9 Best Ways to Improve Your Chess Skills

There is no one answer to this question as everyone improves their chess skills differently. However, there are a few general tips that can help most players improve their game. First, it is important to practice regularly and to play against opponents who are stronger than you. This will help you learn new strategies and improve your chess skill.

Additionally, it is helpful to study chess books and websites, as well as to participate in online chess forums where you can discuss chess with other players and learn from their insights. Finally, it is also important to set realistic goals for yourself and to track your progress so that you can see the improvements you are making over time.

Improving at chess is a slow and long-term process, you need to have a lot of patience and need to put in hard work regularly. You have to give some time and play tournaments to improve your game. Coaching is an important factor in the journey of chess improvement. But there are few exceptional cases where players improved without coaching. I have increased my rating from 1920-to 2321(at the time of writing this article) without any personal coaching. So I am giving some recommendations to improve your chess skills.

Best Ways to Improve your chess skill

Solving Tactics

Tactics are the best way to improve your game. There are various apps/websites on which one can solve tactics. The benefit of solving from the apps/websites is that you will get puzzles that will improve your game gradually. Tactics solving makes our brain sharp and improves our concentration. There are various websites such as Playchess, Chess24, Chess.com, and apps such as tactics frenzy developed by the Magnus Carlsen team. You can solve tactics from books also with board and pieces. I will recommend the book series written by Artur Yusupov (Build up your chess, boast your chess, chess revolution) which consists of a total of 9 books from levels 1200- to 2000. Following is the book I recommend to beginners

Playing Tournaments

Playing tournaments consistently is a must to improve your game. At least players should play 8-10 rating classical tournaments in a year and a maximum of 2-3 tournaments back to back. There should be no gap of more than 2-3 months in between tournaments. Playing tournament games will improve your knowledge of the positions you play, analytical skill, and seriousness. You can follow the FIDE website or Chessmix website to find more and more tournaments.

Reading Books

Reading books which are available will help you to get more knowledge and interest in chess. When a player studies with the book then automatically he practices on board and as I stated in the next point practice on board is very much important. There are various must-do books that every chess player should do in his/her career. I will try to publish that list in the next article. Non-chess players can also read some books such as amazon India’s bestselling book Mind Master by former World Champion Vishy Anand or Vladimir Kramnik: The Inside Story of a Chess Genius.

Practice on Board

Practicing on board is the best way to improve board view but in this online world practicing with a board and pieces is a bit boring work. At least players who just started chess or who want to learn chess should practice on the board only. It is important because the player will remember the game because they are making their moves by hand and not by mouse. This also improves patience to sit in one place. If you feel bored practicing individually, you can find a playing partner or friend to prepare with you.

Playing Online Games – 9 Game Strategy

In offline tournaments generally, you play 9 games so it’s the best strategy to play 9 games at once. I saw this strategy from an article written by Armenian Grandmaster Avetik Grigoryan.  This strategy will work for most of the players and personally I feel it’s most effective. One more advantage is that you can try new openings in online games. It is very important to control yourself from playing. Many times, people play for hours and hours. Also, play Rapid or Blitz games. Don’t play bullet games.

Following Current Games and Tournaments

Following top-level games and results of top-level tournaments will improve your knowledge and boost your confidence and motivation. It will help you to build your opening reporter with the latest opening trends by a top player. Players can implement those openings in their games. Following are websites and apps to follow games.

• Chess.com
• Chess24
• Follow Chess

Improve blindfold Chess

Playing blindfold chess definitely is a by-product of chess expertise. After achieving a certain strength in chess skills & some practice most players will be able to play blindfold chess. Blindfold chess is an excellent technique to improve your memory and calculation skills. Grandmaster Timur Gareyev of the USA played blindfolded chess with 50 players in a simultaneous exhibition.

You can improve your blindfold calculation by using the following methods

• Remove pieces from the chess.com board and play rapid games.
• Solve a few puzzles from books blindfolded.
• Play blindfolded with your friends.

Analyze Your Games

Analysis of games is a must for every player. It will improve your overall skill and help you to understand mistakes. During the analysis of your own games, you must focus on opening repertoire, mistakes in openings, a new trend in openings, and rectification of errors. The best time to analyze your game is immediately after finishing a round in spite of any result because all that time you remember plans in your game so you can save that easily

Practice With Partner

Practicing with players of your strength is very useful. It is very boring to practice individually, but if you get some practice partner with you then you can share thoughts with each other, discuss openings, prepare ideas, solve problems and even play some endgame positions. Mostly try to take a partner with the same level to share thoughts.

FAQs

What is the Fastest Way to Improve at Chess?

The fastest way to improve your chess is by working 3-4 hours a day on chess. During that time, solve chess tactics, and watch top-level chess games. Also, it is very important to play chess tournaments often.

Can You Improve at Chess as an Adult?

Yes, It is absolutely possible to even become a grandmaster. You just need to work hard and study smartly. There are a lot of players who started chess at age of 25-27 and become International Masters.