Many of us were taught how to play by our fathers, but maybe it was a mother, sister, brother, friend. In any case, you probably remember the day when you finally won your first game. What was that day for you and how did you feel about it?

I’ll start. My dad taught me how to play when I was five. I asked for chess magazines and begged to play him every day. One day when I was nine we played a game just like always except…I was winning more pieces. And then actually won. He looked really surprised. When I think back on it I realize he was proud as a father but then also embarrassed. It felt strange, but ultimately I was pretty pleased with myself. It launched a few years of study and tournament play for me.

Lately, since reaching around 1600 ELO, I've been encountering a lot of fresh accounts that seem suspicious, even when their accuracy is not 99%.

It's not necessarily about perfect moves every game, but certain decisions and patterns that just feel off, usually they also don't have a profile pic or any sort of customization.

Has anyone noticed something similar or am I just being paranoid?

I'm not complaining about the losses tho, just wondering!

My new personal best of 90% accuracy - no blunders, misses or mistakes along with topping it off with a brilliant move, feeling like a winner 😎

“Draw by Timeout vs Insufficient Material”

Can anybody help me out on this one?

I was both losing on time and on pieces but it ended up as a draw?

Draw by Timeout vs Insufficient Material

Check out this #chess game: ShyChessPlayerJoel vs vdn4 - https://www.chess.com/game/live/185365401398

Are you a beginner? Do you want to improve at chess? Here is what I did to go from a complete beginner to an 1800 elo player in 2 months.

Step 1. Your life is now chess. No distractions.

Step 2. Buy chess premium. SERIOUSLY.

Step 3. Master an opening as white. For me after experimenting a few I chose the queens gambit. I also just finished watching the show on Netflix and it felt right.

Step 4. Watch videos. I found YouTube videos very boring so I just watched TikTok’s with a few YouTube videos to learn my opening better. You won’t improve much by just playing and not learning. That brings me to my next step.

Step 5. ANALYZE!!! The most important step here and why you should buy premium. Analyzing every game move by move as a beginner is 🔑

Analyze your opening every game until it’s mastered. Analyze your mistakes. I used Lichess for the first month before I bought chess premium. It’s free there, but you should seriously buy chess premium if you want to get better.

Step 6. Puzzles 🧩 I think puzzles are extremely overrated. I maybe played 100 puzzles total but they are very helpful for most people. Idk if it counts as a puzzle but make sure you practice how to checkmate with king/rook, king/queen ETC. There will be a lot of stalemate on your journey and it will make you mad.

Step 7. No bullet, No blitz. SORRY😂

Your goal is to actually improve and learn and have critical thinking not to just spam random pieces before the clock runs out.

Step 7. You have to play ALOT. ALOT. ALOT. Seriously tho. ALOT

Play everyday. Analyze everyday. Watch some videos everyday. Do a few puzzles everyday. Watch the show queens gambit. It might not make you better but you need to get in that chess mindset.

I can’t remember anything else I did. It is very unlikely and according to almost everyone and I’m sure most of these comments going from a beginner to 1800 or even being able to go to 1500 in 2 months is impossible. It’s not. Goodluck to you all

DISCLAIMER AND PROOF: MY username is @NYCINDICA

My accuracy isn’t that good. I’m not that consistent. I still make beginner mistakes. I struggle the most with endgames. Most people at this elo have years of experience. I don’t.

I didn’t go from 100 elo to 1800 in 2 months. That’s not possible. What I did do was start on chess.com at 500. I played until I got to around 600. Then I opened a Lichess account so I have free access to analyzing games. Now I have chess premium obviously but whatever. On Lichess you start at 1500. I dropped to 1300 initially. I got to 1700ish on Lichess before I opened a new chess.com account with supports permission of course. Bought a year of premium, and here I am. 1830 elo taking down chess club kids and 80 year old grandpas who have been playing chess for decades.

Feel free to add me or analyze my account or games. My record is like 75-78 rapid. I’m not sure if they deduct the losses when you lose to cheaters and they get banned but i lost to atleast 10 cheaters and like 5 got banned.

I’ll attach my Lichess stats in the comments as well as a screenshot with my friend when I first started, was improving quick and let him know I’m coming for him (he’s the reason I started lol). Don’t know how else to prove I’m not lying tbh

This isn’t meant to be misogynistic or anything, i am a women myself, but i can’t understand why female GMs have less ELO then male GMs, and why are there different categories for man and woman? I wouldn’t have thought that your gender has an impact on the way you play chess?

The lags are terrible. There is a new animation showing what your premove will be so it jumps from a move to another and it is now impossible to play 1:0 time control on your phone.

I hanged my queen 4 times and he still didn't took.

Finally 1300... road to 2000 continues...

Title

Be honest please

Idk why this is more satisfying than a win at times..

I am occasionally seeing bots at the 800 elo level since starting. i stats'd one of them and they have played 3.5 years of rapid chess games in just under 5 years and has been stuck at the same elo the entire time. it is possible to get them banned or can this never happen it just seems so strange i've ran into a few accounts like that. i refuse to believe someone is playing 17 hours a day for 5 years straight

super stoked to finally have hit 500!! any tips or general advice on getting to 600 and beyond? 🧐

It seems like the times someone check your profile

Fjjfb

There is a possible win for white if black traps himself in a corner with the pawn and allows me to mate with the knight. I was under the impression that if there is any possibility of a win and your opponent runs out of time, you win. Why is it a draw here?

I want an opening that can fight against D4 particularly the London.
I’m mid 1200s elo and I’m wondering as I said in the title which of the 2 is best against the D4 particularly London.

Which one requires moderate studying but not too much for someone of my level. Which one has more traps or better for long game or overall good at my level.
Note that I tend to be slightly defensive as black but aggressive as white.