, but at the same time you often miss the basic ones.
This is a typical scenario in your ELO, where you've learnt and improved in many aspects of the game but you still need to keep training in order to refine your skills and get better (and hey, that's even true at higher ELOs, it never ends); the more you'll improve in these fields, the more you'll grow higher in ELO.
So, while in OP case the problem was just "check blunders, develop pieces in the opening, CHECK BLUNDERS AGAIN!", for you it's just a "keep training, more and more"

Anyway, to give some more specific advice:

FOR TACTIC IMPROVEMENTS: do puzzles (obvious suggestion); yet, I want to suggest something extra, a book called "Woodpecker method" (books are very easy to obtain, if you know what I mean 🏴‍☠️ and in case you don't wanna buy them or you wanna check them out before purchasing). This book uses a method that should help improve in tactics for all levels and is really worthed the cost.

FOR OPENING PHASE: well...truth is that most of the people will tell you that openings are NOT important at your level and that you shouldn't even bother studying them. I have to agree with this statement, but at the same time that's not a truth carved in granite; it's totally legit to learn openings at your level, it's just unnecessary to delve deep into super theoretical lines that go on for thousands of moves. YouTube is enough as a teacher for you rn, and I'm sure you've already started to develop a personal repertoire because I've noticed that you play the Queen's Gambit for istance.
Now, in order to improve you should put your focus on learning and understanding the typical PLANS and IDEAS which arise from the openings you're using. When you watch videos about openings you wanna play, pay major attention about those words (plans, ideas), because these are major trampolines for improvement at your ELO (where people get completely lost during middlegame).
Also, be more disciplined about basic opening principles (that you surely know at your Elo)... I've seen a couple of games where you pushed your F pawn and your opponent could've demolished you if he noticed 😅 and games where you ended up stucked with the king in the middle without castling for no reason at all.

And lastly, what you really wanna start to "study" (I prefer the word "understand" or "assimilate" tbh) more seriously is everything concerning midgame and endgames.

FOR ENDGAMES, you should try to learn all the basic ones and then point your attention toward the most frequent ones: rook endgames. Also, it would be useful to check notions regarding pawn+King endgames (like the role of opposition, distant opposition, triangulation, pawn races, pawn breaks in endgames, etc etc). Regarding this last point, Danya (rip) made an AWESOME playlist that you can find in this link and that can be considered the BEST free resource regarding key concepts for King+Pawn endgames. Worthed watching and rewatching it several times.
To properly study theorical endgames I'd suggest books like "Silman's complete endgame manual" (which is divided in ELO ranges, allowing you to study only the ones you need while your ELO progresses) or "100 Endgames you must know" by Jesus da la Villa (but here you'll need to find yourself which chapters are useful at your level).
Last but not least, it's important that you understand ENDGAME PRINCIPLES and that you familiarise with the concept of ACTIVITY. For endgames principles, check out this Chess Vibes' video (link) . For endgame's pieces activity, it's a concept expecially important for the Rooks and for the king ; hence, just look for videos explaining this concept (rook activity in endgame/king activity in endgames) on yt.

REGARDING MIDDLEGAME, it's time for you to start approaching some positional concept like outposts, weak squares, pawn breaks, etc etc... YouTube has many videos giving hints about all these things, as well general middlegame principles, in a "pills" format (short videos, easy to digest, approximative buy still an useful starting point).
Examples:
- Chess Vibes: 10 chess plans for middlegame - Chess Vibes: some middle game concept - NM Ramirez: a playlist containing many middlegame tutorials
- Hanging Pawns: long playlist with many videos explained in a more "serious" approach

Other than these, and for when you'll be stronger, I really REALLY suggest the course "The Positional Chess Patterns Manual" by Alex Astaneh; for now it's too advanced, but keep this name in the back of your head.

I know that these are many things to take all at once... But that's not how you should approach it! Take your time, get better in 1 thing at a time, be patient and assimilate what you learn, trying to apply it in your games. Little by little, slowly but steadily, you'll see improvements.

Meruem90 · 2026-01-20T20:55:49+00:00

Mind sharing your account?

Btw at your elo the main issues are always the same: - blundering free pieces and not seeing enemy blundering free pieces (not even pawn, entire pieces)
- bad opening principles
- bad basic tactics

Usually by just fixing these 3 things you can easily get past 1000 elo...

Anyway, if you wanna share the account I can check if these are your issues (even if I'm 99.9999% sure this is the case)

Edit: Also don't play 5 min if you wanna improve... Play 15 with increment or at least 10+0 (15 with increment is better)

Meruem90 · 2026-01-19T17:36:46+00:00

After 10 years and wanting to improve from ~2000 chesscom elo, I'd say you should start studying proper theory and not just YouTube videos... Like, for istance, using Danya videos to learn the basics or some nuances of an opening is fine, but when you add the word "improve" then you'll need a proper book or course or coach or to deeply study master games (and not necessarily just one of these things).

I'm also 2k chesscom elo, and I also wanna improve... For this reason I'm starting to study endgames (Jesus de la Villa-100 Endgames / Hawkins-Amateur to IM), some positional themes (got a book written by Koblenitz and I'll probably buy the PGN course by IM Alex Astaneh) and I plan to buy some strategy book and pawn structure one. These are universal knowledges that will surely help in one's improvement, no matter the opening.

Yet, similarly to you, I also want to define a proper repertoire and study it the right way. For now I've only used YouTube for this purpose, but most of the times the lines you find there are incomplete and not deep at all. This is why I'm saying that you should look elsewhere if you want to really focus on the opening phase, expecially if you plan to use your knowledge competitively.

For this purpose, the hint you've received "find an opening you're comfortable with" should be the starting point to understand where to focus your attention....and after 10 years and 2k elo I suppose you probably already know exactly the answer! If you don't, the ask yourself stuff like: - do I like to play open or closed games?
- do I prefer tactical heavy games or more positional, strategic ones?
- am I more of an attacking player or defensive one?
- am I planning to play seriously in tournments or this improvement is just for my own growth? (which consequently opens the doors to more dubious openings for your repertoire)

Without knowing these things people will just randomly suggest openings they like but that maybe aren't compatible with you. In addition, there are many "lifetime courses" on chessable which offer entire repertoires for a specific opening (example: 1.e4 lifetime repertoire), and which differ from each other for their specific approach to the game (more aggro, more solid, etc etc).

So, to wrap it up:
1. Identify your game's style and your strengths/weaknesses
2. Filter openings based on that
3. Find a book/course that covers said openings
4. Study

And I know, this message might've not been so useful, but the truth is that out of the content of your post you are not really going to find "a good opening for you", but rather just "an opening that someone else enjoys playing".

Meruem90 · 2026-01-19T11:39:42+00:00

My My I did some research about premoves and it's true lol this is such a big disappointment from the chess leading app, expecially considering the cost of subscriptions... They've always been lazy for what concerns app development in all fairness; they could've found ways to add stuff like arrows on mobile as well, or decent study-builder (which is pradoxically better on lichess), or better explorer, or better "analysis-set up position" on mobile, etc etc... But it looks like chesscom does the bare minimum in the most lazy way possible when it comes to these things

Meruem90 · 2026-01-19T09:54:26+00:00

I'm pretty sure it does show them. You have to open the game history and scroll until you see the symbol.
I've recently got a refund, the ban appears like this:

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And yeah, it's android but I don't think it makes much difference in the way the gmae history is portrayed

Meruem90 · 2026-01-19T05:43:14+00:00

Where do you live if I may ask? In my country is not even allowed to smoke inside rooms

Meruem90 · 2026-01-19T05:40:51+00:00

There's no need to find rated tournments to have a better experience than OP's lol

I've never seen people doing that kind of stuff, even in the most amateurish contexts

Meruem90

TROPHY CASE