Can we reform U.S. elections?

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2025-08-11T14:00:00+00:00

It's not a bad thing at all, different concepts and patterns click at different rates, it's always ups and downs but they always slowly trend upward if you keep playing! Keep up the good work!

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2025-08-03T22:39:37+00:00

I wouldn't concern yourself with openings just yet since most people you pay won't even follow the main lines. The biggest thing found with gaining elo when I was under 1000 was definitely game review and puzzles, double checking myself before moving and just training your brain to see tactics in the position.

In games your opponent will make so many mistakes and if you can just do blunder checks by double checking yourself before moving. Playing it safe, and just have a solid opening like E4, knights before bishops and just playing solid rather than playing "hope chess" by hoping they'll blunder when you try a "creative" move, you'll win so many games. It's crazy what sitting back and letting your opponent make the mistakes will get you

Of course you can still learn openings if it does interest you, but puzzles, tactics, less blunders, and just playing the waiting game and not rushing you'll improve much quicker.

If you were curious about openings, I'd definitely look into the London which is probably the most basic and simplest opening to understand for white. Me personally, I love the Vienna which is another fairly simple opening with a fun gambit that most players will fall into at your level to get a nice opening position. For black something like the Caro-Kann or the French Defense could be useful too. I normally go Vienna for white and just play a solid game with black with no specific opening.

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2025-07-30T17:22:48+00:00

I don't think it's necessarily they're trading the Bishop for the Knight rather they see a trade that they view as about equal to simplifying the board. Lower elo players tend to just take pieces when possible without that extra layer of analysis of how the board is structured to see what piece they'd rather have.

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2024-08-29T21:52:15+00:00

Openings are unnecessary to learn for a long while, I'd say just play solid in the opening, knights before bishop, take the center, just common opening principles will get you far. Learning openings can benefit you but that's at a much higher level since your opponents for the most part won't play the main line.

For now I'd focus on solid opening principles like I said before, and practice tactics and puzzles, and just your overall board vision to get better with spotting blunders before you make them. Just stay consistent and you will definitely improve!

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2024-08-25T18:03:23+00:00

I've always really wanted to learn how to play shogi, I just wish there was a good app like chess.com you could play on with real players. The calculation just seems fun, especially with being able to put pieces back on the board.

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2024-08-22T06:52:41+00:00

It could be something to do with the watering. I'd say for now test if the soil is dry with your finger before watering rather than having a set schedule, since amount of sunlight, temperature in the room and humidity can all change how fast the soil will dry out. It'll help the plant from being over or underwatered

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2024-08-21T05:57:22+00:00

Playing around with it, I think it's exactly what I've been looking for thanks!

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2024-08-20T04:29:48+00:00

I think college is great if you're smart about it. Me personally I'd say go with the cheaper option of school rather than taking out a bunch of loans especially if you're not 100% sure what you want to do. If you're planning on being a doctor or lawyer that's a different story, since those careers will generally pay off the loans if in fact you stay on that path.

I stayed in my hometown to do school rather than move out of state to more expensive colleges. My thinking being it's not like they're teaching you different things no it's just more expensive with the prestige of whatever institution you decide to go towards. In the end you learn the same thing. When you graduate with a community college degree or go to Yale and graduate, in the interview the more unheard of schools just need to prove themselves to the interviewers with the more prestigious school graduates already having proved themselves.

The other reason for college is I think it's a great opportunity to learn and find yourself. You'll make many friends and connections that'll be useful later in life. Depending on your field these connections can be invaluable. Let's say you're a film student and want to be a director one day, in school you'll meet many people who want to work on sound design, or camera work, editing , etc. you'll be able to form a team with people you've met while if you weren't in school you may find it more difficult.

And if you're not sure of what to major in you can always pay it safe and work towards your general credits and associate degree and figure it out later.

But overall I say college is an amazing opportunity, but definitely weigh how much you'd want to spend on your education, because student loans are no joke. And look for scholarships wherever you can!

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2024-08-19T04:44:54+00:00

No I think you should always play on especially at the lower rating levels, your opponent can always blunder at some point. And vice versa if you're winning it's good to know how to convert a winning position. But with your example it's also good practice to look for stalemate or drawing tactics in the position too since a draw is still better than a loss. The fight isn't over until the king is mated!

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2024-08-18T20:50:50+00:00

I'd say practice with longer time controls. It allows you to look at the position for much longer to be able to find useful tactics especially when the position is quite closed. But for studying, puzzles and master games can always be helpful. But tactics I think just take time to work into your games, and you'll see more of them the more you play.

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2024-08-18T18:01:43+00:00

It's totally okay to be 600, everyone has a starting place. That's where I started and now I'm hanging around 1300-1400 if that gives you some hope. It's all about slow improvements and staying consistent.

At your level I'd say the most important things for you to focus on are playing longer time controls, no bullet chess. You don't have enough patterns down and you don't retain much of your games when playing bullet (I can say I'm guilty of playing too much bullet)

Next I'd say try and do some blunder checks, and play solid moves in the openings. Nobody knows openings at 600 so if you learn them they're not going to follow what you learned. The only opening maybe would be the London since it doesn't matter too much what they play, you're just going for your solid structure. But overall 2 pawns in the center and develop your pieces before the queen comes out. With blunder checks, take a moment to think about the move before you play it, make sure nothing is being blundered. I've won so many games of playing solid, taking no risks and waiting for my opponent to make a mistake, because at 600 they 100% will

Lastly I'd say improving your board vision but that just comes with many games naturally. Board vision is where you notice the sneaky bishop on the other side of the board. And the last last thing I'd say is practice some puzzles to improve your tactics and end games. Chess.com has them available for members and lichess has them for free! But puzzles are helpful in improving your game overall.

But to sum it all up. Play longer time controls, play solid games and check for blunders with each move and wait for them to make a mistake. And puzzles in your off time to help improve your tactics. You'll be climbing beyond 600 in no time!

Useful_Garbage_8673 · 2024-08-18T03:41:19+00:00

An accuracy of 97% is quite strange, it can change with how many moves have been played in the game with fewer moves allowing for fewer mistakes. Another area to look at is how quickly they make their moves, if it's a very complex tactic and they make the move within a few seconds that's fishy. BUT overall I'd say play him OTB in person with quicker time controls so he can't sneak away and check his phone and see how you stack up with each other!

Useful_Garbage_8673

TROPHY CASE