How to Improve at Chess

Question

I enjoy playing chess in my downtime and find it especially useful if I am feeling mentally worn down to "reset" myself a bit.What frustrates me is my inability to progress naturally (although, from reading, this is extremely common).Why I turn to the community: For those who have progressed, what worked for you?Was it a book, private lessons, practicing tactics? Anyway, looking to up my ELO rather than get mad at myself for not getting better over time.Hope everyone is well and thank you.

milkcircle · Accepted Answer

I highly recommend watching the following Youtube channels. These chess masters often stream games in which they explain their thought process behind each and every move, and provide a high level overview of how they design their plans.
Chess Network - https://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork
John Bartholomew - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6hOVYvNn79Sl1Fc1vx2mYA
Of course, following these channels will not improve your chess reasoning by itself, but neither will playing too many fast games without spending time to analyze the games. I typically play one longer game (10+5) and one rapid game (5+5) once a day then spend the rest of my free time trying to find areas of improvement.

happyrock · Answer

Play on lichess.org. Play correspondence with a long timeout and take your time -- make sure you are making the best move you can think of, every single time.
Use their engine analysis feature after each game to see moves that you may have missed.
Also I got a lot out of Jeremy Silman's books, in terms of developing strategy.
(disclaimer I'm not actually very good)

ycombinete · Answer

Hey, if you could give us an idea of what your current skill level is, people would have a better chance of suggesting a path for you. What is your current raitng, and where do you play?

bjourne · Answer

You don't improve because you only play 3 minute blitz. To improve, you need to play longer time controls. Like 30+30, 30 minutes starting time and 30 seconds increments, or preferably even slower. Also solve a lot of puzzles. I've gained 250 ELO points in the last few years doing that.

donnanorton · Answer

I've heard that it's very important to analyze your own games. They say it's beneficial to make notes during the encounter to understand the nature of your mistakes.

ttonkytonk · Answer

The tutorial on Chessmaster 7000 (about 15 years ago).