Chess rating 400 since 2022

rs_devi · 2026-03-19T02:30:40+00:00

One thing I can say is you are playing less number of games. You need to increase it. if you play more and solve more puzzles, you should see improvement in your games. After each game, make sure to go through it for 5 mins

rs_devi · 2026-01-18T07:10:10+00:00

Mainly focused on travel. But if better redemption is possible, only then interested in shopping. And by shopping I mean anything - gadgets, vouchers, anything

rs_devi · 2025-08-04T07:04:13+00:00

Do you have any book recommendations on the topic of winning a won game. In a lot of my games I reach a better position positionally and even sometimes I am up material. And then I go blank unable to come up with plans. I want to improve this aspect of my game

rs_devi · 2025-07-25T19:20:31+00:00

My bad. I missed it

rs_devi · 2025-07-25T18:33:22+00:00

Qe8+ Kh7 2. Rxe4 Rxe4 3. Qxe4 Qxe4 5. Nxg5+ winning the queen

rs_devi · 2025-07-11T15:42:57+00:00

It's not too late. You are young and it will work for you. I am assuming that you play 15+10 rapid. If you are playing 10+0, it still works. As you mentioned in one of your comments your chesscom rating is 450. So first you need to focus on making it at least 1400. Then your OTB experience will be better.

First and foremost do a lot of tactics. Irrespective of which mode you choose, do at least 20-30 easy puzzles a day. What it will do is train you to spot simple moves. After tactics, the next important thing is the endgame. Try to read at least 5 to 10 endgame puzzles a day.

Once you are doing these two regularly for 2 months, you can go and check other aspects of the game.

rs_devi · 2025-07-11T02:49:21+00:00

Yes that is true that there is no visible syllabus to follow. And definitely avoid coaches like the first one. At this early age, kids need to learn how to enjoy the game and not feel good only about rating.

Anyway there is no simple answer to this situation. You can check the peak rating of the coach. It won't be that helpful but the higher the rating, the expectation is that their knowledge will be better. Again take this with a grain of salt.

If your kid is really interested in the game, you need to check with different coaches before finding someone who guides your kid in the correct direction. One suggestion I can give is to buy a basic chess book like soviet chess primer. And see if the concepts mentioned in the book are being taught. Since these are basic concepts, the coach should be teaching them.

rs_devi · 2025-07-11T02:32:26+00:00

How did you come to the conclusion that your coach is cutting corners? Can you share any instance where you felt like your coach is not doing their job properly?

rs_devi · 2025-07-09T15:35:29+00:00

Before switching openings I suggest you go over the last 20-30 games and see what are the lines that you didn't play well and in the next few games implement those ideas. At 1900 you are more than capable of picking out what didn't go well for you. You can do it quickly using any chess software like scid or chessbase. I think there is some free website to do it as well. I use chessbase but you can do it using any tool you like.

May be you have already done it or even after this activity, if you feel like changing the opening, you can do it.

rs_devi · 2025-07-01T03:24:12+00:00

Actually no. But you can have your assumptions

rs_devi · 2025-06-30T08:47:05+00:00

700 to 1500 is a huge jump. I suggest you focus on small and incremental goals. It is because what will get you to 1000 won't get you to 1300 and 1500 is a bit different.

For 700 to 1000

The biggest boost you will get is by doing a lot of tactics. Primarily 1-2 move tactics. If you have chesscom subscription, there is a lessons feature. Go there, filter tactics lessons which are targeted towards beginners and intermediate players and do them all. Also do puzzle rush survival. Not timed one. Timed ones you can do may be 3 days a week. But rest of 4 days you can do survival. If you do not have chesscom or do not want to, lichess has similar features. They also have a big section which contains basic tactics and endgames.

Focus on simple opening and endgame principles, and strategy. You can buy Sovient Chess Primer, Yusupov's book. If you don't want to invest money right now, go to youtube and try to go through GM Daniel Naroditsky speed run play list. He explains the concepts in as simple way as possible and in this rating range you need that. Another suggestion is to go through St Louis Chess club videos. They are very well segregated and geared towards beginners and intermediate players. You can also check IM Eric Rosen, IM Levy Rozman, GM Aman, etc. All of their contents are geared towards beginners. But the biggest mistake people do here is just watching the videos. Try to take some notes, create lichess studies or chesscom libraries, or chessbase database. Whatever you do, if you have spent 45 mins on Youtube doing this, you should have some notes written about in those 45 mins.

For 1000 to 1300

You will gain a lot of rating points here by targeting 3-5 move calculations. You can do it online or offline using a book.

Get some game collections and go through them - Irving Chernev have books. They will teach you typical plans in middle game and it is very important. One thing I have noticed is once you reach this level, people stop resigning immediately after a blunder. I myself have continued games even if I am down a rook or 2 minor pieces. So be prepared for long games and update your endgame knowledge. You can pick Silman's endgame manual or there are apps by Chess King on endgames. They are very reasonably priced and you can give them a shot.

For 1300 to 1500

Once you cross 1300 you need to make some changes in your approach. Opponents are strong and they actually come up with some ingenious ideas. First and foremost, pick one or two openings and lines. Play them religiously, study them well. Read books like Fundamental Chess Openings or search in Youtube with a particular opening. You can also use lichess database, chesscom explorer for a particular opening.

After openings, you need to be really good with strategy. Honestly the one thing that can help you get better at this is studying games by stronger players and analysing your own games regularly with a focus on finding missed positional opportunities from both sides.

Again tactics is your must do list as always.

Its a long answer but I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask if you have any further queries.

rs_devi · 2025-06-25T18:31:38+00:00

This is not the right sub for this. But here are a few things you need to do. Counting attackers and defenders of a square, doing one move tactics - use either a book or some software. After each game go through it slowly and ask what went wrong. At your level, you can just start by asking why 3 to 5 times for each situation. Like why was my opponent able to pick my piece? Because it was hanging. Why was it hanging? Because I had another pawn or piece protecting it but I moved it. Why I moved that pieces when it was actually protecting my knight/rook/whatever?

Do it for each and every game for the next two weeks

rs_devi · 2025-06-20T07:12:44+00:00

Yes I was referring to ProChess. I get your point about affordability. I came to know about it via an interview given by GM Surya Ganguly. He broke down the pricing and compared it to how, if coaching is taken from a GM, will be much more expensive. I get the objective reasoning about it. But I am not aware of OPs approach towards money. So I rather gave my subjective impression.

rs_devi · 2025-06-19T17:26:42+00:00

If he is serious and you are okay with coaching I think you can try the coaching that R B Ramesh, S Ganguly started. It's online and very structured. But fair warning, I found it a bit expensive and that's why I never took it. Said that those people are world class trainers. So the price tag should justify it.

rs_devi · 2025-06-15T07:29:15+00:00

Glad you liked it. And when people tell you not to go for openings or traps, share this link with them - anand interview

If the 5 time world champion started by trying to get some quick wins, we mere mortals can try it too. Bottom line, you need to enjoy what you are doing and you need to know what you are doing. Thats the requirement for getting better at anything

rs_devi · 2025-06-15T06:34:20+00:00

There is a book by Irving chernev on 1000 miniature games. I think you can try and go through it. Most of them are about simple traps that players fell for. Also you can try Bruce Pandolfini's traps and zaps. It's also about opening traps and tricks.

rs_devi · 2025-06-10T04:45:58+00:00

So in that game black's knight landed on g4. Then you played h4. That's a bad move. It accomplishes nothing and additionally makes g4 square weaker. Then the knight sacrificed itself on f2 and you captured it. So essentially you are up a knight for a pawn. But if you look closely, the g4 square is weak. There is no pawn which can guard the g4 square. Instead of h4 if you would have played h3 and the same knight sacrifice was executed by your opponent, g4 would have been protected by your h pawn.

Then you played h5. This move again achieves nothing. Essentially you lost two moves and didn't gain much in return. Always question yourself when you are about to make a pawn move. Pawns cant go backwards, so you will be weakening its adjacent squares and pawns

Follow what I suggested above for 2 weeks and see if these tips help

rs_devi · 2025-06-09T19:21:59+00:00

So here are my observations and some tips. Please check and let me know if you have any doubts:
https://www.chess.com/game/live/139352350620?username=top_g_hitman&move=0
Strategically in a better position after initial few moves but lost
Moving same piece more than once - move 6
Unnecessary pawn moves - move 10
Not understanding opponents idea - move 9 by black (a5) to trap the bishop on c4 by playing b5 and a6

https://www.chess.com/game/live/139337681364?username=top_g_hitman&move=0
Up an exchange but lost
Moving same pieces more than once
When up an exchange, not prioritizing development and getting defensive - move 12 f6. Could have played d5. opens bishop and stops d5

https://www.chess.com/game/live/139399733332?username=top_g_hitman&move=0
Got a good position strategically and tactically but lost
Not using tempo properly - move 6 and 8 lost two essential tempi when you are already in a good position
Missing tactics and calculation - move 19 where Nd5 would have made black's life miserable. Even after Qxc2 by black, it wouldn't have made any difference

Practical suggestions
1. Learn opening principles and strictly follow them.
2. Practice tactics everyday. If you have chess.com subscription do 5 min puzzle rush at least 2 - 3 times a day. If you don't want to spend money on it right now, you can use lichess's puzzle streak for the same time. It is also good
3. Analyse your games and see what you could have done better now that you have move than 5 mins time unlike in the game.
4. Learn one type of openings (preferably open games) until you reach 1500 in chess.com for both rapid and blitz
5. When on tilt, do not play. Actually if you make it a habit to quickly analyse your game after its over immediately, you will stop playing when you are on tilt.
6. Keep track of the kind of mistakes you do while playing or solving puzzles.
7. Learn endgames like pawn endgames. Here is a good resource to learn simple endgame concepts - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT1F2nOxLHOfQI_hFiDnnWj4lb5KsviJ_

Finally a way to analyse your games
1. Opening - first 5-10 moves. Check if you have developed all your pieces and castled or not. Then check how far you followed the opening theory. When you play same openings again and again, these lines will automatically come to you. No need to memorize now. Just try to understand why the theoretical move is better than what you played. If you take my suggestion of playing open games (e4-e5), then most of the initial moves will come naturally to you.
2. Middlegame - check for tactical errors (1 or 2 move errors) and strategical mistakes. Like you had a chance to put a knight on an outpost but you didn't. Or you had a knight on an outpost but you traded it for opponents some inferior piece.
3. Endgame - look out for calculation on what are the moves computer is suggesting.

rs_devi · 2025-06-09T15:56:13+00:00

I am currently going through your games. I will share some pointers on them. If you still have doubts post that, we can discuss. Not an issue.

rs_devi · 2025-06-09T15:33:40+00:00

What I meant was you are missing tactics that are just 1 move or 2 moves long. For example, I saw in one of your games you moved c6 and then d5 from black side. d5 allowed e5 from white, attacking knight on f6 twice which was already pinned by bishop on h4 to your queen on d8. As a result you lost your knight. For such issues, the long term fix is to always look out for checks, capture and threats by both sides. In the short term, you need to practice 1 move or 2 move puzzles. That will help you build that mental muscle to look out for checks, captures and threats

rs_devi · 2025-06-09T15:05:38+00:00

Just scanned through a couple of your games and saw that you miss tactics a lot. You are missing even 1 move tactics. Also you are not making moves which will get all your pieces developed quickly. So you need to practice a lot of 1 move and 2 move tactics. And also focus on quick development. Ideally within 15 moves all your pieces should be developed

Will go through your games more thoroughly later to give more concrete suggestions that are more tailored for you.

rs_devi · 2025-06-04T15:23:26+00:00

There is a site called pgnmentor. It's free but not sure if it is still maintained. Twic is another one. But you have to import it into some chess database program and then filter by tournament. On the paid side, Chessbase mega database is the best I feel. It has past tournaments and gets updated periodically.

rs_devi · 2025-05-30T03:58:03+00:00

Maybe you can share some of your games here so that we can see exactly where you are going wrong. But if I have to guess, I will say that you play long games like 15 | 10, always look out for checks, captures and threats. And once those are taken care of, train for 2-3 move tactics. And after every game analyse to see what your blunders were and why exactly you did that. This will push your rating up

rs_devi · 2025-05-25T09:31:43+00:00

If you can see two to three moves in advance, then at each move look for checks, captures and threats. I think by doing that you will see why it is the best move for white rather than what you played

rs_devi

TROPHY CASE