robinbertrand
♡ 13 ( +1 | -1 )
Help! I just keep on losing but I'm not sure why - anyone old pro fancy taking on a lost cause and help me back to winning ways?
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snow_dragon
myway316
♡ 42 ( +1 | -1 )
snow_dragon is right analyzing your games,especially the losses,is essential. Look at how you are losing. Do you blunder a lot,leave pieces hanging? Do you notice if you are falling for the same tactical tricks,sacrifices,combinations,etc. time and time again? Chess is basically pattern recognition. The more patterns you learn,recognize and understand,the stronger your game will become. Look for recurring patterns,good or bad,in your games.
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raimon
♡ 107 ( +1 | -1 )
that is good advice. years ago when I used to play a lot of OTB (and no correspondence) analysis showed that my losses mainly came from making mistakes in good positions (I blamed fatigue) and getting outplayed in opening lines that I wasn't totally familiar with.
Having this knowledge meant that if I wanted to improve, I knew that I had to work on both my physical fitness (to avoid fatigue) and openings (particularly opponents preferences)
Now that I am playing correspondence and very little OTB, my losses mainly come from cramped positions where the opponent has been smart enough to anticipate and block any counterattacks.
So I now know that if I want to improve my game, then I have to avoid getting myself into cramped positions where counterplay is difficult.
When you analyse your own games, you will very likely find recurring patterns
of strengths and weaknesses, that you maybe weren't totally aware of.
Knowing where improvements should be made is half the battle.
Good Luck
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dysfl
♡ 61 ( +1 | -1 )
Play with similar level opponents robinbertrand,
By peeking into your profile, your last 50-game statistics shows that your average rating is 1250, but your opponents' average rating was 1374. I don't think you can win that often against who has 100+ rating than you. My current rating is 1455, which is a little higher than usual, and if I play against 1350 player, I think I'll win about 8 out of ten.
Instead of joining any available games, search the users near your average rating and challenge them. Or, start your own mini-tournament with 1150-1250 level only.
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raimon
♡ 23 ( +1 | -1 )
another point: once you become comfortable and skilled at analysing your own games, then that same skill and objectivety can be used to analyse the games of your opponents (with a view to finding a chink in their armour!!)
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caldazar
♡ 301 ( +1 | -1 )
A few things to get you started I've looked through some of your games, and here are a few things that jumped out at me:
1. Don't give away material. Before making a move, always check to make sure your opponent can't simply take one of your pawns or pieces for free on the next move.
2. Check for basic tactics, such as pins, forks, skewers, and discovered attacks. You may want to look at some puzzles highlighting basic tactical patterns to get a feel these motifs since these and other simple tactical ideas are the building blocks of more complex tactical operations.
3. Keep your king safe. Try to avoid moving pawns directly in front of your king as this tends to open avenues of attack for your opponent's pieces. Only make such moves if you have analyzed the position thoroughly and are sure that your opponent cannot exploit the open lines leading to your king. Of course, this doesn't apply as much in the opening phase since it's usually necessary to move your central pawns somewhat to get pieces out. However, you should be thinking about castling to get your king out of the center if central pawns come under attack and start getting traded off, thereby opening up lines of attack against any centralized king.
4. Try to maintain a healthy pawn structure. This is a broad topic encompassing many ideas. For instance, think about how you would like to position your pieces and try to place your pawns so that they don't interfere with your desired piece setup. Pawns are the least mobile units on the board and it is sometimes difficult to get a pawn out of the way if it happens to be blocking one of your pieces. Also, avoid creating holes in your position, that is, squares that can no longer be attacked by any of your pawns. Pawns cannot move backwards and if you create a hole in your pawn structure, you'll either have to devote pieces to defending the square or allow your opponent to occupy the hole with one of his pieces. You don't want your opponent's pieces firmly entrenched in your position because an advanced piece tends to control squares even deeper in your territory, making it difficult to maneuver your own pieces. Many advanced enemy pieces in your position can fuel a strong attack, leaving you with a heavy defensive burden. If you create holes, be sure that your opponent cannot exploit them.
Of course, you can use the same ideas as weapons against your opponent. Grab his material if it is safe and exploit tactical weaknesses. Press the attack against a poorly defended king if you have the necessarily pieces in the vicinity to successfully carry out such an attack. Seize control of weak squares, diagonals, and files in your opponent's pawn structure to cramp his game and throw him on the defensive.
robinbertrand
♡ 5 ( +1 | -1 )
thankyou for all of your help - may my ranking begin to rise!
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