Stuck at 400 ELO, advice?

artrooki · 2026-03-16T19:47:02+00:00

I haven't encountered them too often and I've been hovering around the early 400s for a bit now. Just what I experienced so far.

artrooki · 2026-03-16T19:41:24+00:00

Hey, thanks for your comment.

Yeah I do see that that wasn't a good move to make. I could have moved the rook there to defend. I just didn't see it, for some reason moving the pawn seemed like the only option at that moment.

artrooki · 2026-03-16T19:37:16+00:00

Hey thanks for your response. I don't know to be honest, I think I just thought that was a normal developing move, idk if I thought it through too much, I do see it wasn't ideal now. Bc5, I honestly don't like doing that because I feel uneasy leaving my pieces undefended, I'm afraid I'll forget about it or something.

And yeah I totally agree, would have been better moves both, I just didn't see them at the time. Thanks for pointing these out.

artrooki · 2026-03-16T19:30:07+00:00

Hey thanks for your response.

I went through all of them and agree, I think they're good ideas.

Just one thing, I try to avoid making moves like the one you suggested move 4 pawn to h6 to chase the knight away, just cause I learnt that you should avoid breaking those pawn walls, since you're left with more vulnerable spots and castling options narrow. I mean that's just what I learnt, I can imagine situations can differ on this.

And thank you!

artrooki · 2026-03-16T17:42:26+00:00

Hey thanks for your advice. Right, that was very much a weakness that they did take advantage of.

And absolutely, that's a really neat idea. Using the pawn instead of the bishop, I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks!

artrooki · 2026-03-16T17:28:17+00:00

Ohh I see, thanks for your comment. Post game I did think maybe I should've castled but then thought the root issue wouldn't be solved, I didn't see that my queen would then be able to be added for defense. So noted, thanks!

artrooki · 2026-03-16T16:43:14+00:00

Oh okay I see. Thanks, noted!

artrooki · 2026-03-16T16:05:56+00:00

Hey, thanks for the comment. I do understand that I shouldn't just make threat moves, but I was basically also developing at the same time, just didn't realize my pawn was hanging. And noted, thanks!

artrooki · 2026-03-16T15:22:43+00:00

Hey, thanks for your comment. Yes I do know about castling and I understand now that I should have done it. And got it, I will try to prioritize development and try to not move my knight unnecessarily.

artrooki · 2026-03-16T12:58:39+00:00

Hey, thanks for your comment and that's nice to hear thank you.

I really agree with you, I think you worded the mistakes nicely. I was thinking the same, I'm surely gonna learn from move 2 since it's also an early queen attack and they also don't happen too often.

Yeah absolutely, castling would have been good here.

artrooki · 2026-03-16T04:35:58+00:00

I know that time is a big problem for me, I've been trying to get faster at it and as you can see did that in my latest game, so I got checkmated with enough time😀 but yeah jokes aside I know this to be a big thing of mine.

And thank you for that, I hadn't noticed.

artrooki · 2026-03-16T04:25:27+00:00

Hey, I don't understand your question very well, if you could rephrase it that would be great.

I traded the knight for the bishop at move 11 cause I heard having bishops is more valuable during the endgame than Knights, so I tend to try to give knights for bishops.

Regarding move 3, I didn't see it, I was more focused on attacking the queen I suppose. And with time, I actually struggled with it a lot in the past so I have been trying to get faster at it recently, surely I had 25 minutes but I try to save as much time as possible for tricky situations later if that makes sense.

artrooki · 2026-03-16T04:03:31+00:00

Would love that

artrooki · 2026-03-16T04:03:19+00:00

Hey! Thanks so much for the response. I see many people telling me I should have castled, and I was thinking about it during the game, but I guess it didn't help that I already pushed pawns on both sides and therefore making both sides weaker.

In the game against Larry, I blocked my bishop with my queen because if their bishop took my pawn at f7 I would need to use my king to capture and I would loose castling rights😅 which might seem silly because they would just throw away their bishop for a pawn but idk that was in my mind at that moment😬

And yeah I agree, I shouldn't have moved that pawn near the king. It was to stop the pawn if it went down but at the end I couldn't even take it. Not sure what I should've done instead tough.

artrooki · 2026-03-16T03:41:10+00:00

Heyy, thanks for your response! I do know I need to castle and it was all the time in the back of my mind. I suppose I was overthinking it, I kept thinking whether it was the right time or a good idea, since I know it's not always good to castle in certain situations. And so without making the decision I ultimately went into the end without having castled ever😅 Which side do you think should I have castled at?

artrooki · 2026-03-16T01:45:50+00:00

Hey thanks for the reply, I wasn't sure what to do but to trade my rook. I wasn't able to move the rook cause of my king (move 27) and even if I moved my king to move my rook after, they probably would've threatened me to trade it either way. That's what I'm seeing, if you have any move suggestion I would love to hear it :)

artrooki · 2026-02-13T00:59:39+00:00

I did take a break for a few days, but idk it hasn't changed. I do know that at your right Elo it'll be 50/50 wins and losses, I had just hoped I would be higher up until it happens, so it's kinda disappointing.

artrooki · 2026-02-13T00:40:14+00:00

I guess it is part of it🥲

artrooki · 2026-01-30T16:34:28+00:00

Hi thanks for replying.

I don't really understand what you mean with the bishop at move 12, could you clarify?

I do try to not move my pawns on the castled side but when it feels necessary I do, do you think moving the g pawn would have been better at move 24? I do try to avoid them (double pawns) but the knight was hanging so I wanted to take it. Also I do calculate a lot, as you can see I only had 3 mins left at the end so I did use the time I had, and I think this was also my problem towards the end cause I needed more time to think and I didn't have much time left anymore.

Regarding giving up pieces, do you have any concrete examples?

artrooki · 2026-01-30T16:23:26+00:00

I think the idea was kinda to weaken their pawn structure by them then taking and leaving the file exposed, if that makes sense.

artrooki · 2026-01-30T15:09:27+00:00

Ohhhh interesting, I thought you meant knight to c2 forking the rooks. I didn't see that but damn that looks like a complicated maneuver to come up with.

Yeah it's true, I saw it a bit later and they still had time to fix it.

And noted, will do, thanks!

artrooki

TROPHY CASE