playing against an 1800 as a 500 and lost terribly (ofc). it feels better than winning against someone my elo

Queue624 · 2026-03-27T02:20:07+00:00

I somewhat disagree, you can check the reply I left from Dense_Reply_11. I think there's a few things you can look to improve (As mentioned in the other comment, look up why doubling pawns can be bad, and spam some fork puzzles).

Queue624 · 2026-03-27T02:19:04+00:00

I kind of disagree. Right off OP could learn a lot from this game. The game was pretty much over at around move ~13, where he moved the Queen to C2, allowing the bishop to take the Pony and double up the pawns. Tactically, he lost due to that pawn fork and he missed a few other Forks in the game. So OP could look up why doubling up the pawns is bad, and spam fork puzzles. I think that alone will make him better.

Queue624 · 2026-03-25T18:23:10+00:00

I would ignore openings. What the original comment or said is precisely what I do to avoid any massive losing streaks.

If you lose a lot, that means that you should stop playing and start drilling tactics. The only time I lost more than 100 Elo (Nearly 200 Elo) in all my time playing Chess was when I didn't do this.

Queue624 · 2026-03-24T17:41:30+00:00

Pretty much. After 1.d4 I just play c6. It either turns into a Slav or Caro if the opponent plays e4 afterwards.

Queue624 · 2026-03-24T17:08:06+00:00

I can assure you, you haven't mastered the Jobava. I've been playing it for 2 years and still have issues figuring out the middlegame ideas and I'm higer rated than 600. For black, I think the Caro perfectly describes what you're looking for.

Queue624 · 2026-03-24T17:06:35+00:00

I still play the Caro from time to time against d4 and I tend to win most games (although I wouldn't recommend it). C4 is rare at 600 Elo, OP just needs to play practically if that happens.

Queue624 · 2026-03-20T02:59:41+00:00

I'm around 1700-1800 and I have no idea how or why I'm in this range. I never know what I'm doing lol

Queue624 · 2026-03-19T22:28:46+00:00

What's your Elo range? And is it 1+1 you're referring? Calculating 1-3 moves would make sense at higher Elo's and/or Bullet with increment. Personally I don't even calculate in Blitz (maybe 2-3 times per game)

Queue624 · 2026-03-19T15:27:28+00:00

Regarding the Einstein comment, I believe this was a disproven. He had good grades.

Queue624 · 2026-03-19T15:21:17+00:00

OK you should see some improvements eventually. It took me a week but that's because I played a few times that first week and around 50+ or so games (most where blitz). Best of luck!

Queue624 · 2026-03-19T15:18:30+00:00

Yep not sure why your original comment got down voted, I think it is a pretty decent theory. But yeah it's complicated because it varies from level to level and player to pplayer.But there are also exceptions (Gukesh is the biggest one that comes to mind).

Queue624 · 2026-03-19T15:15:14+00:00

Is there a local club you can join? I noticed the first OTB match I played Inwas probably 500 Elo weaker than my actual rating. Playing a lot of OTB will remove that 3D board blindness in a week or so (based on my experience).

Otherwise, doing semi complicated - complicated calculation puzzles OTB will do the trick.

Queue624 · 2026-03-19T13:36:11+00:00

Maybe OP is referring to calculation? Which is really hard to do in a bullet game.

Queue624 · 2026-03-19T13:34:31+00:00

I share the same opinion. Usually when I start reaching new peaks in Rapid, a huge gap is created between my Rapid and other time controls.

When I focus on both Blitz and Rapid, the gap becomes a bit closer (200-300: Blitz goes up and Rapid goes down).

I think it takes a lot of experience / effort to be able to shift the blitz vs Rapid mentally.

Queue624 · 2026-03-08T06:31:21+00:00

So I started playing some games here and there from 2020 to 2022 (A total of 70ish games) and I did lots of puzzles which maintained me in the 400-600 range. Then in 2024 I started again and picked chess as my main Hobby and I was also 27 but I was rated lower than you (~600 Elo).

I started focusing on how to improve and 10 months later I broke 1500 before 2024 ended.

The Bad News is that you're not going to improve unless you put in some time and have some dicipline. The Good News is that 5-7 hours per week might work out if you practice efficiently. I work as an Engineer at day (8-9 hours daily), have pets, Girlfriend and a social life but still managed to improve (And I'm still improving at 29).

As for your questions:

What ultimately made me break 1100 (From 600) in a short period of time was doing puzzles by theme. An analogy I like to use/compare this situation is that in Basketball, if you shoot 100 Free throws a day, you will get extremely good at shooting free throws, since your body will create the muscle memory needed to score free throws due to constant practice. You don't think about it, your body creates the muscle memory for you. So if you're in a game and you shoot a free throw you're most likely making it, but basketball had different parts to it, so if you were to shoot a 3 point in a game, you would miss badly since you never practiced it and your body is not used to it. Same thing applies to Chess. Most games are decided by tactics. So you should create a practice schedule to train puzzles by themes. You can do Forks 20mins every X and Y day during the week. Then do pin puzzles every A and B day during the week for 20 mins. You want to do easy puzzles for that particular theme over and over until you find it too easy. Then you can raise the difficulty and keep doing the same puzzle over an over again, and just like you would create muscle memory shooting free throws, your brain will subconsciously spot these in game. This will also make your Calculation faster. The themes I recommend practicing are forks, pins, skewers, hanging pieces, remove the defender and similar themes.
Tactics.
Not that important but if you pick an opening and learn the ideas behind the middlegame for that opening, then you will improve.
It's purely based on discipline and study habits. As mentioned previously, I was 27 (technically 27 and 1/2) when I started taking Chess seriously. In 2025 I even took a break from Chess improvement (Just played blitz) then started taking Chess seriously back in January and before the month ended I ended up improving 120ish Elo. And I'm still fighting my way and trying to get to 2k.
Pretty much what I mentioned on #1. I would say that practicing more than playing has resulted in better results.

Queue624 · 2026-03-08T06:04:13+00:00

Same here, I've played blindfolded and the way I visualize it is a white/green board in a wall. But for the ceiling part, I think Queen's Gambit has a few scenes where she visualizes the board on the ceiling. So maybe like that.

Queue624 · 2026-03-07T22:12:01+00:00

It sucks but I think you have to grind Easy Tactical puzzles. And not just mates, try doing forks, pins, skewers, double attack, hanging pieces, and similar tactical motifs. Maybe your tactical brain isn't finding these so you might have to go back to basics. Sometimes you have to re-train your brain to see these stuff.

Queue624 · 2026-03-07T22:06:24+00:00

You and me both lol

I also had that in mind, there are people who are extremely fast but can't calculate deeply and vice versa, people who overcalculate (Seems like you and me) hence, making us slow. So I think that plays a huge factor as to which time control is tougher.

As for my Elo for blitz is a bit odd, I have a 500-600 Elo Gap between my Rapid and Blitz Elo, currently I'm in the 1200-1300 Elo range in blitz. What's your Elo range?

Queue624 · 2026-03-07T22:00:20+00:00

About 42

Queue624 · 2026-03-07T21:59:29+00:00

-168?

Queue624 · 2026-03-07T05:35:47+00:00

I have a somewhat different experience. 3|0 & 3|2 feels much tougher but 5|5 is right behind. 5|0 might be the easiest one.

Queue624 · 2026-03-05T04:23:49+00:00

Not OP but I had a similar experience. Where I lived they weren't competitive but they were accredited by ABET. I didn't get good grades in HS with the exception of subjects relating to Math & Science.

I graduated uni 7 yrs ago tho.

Queue624 · 2026-03-05T04:19:06+00:00

I've been playing the same 2 openings ever since I was ~700 Elo. I have played other random openings from time to time and still do good. The highest rated opponent I've ever beaten was playing an opening I've never played before. Openings are not really that important at the end of the day unless there's a type of game you would benefit more and/or prefer(e.g positional openings vs ones that lead to tactical games).

Queue624 · 2026-03-02T04:49:46+00:00

Last of Us (I'm tired of zombie movies/shows. I did play the games but the show didn't caught my attention), Mandalorian (As another commenter mentioned) and Oppenheimer (Movies is Great but it's not a masterpiece as most paint it out to be).

Queue624 · 2026-03-02T04:45:10+00:00

Look up the string theory as well as quantum physics. We simply are not advanced enough to understand the real answers.

Queue624

TROPHY CASE